First Day of School / Snow Day

Let's see where we are...

Wednesday evening, i picked up Guy and Gail at YVR, and we made the trip up the Sea-to-Sky to our new digs in Squamish.

Allison and James are fantastic hosts with two sweet kids (Malayna and Tyson), and dog Whiskey.

Thursday morning was a 4:30 start, to catch a bus to the Whistler Creekside venue for my training shift. The alpine venue is overwhelming, and there is loads to take in.

The weather has not been cooperating for the race on Saturday. Men's downhill is the big show as far non-Canada is concerned, so our first shift tomorrow is set to be a circus. Despite the snow and warm base temps, they are going to try and get a ladies' qualifying run and the mens' medal runs done, with eight heads of state in attendance.

One of my cooler duties will be to help the HETS-tech unload injured patients from the helicopter long-line. We'll only unload minor injuries, as the bad cases get helo'd directly to the athlete hospital.

I could go on and on about the cool set-up, but will save it for our first day of operations tomorrow.

The bass of Whistler was clear, mid mountain was socked in with fog, and it was puking snow in the alpine. The stage was set for my day off.

Ottawa-Matt and I left Squampton early to bus up and get first lines. We caught up with Ottawa-James at the top of the Whistler gondola.

We dropped into Harmony bowl, and skied some epic freshies down to Harmony Chair. The chair wasn't loading, so we got to see the avalanche crews blast a few hot-spots. Once they were done, it was a mad dash to ski up all the new snow. I'm guessing the avy crews missed a spot, because I triggered a small slide that went for about 150 feet.

Once Harmony was tracked out, we rolled over into Symphony Bowl, to repeat the process. The snow lasted longer here, as the howling winds and low visibility kept most of the gorbies away.

Two quick laps of the Peak Chair to close out the day, and my legs were done. For the first time in my life, I downloaded the gondola at mid station, because I just couldn't make it down.

My hosts are feeding me like royalty, and letting me soak in their hot tub. They've even set me up with luge tickets next week.

Speaking of luge, our guys were first on scene today. I haven't spoken to any of them yet, but would imagine that morale took a blow. I'm not allowed to talk about stuff that goes on anyway, so we'll just leave our thoughts and prayers with his family and teammates.

I have some cool pics and vids available, but not on this hand-held. Stay tuned, as I will either edit them in, or post them later.

Spec3 out. (that's my call-sign!)

T-minus

My time to putz around and enjoy life is running out.

Today, I was hoping to do a tour with Ottawa-Matt, but he was busy skiing with some bunnies at Sun Peaks. Considering I would do the same thing in his position, I wound up doing a solo tour in the Coquihalla.

Before anyone panics, here were the safety factors I had in my favour:

-I know the tour quite well

-Low slope, and stable snow-pack

-Little margin of error (it would take a lot of work to get lost)

-A triathlete medic, and two blood relatives (+ ski dog) who'd bail me out if I didn't check in

A much quicker trip to the summit than Saturday, a quick lunch, and three laps, followed by a ski-out. It was a little colder than previously, but not unbearably so.

Survivorman. I get it. So sue me. I was lonely, and the camera was my friend. That should answer most of your questions about the split board. To answer some questions about the previous vid, Charlie (dog) was exhausted, and was loaded into a backpack for the majority of the ski-out.

I just went through my Olympic welcome kit. They gave us all a bottle of ColdFX. Is it because they're a sponsor, or is that a subtle indication of the sick-leave policy for volunteers?

Also included were 10 Olympic postcards. I'll be picking up some stamps, and you can all have one. Well, at least the first 7 of you to email me with your address... Mom & Dad, Grandma, Jan & Rich are exempt (I got 10, but you guys are locks).

My first bona fide shift is Saturday, for Men's Downhill. It's promising to be a crazy showdown with Canada's Eric Guay vs Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal. I'll keep you's posted.

Whistler

I drove up to Whistler today, hoping to snowboard. There was no day parking available, so from a skier standpoint, it was a ghost-town.

While picking up my Edge card, the nice girl from Montreal gave me a lead on where I could park, but as it was noon I didn't waste a day on my lift pass.

In an attempt to make the most of my drive up there, I thought I'd drop in at the acreditation center, to see if I could get my uniform and ID two days ahead of schedule.
The outdoor uniform is pretty cool, but for the time being I look like all the other plebe volunteers. Thursday when I get my medical arm band, I will officially be a badass. If I can get to a real computer, I'll see if I can't link to a pic of the uni. Edit: I'll look like this guy, only whiter, and less handsome.

Whistler is on serious lockdown. Lots of media setting up, so I may have done a walk-by on a few foreign TV cameras. I saw a few Russian athletes, but was none too impressed. The Whistler Medal Plaza is going to be bumpin', and I'm looking forward to my two shifts there.

