Whistler2005

This is a sort of a trip blog.

	2005-01-07 11:30 The trip to Whistler begins as I type this text. Currently I'm sitting in a lounge at Warsaw International Airport, waiting for my flight to London and then to Vancouver. Just chilling and having a cup of coffee at coffeheaven. Need to get a bottle of Luxusowa - Polish Luxury Potato Vodka - for the first party at Whistler. It turned out that there is no Internet hot spot at the Airport, so can't publish this yet. Maybe Heathrow will have one. See you later.
	2005-01-07 15:45 GMT London. No time for a pint of Guinness. The flight from Warsaw delayed due to strong headwind. Great view of Warsaw and London from the plane, but I forgot to charge my batteries in the camera, so no pictures :( Gotta run and catch the plane to Vancouver.
	2005-01-08 16:00 Flights were loooong. Arrived at Whistler last night and found Craig almost passed out in a pub. We had a couple of drinks, then we had a couple more. Then the party moved into our 2-bed condo. Sadly, Daz had to fly back to UK this morning, catching a bus at 5am... Today wasn't a great day. Head hurts, snow is hard. Maybe a Gin & Tonic at sunset in a hot tub is a good way to finish this day. I've put a couple of pictures in a directory - look under pictures. There will be a whole gallery script later, but now I don't really feel like doing it now.
	2005-01-09 6:24 Can't sleep since 4 am - because of jetlag (It's 3:24pm CET now). Last night we did some shopping, got some beers, cooked dinner and fell asleep on a couch in front of the fireplace. Today is going to be the first real snowboarding day. We'll see how that goes. My cell phone doesn't want to work in Canada, so I cannot be contacted at all, but no one knows this yet :))).
	2005-01-09 17:19 Great day on snow. Superb conditions - hard packed snow and clear sky. We had a couple of good runs and laid some decent carves. Met Dave - a local guy riding hard board and had a couple of good runs with him. In the afternoon we went ice skating on the frozen lake. Played some hockey as well. Now is the time for dinner and a whole bunch of beer. Gonna go out later and see if we can find some night life in Whistler.
	2005-01-10 9:30 Night life is ..... different. We first went to GLC pub with live local reggae band. After couple of beers and free topless performance by a drunk customer, we got invited to The Boot. There was a punk night at The Boot so we got to hear 2 Vancouver bands. All in all a good night out. Thanks to Stuart who gave us a lift back in his truck.
	2005-01-10 17:35 Glorious day on the mountain. We explored the Blackcomb. There are some great runs on that side - like the 7th heaven. We took a whole bunch of pictures there, check out the photos page. After all that excitement, went for a couple of beers in the hot tub. Turns out the hot tub is at least 3 beer experience. And info for Daz - No, your head doesn't freeze while you are in a hit tub, even if it is -15 C outside. We met there a crowd from Berkeley College, California. They stay in the same place as we do. Gonna party with them tonight :).
	2005-01-11 11:11 Finally got connected to Internet. Through dial-up only, but that doesn't matter. Uploading lots of pictures and some short vids.
	2005-01-12 17:42 Hey there. Yesterday was basically wasted on catching up with work - now that we have the internet connection. At night we managed to go out to the Boot again. Turned out it was a striper night. We actually didn't get to see much, cause we had a table in the corner and as soon as the performance has started, two guys with big afros on their heads decided to stand in front of us. Well, apparently we didn't miss much. Had a couple of jugs of "Canadian" - the local lager - and that has not failed us. Whistler got some snow yesterday, about 15cm , with temperature well below -10. We were hoping for a bit of powder on the mountain today, but I think it got swept by the strong winds. (there was even a "Deadly wind-chill warning" on TV last night :) ). That did not slow us down and today was packed with good riding on the Whistler mountain. Check out the new pictures and videos. Sundowners in the hot tub are always great and it wasn't any different today.
	2005-01-13 15:35 Today is the 13th (although it's not Friday). Not a day to remember. Last night Jen and Stuart came over for a quiet beer. And we had a couple, followed by a Mad Dog or 6. So needless to say, big headache in the morning prevented me from enjoying the mornings riding to the full extent. Took some pictures of the trails and runs on Blackcomb today - special request from Musiałów Dwóch.
	2005-01-15 9:27 Yesterday was the coldest day yet, with alpine temperatures around -20. After 4 runs I had to stop at a mountain restaurant and warm up my toes. Afternoon was well spent on shopping for gifts and hot-tubing. This morning I am having a small break from snowboarding. Just a few thoughts about this place. First of all - "Canada kicks ass !!!". The town is great, it has a huge pedestrian only center with lots of ski shops and pubs. Everyone is super-extra-mega friendly and very competent. And that even includes lift operators (BIG Cheers to Cathrine - the best lift operator in the world). So far Whistler has not disappointed us and I hope it doesn't.
	2005-01-15 11:53 More pictures uploaded. I found a phone card that has calls to Poland priced at 1,5 cent per minute. For 10$ I can talk for 11 hours. Beware ! I just might call you, when you least expect. Ha ha ha ha ha !!! <- evil laughter
