holiday has been very very good. Wanaka was amazing. The first day there way 15 cm of fresh powder on the mountian. Got up there nice and early and skied great stuff all day. On the last run of the day I hit a wall ride for the second time. The wall was not buried in the snow far enough and my ski went under the wall instead of over. I completely smashed my binding to hell. I was able to get a replacement in town for only 100 dollars. Still it was an expense I was not expecting.
Second day we went for the most grueling hike ever. About 1200 vertical meters. I can still feel it in my legs. It was extremely hard! Lots of steeps and switch backs.
Third day was rainy so we just recovered. We went to puzzle world which was funny.
Forth day was another 15 cm of fresh snow at Treble Cone. Only the front lift was open for most of the day because of wind closure in the back bowl. At 3 they finally opened the back bowl and we got to ski the fresh in the back for a bit. It was awesome.
Then we drove to queenstown. This place is a zoo. Ways to spend money everywhere you turn! The city is super crowded. We are booked here until Sun. but idk what we will do.
Today was another rainy day. We just kind of hung out. One of my friends went bungee jumping. And we all went alpine lugging. Hopefully we will get to go skiing tomorrow. It all depends on the weather. We wake up early every morning. Check the snow reports, then go from there. With all these storms there should be good snow but who knows. We should have stayed up at treble cone where they got 25 more last night.
I will give a fuller report and pics after holiday but now there is to much to do.
I am hoping to go sky diving sometime soon!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
ChCh weekend
This weekend I actually stayed in Christchurch. No adventures to be had. The ski conditions are pretty rough right now so I didn't go skiing at all either.
Thurs night I went to the pool with the kayak club to try to learn how to roll. Being that it was my first time I didn't get it in the hour time we had. I did get pretty close. I will go again sometime this week and maybe ill get it. Either way I had a blast and my instructor was real chill.
Fri. night there was a Canterbury rugby match. My 2 flatmates and I went to the game. Canterbury destroyed Waikato so it was a pretty good match. We met up with 2 of my friends from australearn that go to lincon. Went to my flat after the game for some beverages and a quality fri evening.
Sat. I slept in real late which felt great. It was an awful rainy cold day. Tried to work on some homework but just kinda messed around all day. Sat. night was my mate from ski club 21st brithday. Went to his house for a party. Not tons of people but enough. He also had his family there casue 21st is a big even in NZ. It was really nice. My friend Garrett came with me to the party. He left early though. I don't think there were any other americans there. It was tons of fun and I met tons of people. Ended up catching a ride home with some random people which was good becsue the busses had stopped running. It was a real good night.
Sun. I just woke up late again. Again tried to work on homework but was pretty unpoductive. Did go to watch a soccer game which was cool, although it was still cold and wet out.
This week I need to get my assigments finished up before spring break next week. I have started to make some plans for spring break. Going to wanaka for the first 4 nights, then to queenstown for 3 nights. Then to the west coast for a bit of time. We have 2 weeks off so it should be real chill. Just gonna take it easy and get some time on the mountains skiing. Hoping to get out skydiving on the west coast. I'm going with Garrett, Geoff ( an australearner), and Marc (Garrett's flatmate). Should be a good group of people to travel with.
Ohh I think I found something that maybe an option for me once school ends.
http://www.wwoof.co.nz/
check it out
Timmy
Thurs night I went to the pool with the kayak club to try to learn how to roll. Being that it was my first time I didn't get it in the hour time we had. I did get pretty close. I will go again sometime this week and maybe ill get it. Either way I had a blast and my instructor was real chill.
Fri. night there was a Canterbury rugby match. My 2 flatmates and I went to the game. Canterbury destroyed Waikato so it was a pretty good match. We met up with 2 of my friends from australearn that go to lincon. Went to my flat after the game for some beverages and a quality fri evening.
Sat. I slept in real late which felt great. It was an awful rainy cold day. Tried to work on some homework but just kinda messed around all day. Sat. night was my mate from ski club 21st brithday. Went to his house for a party. Not tons of people but enough. He also had his family there casue 21st is a big even in NZ. It was really nice. My friend Garrett came with me to the party. He left early though. I don't think there were any other americans there. It was tons of fun and I met tons of people. Ended up catching a ride home with some random people which was good becsue the busses had stopped running. It was a real good night.
