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

I finally got a chance to edit together the video from the weekend before last. Allan, J and I headed up to Whistler Blackcomb for the end of the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival. We met up with the famous Shay from Shayboarder.com and her friends Kendra and Mike.

Sunny, slushy, and pretty mellow conditions. We hopped around on a few things but mostly ripped around on the groomers. A really fun day. Shay is absolutely AWESOME in person and every good thing anyone has ever said about her is 100% true. I somehow managed to delete the pictures off my camera, so Shay has been kind enough to let me repost her pics. I also never manage to get photos of myself filming etc, so it’s really neat to see. Thanks Shay!

Check out the video. Hope you like it. I especially like the part where J and Allan ride over the house. I of course am wearing my Canucks jersey, as part of my “playoff beard” tradition. A little departure from my normal boarding getup, but still fun.

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed with my progression this year. I’ve been boarding for 1.5 years now, and in the past year I’ve spent more time filming and photographing others than I have focusing on developing my skills. Next season I need to make sure I focus more on that. I’ve kinda regressed, actually. But I’ve really enjoyed making little movies so perhaps a balance/compromise is best

Shay and I

Filming Allan coming down the slope

Filming J

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In other news, the Canucks play the Blackhawks tonight at 5:00 pm. It’s sure to be a big game, and I think the Canucks are going to bounce back. I’d like to see a tough road win. Really, really excited.

That’s it for now folks. Accessible Twilight filming is on a lull this week, and this is one of the busiest weeks in terms of work for me ever. Plus next week I’ll be heading to Monreal for work, so I’ve got lots to do!

Phew!

Believe it or not, this isn’t a Twilight blog. That being said, I’m super stoked about all the Team Jacob fans that are out there who checked out the pics yesterday. I can’t believe how cool the Twilight community is online! I’m a big Twilight fan, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to snap some more behind-the-scenes pics of the set… but for now, back to our regular programming!

I had some time last night to edit up a video from my day on my new Malolo board on Saturday at Whistler Blackcomb and also the last good powder day we had at Cypress. There’s a little more footage of me riding this time, and also I had to feature the rad shirt I got from Zac at Hybrid Sessions… so make sure you watch till the end of the vid. It’s pretty funny. Check out the video below:

It’s nearing the end of the snowboard season, and almost time to switch it up to surfing. I’m going to get one more weekend in at the end of April with the famous Miss Shay from Shayboarder at the TELUS World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler Blackcomb. Should be awesome.

Thanks Zac for the awesome shirt! Somehow you could predict the future that it would match my new board.

I’ve been working hard at work this week to make sure I get my time in and all my work done before the Easter long weekend. Gotta leave for the ferry early on Thursday, and it’s off to my favourite spot in the whole world… Tofino! Surfing for 4 glorious blissful days. Too bad the forecast is rain all weekend, but that’s not going to stop me from getting excited about finally getting back in the water and making some turns.

Today’s a photo post. Tomorrow — I shall post the video.

I have been eagerly wanting to ride my new Malolo around, so Saturday we went up to Whistler Blackcomb in an attempt to find some powder. We knew it was going to be hard — there was lots of new snow from the week, but all of it had been poached, and it was 2 days since the last snowfall.

We headed up to Whistler Blackcomb and had a really great, sunny day. We did a few groomer runs to start out… I really liked the feel of my Malolo on the groomers. I would say surprisingly it’s almost better on the groomers than my Feelgood. Must be the taper.

It wasn’t too busy where we were… we took the Glacier Express up… lots of little pockets here and there and really not many people to be seen. And warm enough to get a sunburn! Yeah!

We soon got bored of the groomers and I was itching to get my board on some powder, but there was none to be seen, so we spotted a spot we wanted to hike to and board down. This spot looked like it was still full of the good stuff.

So we started rode up the Jersey Cream chair and rode through some gladed runs (nice stashes to be found in there), and took 7th Heaven up. We hiked about 15 minutes before we saw this little hut. It was a great view throughout the entire hike.

30 minutes later and we still had our work cut out for us. We hiked all the way to the top of that peak and more.

Here I am, 60 minutes later and definitely getting tired. We stopped lots to take photos and videos but I was definitely huffing and puffing.

A look back from where we came. Yup.. all the way from that distant chairlift. We really didn’t do anything special compared to Tawcan and his friends but it was far for me!

Finally we got to the spot where we could drop in. The ride was short for the amount of hiking, only about 10-15 seconds… but it was glorious. My Malolo just glided over the snow… I barely had to lean back… so easy to make those powder turns. Ahhhhhh.

So I wanted to make sure my board was right for me, and I’m glad we went out of our way to try that little experiment. I’m completely in love with my Malolo for just about every mountain experience. My Burton Malolo review was successful. I was riding clouds all day… it’s perfect for me.

Video to come soon!

It’s all over the news, in many parts of the world, but especially in British Columbia. People are dying in avalanches.

Karl Woll at Outdoor Vancouver has done a fantastic job of summing up all the mishaps from over the ski and snowboard holiday season. I also ran across this article by Ian Haysom at the Times Colonist which is also the quoted title of my post today. It also looks like there is talk about potentially fining or not allowing people to access the backcountry by the government.

I can’t help but feel like my rights and freedoms are on the verge of being threatened. Not just as a citizen of Canada, but as an adventurer… an explorer… a girl who remains in this city she loves because it is an outdoor playground.

I’m glad I took my AST-1 Avalanche Training course recently. This early season has had particularly unstable snowpack conditions leading to a bout of avalanches and casualties both in-bounds and in the backcountry.  This has resulted in a backlash of anger and concern from folks who want backcountry access to be closed, people to be fined for jumping ropes at ski resorts, and for people to pay for their own search and rescue costs.

Here’s where I stand:

I believe that if something happens to me in the backcountry, I can pay for my own search and rescue costs. I am fine with this. There is a great risk to each person involved in rescuing me, and I also don’t want other people having to shoulder costs for my mistakes. Contrary to popular opinion (and grossly mis-reported “facts” in the news), the North Shore Search and Rescue does NOT charge for their services. They are volunteers. They specifically say why they do not charge on their website. Still, I would have no problem paying for my mistakes if that is the way it ends up swinging.

I believe that if I have the appropriate backcountry gear (transceiver, probe, shovel etc) and some training that I should not be fined or banned for going out-of-bounds on ski resort. I also believe that I should lose all rights to be able to sue or mar the name of that resort in the case of an accident.

I believe that if others go out-of-bounds on ski resorts without proper equipment that being fined is an appropriate penalty. I do not believe a lifetime ban is appropriate.

I believe that people should not be stopped from using backcountry access on public land (not private).

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Where do you draw the line?

Should we ban Halloween because of needles in a handful of candy amongst millions? Should we ban surfers and fisherman from using the waters because of the many search and rescue missions that need to happen each year because of them? Should we stop people from hiking because of rockslides? Should we close sidewalks to prevent people from being hit by cars?

This issue stands very close to my heart. I believe in the freedom to access the mountains, the ocean, the world around me… I believe that is a fundamental right.

I believe in being prepared, being educated, and respecting nature before venturing out on an adventure.

I believe in taking risks.

I would much rather die out living my life, exploring the world than in my bed at home.

What do you think?