Recorded from November 14, 2009 to May 24, 2010 with a digital camera that took a photo every 30 minutes; the film is comprised of over 8000 images. It was taken from the taco-cam perched on a windowsill above the deck in the house that I live.

Terri stealing a bite of my cookie at Jericho Beach in Vancouver

Canadian Thanksgiving weekend marks the end of summer in most of Canada. The summer has been filled with hiking, XC biking, downhill biking (ouch!), golf, barbecues, trips to the beach and travel. Although, it was a fun summer – I’m definitely ready for winter!

Image below: one of many images from my flickr set, 100 days on the mountain in 2008/09. I’m not sure what I’ll do this season but I’ll think of something because one has to have goals.

Day 100: May 6, 2009

]]> http://garry.cc/blog/2009/10/11/summer/feed/ 0 http://garry.cc/blog/2009/05/06/done/ http://garry.cc/blog/2009/05/06/done/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 06:53:03 +0000 Garry http://garrychoo.com/blog/?p=498

Me in my vintage ski jacket (circa 1986) on Blackcomb Mountain

It took a little over five months, but I reached the goal that I set out to achieve in November – to ski 100 days in a season. Previously, the most that I have ever skied in a season is about 30 days. Doing 100 was a personal challenge. First I needed the time, second I needed my health and third, I needed snow.

Time wasn’t an issue – I put most of my other pursuits on hold – I’ve got thousands (literally) of photos that I haven’t gone through; I’ve been delinquent in returning emails to my friends and family because all I’ve been doing is eating, sleeping and skiing. Luckily for me, my friends are understanding and patient.

Health wasn’t too much of an issue. Since moving here, I’ve cut down on my consumption of alcohol, eat better and get more sleep. In the city, I tended to stay up way too late and I wasn’t the fittest sitting behind a desk most of the time. When in Whistler, I get up on the mountain daily. I’m not sure what drives me, but I think it’s a combination of the fresh air, sport and the spectacular view. Even today, I mentioned to a friend that I still am in awe of the view from the mountains.

Weather was probably the biggest challenge. This is something that nobody had any control over. December was quite dismal. It was cold and there wasn’t much snow – Vancouver received more snow than Whistler in December. The season started slowly and it wasn’t really winter until late February. It all came together in March and it’s been pretty steady since. However, I think the season will end on the Victoria Day weekend when Blackcomb Mountain closes. Whistler Mountain is set to open, but I’m not sure how the can as the snowpack is less than prior years and there seems to be a general disinterest for skiing this spring.

If this is true, there is 12 days of skiing left in the season. My friends will be glad that I won’t be constantly talking about skiing any longer. However, if Whistler reopens, then this will be continued.

Stats:
First day of skiing: December 3, 2008
100th day of skiing: May 5, 2009
Days on Whistler Mountain: 19
Days on Blackcomb Mountain: 67
Days on both mountains: 12
Days at Revelstoke: 2

Kiersten's last run on the Couloir Extreme this season

As the weather in the spring changes, people are starting to leave for the season or pack their skis in favour of their bikes, golf clubs and shorts. It’s a bit of a sad time – but many will be back – I’m sure of that.

Since the conditions aren’t the best because of the high temperatures, sunshine during the day and low temperatures at night causes some hard packed (read: icy) conditions, I decided to venture on the mountain with my SLR – which I’ve only done one or two times before this.

As I was taking photos of places I’ve been before but without my SLR, I met Kiersten. She asked me if I was going to go down the Couloir Extreme. I wasn’t planning on doing it as it was closed because of icy conditions. She mentioned that it was her last day on the mountain. I though for the season – but she said possibly forever because she said she was moving back to Holland after five years in Vancouver.

My heart sank a little; but I know that this place can’t keep anyone away for very long. I told her that I bet she’ll be back.

The last days on the mountain for several people plus some recent images on flickr. Click on the larger image to advance to the next one.

It’s difficult to sum up the last five months in one word, but I can do it in three – eat, sleep, ski. That’s basically what I’ve been focused on for the past five months since I arrived in Whistler – that’s why I haven’t posted to this blog, my food blog nor flickr. I took today off to recuperate and give my body a break and thus I have the time to post.

Over the five months, I’ve achieved most of the goals I set for myself – as crazy as some of the were – like ski 100 days in a season; ski an entire month (February) and become a certified ski instructor. I’m a few days shy of 100, but will have achieved that in the next week or so. The season will go another three to six weeks, so there are many days left to ski.

Within my ski days, I’ve learned much more that I could have ever imagined. My skiing has been deconstructed and been put back together again – with the help of some great instructors. I ski better, more confidently and have more fun. I can’t wait to take more lessons next season!