Sun. I just woke up late again. Again tried to work on homework but was pretty unpoductive. Did go to watch a soccer game which was cool, although it was still cold and wet out.
This week I need to get my assigments finished up before spring break next week. I have started to make some plans for spring break. Going to wanaka for the first 4 nights, then to queenstown for 3 nights. Then to the west coast for a bit of time. We have 2 weeks off so it should be real chill. Just gonna take it easy and get some time on the mountains skiing. Hoping to get out skydiving on the west coast. I'm going with Garrett, Geoff ( an australearner), and Marc (Garrett's flatmate). Should be a good group of people to travel with.
Ohh I think I found something that maybe an option for me once school ends.
http://www.wwoof.co.nz/
check it out
Timmy
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What I live in
Heres a bunch of pics of my room. I cleaned it up today for the first time ever, so I decided to take some photos.
Walking in my door
Walking in my door
My desk area
Christchurch metro map
Goals list that we made during australearn orientation
Comic I made during 3 hour UC orientation seminar
My schedule
Heater and my boots drying
Ski stuff and kite
my bed and closet. All my clothes are in the wash right now
I dont use the one sheet. It was over my closet before but now its an entrance to my room. On fri me and my flatemates are going to tie dye our sheets!
Where I do my thinking
The kitchen, that was just cleaned too
My flatmate Mady and her BF eating vegan curry
My flatemates Joe and Chris enjoying a beverage and watching tv
Looking off the balcony. And my building is identical to the one it looks at.
That all
Timmy
Ski stuff and kite
my bed and closet. All my clothes are in the wash right now
I dont use the one sheet. It was over my closet before but now its an entrance to my room. On fri me and my flatemates are going to tie dye our sheets!
Where I do my thinking
The kitchen, that was just cleaned too
My flatmate Mady and her BF eating vegan curry
My flatemates Joe and Chris enjoying a beverage and watching tv
Looking off the balcony. And my building is identical to the one it looks at.
That all
Timmy
Monday, August 10, 2009
Cultural Journal 1
Here is my cultural journal entry 1. I have to do 3 throughout the semester for my AU class. I'm not extremely happy with it. I put a lot of thought into it. My ideas are all over the place and I am probably wrong about what I think.
Isolation. I think the isolation of New Zealand is what influences the country and its people. With a population of only 4 million people, the country should not be very crowded no matter how small. Yet, the cities are crowded. Christchurch holds 300,000 people, crammed into one city. Yet drive 20 min out of the city and there are wide open, practically abandoned fields. Why do the Kiwis choose to crowd into cities instead of taking advantage of the room they have to breath. I think it is a way to try to feel less isolated, to feel close to people. No matter what the reason, the isolation of New Zealand has causes some interesting characteristics of the country.
I relate the Kiwis’ sense of isolation to that of anyone’s when they are stuck at their house. Weather it be a child grounded by his parents, or anyone just stuck at home for a day or two. When someone is trapped in a familiar place for a while they start thinking differently. They get a type of cabin fever. Most Kiwis know the country like the back of their hand. Although to them the country may only be the particular island they live on. South islanders tend to stay down in the wilderness of the south island while north islanders will tend to stay in their familiar north island. There are of coarse plenty of exceptions to this. Kiwis seem to be relatively confident in their knowledge of their island. Although the majority of the island is remote and isolated, to them its just part of their playground. They have been around, they know where everything is. A Kiwi sees the island as not being that big, and that you can’t get too far away from home, no matter how hard you try. And because of this you can’t get in that much trouble. By no means are they careless in the outdoors, however, they are quite comfortable in any situation. Kiwis seem to think, they have seen and tried it all and if they haven’t, they’ll give it a shot. To them anything is worth a try, “hell with the consequences, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” type of attitude. Along with Kiwis trying anything, I have found that most of the time, they simply like to see you try new things. They do not care how good you are at something, but rather that you give forth some effort.
