My first day on snow...

Day 6, Feb 8th

Well the title couldn't be more appropriate, if you watched me today you may very well have thought it was my first day on snow....ever..lol

The day started so so when I ushered the 4 kids out of the garage and we started the walk down the road to the shuttle stop. About 50m down, Clive yelled out to me that they were having trouble getting the ski locker unlocked and couldn't get their skis out. So like the pied piper we walked in single file to the shuttle stop and it was my job to get the younguns to ski school on time. The shuttle picked the 5 of us up but before getting taken to the village we had to do the loop around the houses and units in the Snowpines estate area. We finally arrived at the ski school and 2 metres from the front door Karmen calls me as her and Casey run over. They had managed to open the lock with some help from a fellow tenant in Raven and had caught the Gondola to the village.

With the kids safely in ski school, I still needed to get some hire skis. I wanted performance skis and the guys behind the counter strongly recommended the 'Salomon Lord' in a 169cm. I said whatever you reckon and they bring them out and they are twin tips. I told the guy that I actually do ski backwards occasionally, but never by design, always by accident. He assured me that they were a great all mountain ski blah blah blah... I took him at his word and out of the rental shop I walked with a pair of twin tips, making me the oldest freestyle skier at Big White. I somehow thought I didn't look the part, although like the young ones nowadays, I do wear my ski pants halfway down my arse. Trouble is, they somehow think it's fashion and wear it like that because they want to, I just can't get the bloody things past my tummy.

I met up with Clive, Lorraine, Brenda, Karmen and Casey outside the ticket office and after the usual trial of getting all our gear on, we were ready to rumble. We skied thru the tunnel I showed you yesterday which leads down to the Ridge Rocket Chairlift which takes you 3 parts the way up the mountain. We did a leisurely few runs down Serwa's before Lorraine took a break in the cafe at the bottom. Lorraine had a nasty fall getting out of the hottub last night after slipping on ice that had formed due to the water falling from the spa onto the steps and freezing. She did well to front up for a ski, but the fall had taken it's toll and when she pulled her boots off this afternoon the bruising was very evident.

Brenda, Casey and myself stopped to keep Lorraine company at various times in the cafe, where Lorraine got chatty with an American girl. The girls talked about the cost of groceries, their trip to the supermarket in Kelowna and generally the price of everything in Australia compared to America, etc etc, you get the picture. Lorraine then mentioned about their trip to Vegas and Disneyland so the conversation drifted to great things to do in LA and Vegas.

Lorraine then told our American friend about what Diane and I had decided to undertake on the train when we left Big White. She looked at me in horror "Are you insane?" she shrieked, much to the hilarity of Lorraine and Brenda. "They're paying you to do that right? Tell me they're paying you.." I stubbornly stuck to my word that I will enjoy the train leg and I will...even if it kills me!!!

We then headed off towards the Black Forest area. After coming down from the top of the mountain, Lorraine decided she wasn't up to any more, so headed for Beano's and a coffee. The rest of us headed for the Black Forest. I took some pics of Millie's Mile run...

The first shot is taken about halfway down the run and is looking up the run, the second shot is from the same spot looking down. Mind you, that section is only a fraction of the whole run.

I skied down a bit and got Karmen, Clive, Brenda and Casey on video.

Karmen...



Casey...



Brenda did a real nice run and Clive... well let's say after catching an edge on turn 4 and finishing with his tips embedded in the powder on the edge of the run, he did well. I will post their runs tomorrow.

Fortunately, I couldn't video myself, but I think Karmen secretly got me coming down after I'd videoed the foursome. Of course she can do what she likes with her video, it won't be going on Bobalski's blog however...lol

We headed back to the village and met up with Lorraine. It was about 2pm and the kids needed to be picked up at 3:15pm. Lorraine, Brenda and Casey headed back to Raven, Clive and Karmen headed out for a couple of runs and I headed to Dizzy's to get my boots tweaked as I was very sore low down on my shin, just above the ankle. I then headed back to tell the guys where to put there twin tips, but decided to do it in the morning.

We picked up the kids and headed for the shuttle. I told Clive if it's the same driver as yesterday I'll drop $5 into his tip jar for taking us to the door yesterday. I suspected he would do it again. When the shuttle arrived, it was the same driver, so I popped in the $5 and thanked him for yesterday. He told us that when he brought the girls down earlier, he took them to the door because Lorraine was struggling on her leg. The shuttle arrived at our street and stopped on the corner. I couldn't believe it, we piled out and commenced the walk up the hill, though fortunately it is not at all steep. When we got off Clive, who originally thought it was a good idea, told me "There, that's why I don't tip!!!"..lol.

After we got back to the unit, Clive and I took the kids down to the indoor pool for a swim for an hour before coming up and our regulation 2 beers in the spa. Dinner was prepared by Diane, Karmen and Lorraine and it was consumed by all.

Everybody is keen to get back out in the morning, so it's off to bed for a 7am wakeup call.

Later...