~*...snow much fun...*~

with burning man on the mind, i'm going to inject some randnorm playa goodness to my blog entries as well as a mind grenade (just in case the playa event doesn't succeed at blowing your mind).

randnorm sunday event in black rock city 2005

the wilson phillips pancake breakfast
9:30am - 12:00pm
i think the name says it all. hosted by: the bouncy bouncy club @ 4:30 and bipolar


photo by anthony peterson

randnorm mind grenade

wisdom through snowboarding. i often refer to snowboarding as yoga at 50km/h. you are forced to tune into every part of your being to maintain balance. muscles you didn't even think existed hurt after a day of riding. you need to be aware of every part of your body to compensate for the constant change in balance that the mountain throws at you. though it may look like a snowboarder is balanced and going straight down a hill, you are always on an edge. its that edge that holds you in place as you balance your way down the hill. a snowboarder is rarely equally balanced on a board, we are always on one edge or the other.

more mind grenades here

normdate 4.2.6

my friends steve and allison arrived yesterday from toronto. nelson is their first stop on their week long snow adventure through british columbia. i am always stoked to share the majik of the kutenais with my peeps from the big smoke. it is such a contrast living here in the mountains compared to the hustle and bustle of the city. you have to be here to understand it, and i love seeing the epiphanies of understanding that overwhelm people when they breath the air and feel the power of this place.

steve picked me up this morning around 9am, which was actually 10am thanks to daylight savings time *d'oh*



in the parking lot we ran into a whitewater celebrity. this dude rides with his pet bird tucked into his front jacket pocket. extreme bird!



steve and aly were blown away by how beautiful whitewater is, and how much snow there is in april! after a few warm up runs with the whole krew, steve's friend rob and i decided to introduce steve to some more challenging terrain...and powder.



the glory basin was blessed with a good amount of fresh snow, excellent for a beginner's first experience riding through powder. seeing steve wield his fear and ride through powder for the first time reminded me of my first experience with powder at the beginning of this season. we ride in onterrible for god's sake, there isn't snow like this there...ever! we're used to riding with our nose down and balancing on ice, not leaning back and floating through powder.



steve did a great job on his first run through powder, but like all of us new to these conditions, he had to learn the hard way that leaning forward and not having enough speed in powder means that you tumble. getting back up after you fall in powder is beyond exhausting.

tired and exhausted, we emerged from the trees at the bottom of the glory basin (steve's first time in trees) and stared down our next challenge: dynamite.



dynamite is steep, narrow, and covered in moguls. this was the most extreme run steve had ever faced in his life. this line through the glory basin and down dynamite is, imho, one of the toughest and most challenging ways down the summit side...and we conquered it together! nice work steve.

we met up with the rest of our krew in the lodge for a well earned beer. steve had just ridden powder for the first time, rode trees for the first time, made it down dynamite, and lived to tell the tale.



after nourishing our bodies with the tastiest of local ales, and the most delicious food available at any resort in the world (it really is that good), we headed back out for some end of day turns. steve was pretty exhausted, and wasn't into the idea of traversing across to the catch basin for some untracked powder goodness. somehow, with the promise of weed, we got steve to make the trek past the enchanted forest...

and relax with some lifted spirits at the top of the catch basin.


hooray for spring riding without a jacket on! kung fu outfits look so much kewler anyways ;)


steve's reward for making the traverse was a plethora of powder to ride through. actually, we all enjoyed the reward. the best snow is here at whitewater, if you're willing to walk to it.



and just like the glory basin, the open bowl of the catch basin funnelled us through some trees and then a very steep and narrow run, with smaller bumps ;)



congratulations steve on shattering what you thought you were capable of on a snowboard, and conquering the extreme terrain of the kutenai mountains.

satisfied and exhausted, we met up with aly and alexandra in the lodge for a few end of day pitchers of nelson faceplant beer. mmm...sooo good!



i was glad to run into my friend naava and her sister in the lodge. two jewmaican sisters reminding me that its not only possible for two different races to love one another, but that mixed breed children are very good looking too!



it was awesome riding with you steve and aly. i'm glad i was able to share with you the majik of the mountains that i call home. i know you're going to sleep well tonight.



~*...normaste...*~

~*...fire and the dreamweaver...*~

after lunch today, julia, owen, and i went to mckayla's place to hang out. there was some rum she had left over from the night before, so owen and i began sipping. mckayla left to babysit, and said to help ourselves to whatever booze we could find in her kitchen.



by the time mckayla got back from babysitting two hours later, owen and i were shmammered. it had been a while since i'd been drunk...ok, that's a lie, i was drunk a week ago. but before that it had been a while ;)

in our drunken state, owen and i made a little something for mckayla to put on her wall.


calligraphy and life by norm, rhymes by owpen dragon.

mckayla had some catching up to do...




the plan was to meet some people down at cottonwood falls to spin some fire. we rolled a few joints, grabbed some fuel, some fire poi, and fire fingers, and headed down to the falls. yes, we were well drunk by the time we reached the falls...so drunk that we had forgotten a few things at home, like my camera, and most importantly fire! yah, we had nothing to light our joints with, and nothing to light our poi with.

