Last Day in Mammoth

We wanted to make the most of our last day so last night we stayed in our room, neri cooked some roast chicken and vegies for dinner and we watched bad american TV such as Rock of Love Bus, Tool Academy and A double shot at love.

Woke up early this morning, the usual routine of getting into the snow gear, walking through the village in the warm sun and catching the gondola up to the mountain. It's going to feel very strange to get back home and not see mountains and snow from our window!

The weather was so nice today that we ate breakfast outdoors at the base of the mountain.

Had such a fun and relaxing day, snow was starting to soften a bit so we did a few high speed groomers which resulted in me getting a mouthful of snow several times as wind blown snow from carving turns flew into my face.

As usual we hit the terrain parks again, although today some of the jumps felt really sketchy. I had a few close calls off of the bigger sized ones and decided to take it easy as i didn't want to hurt myself on the last day.

Had lunch at the gondola mid station... a tasty spud with chili, cheese and sour cream and then decided to hit the smaller park with the smaller half pipe for the rest of the afternoon.

Neri likes this one because it has a line of 7 small kickers, a mid sized half pipe (perisher size) and then 3 more jumps and 2 rails right at the bottom. I must admit that it is so much fun rolling through this park, even though the jumps are smaller. I could have stayed there all day... and we did.

Got to the point where we couldn't see anymore as the sun went down and finally called it quits.

We tried to get some action pics but failed miserably with timing etc.

One more dinner in the village tonight, then tomorrow we begin the long trip home with our flight from Mammoth to LA and then LA to Sydney.


-J

Second last day in Mammoth

Another warm and sunny day greeted us as we made our way up the mountain in the gondola. We weren't too sure what the conditions would be like, but we decided to make our way over to the back side of the mountain to check it out. As we approached the top of the chairlift the wind started howling and I was starting to wonder whether this was a good idea.... Anyhow we kept going and it ended up being wind-blown powder all the way down, and no wind.

Jase had spotted a few people who were walking up a little way and dropping in to one of the upper bowls, so we thought we'd give it a go... The wind up there was crazy, icy snow stinging your face and the feeling of almost being blown off the edge of the mountain, but we persisted and dropped in. The first bit was basically ice that had grooves through it from the wind, but just past that was again wind-blown powder covering the steep bowl. Lots of fun but probably not worth the hassle to repeat.

After a few more runs we had lunch and saw "Wooly", who is the mascot for Mammoth Mountain. The crowds stayed away today, after yesterday I'd say most people didn't think it was worth it to come up without any new snow. But for us, we have to make the most of it before we head back to summer!

We hit the park a few more times and got a couple of good pics (and lots of bad ones too), and headed home at about 4.

-N

Respect to Neri for riding some icy steeps on her short board.
The parks here are fun.

-J

Park day at Mammoth

Last night we stayed in our condo and played trivial pursuit for a change.

Somehow Neri managed to beat me. She had been getting easy questions all night – but i thought i had her with the final question...

"How many fillérs are there in one Hungarian forint?"

Somehow she guessed the answer "100" and won the game.

Anyway, back up the mountain today, weather was nice and warm so we thought we'd check out some of the terrain parks that Mammoth is famous for.

There are 7 terrain parks here to play in with jumps, rails, boxes and all kinds of weird features, all painted in their signature pink.

I can't think of any other mountain that i've been to where you could hit 9 jumps, a half pipe and a few rails in the one run.

Most of our time was spent in the intermediate and beginner areas as the main park is a bit out of our league... the thing is huge with some serious jumps and jibs.

It was a really fun day in the sun, cruising through the parks and hitting the features, as well as watching some really talented riders making us feel inadequate.

Lots of laughs and near falls but most of them happened on the way in or out of the park, like when i was flying down the hill and decided to do a big crooked tail press right under the lift (riding sideways on my tail), out of control, arms flailing. Or when neri avoided a patch of sheet ice and i decided i'd try a big heelside turn on it almost losing control. Or when neri hit one jump, landed on the knuckle and did a huge bounce down the run out, landing effortlessly on her feet.

We must have been having a good time as the day flew by and before we knew it the sun was going down.


One drink at the outdoor bar and we headed back to our room.