Skiing for 28 days in a row in February was a physical challenge, but it was also fun. I could have gone 39 days in a row, but my bus from Vancouver had mechanical problems and didn’t arrive in Whistler until the end of the ski day. In all, I skied 38 days out of 39 before I went on a road trip with a friend. The photos in the link are incomplete because I haven’t had time to post them.

However, after spending five months here, I realize that there is much more to the mountain experience than skiing. There was the breathtaking view of the mountains, some of the best sunrises and sunsets I’ve witnessed and being able to see stars on a clear night. There was also the endless stream of friends, visitors and the people that I met who share the same passion for this place.

In some ways this winter, it was like being in school again. As the warmer weather approaches, so does the end of the ski season. Several people that I’ve met this season will be returning home or traveling to some other city by the end of the month. Some lasting friendships have been formed and I know some of them will return – that’s something to count on.

On this day when the greeting card, florists and confectionery companies (and society in general) tell us we should be together and happy – many of us are probably alone. However, when my friends tell me they are lonely – I usually tell them to go outside – there are six billion people out there. However, the video (above) showed me that I’m wrong – we don’t need to go outside because we are never alone.

Even though I live more than 3000 km from where I did three months ago; I still phone, text, email, skype, facebook, blog, twitter, yelp, IM or [insert your technology of choice] with my friends from my former hometown more than daily. It’s like I never left.

When I’m skiing, (I do this almost daily) I meet and speak to someone new on an hourly basis. They are a captive audience for about 10 to 20 minutes when we ride the gondola, chairlift or t-bar. People in ski resorts are generally very happy and glad to be there (regardless of the weather) and most are glad to talk. Sometimes I’m their captive audience. Occasionally, we end up skiing a run or two and even end up at the pub for après.

Personal interaction is so much better than any technology could try to emulate. I’m not sure what these technologies are achieving; but it make me yearn to be alone.

Instead of going outside to avoid being loney – maybe we need to go outside to be together.

The first month of the year is done and the winner is the smoothie. I managed to consume more than one per day. Close behind was salad and then oranges was a distant third.

All I seemed to be doing in January was skiing, eating and sleeping – three very important events. I noticed that started craving(?) and eating pasta again because I felt hungrier than normal – probably attributed to the amount of skiing that I did.

The breakdown of what I ate:

• 39 smoothies (24 chocolate, 12 fruit, 3 green )
• 32 servings* of salad (mostly kale salads)
• 16 oranges
• 12 grapefruit
• 10 servings of pasta
• 6 bags of chips (2 bags of tortilla chips)
• 5 bowls of popcorn
• 4 visits to Corner Tandoori for Inidian
• 2 bowls of noodle and soup
• 2 burritos from Red Burrito
• 2 subs
• 2 energy bars
• 1 visit to a Malaysian/Thai restaurant
• 1 pizza
• 1 piece of birthday cake (Anf’s)
• lots of trail mix

…and surprisingly, no french fries!

Included in all of this also included countless bananas, strawberries, avocados and almonds.

The thing I enjoyed most was the chocolate smoothies and the least enjoyable thing was the barbecue and dill flavoured chips. Close behind was the iceberg/romaine lettuce salad at Boston Pizza. But at least the salad might have had some nutrition in it.

* When I say servings, it is generally two or more because I tend to eat more than most people. Unless I am in a restaurant, I will generally eat more than one serving of whatever I’m eating. The 32 servings was probably consumed in 16 or less meals.

Here’s the flickr set of what I ate in January. To see all of the photos at once, click through to the set by clicking here. Otherwise you can click on the large image below to advance to the next image.

The number refers to how many days I want to spend on the mountain this season – on skis. I’d also like to take photos. Maybe self-portraits or maybe just of the scenery. I take photos everyday anyway so hopefully this won’t be a bother for me.

The season has gotten off to a slow start so far. The weather has been a bit unusual in the past month. First it was too warm and not enough snow. Then it became too cold when there was an arctic flow of cold air. This caused the temperature to dip to -25c at the peak of Whistler mountain on some days. It was also about -13c in the village on some days. The weather is starting to return to normal now. It’s snowing more frequently and the temperature is almost normal – which should be in the range of zero to -10c on the mountain.

My ski days for December will only be six – not much considering I’ve been in the mountains for the greater part of three weeks. The weather has been a factor – if it had not, my count would probably be 20 by now. I look forward to January and the rest of the season!

My daily photos from the album 100 days on flickr. Click the image to advance to the next image.