STONERS!!!

but seeing as mckayla's place was only a 5minute walk away from the falls, we began our quest for fire only to meet up with the craziest motherfucker in the history of ever! his name was dreamweaver. he had a light. he also had a huge marijuana leaf tattooed on his forehead! ON HIS FUKKIN FOREHEAD!!!

i asked him if it was real, and he encouraged me to try to rub it off. holy shit! this dude takes smoking weed very fukkin seriously!

i told him that he was the craziest motherfucker i had ever met in my life, and he thanked me for the compliment. did i mention he had a huge fukkin marijuana leaf tattooed on his forehead? i would post a pik, but i didn't have my camera. dreamweaver also didn't want his pikcha taken, so i respected his wishes.

when i asked him how difficult it is for him to cross the border, he said "why the fuck would i want to go visit that country?" fair enough.

i had never spun fire before, so i was pretty excited. i wanted to get comfortable enough with a few moves before i graduated to fire. setting myself on fire would suck.

HOLY SHIT! spinning fire is so goddam fun, and sexxxy! the sound of it moving by you, burning, consuming...its like a drug, it gets you high. its fukkin hot! i will never forget my first time spinning fire.

mckayla is a fire pixie, a very skilled fire poi spinner. she's also goddam cute. making out with her while she was spinning fire was very hot. hearing the flames spin past me while making out with the person spinning the fire...*drool*

julia is also a very skilled fire poi spinner, but i didn't make out with her while she spun ;)

we met two quebecois boys from montreal at the falls. they followed us back to mckayla's house where they pulled out two bottles of wine and proceeded to get us more drunk than we already were.



i passed out on the sofa and woke up feeling like a bag of shit. mckayla and i decided to turn today into a recover and do nothing day. *ouch* and to think that booze is legal. man, the next day is a write off!

~*...normaste...*~

~*...backside...*~

i woke up this morning to clouds and rain outside my window. living on a mountain, the clouds and rain were literally outside my window. the kutenai mountains like to trap clouds, and energy, amongst its valleys.

raining in town meant that 1000m higher at whitewater it must be snowing. jonas and frederic picked me up and we headed to the mountains. sure enough, it was dumping snow up there.

actually, there was so much snow that the road to whitewater was covered in fresh powder. this made things difficult for cars to reach the hill unless you had 4wheel drive. our car couldn't make it up the road, despite numerous attempts. so we parked it on the side of the road and hitched our way to the lodge. powder day at the end of march. schweet!

there were about 40 people in total on the hill today, including staff. the snow was incredible, soft, fluffy, and freshly fallen. it was fresh tracks all day to ourselves. heaven...literally. did i mention this place has the best snow in the world?

it wasn't as sunny as yesterday, but the dumping fresh powder all day made up for it. to get back to the car we had to do a little backcountry hike down the backside and ride it down to the road. the snow was untracked, but spring like, and therefore really sticky underneath the fresh layer of powder. but i wasn't complaining, i got to ride backside for the first time, and it was killer. steeps, trees, powder...this place is a gem.

those who know are here, those who don't are somewhere else...and that's just fine with the people who are here.

as you can probably tell i didn't bring my camera with me today.

adam freeland is playing at fluid tonight. this place gets world class talent for such a small town. if only i had $25 for cover :eek: maybe i'll drop by at 1:30 and get in for free. who am i kidding, i'm fukkin tired. i'm going to bed.

~*...normaste...*~

~*...spring riding...*~

jonas and frederic picked me up this morning and we headed to whitewater for some spring riding. the sun was shining, the weather was warm, and there were people riding in t-shirts. i opted for the turtle neck sans jacket...


its going to take a while for all the snow on this mountain to melt, even with these warmer temperatures.

and of course there is always fresh tracks available to you if you're willing to walk to it. the sun did however cook the snow, so the silver king side was very sticky spring snow.



the summit side had some pretty good snow, and some lightning fast groomed runs. i don't think i've gone that fast in my entire life. there is no rush like speed.

spring riding roolz! warm weather, fast runs, and t-shirts. women riding in bikinis would have been nice though ;)

after an awesome day of riding, we stopped at oso for a coffee. it was jonas and frederic's first time at oso, despite being here for three months. it is the place to be here in nelson, and the continous warm weather is just around the corner.

joa, the beautiful woman that i met on friday night, had invited me over for dinner at her place. i love how everything in nelson is a 20minute walk..even out of town is only a 30minute walk ;)

spring riding, spring fever. gotta love it. this town roolz!

