~*...backcountry claims a life...*~

i was picked up bright and early yesterday by dana, the instructor for my level 1 casi course. we headed up to whitewater where dana was teaching a professional development program course. it was a recap of all the teaching techniques that i learned a few weeks ago when i did my casi level 1 course, plus an intro into the techniques and skills that the level 2 casi course would cover. there were 5 other people in the class with me, each one an instructor at whitewater. i learned some good skills to help with my carving, and it was a good intro into what i would be tested on for my level 2.

the course finished at noon and i chose to stay at the hill for the remainder of the day to get some runs in.

hey, ryan (dj azonic), look who i ran into on the hill?


i also ran into nile, one of the guys i did my level one course with. he was riding with his friend amos (who skiis). they are both 19yrs old and both of them are addicted to spinning 360's. these guys were dialing 3'z off of anything and everything. it was most impressive.





later that afternoon, we were all reminded that the mountain is always in control. a 33yr old man took a tumble in the backcountry, hit rocks and trees on his way down, and was pronounced dead on arrival after the helicoptor took him to the nearest hospital. its such an overwhelming feeling to ride in an area where someone's spirit had just been set free, a victim of the risks involved when riding back country. you could feel it in the people, in the air, it was an intense feeling of loss. in a town this small, there is only a single degree of separation if you did not know the victim personally. 33 year old carey bosker was a freerider...he leaves behind his wife anne and their 8 month daughter noah. :(

r.i.p. carey bosker

i got home and enjoyed a well earned shower. i emerged to see that the sky was dumping tonnes of fresh snow. owen and i walked through the freshly falling snow over to our friend brett and ruben's place for a birthday potluck. happy birthday ruben!

good thing i had on a hat that kept the snow off my head cause it was coming down hard. thanks for the hat grant.


ruben and brett are two brilliantly talented musicians. it was awesome to chill at their place and jam. a few guitars, a cello, some drums, a keyboard, and a room of creative individuals is a great recipe for a rockin jam.


i ended up chillin out at mikhaila's place after brett and ruben's party. not wanting to hike back uphill, i passed out at mikhaila's place dreaming of the beautiful powder i would ride at whitewater the next morning. if it was dumping this much in town, the snow at whitewater was going to be epic...and it was.



~*...normaste...*~

~*...the best snow is here at whitewater...*~

i woke up this morning to find it snowing beautifully outside.

if there was that much snow on the picnic table and trees, i knew that there would be tonnes more up at whitewater...and i was right.

it was just dumping snow at the hill. so much of it had fallen overnight that everywhere you went there was at least past your boot high powder. not to mention that 2cm of snow accumulated on your body just sitting on the chairlift.


i have never seen so much snow before in my life, and it was just coming down! everyone on the hill was stoked to be riding in such incredible snow. i can't count the number of times people said "this is the best snow i've ever seen".



its almost as if everyone who is here enjoying the powder are in on a big secret: the best snow in the world falls here at whitewater, a small resort with two dinky 30yr old double chairlifts, no lineups, and the best people to shred with.



riding the sprawler bowl put me in powder that was above my waist! nucking futz! the snow here on a good powder day is mindblowing, and that is exactly what today was.

i tried taking pix while riding, while being in motion. yah, its good when you don't have to worry about your camera gettin snow on it. the pix didn't really turn out that good though, or at least not as good as i wanted them to.


i did like the expression caught on my face here as i rode down the hill with a camera in my hand and snapped a shot. yup, that expression of awe pretty much sums up my day. pure powder heaven.



thanks jonas and frederick for another amazing day out.



if you love powder, you must make it to whitewater. you will be glad you did.
~*...normaste...*~

~*...powder surprise...*~

i headed up to whitewater with jonas and frederick today. it was a sunny day out so i expected hard packed groomed runs. instead, we were treated to 15cm of fresh powder...everywhere!

there was no real need to go out of bounds because there was snow everywhere. i was pleasantly surprised. clear sunny days out here are a treat, yet alone clear sunny days with powder.

we did a bit of trekking, but nothing more than a 10 minute hike. aah, what a beautiful day to ride.



there were lots of places to get fresh tracks. its amazing to see how picky people are when it comes to fresh tracks...they actually get upset when something is tracked up. hell, i'm just stoked to be riding powder. who cares if someone else has also ridden the same powder?



we spent a good portion of the day hitting the catch basin and all of the fresh snow that lead up to it. aah, the high of making fresh tracks is incredible.



what an incredible day at whitewater. this place is majik!

i went down into town later to buy a sub from subway to take with me snowboarding tomorrow, only to find that subway closed early tonight. grrrr. so i took my $5 and bought a beer at the rez avoir. it was regaae night, so the crowd was wikkid and the beats were 500% koots! the koots roots all stars were playing, and the vibe was irie.

i met a girl who asked me if i was the radiant light who tied the red hemp to the tree in front of the holy smoke cafe earlier in the week. whoah, didn't think anyone was watching us decorate the tree, yet alone see it as spreading light.

i made an origami crane and hung it with hemp from the tree.


and don't forget children, jesus christ is saviour of the world.


i'm riding again tomorrow. i hope the conditions are even better.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...i want to live here...*~

normdate 2.20.06
5:19pm

i'm sitting on the front porch of 315 observatory street waiting for july, the woman who is going to show me the place. i just met one of her roommates, jp, who let me in and me the tour already. i can see myself living here. this is where i want to live. the room is big, the living room is spacious, and it is just down the street from the hitching spot for whitewater, and there is already internet. oh, and the price is right.

i just looked at another place which was more expensice and super ghetto.

ew.

i hope this place works out for me. its funny that brandy, who lives in the home i'm staying at with andrea, was going to reccommend this place to me as she knew one of the guys who lived here. she said "norm, you are going to live there."

i want to live here. it is perfekt for me. feeding this energy. making it a reality.

my ipod battery is fukkin hosed. i only got 20 minutes of play time from a full charge before it died.

i do, however, have a laptop with wireless internet beside my bed/sofa at andrea's place. it is so good to be connected. i can't wait for my pc to make it out here. i hope graham can get it shipped here for free. that'd be sweet.

did i mention i really want this place?

my toes are cold.

i'm going to take a pikcha of this place. here is what the front porch looks like.


jp is from finland. thank you in finnish is kiitos. my thank you repetoire is up to 53 languages.

gp skiis and snowboards and from the looks of things he has a var too. oh man, this perfekt. i belong here.

hmm...who is this walking up. yup, its july here to show me the place. hi!