No action shots today... wasn't really anything we did worth photographing to be honest. Will make sure we get some pics of the park tomorrow so you know what we are talking about.

Only 2 More days of this and we're back to reality :(

-J

Another sunny day in Mammoth

Back in our apartment after another perfect bluebird day... there was no wind at all today which was a nice change, and the sun was shining again. We even managed to get a little sunburnt... feels just like home.

The snow was less than perfect though, extreme hard-pack with a thin cover on top. We still had a really fun day exploring most of the terrain across the mountain, and just cruising around on the long, fast groomers. I was having flashbacks to zali's a few times over the day. Going up the gondola we could see the top bowls, which all looked less than enticing without any recent snow. The tell-tale sound of the few brave skiiers scraping down the ice was enough for me to give that a miss.

I love my new board.... (Thanks Tim!!) It goes like a rocket, and I'm loving it more as I get used to it and it softens up a little. I've been too chicken to try any boxes or jumps yet (due to the unforgiving conditions) but might give it a go tomorrow.

We also experienced the natural gasses that the mountain contains, the old smell of sulphur (rotten eggs) would hit every now and then, both on the lift and during the run down again. We soon realised we had chosen the run that was situated right next to a small geyser that was emitting the horrible odour. No wonder it wasn't a very popular run!!

There was definitely more people up on the mountain today, being a Friday, and I'm sure the number will increase over the weekend. But everything is so spread out you only really notice it back at the main lodge where the crowds all sit in the outdoor bar and watch the slopes. There were also people soaking up the sunshine on deck chairs out the front of the lodge, which also reminded me of the spring scenes at perisher outside jax.

Three more days riding here till we make our way back... can't believe that it's almost time to get back to reality!

N. xx

Mammoth day 2

Not much to report on today...

No rush to get up the mountain early as we knew it was going to be sunny with no new snow.

We spent the first few hours of the morning having breakfast and trying to find where our locker room was for our snowboards. This block of apartments is huge and it is hard to find things.

Once we sorted it out it was up on the gondola to the base of the mountain.

Beautiful sunny day, warm, except for a howling wind... snow was in pretty good condition but there were some wind affected sections which were pretty icy.

Neri was riding her new snowboard, once again supplied by Tim at Heresy Snowboards.

She seemed to be enjoying it... a lot stiffer and shorter than her other board but Neri says she had a lot of fun riding it.

One thing we can't believe is how quiet the village is here. Maybe because it is mid-week but there are not many people around. There are quite a few people on the mountain though.

We had a quick look at the terrain parks (there are 7 of them here) and although they looked amazing, nobody was hitting them... i'm guessing because of how hard packed the snow is at the moment.

Stayed out until 4pm cruising through the trees on some easy groomers, just mucking around and having a good time in the sun.

Neri was riding switch on the final run to the gondola and managed to fall flat on her butt which looked painful, but after a quick dip in the hot tub this afternoon she has recovered.

About to head out to dinner soon in the village.

-J

Mammoth Day 1

Relaxing day today, we needed it after yesterday.

We weren't sure what we were going to do without our snow gear... the airline would only pay for rental of the board and boots which would leave us having to pay for jackets, pants, gloves etc.

We decided to make this our day off from snowboarding and check out the town.

As we stepped outside this morning we felt like it was summer! Don't know what the temps were in the village but it was 5 degrees and sunny up on the mountain.

Coming from Banff where it was consistently in the -20's you can imagine how hot this felt. T-shirt weather!

The village here is really nice (it is fairly new, only built a few years ago), with a gondola that links up to the base of the mountain, however mid week it is dead empty down here.

We caught the bus to Main St to check out some of the shops as I wanted to get neri a new jacket. Not much of a town here, just the usual ski town kinda thing. It's easy to get around with the free bus.

Ended up getting neri a new jacket which was really cheap (half the price of in Australia) from a store here in the village.

The gondola to the base of the mountain is free so we went up in the afternoon to check it out. Still heaps of snow around but no fresh snow for a week or so. We had a drink at the outdoor bar and then came back down to our room.

Tonight we went to the supermarket and stocked up on food that we can cook for dinners... including some fruit, vegies and other things that have been lacking in our diet for the past 4 weeks.

Our boards arrived this afternoon which is a relief so we can't wait to get up the mountain tomorrow!


