So here is the last set of photos from the fantastic Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival up in Whistler Blackcomb… these photos are from the last two days we were there: Friday and Saturday the 23rd and 24th.

On Friday we checked into the “Media and Industry Dream House” that was generously organized by the Whistler Blackcomb PR folks. It was an honour to be invited and we were lucky enough to chill with some fantastic folks: ESPN Sports Editor Mary Fenton and reknowned photographer Mike Yoshida, Snowboard Magazine Editor Chris Owen and Snowboard Canada writer Sarah Tollestrup… Frequency Magazine Editor Colin Wiseman, and Matt/Matt/Jesse from Push.ca. What a blast!

The house itself was pretty swanky! A huge hot tub on the deck, ski in ski out access during the winter, some huge bedrooms and bathrooms…

… and not to mention a follow stocked fridge with tons of Kokanee and everything from breakfast to nacho supplies.

Friday night we headed to the Schick Fashion Exposed Fashion Show at the Whistler Conference Centre.

Wohooo front row seating!

It was a fantastic event with tons of companies like Sitka, Gore-tex, Westbeach, Orage, and a number of other local fashion designers. The band “We Are the City” performed throughout the show which I thought was pretty cool.

My favourite pieces were the apres-ski looks and the lingerie but they did have some very cool outerwear on display too.

Plus we got to meet up with some friends like Mr. Tyler Ingram (HUGE LENS!), Rebecca, John, and John Biehler.

Outside the fashion show was a huge art exhibition with contemporary local artists and ski and snowboard companies.

The next morning we woke up somewhat bright and early to head to Elements for breakfast with the whole gang: Rebecca, me, Keith, Tyler, Shayboarder and friend Carrie, Allan, John Biehler and John Bollwitt.

Of course I had to order the french toast plus extra meat pile. Breakfast was pretty good, but not as good as it has been in the past at Elements. Not sure why.

After breakfast a couple of us hit the slopes, and myself, Allan and Tyler Ingram snowboarded on Blackcomb for a couple hours.

Then we headed over to Whistler to meet up with Shayboarder, Carrie and check out the demo tents.

Allan tried out a Prior board and then we all went out to board for a couple hours together.

It was SO awesome to finally snowboard with Shay again after meeting her last year at the TWSSF. I missed her tons and we stayed in touch via Twitter/blogs/emails etc… but it’s nothing like boarding again together in person! Yay! So much fun… she’s an awesome boarder and definitely an inspiration in the snowboarding blog scene.

Later that night after boarding we went out to Sushi Village for dinner hosted by the awesome Whistler Blackcomb PR team. Thanks Michelle, Amber, Tabetha for having us!

So much fun with so many awesome peeps. Here are our new friends Steph, Tabetha and Tyler. Thanks Steph for being an awesome house mom!

Colin from Frequency Magazine was also having an awesome time, not to mention the stagette next door did too.

Dinner could not have been more fun. The sake margaritas were KILLER.

And to end off the night… we headed to the Grenade Games finale in the Whistler plaza. We got invited up to the Grenade trailer to take photos. It was a bit of a climb in high heeled boots

We got some great photos and met some great people…

… not to mention an awesome view!

Sweet!

Of course, no trip would be complete without some Allan shenanigans…

… so he managed to grab the official “Grenade” for the Grenade Games and yup… set up some snowboard bonks.

Geronimo!!!!!!!!!!

Allan and I just got back from a FANTASTIC extended weekend up at Whistler Blackcomb for the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival.

We were invited by the amazing Whistler Blackcomb media team (thanks Michelle, Tabetha, Amber!) to check out some of the festivities and attend some events. This was our first year attending as “media”.

We rushed to Whistler Blackcomb after work on Thursday and checked into our hotel for the night — the Coast Hotel Blackcomb Suites (thanks Danny!).

The hotel had tons of amenities such as a gym, full breakfast room, outdoor pools and hot tub, not to mentioned located right on the side of a run for ski-in ski-out access.

We loved our room! Super comfy and had a full kitchen too.

Then, it was off to Araxi Restaurant for a dinner hosted by Cindy of the BC Ministry of Tourism and Breton from Tourism Whistler. Araxi has been one of our favourites restaurants for many years (long before Hell’s Kitchen and the crazy amounts of press it has been getting over the past year or so)… and still is.

As soon as we arrived I was peer pressured into “sabre-ing” the champagne… my first time ever! It was pretty scary but very cool. I got to use a real sabre to chop off the top of the champagne bottle. Videos to come.