Along with an appreciation of effort, comes a sense of self-reliance. Kiwis are very big on self-reliance. This sense of self-reliance is crucial if you are going to try anything. They see it as, if your capable, then do it, if your not, then know your not and don’t do it. No matter what the adventure, if you think your capable of it, then you can try it out, but in the end, its up to you. When I was cave diving, although I was on a guided tour, you are very much on your own. You were shown how to do it, and what to do, but in the end its up to you to do it right. And there are no piles of paper work or waivers to sign like in the states. It’s just understood that you are responsible enough to make your own decisions. Also, in the ski mountains, a sense of self-reliance is very much present. The lifts are there to help get you to the terrain. Once at the top of the lift it’s your responsibility to figure out what to do. You are allowed to go wherever you want. Your hand isn’t help going down the mountain like it is in the states. If you ask a ski patroller if terrain is open, he’ll tell you if you have an avalanche beacon and know what your doing, go for it, if not, stay away. No one forces you to do anything or stops you from doing much. You have to know what you are capable of and make your own decisions. Similar ideals can be seen once in the lodge at mountain. At the lodge you are not catered too all the time. You are given chores to do around the lodge. Nothing major, just little things like helping prep for dinner or clean the bathroom quick. I have been to the smallest of ski lodges in the states and yet never do they do this, instead they pamper you. In New Zealand they know you are capable of doing something, so why not do it. Cut down on cost and lend a hand, in the end everyone benefits.
Back to Kiwis being isolated and stuck at home an. Like some people stuck at home, you can chose to do a few different things. You can explore your little playground you have in front of you and try to discover or make new thing out of what you already have. Or you can except that it’s all the same, and just chill out. I have noticed that a lot of the young people at my university tend to just chill out. They would rather stay in the city during the weekends and party, rather the go explore or do activities. This partying is quite extensive at times and the government is actually in the process of figuring out how to reduce young peoples drinking habits. High taxes on alcohol have already been put in place and raising the drinking age is being discussed. Not all Kiwis choose to be idle, they have done a fantastic job at making the most of every part of their country. Like a little kid rearranging his room or making a fort out of bed sheets when he is stuck in his room, Kiwis have found a way to make there little island more exciting to them. They love to do extreme sports. They invited bungee jumping and just started jumping off whatever they could. The go in every river possible. Weather with white water kayaks or crazy jet boats. The also like to go far. If a road cant take you wear you want to go, they will simply get a helicopter. Not only do they heli-ski to get to those hard to reach snow caps, they will helicopter in your kayak to get on top of class 6 rapids, or maybe just helicopter you in to hike in really remote locations. They are not afraid to invent new ways to enjoy what they already have.
I can’t be certain if it’s the isolation that causes the Kiwis to act the way they do. I have a hunch it was something to do it with it. No matter what it is they have a definite attitude of anything being possible. This goes with the fact that it is only possible if you make it possible. There is a strong sense of self-reliance here, and with that great or devastating things can occur.
Isolation. I think the isolation of New Zealand is what influences the country and its people. With a population of only 4 million people, the country should not be very crowded no matter how small. Yet, the cities are crowded. Christchurch holds 300,000 people, crammed into one city. Yet drive 20 min out of the city and there are wide open, practically abandoned fields. Why do the Kiwis choose to crowd into cities instead of taking advantage of the room they have to breath. I think it is a way to try to feel less isolated, to feel close to people. No matter what the reason, the isolation of New Zealand has causes some interesting characteristics of the country.
I relate the Kiwis’ sense of isolation to that of anyone’s when they are stuck at their house. Weather it be a child grounded by his parents, or anyone just stuck at home for a day or two. When someone is trapped in a familiar place for a while they start thinking differently. They get a type of cabin fever. Most Kiwis know the country like the back of their hand. Although to them the country may only be the particular island they live on. South islanders tend to stay down in the wilderness of the south island while north islanders will tend to stay in their familiar north island. There are of coarse plenty of exceptions to this. Kiwis seem to be relatively confident in their knowledge of their island. Although the majority of the island is remote and isolated, to them its just part of their playground. They have been around, they know where everything is. A Kiwi sees the island as not being that big, and that you can’t get too far away from home, no matter how hard you try. And because of this you can’t get in that much trouble. By no means are they careless in the outdoors, however, they are quite comfortable in any situation. Kiwis seem to think, they have seen and tried it all and if they haven’t, they’ll give it a shot. To them anything is worth a try, “hell with the consequences, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” type of attitude. Along with Kiwis trying anything, I have found that most of the time, they simply like to see you try new things. They do not care how good you are at something, but rather that you give forth some effort.
