Why am I digging up the subject now though? Well believe it or not, this weekend marks the one year anniversary of the games and Vancouverites desperate to feel that party atmosphere again, that proud chill on the back of the neck, that buzz that enveloped the entire city for the month of February a whole 12 months ago, will be filling Granville Street and the surrounding down town core today as a smorgasbord of events are dished up to revellers in an attempt to recreate the magic we all felt back then.

From street hockey, to buskers, Olympic Medal viewings, athlete meet and greets, multimedia presentations beamed onto the sides of the Sears building and even a rumoured flash mob are on the cards! For all of the details on what you can be part of and where, check out the VancityBuzz.com event information page, Miss 604′s wrap-up, or the “Downtown Vancouver” Facebook page.

Keep an eye on the Twitter hash tag #ReliveIt, as I’m sure the active Vancouver social media community will be throwing a large collection of 140 character gems out there throughout the day pointing you in the right direction so that you don’t miss out on anything.

If the excitement level just isn’t quite there for you yet and you need a quick refresher of what it was like to be in Vancouver this time last year, look no further than this awesome video put together by the talented Jordan Megahy.

See you out on Granville later today! If you see me – come say hi!

Olympic Cauldron

“Jets Overhead” perform in Robson Square

Granville Street

So Friday morning I headed out to YVR to board the 11:30am Air North flight bound for Whitehorse. Clear skies were in order and I spent quite a bit of time gasping over the beauty of the frozen landscapes that were being presented below. After a few short hours the wheels were down and were skidding along a partially snowy runway at Whitehorse International Airport.

Acclimatising in Whitehorse

My good mate Chad was generously standing at the baggage carousel when I emerged from the oh-so-short walk from the Air North Boeing 737 to the arrivals lounge (a MASSIVE contrast to the 1km+ to the same end in Shanghai last year). There’s always a certain chilly thrill I get from leaving the Whitehorse International Airport terminal during the winter and hoofing it to a vehicle a couple of dozen meters away. Despite the small distance, the cold which you can almost guarantee will be -15 degrees celsius or worse, still has enough time to penetrate every last soft tissue in your body leaving you more than aware that your’re but a day’s drive to the Arctic Circle.

On Friday, it was no different.

The only way to combat the need to acclimatise, of course, was to throw on a heavy, fur lined, hooded jacket and wander into town, and down to the edge of the mighty Yukon River, to have a look around. I’ve become quite familiar with this Northern town over the years, so finding something to eat and a few decent galleries to peruse was no effort.

The Starting Line

With the 2011 Yukon Quest 1,000 Mile Race set to kick off at 11am (so I found out from the official website on Friday night) I was up early enough to hopefully slip out of the house without disturbing baby Sonny, Chad or Peg. As it turned out, Chad was already up by the time I got vertical, so we made plans to meet in the early afternoon in town towards the end of the race start.

With that I scampered off heading for main street where the race has kicked off the last two years (2007/2009) that Whitehorse has hosted the race start. By the time I was 3/4 of the way down the main street I began to wonder if I had gotten the dates all mixed up, or something. The place was deserted. Had it not been for a small printed sign on a door at the end of the street letting people know that the start line had been moved this year, about 1km away at “Shipyard’s Park”, I would have been left scratching my head wondering what happened to the race.

A quick change of course and I soon found myself in a large car park area that was doubling as the crew assembly area for the 25 crews taking part (see table below) in the 2011 event.

With final preparations including vet checks taking place, it was the perfect opportunity to get around and take some up close profile shots of these beautiful beasts before making my way to the starting line/chute where all the action kicked off right on 11am like clockwork!

Takinhi River

As we’ve done on previous occasions, as soon as the last team ripped down the chute away from the starting line, Chad and I, after a quick coffee to warm up our insides, jumped in his truck and headed out to a far bend in the Takinhi River, a bend where we’d be able to get down onto the frozen river surface and get close to the passing dog teams without the crowds present back in town.

It’s always a bit of a gold mine photography-wise, and our efforts to make it out there in time, this time, didn’t go without reward as you can see from the following selection of shots.