Araxi is well-known for its seafood, sustainable food, and local and organic cuisine.

Chef James Walt makes some amazing dishes. He actually lives in Pemberton on a farm and partners with the producers out there to source seasonal foods. The gnocchi and souffle were to die for.

It was also my first time ever tasting venison… and I loved it. So tender. Allan also loved his lamb.

For dessert we had the pistachio ice cream covered in chocolate and an apricot cheesecake. Yum. Also to note — it was my first time ever really trying champagne, red wine, white wine and dessert wine. Steve Edwards (restaurant manager and sommelier) gave me tons of information and some really amazing recommendations. I may slowly be starting to be a convert.

Here’s Michelle, Steve (thanks for all the wine tips!), myself and Cindy.

The next morning (Friday) we woke up and had a hot breakfast at our hotel.

Then it was off to Scandinave Spas in Whistler.

I can’t say enough good things about this place. The eucalyptus steam room (mmmmm), the cold baths, the hot mineral baths and the waterfalls everywhere. We spent about 4 hours here before we were completely shriveled and jello-like, and then it was off to dinner.

We decided to try the Rimrock Cafe in Whistler (by Creekside) as it was recommended to me by one of my coworkers as her favourite restaurant in BC. The drinks we had were a great start — Allan had some wine and I had a kiwi lime Brazilian caipirinha . My drink was sooooooo good.

The appetizers were also pretty good… I had the scallop lobster capellini (very delicate… loved it), and Allan had the cariboo medallions (good, but not as good as the venison at Araxi).

For dinner we had the gnocchi, mushroom risotto with sablefish, and salmon stuffed with crab. I personally thought the gnocchi and the sablefish were pretty good but the mushroom risotto was terrible. Very acidic and not creamy at all — more like a rice pilaf. Would not order again. Allan liked his salmon but thought it was too rich and the crab overpowered the salmon. The dessert was the toffee pudding which was AMAZING. So basically — we would go there for drinks and dessert but probably not dinner again.

Overall… a pretty good couple days in Whistler so far! Next post coming soon with the last few days of the weekend. What did you get up to this past weekend?

This past Saturday, Allan and I headed up to Whistler Blackcomb for a gorgeous, sunny blue bird day of snowboarding fresh powder. It was quite busy up there, but we still managed to find our stashes of powder.

We also brought along our new GoPro HD Hero helmet camera to capture some of the action. For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that we had the regular GoPro camera before. I can say that the HD is a real nice upgrade. Much clearer photos and videos! Hopefully I’ll be able to edit the videos into a little movie soon.

Here I am wearing my new Volcom jacket and pants (both Gore-tex)… I’m loving how the wide angle really captures everything!

Powder spraying up on the sides.

Riding down one of the bowls on Blackcomb.

Even Allan got into the fun of it and attached it to his helmet for a while.

You’ll notice most of the shots are from the back of my board… we used the suction cup that we normally use for surfing to attach it to the back of the board… but be warned… sometimes it falls off in the deeper powder and you really have to keep an eye on it, or tether it to your board

All in all, a really fun day… and really nice to get back onto the mountain for some boarding. And, I thought this would be a great time to give away a BRAND NEW Women’s Volcom Snowboard Jacket on the blog! It’s the same jacket I am wearing in the photos above, but of course brand new with tags. All you have to do is leave a comment below, and I’ll pull a random winner on Sunday evening. If you remember my last contest, we gave away a snowboard outfit. Here’s the winner Rosy, who sent me a photo of her in all her new gear!

2010 Volcom GORE-TEX Satellite Snowboard Jacket Contest:
Sponsored by Volcom

Prize: 2010 Volcom Satellite Nimbus Women’s Snowboard Jacket in Bluebird, Size Medium
Value: $500 CAD
What you have to do: By Sunday, January 24th before 10:00 PM PST… just leave a comment on this blog post!
Who can enter: Anyone! You can enter for yourself, or for a friend, significant other etc etc…
Details: I will draw a random winner Sunday night, and I will ship the prize to the lucky winner anywhere in the world!

About the jacket: Yup, it’s totally GORE-TEX so awesome waterproofing. It’s got the works… fully taped seams, pant-to-jacket zips, Recco® avalanche system, Riri® waterproof zippers, a hood, a chin guard, vents, a powder skirt, a goggle pocket and audio pockets. My two favourite features? The built-in face mask and the Lycra hand gaitors to keep your hands warm in your gloves (you can see these in one of the photos above over my hands). Plus… I love the liner pattern!

