04/04/2011
So here I am reporting from Matt and Mandi’s lovely apartment in beautiful Banff, Alberta Canada. I cannot express how amazing it is to be back in Canada.
With the time difference being 7 hrs behind the UK I suffered with a little bit of jet lag and was up at 4.30am. Matt rose up at 7.30am to go to work, and I headed up to Norquay mountain with him. There are 3 lift operated mountains around the Banff area – Norquay, Sunshine and Lake Louise. Given Matt had spoken to his manager at Norquay Ski School about me being available for some snowboarding work I headed up with him. In exchange I would get lift tickets to ski the quay.
We drove up and arriving at the resort reminded me very much of my winter at Red Mountain. Small hill, everyone knows everyone and just really friendly times. I was pretty stoked to be there. We went to speak to Gord the ski school director at Norquay and there was no work for me but I got a free lift ticket anyway which was great. Matt had work all day as did Mandi so I pretty much rode on my own. In the morning I did some training with a ski instructor called John who was training for his level 1 snowboard. After the training was done I went off and explored the mountain. I took it as an opportunity to get used to riding steeps again – I hadn’t really done much steep riding at Japan and it took a bit of getting used to. I loved the fact that within an hour I was comfortable with the mountain at Norquay – its a small hill but has everything you need in terms of Terrain – good bumps, good steeps and a good park! All very accessible and easy to get to! Loved it.
Getting home Matt, Mandi and I ate a lovely Pork dinner and called it a night! Matt was working all weekend, but amazingly Mandi wasn’t so we agreed to do some snowboarding together over the weekend.
On Saturday we were up on a fairly cold overcast day at Norquay – I managed to score another free ticket and Mandi and I did some runs together! There was a save the melons drive – breast cancer awareness! As a result an airbag and rail jam was set up. I decided to pay the $20 donation to hit the airbag, and I had such a fun afternoon sessioning it.
There were local riders doing some amazing aerial tricks, back double cork 10’s and general insane trickery. I managed to do a couple of 360 spins, I failed on my underflip attempts, but was massively proud of nailing a couple of nollie front flips onto the bag – it was very awesome. I remember having a delicious $9 rib lunch with Mandi which was lovely, before heading home to chill.
The following day was spent riding with Mandi in the morning, and then some of the Norquay ski school staff in the afternoon. It was a beautiful sunny day so it was perfect for getting some really good shots. The amazing thing was 10cm of fresh snow fell so it was a bluebird pow day!! Soo good. Managed to get some sweet fresh snow! I was spoilt in Japan because a pow day was a 30cm dump, whereas here its more like a 10cm dump. But I am surprised we are even getting snow in April! So its all good. The season in Canada appears to have been a good one with lots of snow!
Matt Mandi & I had an epic Pizza dinner before heading home to watch the Bourne Identity and hit bed, ready for our first day of CASI 3 pre-course...
Matt and I woke early to make it to Lake Louise for 8.30am. From Banff its a 45min drive. We picked up one of Matts friends Darrel and made our way. The course got underway in the morning, our trainer Kevin is a really nice guy. Banff local, married with a child and has been in the business for 14 years. He works at the Lake as the assistant director for the ski school. Conditions weren’t amazing, it was pretty cold and visibility wasn’t great. In terms of the course I don’t really want to go into the day too much other than it flipped everything I knew about the level 3 pedagogue section on its head! Matt, Darrel and I were pretty confused by it all but we’ve got time till the exams. There were 2 other participants Mitch from Oz – currently working at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary and Nancy. Nancy worked for Kevin at the Lake , however took a winter off teaching to focus on enjoying riding again! I know the feeling! I hate exams, and the feeling that I am being watched and told I am not good enough.
That brings me up to the here and now – I am just chilling with Matt and Mandi getting ready for another day on course tomorrow – I am really hoping that it will be a better day – but we shall see!
I better roll out – feeling pretty frustrated by the whole course situation thing but hopefully things will work out!
Take care people – much love and respect!
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