We hit up Mount Baker on Sunday for Opening Day. A big storm had finally given our coast the snow we needed to get back on the hills.

I tell you — Baker on Opening Day is a good, good thing. Especially when it snows 20 inches just before you arrive.

I put together a quick video of our day. It’s not great in terms of editing since I threw it together in about 45 minutes so I apologize for the quality. It’s not at all indicative of the HD snowboarding movie I’m working on, but it was fun to do. I apologize for the shaky cam and focusing. I’m still getting used to using the camera. I’m hoping after a few more sessions I’ll have the hang of it. ENJOY! Click the image above to watch it on Vimeo, or you can right-click save as here to download the original movie. (You will probably want VLC Player to watch it.)

We woke up at 6 AM and were off by 6:30. It was still snowing when we left the apartment building. It was nice not to have to deal with many slow Vancouver drivers in the snow at that time, too. A bit of a wait at the USA border (and no Nexus lines at the Sumas crossing, BOO!)… and we were on our way.

We got to Baker just shortly after the first chairs went up. Everyone in the line of cars we were in turned off at the lower parking lot, so we continued up to the upper parking lot… we had our doubts if it was open, but sure enough it was! There was no waits for the chairs, and only 1 in 4 chairs actually had anyone on them.

It was pretty much untracked when we got up there. The area under the chairlift (see picture above) had a few lines, but everywhere else we hiked it was completely untouched. Awesome!

Our first turns of the day, we hiked for about 15 minutes to a spot on the Pan Dome face. This was where we decided to drop in.

First turns in powder were a little shaky for me, but Allan tore it up pretty good. What a feeling to not ride over anyone’s tracks!

Of course, I decided to turn on the GoPro camera on that run and lost it in the powder. I was so upset. I spent about an hour climbing up the face where I had ridden, digging and searching for the camera. Allan met me at the top and we spent another couple hours looking for it. No luck. Yup. You heard me. I freaking lost my new camera! I don’t know what I’m going to do now.

Well, we still had a great time. We stopped for lunch in a half empty cafeteria and then got a few more runs in that day. Legs were burning and tired, but it was exhilarating to be out again!

Can’t wait to go back to Baker. We’ll see where we hit up next! Tomorrow, I go to Trevor Linden’s Retirement Game… *sniff*.

I feel so much better today. As many people have been blogging about lately, there’s something about November that makes us feel down and maybe on edge. I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and have had to come to terms (again) with who I am and the people I want to surround myself with. I know that good friends are invaluable and hard to come by, and my plan is to surround myself with people who I love, and people who love me. A couple interesting things that have come across my my path…

First off, for you Vancouver Canucks fans, there’s a film showing this Monday, November 10th at some Cineplex and Landmark theatres (not all, so make sure you check before going) called “Forever Faithful“. It profiles Canucks fans and their passion for the team. The trailer looks really good. Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it since I’ll be out of town in Tofino this weekend, but I’m definitely planning on picking up the DVD. You can read the Canucks press release here. Let me know what you think if you go see it!

Also in video game news, THQ is yet the next video game company to have significant layoffs. Their new “strategic” plan is to close down 5 studios, including Paradigm Entertainment (Stuntman, Pilotwings, Spy Hunter), Mass Media (Full Spectrum Warrior), Helixe (De Blob), Locomotive Games (Destroy All Humans!), and Sandblast Games. Wow. Not looking so rosy in both the publishing and development side of games right now. Basically, these cuts are going to eliminate about 250 jobs, which is 17 percent of all studio employees.

I finally managed to go through a few more of my photographs from my work trip to Japan. These ones are from a day trip that my boss and I did out to Kamakura. It’s really beautiful. We saw a number of different Buddhist and Shinto shrines, and climbed many hills and stairs, and walked across a long bridge to an island to climb up even more stairs… but it resulted in an incredible view.

Those aren’t Swastikas, they are religious symbols in Japan. Street signs on the way to Kamakura.

Beautiful pond

There were thousands of these statues everywhere. And the interesting/horrific part… each of these statues means there was an abortion or miscarriage. Japanese women would come here and place one of these statues as an offering or a prayer. The sheer number of statues in the temple made my stomach flip.

Bamboo at Kamakura Temple.

Flowers at the temple.

Praying Statues… very cute. I wonder how old these are. I wonder if “cuteness” is something that existed in Japan long before Hello Kitty and the like

Deep red Japanese umbrella…

Scariest spider ever! These guys were just hanging out everywhere. Made my skin crawl just trying to be close enough to it to take a good photo!

The largest Buddhish statue in Japan.

Flowers on bamboo. It was so neat to see so much bamboo everywhere.

The Bay at Shonan (view from the top). A long hike to get here, but it was worth it. We were also able to see a number of surfers in the bay. I already put up a photo of this in my previous post.

So there are surfers in Japan! My first hint that I wasn’t delusional to go surfing in Japan. These guys were surfing at Shonan, and I was planning on going out to the coast at Ichinomiya, but it was still rad to see all these older guys getting on their motorbikes and heading out to the surf.

And another Japanese surfer! It seems like the motorbikes/motorcycles/scooters are the preferred method of transportation for surfers in this area. I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable hitching my precious board to a bike!

Japanese surfing ad… neato!

Fancy eating octopus? These were being sold on sticks everywhere. The vendors would grill them for you

It’s a different way of life out here, than it is in Tokyo or Vancouver even…

Shinto shrine… so serene.

Each of these are prayers.. they are tied to the fence.

I felt like I was at the end of the world..

That’s it for now folks. I’m off to Tofino for the entire (extra long) weekend for some late season cold surfing, so I’ll be back on Tuesday. See you then.