After a quick return back to home base for less than an hours rest, it was back down to the starting line ready for the start of the smaller “Yukon Quest 300″ race as the light began to fade.

Yukon Quest 300 Kicks Off

Featuring less experienced mushers and mushers looking to use the 300 as a way of qualifying for future Yukon Quest 1,000 and Iditarod challenges, this year’s 300 starting list featured some familiar faces for me from previous Whitehorse starts, as well as a healthy International representation with mushers from Switzerland, France and even Australia taking part.

All-in-all, a predictably enjoyable day in pretty comfortable temperatures under blue skies – a trend that one can only hope will follow the mushers and their teams as they make their way towards the respective finish lines in Fairbanks, Alaska (1,000 Race) and Pelly Crossing, Yukon (300 Race).

As darkness fell, it was time for me to head back to join Chad, Peg & little Sonny and some of their extended family members for a delicious dinner of Elk Tacos! That’s right, Elk Tacos! So awesome!

Lodging payment via hard labour

Now that Peg has little Sonny (only a few months old) to attend to round the clock, it seemed only right that I pay for the lodging and generous hospitality afforded me by my hosts over the course of the weekend by throwing on my “lumberjack” cap and heading out into the forest to help Chad take down some trees for firewood for the next month and a bit.

Hitting the road early Sunday morning and chasing the pink-washed sky out of town into a beautiful part of the territory, we eventually came to a spot Chad knew well, that was in a legal firewood gathering zone, and we began the task of finding dead trees to cut down, chop up, and load into the sizeable trailer we were hauling. With the snow being about thigh deep, it wasn’t the easiest of tasks, but I certainly wasn’t expecting the job to be a holiday by any means.

Over 6-7 hours, we took down 8 large spruce, fir & pine trees with a chainsaw, cut them up into perfect fire log chunks and arranged them carefully in the trailer to maximise carrying capacity.

So, how did we go in the end? Well, needless to say the house should stay cosy and warm for the next little bit with a decent triple-layered stack of prime firewood now in the front yard all ready to go.

The only thing left to do was head indoors, cast off a few layers, stoke up the fire and settle down in front of the TV with Sonny and watch the Superbowl. NFL in general, and therefore the game, doesn’t do much for me, but a little armchair sport action to cap off the eventful weekend was just what the doctor ordered!

“Interactive video?” I hear you ask? Sure. Go ahead and start playing the video then use your mouse to pan the helicopter-mounted camera around in all directions effectively giving you a 360 degree field of vision to play with.

Awesome!

The video was created by the clever, creative folk at “NorthStudio 360″ for “Nimmo Bay Helicopter Fishing & Wilderness Tours”.

From the comfort and lively atmosphere of the beer hall at the surprisingly awesome LiveCity Down Town venue, I sat glued to a number of big screens as the ladies through themselves down the bumpy hill in the wind and driving rain up at Cypress Mountain.

While it’s not ideal, an Olympic silver medal is still an amazing achievement and one that all Canadians, and all of Canada are celebrating today.

This evening sees the Men’s Final get underway at 5:30pm (PST) with Canadian-born Aussie and 2006 Olympic champion Dale Begg-Smith (below) taking to the hill. I can’t wait!

The specifics will probably all be hammered out this Friday when we actually get up to Whitehorse and connect with our fearless wilderness guide, Chad, but at this stage it’s all going to go something like this:

• A 4-5 day canoe journey down the “McQuesten River” – a Class 1 (easy) paddle through pristine country which will give us the opportunity to spot wildlife, fish and go on short hikes into some of the most remote wilderness on the planet. Yikes… I’m so much more excited after having written that!!
• A night in one of our favourite stops from our trip back in 2007 – Dawson City. This exciting little former gold rush town will give us the opportunity to relax a little after our time on the river. Great little martini bars, traditional saloons and a wild little casino featuring real showgirl performances await us. Sweet!
• A scenic drive and perhaps day and/or overnight hike in the spectacular “Kluane National Park” – 21,980 sq. km of varied landscapes including non-polar icefields, and a greenbelt that should give us a good shot at seeing animal species such as Dall’s sheep, grizzly bears (perhaps the largest population in North America), moose, lynx, wolves and wolverines as well as golden and bald eagles, ptarmigans, magpies, arctic terns and peregrine falcons. Don’t worry, my camera is well and truly packed!
• A couple of days in and around Haines, Alaska with the strong intent on locating, catching and eating large King, Coho, or Sockeye Salmon. Yes, fishing rods are packed as well.