-J

Airplane dramas

I'm very glad to say that we made it to Mammoth... our condo is awesome, self-contained kitchen etc and heaps of room to spread out. We are so relieved to settle in after a very long, stressful and eventful day.

I won't go into all the nitty gritty details as it will just make me mad (again) but here's a brief run-down...

- Woke up at 4:15am to no hot water in our hotel room = cold showers.

- On the road to Calgary at 5am

- Arrived for check-in on Air Canada flight at 7:09am, they had already closed the flight at 7:00am = missed the flight.

- Weren't able to take next Air Canada flight as it would arrive in LA too late for our Mammoth flight connection

- Found a WestJet flight that would get us to LA with 40 mins till our Mammoth flight (cutting it fine for a LA connection but worth a shot) = paid $300 CAD each

- Took our WestJet flight and arrived in LA on-time (amazing, somehing went right) picked up our bags and raced to the Horizon Air check-in for our flight to Mammoth

- Checked in A-OK for our Mammoth flight (phew), took our bags over to the X-ray and were told everything was cool and we could go...

- We finally started to relax.... we had made our flight and we would be in Mammoth before we knew it!

- Enjoyed the views coming in over the Sierra Nevada ranges, a bizzare landscape where the desert meets the snow-capped mountains.

- Waited for our bags to be off-loaded from the aircraft, only two arrived = board bag missing.

- Had to wait 1/2 hr for someone to help us.... regional airport = only 1 staff member able to help.

- Ended up finding out our board bag was still in LA and would arrive tomorrow.

- Final conclusion = we have vouchers to hire boards, bindings and boots for the day. However, both pairs of gloves and my jacket were also in the board bag so we'll have to hire them too (and pay for these ourselves).

Could be worse... we at least have the rest of our luggage, just one of those days where if anything could go wrong it did!!

Oh well, start again tomorrow.... See how we're feeling after a good nights sleep.... my brain is too tired to think about it anymore tonight.

N.xx

Last day in Banff

Last night i started coming down with a cold...

Wasn't sure how i'd wake up feeling this morning, but i slept in and woke up feeling pretty good.

What better cure for a cold is there than heading up the mountain for some fresh mountain air.

Left the hotel at around 11:30, stopped in town and picked up some new sunnies for Neri that she tried on the other day.

Made it to Sunshine Village about 12 and still got a good parking spot. No crowds here on weekdays.

Only 1cm of new snow over night but weather was much nicer than previous days, a bearable -10 and sunny.

We got on the gondola and got off at the Goat's Eye chair.

Did a few fun runs down there but steered clear of the double blacks as they were still steep icy moguls. Snow was in good shape though, light layer of powder on top of a firm base.

After Goat's eye we did a few more runs on the main mountain, some nice steep sections with surprisingly good snow.

We went in for a late lunch, which was soup for me and a bowl of chilli for neri... somehow this managed to cost us $20.

After lunch more of the same, had a great time cruising around with neri... rode just about every chairlift and everything from green to black runs and some random tree runs thrown in.

We both love this mountain, so much potential if we had some decent snow but still fun to be out there all the same.

Back to the hotel now and neri is trying to call Air Canada to list on our flight to LA. She's been on hold for half an hour now.

Tomorrow we leave early to drive to Calgary, then fly to LA, where we transfer onto our flight to Mammoth Lakes.

This will be our final destination before we start making our way home... can't wait to enjoy the last week in our condo and enjoy some home cooked meals after eating out for 4 weeks straight!

-J

Snowboard free day in Banff

It was another chilly morning as we woke up early to get ready for our "Exploring Banff and it's Wildlife" tour, which would pick us up at 8.45am. We got onto the bus with about 10 other people ready to see some of the sights and hopefully some wildlife too!

The trip covered all the main tourist attractions in and around the town.... the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, which originally was built in 1888 (but has since burned down and been rebuilt); the "Hoodoos" - pillars of rock that have been formed over millions of years; Lake Minnewanka, and the frozen Bow Falls; and finally the Cave & Basin, which was the discovery that actually prompted the area to be declared a National Park. These are a collection of natural sulphur springs within the mountain - the Cave being indoors (in a cave), and the Basin being outdoors. Bathers are no longer allowed in the springs due to the discovery of a species of endangered snail that lives only in these springs, nowhere else in the world! The snail is about the size of a passion fruit seed so I didn't really consider that to be the most exciting wildlife sighting of the day.