	2005-01-15 23:34 Hey there. Just got back from the Opening Ceremony for the World Snowboard Championships. It was f&*cking cold. And they did not have nearly enough fireworks. But regardless, it was interesting to watch. Got a couple of beers with Clive from South Africa. Also managed to have the best steak in a long time. Let me tell you, those Canadians know their beef. The steak was superb. Tender, juicy, just perfect. That was at "21 steps" - and if you are ever at Whistler, make sure you get your steak there. Then we hit the Amsterdam Cafe pub, and got a couple of more beers. A great night out. Slug arrived recently, and him and Craig are going out again, this time to find some College girls. And good luck to them. Apparently this weekend is the College Invasion in Whistler, with a couple of hundred college kids from USA coming over and having a party at Whistler. What's more, this week is also a Brotherhood Week, which means that there are a lot of African-Americans skiing and snowboarding all over the place. Which is very cool, 'cause skiing is seldom associated with black people. On top of that, the next week is going to be Sorority week, which means hundreds of college girls from USA..... and life at Whistler is slowly becoming difficult.... which parties to attend ? ..... where to go ? I guess we will find out soon. And I'll make sure you know all about it. Stick around for the next web page update. Cheers. BTW a whole bunch of pictures uploaded today - most of it is of Whistler Village. Enjoy.
	2005-01-16 15:28 Today was BoarderCross event at the World Snowboarding Championships. We watched the finals. It was pretty good. Unfortunately I ran out of batteries in my camera and obviously forgot to pack the spare set, so managed to take only 1 picture. Fortunately Craig has taken some more (2 to be exact) so there is something to see. Look under Klepster for his pictures. I am going to tune the boards now - base, edges, waxing and stuff. Keep well.
	2005-01-17 14:43 Hey there. So we finally got some different weather. It started raining today in the village, with temperatures around +3 deg C. We did some riding in the rain and it was pretty cool. I was the first time I rode in the rain, with the snow still being cold and firm. It was super fun, except for the rain... There was no point in carrying on like that, so around 11:30 we switched to Guinness power, and that was a good move. Now gonna do some training in the hot tub. :)
	2005-01-17 21:33 Not many pictures today. Tuned the board - base, edges, wax etc. So it is ready for action. Tomorrow more rain heading this way. "Well it's gonna be hot and wet. It's good if you're with a lady, but ain't no good if you are in Whistler". Cheers.
	2005-01-20 2:57 Oh, my God ! Did we have a party last night or what?
	2005-01-20 20:40 Rain, rain, rain. Nothing to do but sit and drink. I am feeling a bit partied out at this moment, so I am gonna rest tonight. Tomorrow is supposed to stop raining for a while, so I want to test a Prior splitboard. Visited Prior factory today. It was very impressive and their boards look very solid. Going to see Big Air completion tomorrow as well.
	2005-01-21 9:31 It finally stopped raining, so we will go snowboarding today. It is supposed to start again later in the afternoon, so we don't have much time left. Later !
	2005-01-22 13:21 Prior split is great ! I had a lot of fun riding it yesterday. Check out a new section on this web page - snowboards, more info about prior split board there. Yesterday Slug met Robbie from Wits Ski Club on the slope, and we got invited to a house party. Also met Jeremy from Wits Ski. Turns out that they are here for the season. Lots of good memories of times we had in Tiffendell, lots of beer drunk. At 1:30 the cops arrived and closed the party down... Canadian cops have no sense of humor at 1:30 in the morning :). Today went for a breakfast in the local tennis club. Very nice.
	2005-01-22 16:44 Just came back from the Half-Pipe Qualifications. A whole lot of pictures uploaded, most of Mateusz Ligocki, and some of team from Polska. Tonight we are going to the official FIS party, and K-os concert. K-os is the hottest Canadian hip-hopper, we'll see about that...
	2005-01-28 10:09 CET. Currently on a train from Warsaw to Krakow. And the trip seems to be ending now. But there are still a couple of nice twists to the story. But I'll start from the beginning. The FIS party was a rip. Team South Africa + team Polska + team Hungary + team Croatia had a whole bunch of alcohol before the K-os concert. The concert by itself was pretty chaotic. We did not actually get to see the band. But it turned out that Bogdan (from Poland) was behind a bar and suddenly we got a quadruple Whisky & Colas for the price of 1. :) Good stuff, Bogdan keep up the good work, the world needs more such bartenders. The party quickly moved to our place with odd 15-20 people. Much fun was had by all, and we managed to stay up till 6am. The next day we went ice skating, and managed to play some hockey as well. Had a very good 12oz steak that night and began to pack. On Monday (24th) I picked up the Prior splitboards - one for myself and the next one for Zuber (respect, dude !), just in time to catch the shuttle to Vancouver. Checked in my luggage, drank the last Canadian, and boarded the plane. Turns out, that my boards did not board the plane, but I did not know it then. It was full moon and fairly clear skies, so the view from the plane was astounding - specially flying over Hudson Bay and Greenland. The forecast said that it would snow in London, but that did not happen. Managed to get some cool pictures from the plane - Tower Bridge, Hyde Park and some other cool stuff. The stop over in London was quite pleasant - I slept most of the time. It was pretty cool to see all the time some people wearing World Champs T-shirts - they were all over the place. The flight to Warsaw was fairly smooth, but Red wine wasn't as good as on the flight from Vancouver.

