how has everyone been???????????????????????????
it seems as though this is the case in the land of emailing also, and i have lost touch of the happenings in NZ. Apart from the updates through my immediate family it has been a long time with not much news. how time does fly i agree. but we are all slack.
so i will begin my catch up blog session with a photo.....
isn't this valley just gorgeous? often does it appear this way
as it does take my mind away every day.
never could i get sick of working with this surrounding me.
the bow valley. and to the right of 'temple mountain' underneith this blanket of cloud is lake louise village- my current home....
pre-warning: i am going to overload you with photos on this post.
no questions asked.
i have highlighted, in red, the topics touched on incase you just feel
like having a scoll to something of your interest.
enjoy.
so. over this past month things have been pretty steady with work.
the skiing involved continues to bring so much fun to my life.
the 'saving lives and fighting crime' involved also bring interest to the work-style.
the social life just keeps getting better. relationships blossom...new adventures takes place and i have finally seen a bit more of canada!
here are a few photos from work- the girls on my team and myself practicing a 'three-way' belay system for crevasse rescue with a toboggan
i questioned myself that day:
why did i approach kristen for some training with toboggan rescues????
the answer was made obvious a couple of days ago.
i was second responder to a snowboarder who had injured himself
on 'ptarmagan shoots' right at the top of the cliffs.
out of bounds...which is theoretically not our responsibility but we attended any how.
it took about 7 of us to pull him out of there- and it was a lot of fun
the guy was incredibly brave. he had smashed his knee cap apart decently on a large rock exposed from his drop into the shoot.
on scene: i got down into the cliff with him, and another patoller, to help;
secure him, splint his leg, prepare a harness, and assist the accent.
then steve (kiwi patroler from whakapapa) and i got to ski the rest of the
as it does take my mind away every day.
never could i get sick of working with this surrounding me.
the bow valley. and to the right of 'temple mountain' underneith this blanket of cloud is lake louise village- my current home....
pre-warning: i am going to overload you with photos on this post.
no questions asked.
i have highlighted, in red, the topics touched on incase you just feel
like having a scoll to something of your interest.
enjoy.
so. over this past month things have been pretty steady with work.
the skiing involved continues to bring so much fun to my life.
the 'saving lives and fighting crime' involved also bring interest to the work-style.
the social life just keeps getting better. relationships blossom...new adventures takes place and i have finally seen a bit more of canada!
here are a few photos from work- the girls on my team and myself practicing a 'three-way' belay system for crevasse rescue with a toboggan
i questioned myself that day:
why did i approach kristen for some training with toboggan rescues????
the answer was made obvious a couple of days ago.
i was second responder to a snowboarder who had injured himself
on 'ptarmagan shoots' right at the top of the cliffs.
out of bounds...which is theoretically not our responsibility but we attended any how.
it took about 7 of us to pull him out of there- and it was a lot of fun
the guy was incredibly brave. he had smashed his knee cap apart decently on a large rock exposed from his drop into the shoot.
on scene: i got down into the cliff with him, and another patoller, to help;
secure him, splint his leg, prepare a harness, and assist the accent.then steve (kiwi patroler from whakapapa) and i got to ski the rest of the
shoot. that was by far the best part of the ordeal! 
as the season has continued- the work has progressivly gotten steadier and people like to find tricky places to injure themselves. taking toboggans into double black diamond terrain....and then carting people out in them has definitly pushed the strength and skill levels.
i love the challange! and people are so greatful for your efforts.
i love the challange! and people are so greatful for your efforts.
february rolled around and the anual ski patrol 'red and white' party took place.
it went off with a bang. up there, being one of the biggest parties of the year for the ski hill, everyone went all out with their amazing costumes (or lack of).
here are a few photos of some buddies that night
here are a few photos of some buddies that night
and the after party........
french girls(patrolers) cooking all of us crepes at 5 in the morning....
the next day was such a great one at work. it was the finals of the 'big mountain competition'.
so we all did a lot of sitting around with friends and watching the amazing performance which took place on 'ER 5'. the face, of a slope, on the backside of our mountain. one in which we ski most days.....
i never looked at it the same again after this day 
the best thing about this day was that our colleague CJ (kiwi from down south) was competing and gave us the best show i have ever seen.
