Canada

Believe it or not, my first 3 months of my travel adventure has a specific purpose that will hopefully lead to a whole new world of opportunity and adventure, and get me away from the somewhat soul destroying 9-5 of IT corporate life. Yah dudes, I am learning to be a snowboard instructor.

The course, organised by UK company PowderTrip is set in the exhilarating Kicking Horse Mountain Resort which looms over the town of Golden, British Columbia. The course runs for a total of 11 weeks (5th Jan to 24th March) after which I will (hopefully) be accredited with CASI (Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors) level 1 and 2 instructor qualifications. This illustrious title will enable me to teach beginner and intermediate would-be snowboarders anywhere in the world (except for France that is who are typically difficult and insist on their own programme).

The courses has two key aspects. The first and most obvious is the practalities of teaching classes which includes methods of analysis, teaching techniques and exercises, class management etc. In addition, CASI mandates that all instructors are able to ride and demonstrate techniques to a high standard, so naturally we spend a lot of time on personal riding improvement - this has been the focus for the past 4 weeks. In this time my riding has improved way beyond my expectations - I'm now dropping insanely steep chutes, laying out huge powder turns at supersonic speed, razor sharp carved turns on pistes and pulling freestyle moves I'd never thought I'd dial (360's, half cab and backside 180's etc). Who knows where the next 7 weeks will take me.

There are 7 of us on the course in total, meet the crew...

The Skiers: (boo hiss)

Olly A young man from the Malverns with a sharp wit a dry sarcastic humour. His fine grasp of the English language is detoriating much to his displeasure with gnarly's and eh's creeping into his everyday vocab.

Tom Apparently a tennis prodigy from Liverpool, truly the strangest person I have ever met. A sports genious yet seemingly has zero coordination, a qualified sports trainer yet his diet consists entirely of chocolate bars, his cure for tonsilitues was to brush his throat with a toothbrush which resulted not suprisingly in major bleeding and a trip to the doctors (also tried gargling with salt water but drank it instead and threw up everywhere). A pleb indeed.

Don The lead instructor for the skiing fraternity, has his finger firmly rooted in every available pie in Golden, enjoys taking the piss out of us Brits (Tom in particular) - apparently this is what Brits do for fun. A level 4 instructor and coach - truly the don of the ski hill.

The Boarders:

Mike A highly educated school teacher from the heart of Yorkshire with a rather worrying obsession with phalice-related humour. Has an uncanny knack of acquiring injuries ranging from a badly twisted ankle to conjuntivitus (a result of a dip in the hot tub with contact lenses still in - not recommended!). Has inherited the ability to seek out deep powder and enjoys exploring these places by diving in head first.

Travis T An all-round sports legend from Ipswich (yet has a South African accent) whose accolades include Motorcross champion and (almost) playing scrum half for England touch rubgy team. Provides a running commentary of everything 24x7, through the eyes of Travis which can be a little annoying, but all round top bloke. Has a no fear approach to everything which sometimes translates into out of control manouevres yet is luckily impervious to pain - has recently walked away from a 15mph + dead stop on a tree stump, and a near Chelsea smile after an encounter with a piste rope.

Matt another bumpkin from the Malverns, friend of Olly. Recently aquired the name (from me atleast) Dyson after an encounter with the driven snow. Recently managed to melt his jacket on a radiator at Fresh Meat Mondays (explanation of this quality night will come). Gonna be a sick rider!

John The maturist of our merry band, from Bromsgrove though thankfully no Brummy accent to get me started. Has a seemingly carefree attitude to the course - more of a holiday than a lifestyle change. Has an insatiable appetite for beer, and has an aptitude beyond human for all pub related games, no coincidence there!

Ryan Our main instructor for the duration. Qualified to instruct and coach up to level 3 and level 2 freestyle. Originally from Ontario, first season in KHMR and like us struggles at times with the awesome terrain and knee deep powder, a stark contrast from the artificial nastiness back home. Likes to buy new kit and not use it tho a recent snap of his trusty steed from a kicker gone wrong has brought out the shiny stick.

Other characters of note:

John PowderTrip director, set things up for us for the first few weeks, now back in the UK. Looking forward to setting up PowderGirls, a new branch of the business, which will be a similar course to this except with 10-20 girls aged 18 to 30 - what a job!

Neil Our chaperone for the rest of the season from PowderTrip, level 2 instructor from Newcastle. Has had some board issues of late but has now thankfully got the right board so can quit his moaning ;o) Neil will be filming our antics here so watch this space (if he ever pulls his finger out and gets them off the damn camcorder).

Trevor All round snowboard legend who runs the Snowboard School here. His technique is absolutely flawless so much so he appears in the CASI training vids. Expecting his first baby any day now so naturally nervous - 40ft cliff drops son't scare this man so this is saying something. Likes to breath fire in his spare time as a means to keep nostril hair in trim

Finally there is Lisa, level 2 instructor, seemingly the object of desire for all males in Golden - she has the grace of feminity yet none of the faff of a girly girly and absolutely shreds the mountain to bits. Like anyone that trys their luck with her romantically, she plays with fire too

So, that's a quick overview of the core crew of my course and what I get up to, hopefully you have a feel for what my days are like now. There's too many people to mention in full here, we're just one big happy family, ah bliss.