Wahoooooooooooo! I am incredibly excited about this trip and really can’t wait to get on board the “Air North” (click that link – I designed that entire site) flight to Whitehorse on Friday.

Of course I’ll do my best to document the entire trip in words and pictures when I get back… but it may be a bit of a wait before I can get it all done and published. The best way to be the first to know when the entries are completed is by following me on Twitter, or by subscribing to my Blog’s RSS feed.

See you in a couple of weeks!!!

Such is the somewhat heavy subject matter of a fantastic Canadian movie Carms and I saw last night called “One Week“. Starring Joshua Jackson of “Dawson’s Creek” fame, One Week goes something a little like this (from the Toronto International Film Festival website):

Joshua Jackson plays Ben Tyler, who has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. At first Ben can’t believe his situation, but when the reality sinks in, he decides he needs to act radically. Although engaged to the beautiful – if slightly acerbic – Samantha (played by the delightful Liane Balaban of New Waterford Girl), Ben is overpowered by the need to capture some unknown yet vital experience before the darkness descends. He needs to hit the road, and to do it alone. Setting his sights on a cross-Canada road trip, he indulges in one heck of an impulse buy – a vintage motorcycle – and sets out for the West.

Travelling from Toronto on the Trans-Canada Highway, Ben takes in some of the nation’s iconic landmarks. This typically means anything claiming to be the “world’s biggest.” It is a testament to the generosity of McGowan’s filmmaking that he can raise both a laugh and a tear when Ben visits roadside attractions like the world’s biggest goose in Wawa, Ontario.

He pushes on. As Samantha tries to reclaim her fiancé in a series of increasingly concerned calls from Toronto, Ben rides west, hitting the intoxicating open spaces of the Prairies and the shock of the Rocky Mountains as he aims for the Pacific Ocean. Along the way he has a hilarious encounter with a highway philosopher, played by Canadian rock icon Gord Downie, and strikes up a touching, tentative relationship with a young woman in Banff.

The cross-Canada road trip is a rite of passage for Canadians and a privilege that tourists fly across oceans to experience. Never has it been filmed so grandly, nor brought so beautifully into a story of inspiration.

I’m not confident this cracker of a film, written and directed by Michael McGowen, is going to be released on mass as I don’t think it’s linked to any of the major Hollywood distribution companies (probably a good thing). But it’s been successfully doing the film festival circuit of late, and a keen eye will hopefully find it playing at more-open minded cinemas over the coming months.

A definite must-see if you can find it!

Probably the highlight of this trip for me was getting the chance to finally see the Northern Lights in all their glory. They really are a spectacular and mysterious phenomena, and one I am glad to be able to say I have finally witnessed in the flesh!

The lowlight? Probably my attempt to board a plane with a dirty big Swiss Army Knife in my carry-on camera bag, the frostbite I got on my nose, or simply just the bloody freezing (roughly -30 degrees all weekend) temps. It’s all part of the fun I guess!

I wish all the competitors of the 2009 Yukon Quest a safe and speedy race. I really admire all 29 entrants on their sheer guts for taking on a 1,000 mile, 10-12 day race like that in one of the world’s most remote and harsh environments. Just awesome stuff.

I’ve put together a gallery, similar to the one I prepared for my visit to the 2007 event, and posted it online. Click on the image above, to view the gallery, and feel free to leave your comments below.