We did, however, see a male and female Mule Deer through the trees, and a big herd of 5 male Elk grazing on the side of the road. The Elk were amazing, their antlers are huge and after holding one up (see attached pic) you can only imagine how strong their necks must be! While we were stopped taking photos of the Elk another 2 wandered out of the trees and crossed the road right in front of our bus! They were a little younger than the others and didn't like to pose for the photographers so they hid behind a tree.

On the drive back down to town we also saw another herd of Elk but they were much further away than the previous lot.

At the conclusion of the tour we were dropped back in town and had lunch at one of the pubs.

Jase is starting to get a bit of a cold, not surprising considering the cold temperatures we have been in... so we had a lazy afternoon in the hotel. Sunday night is really quiet in town, we just came back from a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant but nothing much really happening so we'll probably have an early night. Hopefully Jase will be feeling better tomorrow and we'll decide in the morning what to do on our last day in Banff.

Another Day in Sunshine Village

It was freezing last night... -25 in town with a windchill of -32.

When we came back from snowboarding Lake Louise we hit the hot tub here in the hotel to relax then got ready for dinner.

As soon as we walked into the street the cold air froze our nose hairs which is a slightly uncomfortable feeling as you can imagine. Kind of like constantly having a booger in your nose that you can't get rid of.

We didn't want to walk too far so we jumped into the first decent restaurant we could find, the Maple Leaf Grill.

Dinner was tasty (but on the expensive side), I had the roast duck and neri had lamb shank.

We woke up this morning to more clear skies, but the temperature was still around -26 with no fresh snow which made it hard to get motivated.

We were also put off by the icy conditions at Lake Louise the day before.

Eventually we made it up to Sunshine Village by around 11am. This was the first bluebird day since we got to Canada so we swapped our goggle lenses from yellow to chrome.

Up the Gondola we could see the views that we missed in the white out on our first visit. Absolutely stunning scenery.

We had a quick look at Goats Eye Mountain but from the base all we could see were steep icy moguls... such a shame because looks like there are some awesome steeps up there... we just need more snow! We also could see / hear them avalanche bombing the bowls around Goats Eye all day.

There has been a lot of talk about avalanches around here... people are saying ski patrol are being over-cautious, but reports have been saying that it is really unstable out of bounds which has kept us in the resort boundaries. Looking across the mountain there are so many untouched bowls just a short hike out of bounds... but they must be untouched for a reason! We're not about to risk it.


It was really cold today, up the top of the mountain it felt like my face and my fingers were going to fall off, but despite no new snow for a few days the cover was in surprisingly good condition. Sunshine maintains the snow a lot better than Lake Louise. Even the steep sections were nowhere near as icy.

Most of the day was spent cruising around the mountain, doing runs all over the place and just taking it easy. I love this mountain but it desperately needs fresh snow so that we can enjoy the steeper terrain. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we'll get any before we leave in tuesday.

Still managed to find some powder in some very tight tree runs... there must be heaps of local secret spots that we don't know about.

Tomorrow we go on a wildlife tour around Banff so hopefully we see some animals!

Will probably head up to the hot springs in the afternoon.

-Jase

Sunny day in Lake Louise

This morning we finally woke up to a sky with sunny patches, so we decided to make the trip to Lake Louise to ride today.

The same drive that we took yesterday was completely different today, as after we were on the road for 5 minutes the clouds all cleared up and we had a beautiful blue sky and sunshine, lighting up all the mountains and scenery that surrounded us. We had no idea what was behind all that cloud and fog the first time we came through!

We arrived at the Lake Louise Ski Resort and took the first chair we came across up to mid-mountain. We could only do our best to try and pick where to go from the trail map, and also we discovered the trail numbers on the map in my pocket didn't actually match the trail markers on the hill, it was all very confusing.

Our first run was obviously one of the crowd favourites, as there were skiiers and boarders everywhere trying to negotiate the best way down.... What made this so difficult was the sheet ice covering most of the run, which we were definitely not expecting!