Along with an appreciation of effort, comes a sense of self-reliance. Kiwis are very big on self-reliance. This sense of self-reliance is crucial if you are going to try anything. They see it as, if your capable, then do it, if your not, then know your not and don’t do it. No matter what the adventure, if you think your capable of it, then you can try it out, but in the end, its up to you. When I was cave diving, although I was on a guided tour, you are very much on your own. You were shown how to do it, and what to do, but in the end its up to you to do it right. And there are no piles of paper work or waivers to sign like in the states. It’s just understood that you are responsible enough to make your own decisions. Also, in the ski mountains, a sense of self-reliance is very much present. The lifts are there to help get you to the terrain. Once at the top of the lift it’s your responsibility to figure out what to do. You are allowed to go wherever you want. Your hand isn’t help going down the mountain like it is in the states. If you ask a ski patroller if terrain is open, he’ll tell you if you have an avalanche beacon and know what your doing, go for it, if not, stay away. No one forces you to do anything or stops you from doing much. You have to know what you are capable of and make your own decisions. Similar ideals can be seen once in the lodge at mountain. At the lodge you are not catered too all the time. You are given chores to do around the lodge. Nothing major, just little things like helping prep for dinner or clean the bathroom quick. I have been to the smallest of ski lodges in the states and yet never do they do this, instead they pamper you. In New Zealand they know you are capable of doing something, so why not do it. Cut down on cost and lend a hand, in the end everyone benefits.
Back to Kiwis being isolated and stuck at home an. Like some people stuck at home, you can chose to do a few different things. You can explore your little playground you have in front of you and try to discover or make new thing out of what you already have. Or you can except that it’s all the same, and just chill out. I have noticed that a lot of the young people at my university tend to just chill out. They would rather stay in the city during the weekends and party, rather the go explore or do activities. This partying is quite extensive at times and the government is actually in the process of figuring out how to reduce young peoples drinking habits. High taxes on alcohol have already been put in place and raising the drinking age is being discussed. Not all Kiwis choose to be idle, they have done a fantastic job at making the most of every part of their country. Like a little kid rearranging his room or making a fort out of bed sheets when he is stuck in his room, Kiwis have found a way to make there little island more exciting to them. They love to do extreme sports. They invited bungee jumping and just started jumping off whatever they could. The go in every river possible. Weather with white water kayaks or crazy jet boats. The also like to go far. If a road cant take you wear you want to go, they will simply get a helicopter. Not only do they heli-ski to get to those hard to reach snow caps, they will helicopter in your kayak to get on top of class 6 rapids, or maybe just helicopter you in to hike in really remote locations. They are not afraid to invent new ways to enjoy what they already have.
I can’t be certain if it’s the isolation that causes the Kiwis to act the way they do. I have a hunch it was something to do it with it. No matter what it is they have a definite attitude of anything being possible. This goes with the fact that it is only possible if you make it possible. There is a strong sense of self-reliance here, and with that great or devastating things can occur.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Kayak=>Ski=>Tramp
Its been a really busy last few days. The rest of the week went swell. On Wednesday at the tramping club meeting we heard from a guy who is a white water kayaker. He is advocate against hydro power in NZ. He does not want the rivers to be ruined. Some of the videos he showed of him kayaking were amazing. Anyway also at the meeting was the sign ups for snowcraft which I was hoping to sign up for. Well apparently the club ran out of equipment and the trip was full. With that full, I talked to a guy in the club about going skiing down near Wanka over the weekend. After I signed up for skiing I talked with all the australearners and since they couldn't do snowcraft they were going to do there own trip. Well, being that I don’t really have any friends because I never hang out with anyone because I’m always skiing, I decided to take the weekend off from skiing and go tramping with the australearners. I emailed the tramping club letting them know that I wasn't going skiing anymore. I still got a call on Thursday night to be ready to go skiing on fri. morning. I told the dude I had to canceled and he told me he had a feeling I will bail. Pretty messed up but whatever, ill never sign up to go on a trip with him again!