~*...normaste...*~

~*...randnormness...*~

after an awesome afternoon of tossing a frisbee at gyro park, and an evening of hanging with jonas and frederic at their place, i was hiking up rosemont hill when a volvo passed me, stopped, then reversed.

a woman offered me a ride home, and i accepted. she said she had seen me earlier in the day near gyro park. i was balancing on the railway track walking towards the park. she said she had seen me and wanted to say hi to me, but couldn't find the right words and by the time she had, i was gone.

she wasn't going to let that happen again, which is why she pulled over. her name was gin. she drove me the 350 feet to my house. thanks for the lift gin.

sometimes i have that effect on people. i love randnormness like this.

i've also lost 9lbs since christmas. i walk up a mountain every day here. its good for the body.

life is simple: i want to be in love, drink good coffee, and ride my bike - drew grear


~*...normaste...*~

~*...happy birthday erin...*~

today was erin's birthday. yes, i've celebrated erin's birthday twice with monica in the past two months...same monica, different erin ;)

i met up with the girls at fluid lounge where local funk/reggae/jazz/tribal band wasabi collective was performing.



the venue filled up by 11pm when wasabi took the stage. man these guys know how to throw down. the beats were smooth, jazzy, and fused with hip hop, reggae, house, and percussion. and of course there was the local support of sexxy and groovy peeps filling the dancefloor. this town takes the word local very seriously.

if you're on tribe, you can czech out the wasabi collective tribe here.

erin and monica were leaving town the next morning, so they headed back to the hostel after the show. happy birthday erin! it was great meeting you. thanks for coming to visit monica.

i met a beautiful soul named joa after the wasabi jam, and headed to an after party with her. it was a small jam at a beautiful home uphill. its always amazing for me to connect with confident and beautiful spirits like joa. she is a massage therapist here in nelson, and radiantly beautiful. *rraow*

~*...normaste...*~

~*...crystal creek part deux...*~

i ran into monica and erin today at oso negro after my volunteer shft at the nelson food cupboard. i also ran into my friend brittany who was chillin there with her roommate and their new kitten.



we kidnapped britz and headed towards our destination...crystal creek.

this time we had a car to drive us to the entrance of the path (schweet), and thanks to the warm weather all week there was much less snow and ice on the trek up. we also had a camera!



the snow was spring like, corn and slushy. going up it wasn't too difficult, a bit sketchy, but manageable.



we reached the caves at the top and descended into its dark depths. someone had painted a pikcha on the cave wall that reminded me of a meditating burning man.


yah, i'm getting a bit excited at the thought of going home. only 160 more daze until the man burns.


after singing a few songs in the cave, we emerged from the darkness and prepared ourselves for the trek down.



coming up wasn't as challenging as going down. the ice and snow made it very slippery.



good thing there were large pieces of quartz in the creek that we could step on as we crossed...



i just love the view of nelson from the creek. to quote owen again, its amazing that our eyes can see so much beauty. it sure is.



~*...normaste...*~

~*...the place to be...*~

yesterday began with me catching a ride to whitewater before i even made it to the hitching spot. a guy pulled over and picked me up 50ft before the hitching spot: if you've got a board on your back and on the highway, you won't have to wait long to get a ride to the hill.


prior snowboards was having a demo at whitewater, so i got to test drive a prior all mountain freestyle board. 165cm. handcrafted in whistler, these boards were designed by extreme snowboard enthusiasts. i was very impressed at how the board handled in the trees and on groomed runs. i haven't had a board respond so well since i tried the ride timeless for the first time. this board had a pop to it that never stopped putting a smile on my face, and handled like a dream. the guys at prior focus on the board, and don't put much attention on graphics. you can choose from a selection of topsheets as well as bases. i wasn't impressed with the topsheet graphics (i rode the white topo), even less impressed with the prior bevelled logo *ack*...but the way the board shred the mountain reminded me that looks only go so far. these guys make solid top of the line snowboards, with subpar graphics. two thumbs way up from this snow addikt.


the snow was pretty hard packed and crusty on the silver king side, but the summit still had some great snow and powder to ride. the guy who drove me to the hill worked at whitewater and had recently completed building a rail park on the silver king side the weekend earlier. finally a park to ride, too bad the season is just about over.

but holy shit the calibre of riders out here is nutz. watching these kids just shred the park is inspiring...they get siiiick!

i ran into a guy who was czeching out how to snowboard for the first time. he was stoked that he got a prior demo board for free instead of having to rent. thing is prior wasn't renting boots, and this guy ended up wearing sneakers instead of snowboard boots.

i ended up spending the afternoon with him putting my instructor's training to use. his name was olie. he was my first student.

