Our group of snowboard fanatic wannabes managed to squeeze in two mountain visits. Which meant we only really had one other day to explore Vancouver. Luckily, the only person who hadn't been there before was Mochi but we gave her a quick and brief tour of the main hot spots. Besides, our priority is snowboarding. Everything else can wait. It was on the our first day there where we finally all got toe-side down. This is a huge deal for a newbie! Cypress Mountain was frackin' awesome. It was by no means no where as nice as Vail or Whistler but it was perfect for what we wanted. We went on a Friday and cos people were still at work, the mountain was pretty clear and not congested with skiers and boarders. Perfect right?!? And cos it was a smaller mtn, the lifts tickets were cheap and not over-priced like Vail. Ready for another goody? THEY FRACKIN' HAD NIGHT SKI! So for about 45 USD, you could board from 9am-10pm. That's a super eleven hours of straight FUN. But we weren't able to make it that early and didn't really start until about noon or so. But hey, we still got a good amount of snow time in. The best part is that they had this combo pack where $110 dollars or so gets you a lift ticket, gear AND a three hour lesson. SWEET! That is such a good deal. So we all got the bundle and had us some really good lesson by this awesome female instructor with the cutest Canadian accent. She taught us all what we have all been longing for, the toe-side. Actually, right before the lesson started, we were coming down a run and out of nowhere, I was doing a but of toe-side and was like WHOA! Where in the world did that come from?!? After the lesson, I went from being the worst snowboarder of the group to the one that was a natural, according to Michelle our super instructor. Man! We were making turns and carving that ice! I want to go back so bad now!!! When we met up this other group of people who were also visiting Vancouver, I asked them why they didn't want to go snowboarding and they just seemed to prefer going shopping. I was like, ya'll CRAZY. Who cares about shopping. You can do that back in Houston. I don't get people who don't like the sport. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. I'm not that good and I get battered and all bruised up but it makes me want to do it even MORE. As usual, we were all super sore and achy that night and the next morning. What made it even worse was that there was no new snow on the first day and so the snow was icy and hard. So every time you fell, it was pretty painful. You could basically even hear how hard it was as the snowboard would make this scraping sound all the way down. That night at dinner, we all ate like zombie's. We were so tired but still pretty hungry. We pretty much boarded all the way up until closing time. We're dedicated! I couldn't even sit up in bed the next morning. My neck felt like I had whiplash from falling forward and having by head snap back and forth. Yeah, it's crazy stuff. I was surprised I made it safe and sound back to Houston. There was no new snow the first day and when we went back, there was too much freakin' snow. They don't have groomers so you basically have to board through all of the lumps of snow everywhere. Man. What a great trip! A week or so after getting back, Natasha Richardson dies in Montreal from a ski accident. She didn't wear a helmet. I never wear a helmet just cos I like wearing my cute hats. But after my ma tripped out and loudly voiced her concerns, we will now all be wearing helmets cos that is the responsible thing to do. Safety first!
Some of the 2010 Vancouver winter games will be held on this mountain.
The trail map. The runs are all pretty short but that's how I prefer it for now.
The empty racks at noon. These things are usually packed during lunch time. The mountain was all ours!
"V" for Vancouver!
A chair made out of snowboards.
It was snowing like crazy on our last night on the mountain. My hands were freezing and so much snow was collecting on the slopes that every time I fell, a mound of snow went down my shirt. And me being the dummy that I am decided to not wear my dry-fit shirt and wore this cotton long-sleeve instead. So of course, my shirt got all wet and it was freezing outside. There were chunks of ice stuck in my hair. I stayed in the bathroom and sat under the hand dryer machine until I was all dry.