On Thursday I went sea kayaking with University of Canterbury Canoe Club (UCCC). I'm not sure why they're the canoe club when all they do is white water kayak. Anyways, they don't use sea kayaks in the sea, but rather the little play boats for whitewater. Being that its still winter and the water is freezing, I borrowed a wetsuit from my buddy. He uses it to surf in Jersey all year round so it was super warm, I was actually a little hot in it. When we got to the beach the waves were pretty flat. Good for me because I don’t know what I’m doing, bad for everyone else. As soon as I got in the little boats I realized how different they are from anything I’ve paddled before. Super tipsy and not very smooth through the water. I tried to catch a few waves but got knocked over almost every time. Since the boats have skirts on them and I don't know how to roll I had to bail every time I flipped. Then I had to lug a boat full of water back to shore, empty it out, and start again. We did that for about 2 hours. I don't think I got much better by the end but I still had a lot of fun. I have to do some rolling sessions in the pool pretty soon and then maybe I will have better luck.
Thursday night I just couldn't stomach the idea of not skiing over the weekend. I had received an email from a dude in the snow sports club about going skiing on fri. I had already talked to my math teacher about getting the notes for fri. lecture and decided to see if the guy still had room in his car for fri. He did and the pick up was set for 7:30 am. I went to bed early on Thursday night since I was exhausted from kayaking all day and wanted to be ready to go skiing. I even had set aside some sausages to bring up the mountain because my neighbors told me that this mountain, Broken River, had a grill outside that anyone could use to cook something up for lunch. Well at 7:50 am on fri. morning I was awoken by a text from the ski dude saying "you had your chance, im leaving now". I immediately text him back saying that I slept through all my alarms and that I was sorry, he had already waited 20 min for me. He text me back saying he wasn't in too much of a rush and could wait 10 min if I could get my stuff together. I sprinted around getting ready and was in his car in 10 min. We got to the mountain and were skiing by about 10. I asked him if he wanted to take the first run together and we ended up skiing together all day. He was an older guy, 35, studying his PhD in environmental engineering. He even knew what ceramic engineering was. He was lived in Alaska for 7 years before moving to NZ 4 years ago. I had tons of stuff to talk to him about. The skiing was a little chopped up but it was still soft powdery. Some pretty good skiing and way better then being in the city. It was really tiring conditions and we called it a day about 3. We chatted the entire way back and all together it was a really good day.
Fri. night I took it easy because sat. morning we were leaving at 8am to go tramping. The tramping club organized a van for us and we drove 3 hours north to a trail head. From there it was about 5km tramp into the hut. The hut system in NZ is really cool. They're just little huts with some sleeping pads on a bunk, a table, fire stove, and cooking area. No power of coarse. The hut we went to could sleep 10, we brought 7. When we got there 1 pack was already there but no people. Most of us just laid out in the sun and enjoyed the beautiful weather. I set up my hammock and took an amazing nap. Eventually a hunter showed up. He was the owner of the pack. A 34 year old NZ dude. He chatted with us and was pretty cool. Then as evening approached a family of 5 showed up. That put 13 people in a 10 person hut. We said no worries and was going to make it work. The family of 5 slept on the bottom with the hunter while the 7 of us cuddled up on 5 mats.
We stayed up as late as we could, about 11 around a fire outside. The stars were amazing. In the morning we just hung out. Some of us went down to a nearby creek. It really reminded me of home. It was a nice place to just sit and relax. At about 1 we headed back down the van, both other groups had already left. When we got there and all packed up to leave, we turned the key and the van wouldn't start. Dead battery or something. With no cell service it was a bit of a scare. Then after about 5 min Dan jumped in the driver seat to just give it a try. What do you know it worked, Christmas miracle I guess. The drive home was uneventfully.