My level 1 exams start on Wednesday so with a bit of luck I should be qualified by Friday, oo er, wish me luck!

Hello peeps! Sorry for the lack of blog updates but life here is just too much fun and not enough time/will power to spend my time sat at a computer. Ho hum, here's an update of my last couple of weeks...

My first home on arrival in Golden on 5th January was the Kicking Horse River Lodge, what a place!

Built in summer 2005, this hostel surpasses any I have ever stayed in. The entire building is constructed of prime BC logs, still has the smell of the wood filling the corridors. For the eco lovers this has to be the most energy efficient building I've ever seen featuring a Geo Thermal heating system which draws warm air from the earth and circulates around the building. It doesn't work too great as apparently the heated air gets colder when it gets colder outside - go figure. Absolutely spoilt with a massive 50 inch ish HDTV downstairs, unbelievably comfy leather couches to ease the day's pain from boarding. Very friendly bunch of staff (Heidi - love you!) and they made us very welcome, they loved our british charm so much they sponsored us (well, gave us free caps) and asked us for a pic of the boyz (Dave, Stu & Andy) to put on their website, ha ha. Had some wicked times here and many a night stumbled back from the pub fueled on Rye, this photo was from one of these classy occasions, sporting our KHRL caps:

I met some great people staying here, notably my two lovely new friends who I'll be spending the winter with - Bridget a bubbly Aussie chick with a love for the outdoors and incessant giggling, and Megs (Megan) from Calgary whose seen more of the world than most people I know at the sprightly age of 19 and snowboarding skills the put us all to shame.

Bridget (right) & Megs (left) @ KHRL:

I've now moved on to more (semi) permanent digs at the Golden Creekside Retreat - another gem of a place that we were really lucky to find. The place is targetted at more wealthy clientele, but as the owners are selling up and moving out to New Zealand in the spring, they were happy to have us move in for an extended stay at a knock down price - everybody's happy! The owners (Garcy & Kurt) are such lovely people and have really made us feel at home. Garcy is probably the happiest person I've ever met and is continually bringing joy into our lives with freshly baked cakes delivered to the cabin, and sweet notes spattered with smilies :o)
This is our home for the next few weeks (atleast) - yes, that's 4 of us in a one bed cabin, very cosy indeed!

The cabin is located out in the wilds, about 4km from town on a road leading up into the mountains. It's completely isolated from the rest of Golden (hence the 'retreat' in the name) and you really feel humble to the mountains and wilderness around you. The guestbook in the cabin tells tales of isolation, peace & tranquility, and people gathering thoughts and clearing your mind - I can feel the same liberation overwhelming me too. (Don't worry, I haven't started chanting or anything.)

The road leading to the cabin follows the canyon from the town up into the mountains and commands amazing views down the valley.

It's a bit of a chore to get to and from town and to the ski hill, but compared to walking down Battersea Rise in stinky Clapham Junction, London battling against cars, buses and toxic fumes it's not a chore at all.

There's a place where you can venture from the road and peer down into the abyss. On one of my braver moments I ventured to the edge of the platform, well actually managed to crawl on hands and knees within 2 feet of the edge and take this shot (it must be 60m vertical drop, yowsers):

We're lucky too that hitchhiking is common place in Golden and not really a problem to catch a lift. It's a great way of meeting people too and catching up on the latest town gossip - made some great friends that I see daily at the ski hill. I wouldn't dream of doing it in England but it's quite safe really as 99% head to the ski hill - life is simple here to say the least!

As we are so isolated, it's common to encounter the local wildlife (not just the local chainsaw wielding hill-billies). Very common to see white-tailed deer, and today I had a stand-off with a rather menacing looking squirrel. Probably more dangerous is a cougar (mountain lion) that patrols around the cabin at night, the creek it seems is it's favourite footpath to where ever it goes to hunt. These things are big enough to eat up a small child, Bridget who is not much taller than a toddler could be in trouble. One morning we found footprints 3 feet from our front door, scary stuff - this pic is of the footprint (apologies for poor quality):

If I don't get eaten in the meantime, I'll fill you in on some of our antics and the delights of Kicking Horse mountain soon. Bye for now.

A short yet somewhat hysterical story...

The rumours that Golden is full inbred, hill-billy hicks is at times a little harsh but I think I met the lady (perhaps a man, not sure) that continue to support these rumours.

Whilst drinking one night at the Mad Trappers bar (how appropriate), I got talking to a woman who claimed to be 40 years old, but infact looked more like 70, with a voice deeper than Barry White's and looks that make Sloth from The Goonies a stunner.

She told me of her plans to give up the hill-billy lifestyle and instead take a degree in Accountancy. None too weird yet until she explains her entry qualifications are that in 12th grade (approx 30 years previous) she achieved a 99% average (the 1% dropped because teachers can't give 100%). In her finals at school she again excelled but only got 98% this time, the 2% dropped for failing to get her name correct on the exam paper.

How did she achieve this level of genious? Well, it's all down to Donald Ducks Mathemagical Land of wonder. She insisted all you need to know is revealed within this cartoon.

http://dep.disney.go.com/educational/store/detail?product_id=77A83VL00&preview=y

So there you have it, budding mathemagicians and even those with PHds, check it out and learn math Disney style.