what a difference the instructor's course has made in me for teaching basic snowboard techniques to a beginner. i had olie doing beginner turns within an hour. balanced body position!!!

olie showed his appreciation later by buying me a beer, and offering some rum if i came down to the dancing bear inn later that evening to see him. olie was in town visiting his son, and was playing his banjo at the royal later that night.

it took me 6 minutes with my thumb out to find a ride back to town. gawd i love this place.

jim came by to hang out around dinner time. me talking about my dark dredi robe encouraged jim to bring out his cloak and staff. larping massif!


then i got a call from my friend monica. i met monica when i was in jasper visiting erin. they both work at the jasper park lodge. oh man jasper was good times, and i was excited to know that monica was here in nelson for a few daze.

monica was on a road trip with her friend erin (a different one, but ironic none the less) who was visiting from ontario. they were staying at the dancing bear inn.



jim and i met up with monica and erin at the dancing bear around 8pm and then headed towards the lake. i love how you can see the shape of the mountain tops faintly as you look up at them in the night. you can feel them.

we stopped off at the royal to see olie play his banjo. it was open mic night at the royal, and it just so happens that monica can play the guitar in addition to having a beautiful voice. she played two songs for an appreciative audience. nice one monica.

olie took the stage next and played a few tunes on his banjo.

then we were off to the rez avoir for reggae night, but not before making a stop at cottonwood falls to smoke a joint. a lit up waterfall 5minutes away from downtown *sigh*

the rez was bumpin, as it always is on a wednesday night. the koots roots allstars really do know how to throw down some slick reggae riddims. you'd never know that none of the band members are black or from the islands if you had only heard their music.


a band named zilla with michael travis of the string cheese incident were playing downstairs at the fluid lounge. we decided to pull ourselves away from the reggae riddimz and enjoy what zilla downstairs had to offer. we were not disappointed. the beatz were beautiful melodies, pumping bass, and tribal thunderstorms of percussion. like upstairs, the place was packed full of great people dancing together.

man, nelson is the place to be, especially on a wednesday night. those who know are here...those who don't are somewhere else, and that's just fine with the people who choose to be here.



a day of riding, instructing, an evening of open mic, dancing to reggae, dancing to zilla, and a mickey of southern comfort...lets just say i slept well last night.

~*...the first day of spring...*~

after lunch at the kitchen, i joined owen, julia, danielle, and gabriel for a hike up crystal creek. nelson is built on a very large quartz deposit and the creek is full of large pieces of quartz that you can just grab out of the water.

i had wanted to visit the creek, but was waiting for better weather to make the hike...and i couldn't have asked for better weather than today, the first day of spring.

it took about 30minutes to walk to the entrance of the creek path in the nelson area of upper fairview. the ominous "no trespassing" sign was easily ignored as we began our journey up the snow and ice covered path beside the creek.

the snow made securing solid and secure footing a bit of a challenge. the ice made it sketchy. i knew i should've worn my hiking boots.

but hiking beside a creek was amazing. there is something so calming about the sound of water rushing down a creek. i was able to grab two very large pieces of quartz from the creek too. it wasn't the kind of quartz i was thinking though. instead of clear prismatic quartz, i found cloudy yellowish quartz shaped like rocks...and it was in plentiful supply. its amazing seeing water exist in so many forms at once: flowing liquid, frozen ice, and snow.

it took us about 40minutes to make it to the caves near the top of the creek. we disappeared inside the dark caverns of the caves where we we were forced to embrace our shadows. the cave was only about 75ft deep and tall enough for us to stand up straight. it was damp in there, which is expected for this time of year. in the darkness we began chanting, listening to the echoes of our voices bounce off the walls of the cave. hey, when next am i going to be in a cave chanting on the first day of spring?

we also sang the song that i learned at andrea's baby blessing.

i hear the voice of my grandmother calling me
i hear the voice of my grandmother calling
she says wake up, wake up
wake up, wake up
listen listen

then we ended up beatboxing and hotboxing the cave.

the walk down was sketchy to say the least. walking up snow and ice is nowhere near as sketchy as trying to come down it. i ended up doing a lot of sliding down on my hands and on my ass, always concious of the fact that there is a creek that i could fall into. this was nothing compared to riding backcountry, so i was pretty comfy with going down inclines covered in snow.

at the bottom of the creek, danielle, owen and i tossed a frisbee around as the sun set behind the mountains.

as you can probably tell, i didn't have my camera with me. i guess my words will have to describe how beautiful nature is around me.

i'll leave you with some words that owen spoke as we headed towards the creek.

its just incredible that our eyes can actually see and absorb so much beauty.

and its more than just what our eyes can see. you can breathe it, hear it, feel it. its the kootenays.

~*...normaste...*~