Hoping to hook up with Ottawa-Matt tomorrow for a backcountry tour, and with Ottawa-James on Wednesday for some in-bounds at Whistler. Training Thursday, backcountry at Duffy Lake Friday, and men's downhill on Saturday.

Kara saw a dress-rehersal of the opening ceremonies tonight, and says that aside from the prairies, you guys are in for a good show.

Vacay in Van

So, while waiting to work, I'm managing to have a pretty decent time in Vancouver.

I arrived late Thursday night, and had trouble sleeping due to a mega-dose of caffeine, and blasting LMFAO on the car stereo to stay awake on the Coquihalla highway.

Friday, I managed to pick up the Opening Cer

emonies Dress Rehearsal tickets (free for volunteers) for my host family, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that each ticket came with a free bottle of wine. Walking through a sketchy part of town holding two bottles of wine may not have been the best of ideas, though I've been told that it would've been more dangerous with two bags of crack. Due to a mix-up with VANOC, I also had to turn down a free hotel room at the Westin in Whistler. That's probably the first and last time I'll ever do that. Lastly, I mixed in a quick workout, and then played 18 holes of frolf ("disc golf" to all the geeks out there) with Dylan, Matt, and Matt.

Yesterday, Dylan, Charlie (the dog), and I, took off into the backcountry to punish ourselves. Two hours from Vancouver, on the Coquihalla highway, we decided to explore a top secret location, which is a few minutes up the road from Falls Lake. A 2.5 hour skin brought us to the end of the logging road, at which point we de-skinned, and skied some VERY heavily treed lines to the base of a saddle. We re-skinned, and pushed on to the summit of an un-named peak, for a grand total ascent of 4 hours. From the summit, we rolled into an untracked chute of legendary steepness, for a 1,500 foot descent. A long bushwhacking traverse brought us back to a clear-cut, and a quick skin took us back to the top of the logging road for a crusty cruise out. The expression on Charlie's face explained perfectly why the expression is "dog tired".

Today was a day of recovery and discharging firearms. We headed out the Vancouver Gun Club to shoot a round of sporting clays. By a combination of luck and skill, I managed to place 2nd in my squad, with a pitiful 17/50. In everyone's defence, the course set-up was VERY difficult.

I'm planning to rock Whistler tomorrow and Wednesday, after which I'll be picking up Guy and Gail at the airport, and moving in with my host family for the games. My first shift is Thursday, but it's only a training shift to get oriented with our protocols and workstations.

There are police officers EVERYWHERE, and they seem bored and restless. There is something intangible in the air here, but you can feel that the city is gearing up for something BIG.

Vancouver!

After a free breakfast of DIY waffles, Mike and I taught Revelstoke Mountain Resort a lesson it will not soon forget. +3 with strata of fog at various elevations. No recent snowfall, but there were stashes of powder to be found in the North Bowl. A near miss with an Aussie almost cost him his arm; too bad I missed...

A quick trip down the road to Salmon Arm to eat dinner while watching the Sens stomp the 'Nucks. I left Mike with some Mormons, who were going to bring him to Calgary for a high school reunion. We should reconnect after the games.

The plan going forward:
-acquire tickets for host family
-sort out accomodations (just got an email telling me I've got a room at the Westin)
-a round of frolf tomorrow
-backcountry tour on Saturday
-skeet shooting on Sunday

We made it.

3 days of driving, 7 moose (6 living), 1 fox, 1 wolf, 6 tanks of gas, and 36 hours of driving finally got us into Banff yesterday.

A local tipped us off to a keg party at Hoodoo Lounge which made karaoke at Wild Bill's seem like a good idea. The last beer in the keg went to yours truly, and a duet featuring me and a British chick (Don't Go Breakin' My Heart) brought down the house. Parks Canada issued a *ahem* cougar advisory for Banff National Park.

All of this made for a rough start to the morning, but we tore up Kicking Horse nevertheless.

A quick trip down the road, and we are holed up in Revy. RMR tomorrow, after which Captain Kirk and I will part company in Salmon Arm, and I will proceed solo to Vancouver fueled by RedBull and diesel.

A friend scored her and I tickets to the closing ceremonies. I payed WAY too much for them, but I'm going, and you're not.

Regina.

The plan was to drive to Wawa, and spend the night. We made it to the Sault in 8 hours, and Wawa was not long after. A quick decision to go on to Marathon and suss things out evolved into rolling all the way to Thunder Bay on day 1. I think the chipped windshield spooked us enough to keep us awake.

Day two started off with a speeding ticket in Dryden (18 over / $60), spotting a Yukon and U-haul both upside-down on the side of the highway, a stop at Gen. Ray Hennault (Ret.) 's house for sandwiches, and a straightline into Regina.

Tomorrow, 8 hours on the road, and Banff.