That’s it! Good luck to everyone

I finally had a chance to edit the very mini HD snowboard video from our first day of the season at Whistler. It’s always embarrassing posting videos of yourself from the first day of the season, because… quite frankly… you look silly on video with shaky legs and not-quite-there-yet balance. Nevertheless, please do watch this video and feel free to have a chuckle

My legs are STILL sore from last Sunday. Song from Chixdiggit, filmed entirely hand-held on a Nikon D90 at Whistler Blackcomb. Click the video above!

In other news, I am very happy to say that this blog has come a long way since I started it just over a year ago! It’s been a fun ride, and I’ve really enjoyed meeting bloggers from Vancouver and around the world… exploring new places, sharing my photography and video, and frequently embarrassing myself on my blog.

Bear with me, I’m going to toot my own horn for a paragraph. I can’t help it! I can’t believe it’s been a year since I started the VancityAllie blog (although I’ve been blogging since I was 12 years old)…

In the past year, the blog has really surpassed my expectations and we’ve hit 1,632,517 unique visitors over the past year and 2,466,670 page views! 16 HD videos, over 1400 of my own photos uploaded, and a Twitter account with nearly 3,000 followers! We’ve got great rankings on Google and are averaging 100,000 to 300,000 unique visitors a month depending on content and time of year.

P.S. Did you enter the Westbeach contest below? We already have 114 entries!

Okay, now that that is out of the way…

I’m really excited about some of the trips we have coming up this December and next year. I’ll have lots more on the blog… more videos, more photos and more contests! But don’t worry, I’m still the same old me… clumsy, nerdy, and prone to ramble…

Hope everyone is excited for the Holiday season!

Update (November 30, 2009 10:30 AM PST): I will be doing the draw tonight for the Westbeach outerwear and post the results tomorrow. Stay tuned!

It’s been dumping snow here in BC, and for the past 3 weeks I’ve been DYING to strap on my board and get out there for some snowboarding… but I’ve been sick and low on energy lately. After waiting 3 weeks and just not being able to stand it anymore, Allan and I finally got up to Whistler Blackcomb on Sunday for some FANTASTIC boarding. Although I couldn’t do more than 3-4 hours on the hill, we definitely made the most of it.

It has snowed 259cm in the past week at Whistler, and even though it’s been snowing all the way through the week, we still got an extra 20 cm for our first day of the season yesterday. And it shows.

The runs were ridiculously powdery, even the groomers… although we ended up riding knee-deep untouched powder in the trees all day.

Allan had a great time too… he didn’t get a chance to ride his new board, but he was wearing a perma-grin on his face all day… despite this very sombre-looking gondola shot.

I was stoked on the new Westbeach outerwear this year, although my new white helmet hasn’t come in yet so it looks kind of funny with my green helmet from my old outfit of past years. I rode my new Burton Supreme boots and my new Burton Malolo… and let me just say…

… riding my Malolo in the trees all day let me know that the ‘Lolo was definitely the right choice for me. Oh man.

Here I am in the trees… far, far away!

Did I mention that it was sunny and blue skies for most of the day? We really lucked out! Even the birds came out to play in the snow.

For the readers of VancityAllie.com, I am happy to present a contest to win some brand new spankin’ outwear from a fantastic local company:

WESTBEACH LADY RACER JACKET AND RENDEZVOUS PANTS CONTEST NOVEMBER 2009:

What you are playing for (either for yourself or a friend, girlfriend etc):

• A Westbeach Women’s Lady Racer Jacket Insulted Jacket in the Twilight Zone colour shown in my photos, size Medium
• A Westbeach pair of Women’s Rendezvous Pants in the Breezer colour shown in my photos, size Medium

Total value of the contest: $420.00 CAD

Both the jacket and pants are waterproof, rated to 6,000mm..  and are coated and seam sealed.

What you have to do:

• By Sunday, November 29th at midnight Pacific Standard Time (PST), leave a comment on this blog post
• I will do a random draw (I will video tape this) of anyone who left a comment between today and the contest deadline
• The lucky winner will win the full set of Westbeach Women’s Outerwear, which I will ship to them anywhere in the world.

That’s it! Good luck. By the way… I will have some HD video from yesterday’s snowboarding up, hopefully by Wednesday!

You can follow me on Twitter… and you can also follow Whistler Blackcomb and Westbeach on Twitter as well!