Originating in 1984, the “Yukon Quest” is an International dog sled race that covers 1,000 miles / 1,600 km of rough and sometime hazardous terrain between Whitehorse, Yukon and Fairbanks, Alaska. This year 28 teams of 1 “musher” and 14 sled dogs will complete the course that follows a historic arctic trail.

Ryan is actually heading up on business with his work “Boston Pizza”, so I’m sure while he’s out doing his thing with that I’ll be happily snapping pictures of gorgeous husky puppies and any other interesting things I find around Whitehorse.

I’m REALLY stoked about this trip and can’t wait to share my images with you all in the very near future. In the meantime, if you would like to read some more about the race and it’s history, visit www.yukonquest.com

For those of you who didn’t already know, at the end of last year I hooked up and joined a Summer resort employment program through “Overseas Working Holidays (OWH)” who are an offshoot of the hugely successful Australian travel company “Flight Centre”. Basically for a reasonable fee, the good folk at OWH got me all set up with VISA assistance, cheap flights, insurance and more importantly an interview with the “Fairmont” resort group giving me the chance to secure board and a job up in the Rocky Mountains in Alberta over the Northern Hemisphere Summer. The plan was to get up in the mountains and spend 5 months or so hiking and going berserk with the camera before heading back into British Columbia to spend the Winter ski season up on the slopes. Everything was running smoothly largely due to the lovely, and quite stunning I might add, Lauren from OWH who looked after my interests from day one with a mighty impressive professional precision.

Now that I’ve talked them up sufficiently enough to clear them of any blame here, the day came when I was to meet with the rep from the “Fairmont” company and I have to say I was more than ready for them. The silky tongue I posses within this mouth was all prepped and ready to fire all cylinders in my attempt to secure a decent paying position as a bellboy, sports club attendant or even your run-of-the-mill barman!

“Tracey” greeted me with a crisp, no-nonsense Canadian “hello Rooorrrrrburrrrt”… and whisked me away to a tiny little room where she sat me down and told me that she was going to ask me a few questions about my CV/application, and then it would be into the interview questions proper. No sooner had she mumbled something about many of the positions at Jasper (where I was hoping to go) being taken already, I got the sneaking suspicion that she really wasn’t there to consider my desired outcome, but merely there to fill the positions on a restaurant waiters list that obviously was the next section of the hotel to be filled. I really didn’t get ANY chance at all to showcase verbally what I was able to offer them before “Tracey” launched into the “standard Fairmont Resorts personality identification” set of questions. Basically a quick-fire 50 moronic questions requiring nothing more than a “yes” or “no” answer like, “do you consider yourself a team player?” *sighs*

The final nail in the coffin as far as my experiences with “Tracey” went, was when she asked me if I had any questions for her? I figured this was my chance to make some sort of half-arsed impression, so I asked what I thought were a series of intelligent questions which she visibly couldn’t be bothered fielding. My questions did result in a positive of sorts though. It identified the reality of my fear that I would potentially end up in a beautiful part of the country only to find myself spending the whole time wiping down tables and delivering overpriced “Moose bullocks” to the tables of any number of valued “Fairmont” customers over the course of the Summer with no real opportunity to get out and enjoy the fresh mountain air. In summary, as a waiter in the “Emerald Room Restaurant” I would be expected to work 50 odd hours a week over 6 days earning a poultry $6.40 an hour. Oh yeah, and that would have to pay for both my board and meals as well – none of which were covered for staff. Sounds like a great deal “eh”?… NOT!

Needless to say, once I received my offer from the resort by fax at work two days later, I promptly got on the blower to the lovely and charming “Lauren” and informed her that regrettably I would be declining the offer and relinquishing my position on the “program”.

So that brings us to where I am today. The new plan is to head over in around 5 weeks (around April 30th) and have a couple of quick pit stops in both Hong Kong and London along the way. The finer details are still being worked out – like how the hell I am going to cover the round the world airfare ticket in addition to the top cover insurance required to protect me for the next 12 months… but hey where there’s a will there’s a way right?

More updates will be posted shortly… keep your eye on my BLOG for more postings and possible rantings! LOL

Ciao!