Its now sun. night. I have my first engineering test on tues. I am going to spend all day studying tomorrow. Mid semester break is only 2 weeks away. I need to make some plans this week! Ill worry about that after my test.
Timmy
check for new pics and ill put up more of me as I get them from my friends.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
kite
I went to the beach in New Brighton with Garrett yesterday to fly my kite. With someone else it is a lot easier to fly. It turns out the strings have to be the same length! Crucial detail I did not have the first day. I want to get into extreme kitting but power kites are really expensive. 
Check picasa for more sweet pics and some video too.
This week I have quite a bit of homework. My material eng. class is hard and I have a test next week. My Maori test on mon. went OKAY it will be interesting to see what type of grade I get. I got an invite to one of the ski club members 21st b day party in 2 weeks so that should be a good time. I think im going to go surfing later this week. Its only 20 buck for 2 hours. Its so cheap becasue its the winter but they give you a really good wet suit and everything so it should be pretty sweet. One of my friends surfs a lot so he said he can teach me. Thats all for now.
Heres a sweet pic I put together!
Timmy
Check picasa for more sweet pics and some video too.
This week I have quite a bit of homework. My material eng. class is hard and I have a test next week. My Maori test on mon. went OKAY it will be interesting to see what type of grade I get. I got an invite to one of the ski club members 21st b day party in 2 weeks so that should be a good time. I think im going to go surfing later this week. Its only 20 buck for 2 hours. Its so cheap becasue its the winter but they give you a really good wet suit and everything so it should be pretty sweet. One of my friends surfs a lot so he said he can teach me. Thats all for now.
Heres a sweet pic I put together!
Timmy
Sunday, August 2, 2009
what you wish for
The rest of the week went well. I didn't get to do any rolls with the kayaks cause all the spots were booked up. There are public rolling lessons every mon. night that I can go to for $5, I might do that sometime soon. Thurs. afternoon I was stuck in my room doing homework on a beautiful afternoon. I got a bit done so I figured Id go to the beach to relax and watch the sun set. I ended up getting there a bit late but it was still nice. As I a sat on the pier I realized how nice the breeze was and that I needed a kite. I on fri after my one class I found a kite on trade me (NZ ebay) for 8 bucks. I bought that right up and waited for the buyer to contact me. I went to the lib to finish that homework. I even asked some kiwis for some help cause I saw them doing the same stuff, they weren't very useful, I don't think they wanted to talk to me, oh well. Anyways I handed that hw in and went back home. The kite owner was going to be at there house for the rest of the day for me to come get it. I jumped on the bus and picked it right up. As soon as I got it I went to the beach to try it out. Its a stunt kite with 2 strings, kind of hard to fly. After about 3 hours of trying and untangling stings, I was starting to get the hang of it. I could use a 2nd person to help me lunch it. Anyways once the sun set I put the kite away and walked up the beach. I walked from the bottom tip of southshore to new brighton. It took a few hours but it was really nice to be on the beach at night when no one else was around.
This is a nice map of the city. I live in Ilam which is left of center.
Sat morning was off to go skiing at Temple Basin again, this time with the Canterbury University Snow Sports Club (CUSS). When we got to the goods lift it was kind of raining which was a bummer. The goodlifter assured us that I was nice at the top above the clouds. I was kind of worried about conditions because a guy I talked to on fri. night said it was raining at temple earlier that day. Anyways when we got to the top of the mountain I soon realized it was going to be a sweet day. It was partially cloudy but there was fresh powder. About 7cm of fresh, the only problem was that it was on top of a pretty slick icy crust. Anyways downhill basin was more or less untouched. I skied back there with one of the other CUSS members for the rest of the morning. Eventually the patrols got done blasting Bills basin which is where I took some good runs last weekend. We took a run through bills basin to get back to the lodge for lunch. Since it had just opened we where one of the first through there. It was some absolutely amazing skiing!! After lunch I headed back out to do some more skiing in bills. Did a quick hike to get more elevation. Had and absolutely mint run but the visibility started to get rough. The weather had moved back in and it was snowing with real flat light. I had no dept perception and was going all over the place. Since visibility was so poor I called it a day about 3:30.