not only did he kill the finals...
but he cleaned up the super finals hands down.
so casual with his approach to the comp, he made us all so proud that he won his first extreme mountain competition against many big guys in the world of skiing.
he also made us all scream like crazy when standing upon mind blowing rocks and waving his poles at us below.
here is a pic of one of the lines he dropped in the semi final. from this you can only imagine what he pulled off in the super final...(you may have to click on it to enlarge and see him skiing out of it)
here are some more photos of random days at lake louise......
temple mountain and its mystifying appearance 
steph, laura and myself on our way up the lift... a little back country hiking for fresh carves on the boards :)
one sunny afternoon, awaiting sweep of the mountain to begin, matt packed himself a nice little kicker beside one of our top shacks
one day i took part in a film shoot (and got paid for it) : a high speed chase down the front side of lake louise chasing a group of racey little kids who were chasing a fast old man for a part in a ski movie to premier next season. (my 15sec of fame)
last week 3 friends and myself took four days out from our little village at the lake and explored further down the rockies and into british columbia for a little roady
Rhyse, Matt, and Steph on the chairlift at Fernie ski resort (4 1/2 hours drive south west from the lake).
we stayed on the mountain in a lodge and experienced some very wet snow. (matt and myself feeling as though we were on a hill back home- minus the trees). the snow didn't matter.
every minute of new terrain the play on was fun times.
we stayed on the mountain in a lodge and experienced some very wet snow. (matt and myself feeling as though we were on a hill back home- minus the trees). the snow didn't matter.
every minute of new terrain the play on was fun times.
this is looking up at the resort...it is three valleys with amazing cliff bans at the back when you reach the top of the lifts (all closed avalanche terrain tho as you can see in the two pics below)
the shots below are taken from the field, looking over the town of Fernie
we were lucky enough to get 10cms of fresh snow on our last day here (which seemed like about 30cm in the trees- i was so stoked i brought my board along too....steph and myself got amazing coverage all day long (face shots!)
it just so turned out that two of my flatmates were also staying at the resort...in the room above us-in the same lodge. (jesse and bobbie- below). we all hooked up with some patrollers from fernie- which is a key move when wanting to scope out good terrain in forein land ;)
we were lucky enough to get 10cms of fresh snow on our last day here (which seemed like about 30cm in the trees- i was so stoked i brought my board along too....steph and myself got amazing coverage all day long (face shots!)
it just so turned out that two of my flatmates were also staying at the resort...in the room above us-in the same lodge. (jesse and bobbie- below). we all hooked up with some patrollers from fernie- which is a key move when wanting to scope out good terrain in forein land ;)
next stop, heading south east, was Castle Mountain.....
Steph and Myself happily shared the drivingduring the trip in this little toyota we rented
from Banff. Below is the 'Stepping Stone'
Bed and Breakfast in Beaver Mines- only a
20min drive from the resort.
above is looking up castle mountain resortlucky for us being patrolers; all we needed
to pay out for passes was a case of beer to
the Castle Patrol.
below is some of the terrain we skied on.
10cm of fresh snow definitly made the hill more
forgiving
with areas of extreme wind-scoured ridge lines...and others with easily found chunky ice, shallow underneith- core shots were made to skies and matt and myself felt it was like being back at home even more so here than fernie! none the less it was smiles all day, with the new field in which we had to play!
enjoying the kiwi feel of the day we carried this on and made the most of our private bbq and hot tub at stepping stone
with grins planted on faces, and legs feeling the burn
we headed back through the windmill farms, on the
outskirts of the rockies, to home and ready for another
week at work......................
skiing hard!touring this week
with a steadily busy week i made myself take a day from the planks.
on my second day off i took it mellow and did a mild tour out the back of lake louise
Rhyse and myself skinned up 'Coral Slides'...and skied the fresh pow :)
not quite face shoots, but id say knee deep.
here's a photo- not too clear, as the day was just that, but you can almost see the path down
Rhyse and myself skinned up 'Coral Slides'...and skied the fresh pow :)
not quite face shoots, but id say knee deep.
here's a photo- not too clear, as the day was just that, but you can almost see the path down
in the background if you click on it
well, thats about all i will throw at you for now...
id love to hear all about the lives you are leading
adios ammmmmigos
xox
erin
