Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Final day on the slopes...

Day 13, Feb 15th

We awoke this morning to brilliant sunshine for our final day on snow, this after about 4 or 5cm of fresh snow overnight.

After breakfast we headed out for our final fling. Clive, Karmen, Casey and I headed to Gem Lake for a play whilst Lorraine and Brenda took all 4 kids to cruise the greens. It soon became apparent that the brilliant sunshine was going to be short lived as clouds started to roll in. The runs at Gem Lake were busy and even though it was only mid morning, the fresh snow had been chopped up and it was tough going. We skied down Kalina's Rainbow but decided to abandon another run down as it was very chopped up and all of the other runs off the chair had not been groomed overnight. Casey managed to take the camera out and got some shots of the snow ghosts. After the snow last night, it was a very pretty, if not very cold sight...





We also got some shots at the top of the Gem Lake Chair. You can see the snow and ice stuck to the signs...






We headed over to the Powder Chair and skied a few runs off that chair, but it was very cold up top and the weather was beginning to turn. Furthermore, the chair appeared to be running at half speed, so it was a slow, cold trip up the chair. It was now closing in on midday, so we did an almost non stop 'hoon' from the top of the Powder Chair to the VCM for lunch.

We met up there with Lorraine, Brenda and the kids. Darren also arrived, a bit disappointed as he wanted to go snowmobiling this morning, but he was the only person and they need a minimum of 2 people to run. Lorraine decided to call it a day and arranged to give Darren her lift ticket so he could have a ski.

After lunch, 10 of us headed up the Ridge Rocket with the intention of heading over to the Black Forest. On the way over, you pass a new house in the Feathertop Estate which defies belief. It is monstrous and the detail in the woodwork is amazing...








The shuttle bus driver was telling Brenda and Lorraine earlier in the week that the owner stays for a few months and had the house built 'back east' where it was disassembled and transported and put back together in Big White at a cost of over $20 million. I'm not sure of how much of that is urban myth, but it is a very very impressive house.

We then skied the Black Forest area the rest of the afternoon. Towards the end Brenda and Riley broke from our group to join Darren and Kody who had earlier sought the sanctuary of the warming hut at the base of the Black Forest lift at about 2pm.

We skied on and I took a few videos. Tayla is fairly motoring down the runs now and Jack just loves the trees, lol. Casey is really skiing beautifully, very clean and relaxed style...

Note: All the videos are taken in HD, so open them up to full screen (bottom right corner - 4 arrows) and the quality remains...









Karmen suggested she ski down and get a video of me, so I gave her a quick lesson on how to work the camera. She did a pretty good job for a first timer getting me coming down, but didn't stop the video at the end. She placed the camera back in the case and handed it back to me at the bottom of the lift. It wasn't until we got back to the unit and I downloaded the camera contents to the computer that the video of me skiing down is 1.9GB and 42mins in length...lol. If I work out how to cut and edit it, I'll post it up later in the trip.

Tonight is packing night. We have a 09:30am pickup in the morning to take us to the airport in Kelowna. 'The Gang' head to Vegas via Edmonton, whilst Diane, Casey and I head back to LA via Vancouver. Diane is still restricted a bit, her knee is sore and she has given her ribs a bit of a hit, but she'll be OK and should have no real trouble finishing off the trip.

We've had some drama getting Casey a flight back home. When we looked last night it was looking very grim on QF12, the A380 which leaves for Sydney at 22:30. There were just a few seats left and 34 staff listed!!!! Diane logged onto the staff travel system this morning and it hadn't improved and QF108 which leaves an hour later was also not favourable.

A few changes has her now listed to fly into Melbourne on QF94 which looks a good chance. She then has to board a domestic flight to Sydney, so her day will be very long. I'll take her to the airport in LA and make sure she gets on the flight OK, but she'll be on her own when she gets to Melbourne, a scenario she hasn't encountered before as she has always travelled with Diane and/or me. Melbourne international and domestic terminals are next to each other, so she should be able to work it out OK.

Later...

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