11 hours travel for 45 minutes?!?!?!

October 14, 2005 | 884 views | Trackback | |

Rather than go on and on about this, I'll keep it short and sweet... something that today WAS NOT!

Was up with the roosters in a bid to catch a 6:45am bus from Vancouver's Pacific Central terminal bound for Kelowna for my interview with the ski lift team management for Big White ski resort. I was well aware prior to boarding that this was going to be the start of one of the longest days of my life, but hey... you only live once right?

I had full intentions of staying awake at least for the outward bound journey in an attempt to catch some of the stunning views of the rockies on the way out... but A) a late night last night meant Mr Sandman won that battle, and B) crappy weather and low cloud kinda killed that idea anyway...

A slow winding journey up through mountains punctuated by a bunch of stops here and there delivered me in Kelowna around 12:30pm giving me enough time to grab a bite to eat and find the Ramada Hotel in time for my interview.

Managed to sneak into an earlier time and the dude I met with wasn't able to tell me anything more than I pretty much already knew or suspected. Big White really does sound like a fantastic resort, but the wages for ski lifties are pretty ordinary at best and there is no staff accommodation allocated on the mountain so it's pretty much up to everyone to find private condos to share with a bunch of others in a bid to cover rent. In short, the opportunities aren't enough to sway my mind from the decision to stay in Vancouver for the Winter (which I made a good couple of weeks ago anyway) so with the chats all over I hot footed it back to the bus depot to grab the earlier bus than the one I had planned on getting (5:15pm allowing me to do some site-seeing around town) and headed back to Vancouver getting in around 7pm.

Slept most of the way back too so I really can't comment on how beautiful the mountains were or anything...

Once back at home, jumped in the shower, got changed and headed to Ry's to watch the Canuck's game and then head to the 'Atlantic Tap and Grill' on Davie with the rest of the gang to help 'Raunchy' celebrate his 25th birthday. Had a fantastic night finally making it back home for, you guessed it, more sleep around 2ish.

Upshot of this post - Big White is just going to have to survive without me this year. I'd much prefer to just hang in town here with all my new friends for the Winter making the best use I can of the 4 resorts that are within 2 hours of the city and falling ever more in love with the game of Hockey!!!

On a side note, Dominic (my Boss at work) suggested last night that he still fully expects me to hit him up for a ski pass of some sort for the Winter so I intend on doing that early next week. Will probably negotiate a 5-day Whistler Edge card with him which gives me 5 days unrestricted skiing in Whistler Blackcomb and heavily discounted lift passes for any successive days following throughout the season. Bargain!

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