Just got back from a great 3 days up at Anne and Gordon's cabin in Leadville. They've been sooooo wonderful to us and we'll really miss them. Despite not knowing anything about us, they trusted their daughter (Amy's) judgement and welcomed us with open arms, picked us up from the airport, helped us get set up and looked out for us every step of the way.

{mosimage}The cabin is a wonderful place, full of character and charm. It's up at around 10,000ft so was covered in snow when we arrived. I nearly didn't make it in my pitiful 2WD Subaru! It's right in the middle of the woods, on the edge of the San Isabel National Forest, just on the outskirts of the once famous mining town of Leadville.

{mosimage}We spent most of the time enjoying great company and great food and just chillin' out. But we also did a spot of snowshoeing and some snowmobiling. The latter was wicked fun, they're pretty powerful beasts! {mosimage} Really enjoyed snowmobiling, until we managed to roll it and get totally stuck in snowdrifts! One time, we even had to call Gordon out to winch us to safety. I blame Jen's inability to understand left and right!

{mosimage}Cos of where it is (and the fact that Anne and Gordon go out of their way to leave food out), the cabin is a mecca for all sorts of critters. We were lucky enough to see a cute pinemartin really close up as well as stellar jays and ground squirrels.

{mosimage}Anyways, had a fab time and it was really sad to say goodbye to Anne and Gordon after all they've done for us. I've put some pics up for you all to have a butcher's at!

Had another few inches of snow yesterday - thought it was gonna be heavy, but this morning it turned out great! Had a fantastic bump clinic on skis and really loved it! Much easier than on a board.

{mosimage}
We were well staffed today, so I backlined and went for a ride with Brandon. Finally made it up to the Vasquez Cirque (the bowl at the top of the mountain) - took a bit of time to get there, riding a few lifts and then hiking for about half an hour. Wasn't a steep hike, but the wind was howling through! It was well worth it though as we rounded to the top and peered over the chutes. It was out of this world - we hiked round to about halfway and picked a gate to drop in. Fantastic, steep chutes - the snow was a bit scratchy, but we hit some great lines! Made it down the steep bit and then clipped a rock that was just below the snow, so ended up rag-dolling! Snow-sky-snow-sky-snow-sky, at least two cartwheels. Was alright though, just a little sore.

{mosimage}
After the chutes, we hit the trees and found a couple of sweet rock-drops - took a fair bit of hiking to reach them. The famous Colorado powder made life difficult for us as every step meant disappearing up to your shoulders in snow! Then we cruised down through the trees and rode back up the Eagle Wind chair. Fantastic, much more like TC and possibly the most fun riding I've had at Winter Park!

Met up with Jen in the afternoon and spend the afternoon cruising around through trees and jibbing. Fantastic fun, it's really great that we can ride together now and I don't have to help her down! So all in all a fantabulous day - topped off by my mate Ade coming out tonight. Can't beat it!

Having talked about it all season, Jen and I finally got round to visiting another resort. Given that it's part of Intrawest and we can ride for free, we decided to head to Copper Mountain. The sun was shining, snow was great and Jen was riding really well. Had a fab time, exploring new terrain - planning on hitting Loveland next week!

So we've been doing a fair bit of filming on the slopes and I thought I'd put together a little clip of Jen's riding around! She's been doing fantastically, but I'll say no more, see for yourself
{mov}jenriding{/mov}

PS Note that there's no footage of me - everytime we try to film me, oh, the batteries have run out. Bloody typical.

So another typical snow storm in Fraser, just 6 inches or so. Had an immense day riding trees and bumps, before catching up with Jen and cruising around together for a bit.

Just thought we'd try a bit of movie on the site!
{mov}frasersnow{/mov}

{mosimage}Wow, what an epic day! So we had about an inch of fresh snow (not much, but enough!), Pete's out here visiting and the sun is shining. Yesterday we went skiing in the afternoon and then today went riding all over the shop - trees, bumps, steeps and a bit of freestyle! I was having a storm today, riding really well through the trees and generally enjoying things.

So, thoughts have started to turn to what happens after the season, I'd really love to do another season, but although I love instructing, I struggle with the politics and hassle that comes with it, plus this life is not really sustainable in the long term, so I thought I'd explore my options for coming back to London. I registered my CV with a recruitment consultancy and by some remarkable stroke of fortune, the next day I had Entec Consulting (a top environmental consultanct) call me.

{mosimage}After what turned out to be two phone interviews with one of the Directors, they offered me a job as a senior consultant in their climate change team, with the aim of taking over the principal consultant role in 6 months. It's a pretty good package and a fantastic opportunity as they are looking for someone to develop their climate change business. Even though I've got no consultancy experience, they're really keen on me and want to put me through my paces in the first few months, with some fast track training and development. I've been thinking about it over the weekend and decided to take it, so I'll be starting on the 1st May. The snowboard instructor option will be here for me if I decide that's the route I'd like to take, but at the moment I think a return to London and working in a professional environment on an issue I really care about is the right choice. I have to make sure that I don't fall back into the same unhappy lifestyle I was leading in my last job, but so far it seems a much more balanced existence. Plus it'll pay for some long snow holidays!

{mosimage}Finally, I've got round to an update! Anyways, life's beginning to take shape for us here now after quite a tumultuous month. Things have been quite tough on both of us; work for Jen hasn't been great and she's not as into the snow lifestyle as I am. It's been made harder by the contrast with how much I'm enjoying myself and how well work has been going for me. It's been even tougher cos we've been trying to adjust to being in a new country and moving into a new place, plus the lack of phone and internet access means we've been a little cut off!