And now it gets interesting. As I claim my baggage, it turns out that the snowboard bag is missing. It wasn't even in their computer system, but not a problem they say - it probably did not fit in the plane, and they'll send it on the next one (next day - Wednesday). So I stay in Warsaw. Called the airport at around 2pm - and hour after the plane was supposed to land. But my bag ain't there. Around 6pm they said that the bag stayed in Vancouver and it followed the same flight plan as I, but a day later. Not a problem I say. I and Zuber got to the airport, as I got a call that the boards arrived. Go to customs and they show me my alleged board bag. Except it was not mine. The moment I said that, everyone just went blank - they seriously did not know what to do. Well, as the old saying goes, if you don't know what to do with a client, go and check out the "System" once more. And they did. Turns out that there is another bag, registered under my name that is coming from Frankfurt !!!!!! How the hell did it end up there ?? They actually found it, because there was a name tag attached. So, boys and girls, rule number one:

"Always clearly sign you luggage !!!"

So I got to spend another day in Warsaw. Woke up on Thursday morning full of hope. I mean, the boards will be here at 5pm. Great !!! Around 5:30 I give them a call and..... you guessed it - the boards are somewhere f&#king else. At this point I was not a happy puppy. But managed to go with Hanka to Zacheta gallery and saw somewhat interesting expo on Polish and Russian art of 20th century. At 21:45 got a call from the airport - the board are here, they said. I made them describe the bag. It fit the description. So Zuber and I had a small celebration beer. The luggage was only 48 hours late.

But hey, this morning we went to collect it..... and the story takes another twist. The bag was damaged beyond recognition. There are holes everywhere. All the straps are ripped off. It looks like someone had dragged it behind a car for 20km. And the worst of all - there is some stuff missing. I lost plates for my Intec Race bindings. I lost the whole left Nidecker binding. My brand new Prior splitboard is scratched on top and on the base. The F2 Speedster - my GS board - is delaminating at the tail. All the boards have damaged bases and edges. What a f*%k up.

At this moment it means that I don't have a board which I can ride with hard boots !!! Even more today is the 2nd day of Polish Snowboarding Championships - I was gonna compete, but could not because of severe lack of equipment. And it looks like I will not be able to compete in any races for the next couple of weeks, cause I don't have the $$$ to replace the damaged equipment.

British Airways - you better pay up, or else......

Many thanks to Hania, who supported me in this jolly good situation :).

This page was last updated on 2005-06-20.