We agreed to head over to one of the other faces to check the conditions, so we headed up the gondola and down another scenic run. Jase looked over the edge of the cat track to some of the black runs... they mostly consisted of icy moguls of death, so we stuck to the safer groomed green & blue runs.

A few more runs on one of the other peaks, where they were still snowmaking, which was providing a sparse covering to the ice underneath. Despite the sunshine and clear skies, it was still a very cold day, by the top of the chairlift our hands were numb and you could feel the breath catching in your throat.

The run back to the bottom of the gondola was absolutely amazing, photos and descriptions cannot capture the feeling of being on the edge of one of these gigantic mountains, 360 degrees of incredible sights.

We are about to go out to get some dinner now, there's no new snow forecast for tomorrow so we'll probably take a day off and see some more local sights around Banff.

Hope everyone had a fantastic start to 2009 :)

love Neri.xx


P.S. we need more snow! -jase

First day of 2009

We did ok to wake up at around 9:30am after a big night.

Neri got up and checked the snow report... only 2cm of new snow over night.

Given how late we were we decided to try out Norquay... the smallest of the "Big 3" mountains around Banff but also the closest...

This turned out to be a big mistake. It's not often that i can say i am not having fun snowboarding, but we only lasted 3 runs on this tiny mountain before we couldn't handle any more.

Snow was very hard packed and icy on the steep sections (reminded me of home) with exposed hazards everywhere. Riding lifts that were slow and built in the 1950s. The only thing going for it was the spectacular scenery but that wasn't enough to keep us there for more than an hour.

Maybe we were just unlucky and experienced abnormally bad snow conditions, but there was not much to like about it.

We left Norquay and spent the rest of the afternoon driving up to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. The drive was difficult at times with a lot of ice and snow on the road, especially the last few km, but we arrived without any issues.

The view of the lake was awe inspiring... we really felt tiny with these huge mountains towering around us.

People were ice skating on the lake, playing ice hockey, and kids were playing in an ice castle which was built on the lake for tourists.

If the weather had been better we could have seen more of the view, but it was still great to see.

Took photos and checked out the Chateau then headed back to our lodge.





Had Indian for dinner tonight which was really nice (although I am definitely sick of eating out every night) and looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight.

Hopefully we get some more snow.

-J

NYE in Banff

It was bizarre watching the news and seeing that Sydney had already welcomed in the new year while we were still stuck in 2008.

The fireworks on the bridge looked awesome... Banff would have a lot to live up to.

We didn't really have a plan for new years but we knew we had to eat, and then we wanted to see the fireworks.

Ended up having dinner at a place close by our lodge but not without an hour or so wait for a table. It was a mexican bar / restaurant so we sat at the bar and waited until a table became available.

We noticed that there was a small band set up and a poster saying that we'd have to pay $25 each if we wanted to stay after nine to see the band "Swanee and friends".

Now the only Swanee that i know of is Jimmy Barnes's washed up brother, and the 80 year old guy that was tuning his harmonica on stage didn't look a thing like him. Needless to say we had our dinner, a few drinks and made a hasty exit.

It was snowing lightly in the streets and there were heaps of people around trying to figure out what they were going to do, including lots of girls in skirts and guys in t-shirts... which we found unbelievable considering how cold it was.

By this stage it was about 9:15pm still some time to kill before the fireworks at midnight so we set out to try and find a pub which had free entry. We couldn't, so we ended up paying $20 at a pub called "Tommy's".

Not the best location, but it was somewhere to hang out before the fireworks.

A few drinks and before we knew it, midnight was approaching. The bar staff handed out noise makers, necklaces, various hats and a glass of champagne. We headed outside and were shocked to find a sea of people in the streets, all crammed together in the main drag on Banff waiting for midnight.

Somehow we got a decent position for the fireworks and the crowd went nuts when they started firing. It was an electric atmosphere, the fireworks were good, and overall it was better than i expected!

We hung around in the street for a while dancing and making the appropriate noises with our party devices, watching people stumble and slip on the snow... just soaking up the scenes.

I made a few new friends, including a guy with a cut-out of Jim Carey. I tried to give him a high five (see picture attached) only to find out he only had one arm!

We got home around 1:30am, so tired from the day of snowboarding but glad that we made the effort to head out... it was a fun night.

-J