~*...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...*~

~*...rotating my canvas, again...*~

normdate 2.7.06
2:43pm

i am sitting on a picnic table on the shores of lake jootenay. i am surrounded by tree covered mountains. this unusual february weather has me without a jacket on, walking on green grass. there is geese poo everywhere though. kinda par for the course when you're surrounded by geese ;)

the prana flows strongly through this valley of the kutenais. behind me is the big orange bridge, or bob as the locals call it. i've just finished tuning into the kutenai force through spinning poi here in the park. i've learned the reverse butterfly. time to learn new ways to tweak out the butterfly. and so my repetoire of fluid poi movements continue...i can't wait to spin fire.

i woke up this morning to a new day. there is a wireless network in the home i'm stayin in, and a laptop i can use just a few feet away from the sofa i am sleeping on.

my vbelly and spirit are full thanks to the soup kitchen down the street from where i'm staying. free food, who can argue with that? a young man did fellowship with me as i ate, and we shared our perspectives on who god is with each other.

"if everyone agreed on everything, nothing would ever change."

i've got my own copy of the new testament thanks to the soup kitchen. i'm going to read the book of romans as i promised my mom i would. i look forward to discussing it with her, to sharing our interpretations of the story and words. everyone has their own point of view.

god hates religion.

"there are an infinite number of ways to right meow. right or wrong is just perspektive."

i'm going to the youth employment research center now to work on my cv. its been so long since i've made a resume, especially seeing as i've been the one accepting resumes for the past 7 years. i guess its time for me to rotate my canvas, work on the painting of my life from a new perspektive.

again, the sun is shining brightly above the mountains in front of me. i am pleasantly reminded why i wanted to come back here to live.

last night, talking to owen and julia our conversation expanded our horizons. julia, one of the most beautiful souls who lives in the home i am staying at, was describing to me her trintiy. she made a triangle with her hands and described each of the three sides that completes her trinity. our minds were expanded when i showed julia that her trinity is really not made up of three, but rather four by including the space that surrounds her trinity. that is all that is not. it is none of it.
this truth, going beyond the balance of two, the trinity of three, was revealed to me thanks to a beautiful dreadlock named theresa.

theresa and i shared an incredible experience through breath play at a private party. with our clothes on, we caressed and synchronized our breathing. she showed me that breathing is a four part process.

inhale
pause
exhale
pause

it reminded me that there are more than just two sides to everything, more than three, there are an infinite number of sides.

the conscious
the subconscious
the unconcscious
and none of the above

when you are looking, there are particles of possibilities. when you are not looking, there are infinite possibilities of consciousness.

get people into agreement, then make a suggestion.

"those jeans look good on you, but i think this pair over here will flatter your ass even more."

~*...normaste...~*

~*...a new chapter...*~

normdate 2.6.06
2:38pm

i am sitting on a sofa, my new bed, at andrea's home on the hill in nelson. the solarium that i am in is surrounded by windows and is painted yellow. jack johnson is playing in the background. there is a piano in this room that i have been encouraged to make use of. on the wall is a magnificent painting of a woman holding the sun and the moon, pregnant with the earth.



andrea and her partner akkal are seven weeks away from having their first child. the paintings that adorn the walls of this home radiate the powers of the goddess, the majik of fairies and elves, and the universal prana that connects all life.

the artist is a local woman named christina smith. click here to visit her site.




"i can change the world with my own two hands." ben harper is playing in the background. i wonder where kristin is right meow. maybe i should czech her blog. hearing ben harper reminds me of so many good times with kristin. i am am thinkin of you kristin. you are loved and missed.

the energy that flows through nelson is beyond powerful. nestled in the mountains of the kutenais, built on a quartz deposit, the force is strong here.



i've spent the last three daze doing my casi level 1 instructor's certification at whitewater here in nelson. its not the largest hill (only two dinky double chair lifts), but it is the most imtimate and majik mountain i've been to.


the summit side (click image for larger version)


the silver king side (click image for larger version)

whitewater may not be the biggest, but it has the best snow i have ever ridden...yes, even better than big white. the two chairlifts take you up 1300ft of vertical to some of the best riding i have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

whitewater lives up to its name and slogan: pure, simple & real...deep.

there is so much back country to explore here that it could take you years to explore it all. steep chutes and light fluffy powder. i am so glad i am here. thank you for sending me here.



on saturday, my casi class and i went for a run down the diamond glades, voted best new tree skiing in canada by ski canada magazine. a 10minute traverse from the summit chair brought us to the glory basin. what an incredible site it was...a large deep bowl with waist hight powder ending up in the most beautiful snow filled glades i have ever seen. it was straight out of a movie! it was the most fun an extreme riding i have ever done in my life...and this is my home mountain!!! i didn't have my camera with me at that time, otherwise i'd post a pik. did mention that it w3as dumping maad snow all day long?

my casi course wasn't very difficult. it focussed more on your teaching abilities rather than how well you ride. the biggest challenge was to "detune" my riding, tone it back and ride with less performance, just like a beginner. maintaining my balanced body position (hand over nose and tail) while riding is the foundation of snowboarding (accoreding to casi). thing is i've been riding with my shoulders facing down the hill instead of hand over nose and tail. its a different feeling unlearning a technique, but not too difficult.


now i'm a certified level 1 instructor and can teach others (and get paid)...but not until next year. there are no jobs available this late in the season. and i also get pro deals in september: 30-40% off cost!! yah baby. new gear owns. schweet.

now i've got to find some form of employment and a place to live. i am thankful for andrea and her roommates opening up their home to me. i am blessed, and loved.

~*...normaste...*~