randnorm mind grenade
"to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." - willie shakespizzo
randnorm video
normdate 24.11.9
sun peaks resort in kamloops, british columbia, is holding a contest that has my name written all over it. they are looking for the first sun peaks snow bum.
One winner will spend three months on the slopes of Sun Peaks with a free place to sleep, food to keep them energized, flights to get them here, plus outerwear, gear and a season’s pass for carving up the powder.
so what exactly does being the sun peaks snow bum mean? click here to find out.
for those of you who have been following my adventures online through my site, my blog, and facebook, you know i'm already a snow bum...now sun peaks is willing to foot the bill.
here is my video entry to be the sun peaks snow bum. big thanks to philbot for lending me all of his cameras, to khing jamez for helping me film at c.o.p., captain q, ida, stacey, ketchup, rae rae and megan for being extras in my video, and most importantly dani bayliss for editing the video.
please go here and leave a comment
this contest was made for me.
after making it into the top 20 finalists *yay* i was required to submit a written assignment.
Please tell us about your most memorable travel experience in a minimum of 400 words, and a maximum of 500.
here is what i submitted, with pikchaz (of course)
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Each year, at the end of March, my friends and I embark on a weeklong storm-chasing mission across the interior of British Columbia in search of powder. This road trip from Calgary to Vancouver involves riding six mountains in seven days. We call it EpiTrip.
On the shred menu for EpiTrip 2009 was Fernie, Kimberley, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke, Whitewater, and Red Mountain.
Spending the 2006 snow season in Nelson gave me the opportunity to explore and familiarize myself with the vast backcountry at Whitewater.
It had been three years since I was out in the Whitewater backcountry, and I was excited to share the pristine Out of Bounds Kootenay powder with my friends.
With our boards on our backs, snowshoes on our feet, and our transceivers set to transmit, we began our hike towards Ymir ridge to shred the champagne powder that falls in 5 Mile Basin.
When we reached the top of the ridge, we were a bit further away from where I had originally planned for us to drop in.
With knee high powder and trees tempting us, we decided to eat one of our packed meals and drop in right there.
Floating through insane amounts of untouched snow while screaming for joy at the top of our lungs made us forget that it took us an hour to hike there.
When we reached the bottom of the basin, the smiles on our faces dwarfed the painted visage of the Joker. It was perhaps the best snow I had ever ridden in my life.
After an hour forging a new path through the snow and being surrounded by 60ft tall trees, I became concerned about our location. It should not have taken us that long to get back to the bottom of 5 Mile Basin. With daylight fading, we decided to hike up the side of the mountain so we could get a better idea of where we were. When we were high enough to see the peaks, it was then that I realized why they call it 5 Mile Basin.
Untouched knee high powder and a steep incline is amazing when you are riding down it, but it’s the opposite experience when you are hiking up it in snowshoes.
It took us 9 hours to hike out of the backcountry. We emerged at 2am. Our friends had filed missing persons reports with the police and thanks to my Facebook status update, B.C. Search and Rescue knew where to start their search for us. A helicopter was scheduled for 6am to get us out of there. We had enough food and clothing to spend the night, but there was no way I was going to sleep under a tree when I knew I could walk home.
That was the most challenging task I had ever conquered, both physically and mentally. Combined with riding the best snow of my life, especially by moonlight, it was the most memorable travel experience of my life…and I lived to tell the tale.
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i have a 20min phone interview with sun peaks tomorrow at 1pm and then it is left for the judges to decide if i should be the snow bum.
thanks to all of you for your support. i'll keep you posted via my blog and facebook.
regardless of who they choose to be the snow bum, i will continue to embrace snowboarding every single day through work...
...shred every single weekend until may 2-4 weekend (yay ontario slang!)
helmet cam vid of me haulin' ass down wiwaxy at lake louise on saturday.
part1.
part2.
i will also wake up beside a woman i love (we moved in together, but that's another story), surround myself with the most amazing of people, give thanks for every blessing that comes my way, and do what makes me the happiest.
looks like i win no matter what.
fuck yeah!
~*...normaste...*~