We then just sat around the lodge and hung out till 7 for dinner. After dinner there was some prizes awarded for 80s outfits. Then we went out for some night skiing. It was still snowing so there was even more fresh powder. Only the front basin is open for night skiing but with all the wind blowing there was some amazing snow drifts to jump around on. A super fun night. We skied until 10. Back in the lodge the night was just beginning. The club had brought up a disco ball and sound system just for the party. Besides the 25 or so CUSS members, other people from the top lodge came down to socialize. It was still snowing outside and everyone was just pumped for a mint day on sun, not to mention it was great party!
Sun morning I woke up late to still more snow. All the basins where closed except for the front main one. We built a little kicker into some powder but visibility was just no good. We ended up going in pretty early. It was a bummer that we couldn't ski because the visibility was so poor.
Sat morning was off to go skiing at Temple Basin again, this time with the Canterbury University Snow Sports Club (CUSS). When we got to the goods lift it was kind of raining which was a bummer. The goodlifter assured us that I was nice at the top above the clouds. I was kind of worried about conditions because a guy I talked to on fri. night said it was raining at temple earlier that day. Anyways when we got to the top of the mountain I soon realized it was going to be a sweet day. It was partially cloudy but there was fresh powder. About 7cm of fresh, the only problem was that it was on top of a pretty slick icy crust. Anyways downhill basin was more or less untouched. I skied back there with one of the other CUSS members for the rest of the morning. Eventually the patrols got done blasting Bills basin which is where I took some good runs last weekend. We took a run through bills basin to get back to the lodge for lunch. Since it had just opened we where one of the first through there. It was some absolutely amazing skiing!! After lunch I headed back out to do some more skiing in bills. Did a quick hike to get more elevation. Had and absolutely mint run but the visibility started to get rough. The weather had moved back in and it was snowing with real flat light. I had no dept perception and was going all over the place. Since visibility was so poor I called it a day about 3:30.
We then just sat around the lodge and hung out till 7 for dinner. After dinner there was some prizes awarded for 80s outfits. Then we went out for some night skiing. It was still snowing so there was even more fresh powder. Only the front basin is open for night skiing but with all the wind blowing there was some amazing snow drifts to jump around on. A super fun night. We skied until 10. Back in the lodge the night was just beginning. The club had brought up a disco ball and sound system just for the party. Besides the 25 or so CUSS members, other people from the top lodge came down to socialize. It was still snowing outside and everyone was just pumped for a mint day on sun, not to mention it was great party!
Sun morning I woke up late to still more snow. All the basins where closed except for the front main one. We built a little kicker into some powder but visibility was just no good. We ended up going in pretty early. It was a bummer that we couldn't ski because the visibility was so poor.
We just kind of slowly picked up and packed up, had some lunch, then hiked down the hill. Because of no skiing on Sun we payed less cause of no lift tickets, but still I would have rather had a day of clear skies and powder skiing. We had to leave the mountains with tons of powder but we just couldn't wait the storm out. It will probably be storming for the next few days. If it doesn't turn into rain there will be some amazing skiing up there come mid week.
I didn't take many pics because I got many good ones last week. On the website there are a few pics of the lodge to check out. I have a test on Mon. but after that I am free all day. I may go to the beach to fly my kite some more. I need to decide what to do next weekend still. Either go skiing with CUSS again, or go with the tramping club for snowcraft which teaches winter survival skills. I promised my roommates that after ski season I will be around on the weekends more. Still we do a lot of bonding mid week.
Oh, on fri night the dude that told me about the rain at temple was at my place and we where discuss skiing with my roommate. I was saying how I liked to ski in the snow because it feel wintry. Nothing like being in the trees while its dumping. My roommate was saying how its better to have blue skis after a heavy storm. I guess I got my wish answered and got do some skiing in the snow, unfortunately it also stopped me from even more skiing. be careful what you wish for I guess
T
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