YES, YOU CAN SNOWBOARD IN JULY!
What a fabulous weekend! On Saturday we headed up to NESTEA‘s Chill on the Hill event at Whistler Blackcomb. Many thanks to NESTEA for sending Allan and I up there! It really was a great event. Also got to meet NetChick, GusF, and Jen! Very cool peeps! Be warned: This is a heavy photo and video post!
Check out the video. It is really fun. Includes highlights such as:
- Snowboarding in the middle of July in 35 degree Celcius weather
- Me falling on my butt on a box in the snowpark
- NESTEA girls
- Footage of The Stills performing at the event (and music)
- Full coverage of the NESTEA setup complete with volleyball court, rail jams, and blueberry mojitos!
- Whistler Blackcomb
- LIGHTNING AND THUNDERSTORMS from the weekend!
Make sure you watch till the end 
Before we got started, Allan and I headed to (the best) breakfast in Whistler at Elements. We’ve been coming here for several years now and it really is awesome.
Their famous stuffed french toast… takes 20 minutes to make. This is the banana and caramelized pecans stuffed french toast. They also have ham and brie stuffed french toast! Mmmm…
The classic breakfast, bacon and eggs there. The potato tartlet and double smoked bacon are always highlights.
The hotel room that NESTEA put us up in was awesome! Hilton Whistler in a suite room! Loved the fireplace, and the fridge stocked with NESTEA, plus the welcome package!
Volleyball and microfiber towel!
The amazing event that NESTEA set up. Check out the sand they trucked in from a local quarry for the volleyball courts.
The Chill on the Hill tent, with all the wonderful people who made it all happen! Notice the sexy Olympic snowboarders, and the Burton Custom X’s they were giving away for rail jam prizes.
The rail jam they set up for the event… they brought in ridiculous amounts of snow to set this up on Whistler. CRAZY!
Boarders lining up to hit the rails. Lots of great getups.
They were some awesome snowboarders out there.
Some neat tricks.
Also loved the blueberry mojitos made with NESTEA. We drank several of these thanks to the girls!
My Malolo dude says THUMBS UP to the event!
Free open bar from NESTEA was fabulous. They served up a VIP lunch in Steeps on Whistler, and the bartender there made some amazing drinks. I loved his gin fizz with fresh local Pemberton strawberries! Mmmm!
Protest the Hero performing for the crowd. They loved it.
Allan and I also took the Peak2Peak over to Blackcomb for the glacier, including the bus, and a chairlift to get up there.
It was rocky, but not too bad. Can’t complain about boarding in July
Got the fisheye out… what a great view.
Boarding without a helmet, not a great idea, but it was so freaking hot out.
Here I am looking incredibly classy swatting away a million horse flies and mosquitoes. It was BUGGY out there! I got a few nasty bites. If you’re wondering what the hell I am doing in my sequence in the video… well, now you know. I’m so coordinated. 
The Stills lead singer.
The Stills performing at the end of the event… what a great set up. A concert on the top of the hill, with the gondolas going past, hot and sunny, with a gorgeous backdrop. Amazing.
After the event we quickly changed in the car and headed into the village to one of my favourite restaurants in the whole world, Araxi.
We’ve been coming here for a few years now, and each time the service is impeccable, the food is mouth-watering, and the drinks are luscious.
We tried a couple different appetizers. Here’s the Ahi Tuna. (I don’t eat sushi/raw food but Allan said it was great). I tried the saffron cauliflower and the fresh cherry tomatoes and they were great.
Here’s the Pemberton squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta with a red pepper sauce. SO. Good. And so creative! Chef James Walt is amazing.
The cheese souffle… delicate. Loved the almonds with the mushroom cream sauce.
This BC halibut was to die for. Flavourful herbs across the top, and a delicious sauce. I added a Qualicum scallop which was amazing. (If you’re looking to buy Qualicum scallops locally, you can get them at Granville Island.)
Allan got the Trio of Pork (from Paradise Valley) which had pulled pork ravioli (so good), pork tenderloin, and slow cooked pork belly with chanterelles.
We got some side dishes… the mushrooms were reaaally good, and the beans were fresh. Love how Chef Walt gets almost all his ingredients locally. He actually lives in Pemberton.
For dessert we had the lemon tart with goat cheese ice cream. Fresh local blueberries.
We also tried the ice cream sandwich which had a lovely chocolate hazelnut crust.
After dinner we headed back to Vancouver.. it was a photographers dream and nightmare, all at the same time. We had a golden sunset, TWO rainbows, and lightning. I swear just after I snapped this photo a lightning bolt struck right between the two rainbows. Would have been the most amazing photo. I was a bit heartbroken I didn’t luck out and capture it.
How can you not fall in love with the west coast? A golden sunset through streams of rain.
We managed to catch some lightning, but I didn’t get many good photos. Check out the end of the video above for some better shots of the lightning along the sea-to-sky highway.