....alright, july skiis too. wikkid. i was introduced to their landlord who lives downstairs. now its up to july to discuss things over with her roommates and make a decision. shanti, the other woman who lives here, might have a friend who has priority for the room. i hope that falls through.

and the room belonged to johnny, brandy's friend.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...shredding solo...*~

i wasn't able to get in touch with my swedish friends jonas and frederick today, but i still wanted to go riding. so i walked down to the hitching spot on the highway hoping i'd be able to hitch a ride to whitewater.

i had never hitchhiked before in my life, so all of this was a new experience for me.

it took me 6 minutes standing at the hitchin spot before someone picked me up. its nelson, the community here is strong, the energy is friendly...and there's a hitching spot to get up to whitewater.


riding solo was also a new experience for me. i'm used to having at least one person to shred with, but not today. the sun was shining brightly against the clear blue skies. that also meant that there was no new snow. the runs were all hard packed and groomed. that did make for some very very fast runs.




this woman was rocking the original kemper one piece, and she was on a monoski! old skewl baby!


i shared my last run with a guy named cory that i met on the chairlift. turns out he is from toronto, and is visiting family in nelson. he hooked me up with his grandparents after, who drove me back into town. schweet. no need to hitch a ride back.

overall, it was a good day out. riding solo is still shredding, so i can't complain...but i prefer riding with others. riding is fun no matter how you slice it, but riding with others is more fun.

this is where i have been sleeping for the past two weeks...and three of the beautiful souls who have opened up their home to me as i search for a more permanent place to live.

owen, carron, akkal

owen and i headed over emily's place for a pizza potluck for dinner. i met some incredible people, drank lots of booze, and ate delicious pizza (pear and pesto make for delicious pizza toppings).


lighting our shots on fire were also part of the menu for the evening.


got to hang with some very kind, chill, and amazing people. nelson is growing on me. thanks for opening up your home to me emily.



~*...normaste...*~

~*...happy hallmark day...*~

fuck hallmark! but i did hear the voices of the women i love today, and i am thankful to have them in my life to love.

hearing erin's voice today warmed my heart and made me want so badly to be near her.

i just got off the phone with christina, and i'm experiencing my usual after christina conversation high.

i don't even question how its possible for two women to have my heart, it just is. spend some time with them and you'll understand why. i can't wait for you two to meet. it will be majik.

i love you erin. you blow my mind and rawk my world.

i love you christina. thank you for reminding me that i am perfekt.



...and i awoke, and faintly bouncing 'round the room was the echo of whomever spoke.

i love you...and its not because hallmark told me to say it.

i also received a package today from my friend alex in toronto. i started a thread on tribe two weeks ago about nalgene bottles, and how i lost mine in jasper. alex saw my post and offered to replace my lost nalgene. he did more than just replace it, he went overboard. the package included four boxes of granola bars, advil liquid gel caps, an edge sharpener, an adventure towel (to wipe down my board), kung pao chicken (the freeze dried kind), a sticker, chocolate kisses, three dvds full of essential mixes, and a brand new red nalgene bottle. dude, i can't thank you enough. thank you for thinking of me. its good to know i'm loved.

and to make it even better, erin found my nalgene in jasper and is sending it back to me. not to mention that i found another red nalgene in the lost and found at whitewater. three nalgenes are better than none. schweet.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...my first back country experience...*~

yesterday i experienced my first taste of back country riding at whitewater. not having any of the necessary equipment made it even more of a challenge. snowshoes are key! otherwise the hike back up is very difficult. i was sinking into the snow so often that i had to crawl at times just to move forward. add to that the weight of my board on my back, and it was a challenge getting back up.


the snow is worth it though. knee high powder on the north face, harder packed on the south because of the intense sun that has been gracing nelson for the past week. i wasn't complaining though. beautiful sunshine beating down on you as you hike up a mountain peak in february!


i spent the day with two swedish skiers that i had met at the dancing bear inn, jonas and frederick. these guys were a lot of fun to ride with. one was on skiis, the other on telemark skiis.

imagine riding down that, and then having to hike back up! nucking futz...but soooo worth it. without snowshoes, the trek back up took 90minutes as we zigzagged our way back up to the peak.

then we trekked up to the peak behind me here...another 25minutes. then we rode down this 44degree mountain face:



we started at the top left by the trees, and rode down through the bowl. heaven it was, steep heaven!

hearing your voice echo off of mountains is like nothing else i've ever experienced. riding pure powder after hiking to it is the the purist high, and i now know what it feels like. the satisfaction of hiking to the top of a mountain and then riding down it is overwhelming and incredible. its pure.


whitewater lived up to its slogan again: simple. pure. real...deep!



next purchase...snowshoes!

i was supposed to attend a free goa trance party last night, but i was in bed by 6:30pm. i woke up this morning. yah, hiking that much really took its toll on me.

this afternoon i'm hiking up to the crystal creek. yes, it is exactly that...a creek with crytals in it. i'jm so excited. i wish my ipod worked so i could listen to beatz :(

~*...normaste...*~