But things are much better now, Jen's been making the most of being here and getting out there more. She's been enjoying skiing much more (snowboarding is on hold for the moment!) and has been shadowing kids skiing lessons. Plus now we've got internet and a PO Box, so contact with other people is much easier. Ronnie came out over New Year and I think that helped Jen get a bit of perspective on things and appreciate life here for what it is. It's still tough for her, but things are getting better!

{mosimage}Anyways, now we've both got two days off a week (Tue and Wed) - most mornings I have clinics at 8am. For me, morning line-up is at 9.30 (when we find out if we've got work or not) - I'm teaching adults so work is either at Sorensen Park (total beginners), Plaza (upper level lessons) or Burton Learn to Ride (4.5 hour all day lessons for total beginners). I usually finish my morning lesson at 12 and then have to be back at afternoon line-up at 12.30 - but by the time I get down from the mountain, I'm normally left with about 15 mins for lunch, so it's a little rushed!

Sometimes I get privates (I had quite a lot over the holidays) - it's less pay, but generally better tips and you get to give more personal attention. But overall, LTRs are my favourite as you get to spend all day with the same people and can take more time to develop skills.

Work has been really quiet after the Xmas rush - so I've been learning to ski and to instruct skiing. Got myself a brand new pair of Salomon Foil freestyle skis for a great price and have been loving it! Other than that, I've been working on my riding - riding a lot of park and had a few clinics on the halfpipe and bumps. We've got some great trainers here, including Chris Hargrave who wrote the AASI book on freestyle. After a clinic with him, I've learnt to frontside lipslide on boxes and actually enjoy riding rails now!

{mosimage}The snow here is out of this world - we had a huge storm before Christmas and had about 20 inches of snow in 24 hours. Cos it's so dry here, the snow is really light and powdery - perfect for riding! The only problem is that I have to dig my car out of snow from time to time and driving can be a little sketchy at times. It's also bloody cold here - the last few days have been around -38 Farenheit. But things are warming up now and blue sky has returned!

So, life is going well here - I've got a car now (a 1991 Subaru Legacy), which makes it easier to get out of resort and visit Denver or Boulder. In fact, we're heading to Boulder tomorrow (over the Berthoud Pass, which people seem to think is scary, but they obviously haven't been on NZ roads!).

Well, it's been a crazy few days! Having made contact with my supervisor at Winter Park, it turns out that I was just in time for the new hire academy that I needed to do before starting work. However, I had no way of getting up to WP in time and was distinctly carless. Gordon very kindly came to my rescue by driving me up there!

So we've moved into our condo now, it's really nice (although there was a flood over the summer so our carpets still need some work) - we'll be living with two others, Colin and Tiktak. It's all a bit hectic at the moment with work, trying to set up life in the mountains and getting used to the altitude! Up here in Fraser, we're at around 9,000 feet so the air is a lot thinner, plus it makes the air drier so we're drinking gallons of water to try to stay hydrated. Up at the resort, the mountains go up to around 12,000 feet, so altitude sickness is a genuine risk. But we're taking it easy and trying not to over-exert ourselves.

We've got no internet access at the moment and Fraser/Winter Park is somewhat lacking in internet cafes that open late enough for us to use, so we're a little cut off, but hopefully that should be sorted soon enough.

Wow. I've arrived, and in entertaining fashion! I've had the most amazing and fun day ever today, somehow the universe has conspired to get me here and I'm very grateful for it.

So, I rocked up at the airport nice and early, asked to get on a standby flight and was told that I needed 17 no-shows if I was to stand a chance. Determined not to despair, I smiled politely and wandered off muttering "I will get on this flight, I will get on this flight".

At check-in, my snowboard bag was way overweight and they said I couldn't take it on the plane. After much pleading and patience, a lovely lady called Yvonne eventually let me repack another bag and pay an excess fee. Problem was, I didn't have another bag, so off I ran to buy a new one.

{mosimage}Anyways, I had to wait around for an hour to find out if I could get a seat. Somehow, I got the last seat on the flight and went racing off to pay my departure fee and clear security. It took forever cos you get checked 3 times and the whole way I was checking my watch. So as I cleared security (having had my lip balm confiscated!) there were only a few minutes left, so I raced to an internet machine, emailed Jen to let her know and booked myself on a flight from LA to Denver - the same one as Jen! I got to the gate and fortunately, the flight was delayed, which meant I could get on it. I have never been so happy to be on a plane!

{mosimage}The flight was late coming into LA, which meant that I had an hour to get my next flight - so I raced round the airport and was first in line at immigration (never had that before!), only to have to wait an hour for my bags! So I missed the flight by about a minute. Damn.

But Qantas rebooked me on the next flight for free and waived the excess baggage fee for me - they even gave me $15 to buy food with (I'll still never fly with them again!). So, Jen had no idea I was coming and neither did Ann and Gordon (Amy's parents - who were picking Jen up). I had no idea what I was going to do in Denver and I couldn't get hold of Ann or Gordon. So I rang my mum and asked her to email Jen to let her know and then jumped on the flight.

Hanging around meant that I met a few snow bum types and got chatting with Andy - a kiwi originally, but is now a permanent resident in Vail of all places. We ended up on the same flight and sat next to each other, gassing all the way. I was talking about what I was going to do when I arrived and he said "No worries! My friend Allie's picking me up, she'll drop you in Boulder on the way" - the kindness of strangers never ceases to impress!

In the end it all worked out, cos Allie let me call and I managed to get hold of Gordon. Allie dropped me at a gas station, where Gordon was waiting with Jen!

{mosimage}So there we are - am now safely here, with all my bags and my hair intact, in a lovely house in Colorado! The sun has set on our time in New Zealand, but winter has only just begun in the States!