Phew! That’s a lot of photos! Hope you enjoyed the post 
Tags: Araxi, Chill on the Hill, Elements, HD video, July, lightning, NESTEA, Protest the Hero, rail jams, rain, Snowboarding, Summer, The Stills, thunderstorms, West Coast, Whistler, Whistler Blackcomb
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July 27th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Allie!!!
I’m SO happy you were out and with your CAMERA during this bizarre night!! I was sitting at the airport staring out the huge picture windows at this storm/sunset/magic for 3 hours hoping that someone awesome would be photographing it!!
Amazing footage!
July 27th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Awesome you made it up to the snow Allie! Looks like a great time! Love the video!
July 27th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Allie, this is everything that I love about your blog – adventures, yummy food, beautiful photography, travel, and of course you look gorgeous as usual. Great video – i just love the lightening at the end as well as the “ball” game Allen was playing. Very funny and cute.
I missed the storm – i was inside at a wedding reception the whole time but saw it coming in through my twitter feed.
July 27th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Wow! That was an impressive video! The event looked like so much fun !
I loved the thunder/lightning clip near the end – I was stuck at work and only saw the rattling of the windows and felt the shakes and sounds!
July 27th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
All those delicious food are making me hungry! 35C out and you were wearing a jacket? Lame. Should be sporting your bikini while snowboarding like this…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tawcan/3590974235/in/set-72157619175445710/
Talk to me again when you do that. :p
July 27th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Oh my goodness, it looks so gorgeous up there. And those food shots look outrageously delicious!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Rad video…and love that you know how to rock the D90! Great stuff!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Wow, massive photo-video-food post! I’d love to comment individually but then this comment would become a blog post in its own right! Those colors you get on even the food shots are amazing; normally advertising photographers need elaborate lighting setups to just get it ‘right’ and appetizing.
And I agree with Tawcan – next time you go summer-boarding, leave at least the jacket off.
It’s surreal seeing beach-like scenes next to park boarding shots like that. West coast FTW!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Wow – photo-fest!
I got hungry AND thirsty after reading/looking at those amazing photos! Loved the video, and you did manage to get some great shots of that amazing storm!
Amazing, amazing, amazing!
July 27th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hi Vancity Allie, it must be said: you take amazing food photographs.
July 27th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
[...] met some great people at the event, including the MSL team and another blogger Allie (who wore her gear up the gondola ride to Whistler’s peak – brave girl). You all made [...]
July 27th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I almost pissed my pants at the end of the video!! absolutely wonderful! What a great boyfriend you have, i’m sure he keeps you laughing!
July 27th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Haha, brilliant ending to that video.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
What a beautiful video!
I love the lightning part at the end, and the golden sunset it’s amazing.
The event looks fun but it’s odd to see someone doing snow in Summer.
Great pictures!
July 28th, 2009 at 1:58 am
That is the most ridiculous breakfast, I’m so jealous I wasn’t there enjoying it! And the dinner looks incredible too, gosh, do you guys ever eat well – kudos! Love the suite at the Hilton, looks amazing!
Sounds like an amazing weekend, Allie – I’m so happy for the two of you! Incredible captures of the storm you guys had there, I wish I was back for that!
July 28th, 2009 at 5:19 am
The video is great. Is one of coolest you have here. And the streams are amazing.
The song is by The Stills, isn’t it? What’s the name?
I wonder how can you eat all of this..
Almost everything looks good, but I don’t think I could eat that much.
The event seems that it was fun!
July 28th, 2009 at 6:23 am
Allie I’m so jealous, your photos look amazing. I wish I could board in July, actually I wish I could board all year round! Looks like you had a top time. Kool pics as always x
July 28th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Wow Allie looks like it was a lot of fun! I can’t wait for snowboarding this year, even if it might be limited.
haha the ending of the video is too funny, what was being thrown at his shalong?
Love the video of the lightning too, just incredible when mother nature decides to put on a light show!
July 28th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Sweet vid Allie and absolutely amazing photos. If you didn’t mention the bug swatting I would’ve have thought you were doing some sort of dance move
The lightning was amazing, that night the sky was all sorts of colors and my and my buddies lucked out with panoramic views in a penthouse suite. Good times were had overall, of course a few buzz kill moments did occur lol.
August 2nd, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Swatting flies…. or doing the macarena? I think we all know what you were really doing.
August 11th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Great vid Allie — so jealous!
BTW – why don’t you eat sushi?
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:49 am
This is the usual convention
October 8th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
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March 6th, 2010 at 3:36 am
For the love of all that is holy please tell me what video camera you were using to shoot the video. The video just looked so balanced…normally anything I shoot is all blown out and overexposed because of the snow.
March 6th, 2010 at 3:37 am
I should have read the note that said “This is not an avatar.”
March 10th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Thanks for your comment! I used a Nikon D90