Yesterday, the town of Rossland held a rail comp called “The Game”. It was part of their 110th Winter Carnival–a weekend full of fun for all ages including a homemade bobsled competition, a mountain bike demo by the Flow riders from Spokane, a parade, the rail competition and much more. There were three people from the SROAM program competing: Bailey, Cam, and Guillaume, and also our friend, Alex.

Competitors took 3 runs each where winners were decided by a cummulative score of all 3 runs. Skiers ages 14-under were up first, followed by snowboarders 14-under, skiers 15-18, snowboarders 15-18, girl snowboarders, skiers 19+, and snowboarders 19+. Now get ready for some photos (in no particular order).

The beautiful town of Rossland. You couldn’t ask for a better day.

Owner of Rossvegas/Ripping Giraffe Boardshops Emceeing. Spectators and participants enjoyed the music in the Beer Gardens and snow volleyball.

A preview of the course.

And now on to the contest.

I know this post is a little late, but I went to Kelowna last weekend. A bunch of us from class were going for snowboarding and a concert. I drove to Big White with Steve and Alex. We stayed at the hostel at Big White on Friday and at Steve’s friend, Mercedes’, on Saturday. The night life is wicked at Big White. The bars are packed with lots of good people–and even some not so good ones like the buff guy wearing a girl’s tank top haha.

So let’s to the snowboarding. We got two full days of riding in. Those who decided not to come to Big White til Saturday missed out on 20-25cm of fresh pow. Those unlucky people were Marie, Cam, Paul, Matt, and Jordan. But we had a blast riding together on Sunday.

I only have two complaints with Big White–low visibility in the alpine and the flat terrain (bad for snowboarders).

First is a photo of Alex and Steve standing in front of a snow ghost. Second, is a photo of a trail sign in the alpine. You can hardly see it and it’s only 15 feet away!

I was pretty beat after a solid two days of riding. But Sunday night was the main reason for my trip to Kelowna. I was taking photographs of Moneen, Anti-Flag, and Rise against for Truth Explosion Magazine at the Prospera Place in Kelowna. The concert was just shy of selling out, holding 4700 people that evening.

Moneen is my 2nd favourite band of all-time (next to Far From Heroes of course). The last is a cool shot of the crowd during “This Is All Bigger Than Me”.

Next up was Anti-Flag. They played a great mix of new and old anthems and rocked out hard. I was impressed by Chris #2 who I believe was a frog in his last life.

Rise Against played flawlessly. But there wasn’t much movement from band members other than the singer. I was also surprised to see him playing a lot of the lead guitar riffs.

After a crazy night of drinks, mini golf and more drinks with the SROAMies, I wake up to Steve pretending to hump me in my bed. I throw the covers off of myself and jump into a superman pose wearing my golf attire from the night before (sweater vest and khaki pants). It’s time to go to Red Mountain.

So we drive to the resort in Rossland. It’s a perfect blue-bird day. Okay… it was a little chilly, but still. The only thing I can really say about Red is that I LOVE that place! No new snow in 5 days and it’s still the best resort I’ve been to so far. It’s a small resort with a big mountain. Actually, two mountains. Red Mountain is 2900 vertical feet. It has loads of gnarly terrain full of steep pitches, nicely spaced treelines, and cliffs.

Here’s me at the top of the Motherlode Lift at Red Mountain. And me and Steve goofing around in the trees.

Here’s another shot of me at the top of the Motherlode Lift. Above cloud line yee!

If you ever get the chance to go to Red, GO! And chances are, you’ll probably even see me working there. So say hi!

I made it back to Nelson Tuesday morning. It’s great to be around snow again! There’s so much here in the Kootenays. I went riding Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Each day was full of knee-deep and, in some parts, almost waist-deep powder. Over the past 3 days, Whitewater has gotten over 50cm of snow.

Aside from that, I started classes again. Second semester should be a little easier than the first (I hope). We have nine classes. They are, Organizational Leadership, Ski Area Risk Prevention Management, Database Management, Ski Rental/Retail Shop Management, Guest Services and Ticket Office Operations, Accounting, Slope Grooming Operations, Snow Making Operations, and Snow Safety/Ski Patrol Operations. So it’s going to be a fun and busy semester.

I also started playing badminton again. The Nelson Badminton Club plays Tuesdays and Thursdays. I’ll be able to play at least once a week. And Today I played squash with Abby. And good news, my wrist is feeling good with these racket sports.