I
promised myself last year I would write more frequently about my adventures but
since I left India I failed with that so sorry for disappearing all winter.
Usually
I never have a so called 'winter' as I try and stay as close to the river as
possible but I decided to do my first winter season in Whistler, Canada after
being in Nepal and India.
I
have only really tried skiing once when I was about 10 and got a job as a
photographer with Coast Mountain Photography in Whistler, but for my job I
needed to be able to ski to get from location to location on the mountain. I
allowed myself 2 weeks before starting work to learn to ski (I figured I learnt
to kayak pretty quickly so if I was motivated I would be able to do this before
I started work).
I
pretty much got thrown in the deep end with skiing. When I first got to
Whistler I was living with 4 Swedes, 2 Aussies, 3 Canadians, 1 girl from the UK
and a South African. The Swedes took me up the mountain and got me on the skis
straight away and it was all learning by trial and error. My first day on the
mountain I fell over so, so many times then each day the falls got less and
less until eventually over winter I progressed to the black runs then the
ungroomed powder runs with my friend Colin. Another thing that helped me learn
fast was that there were some pretty amazing skiers and snowboarders at Coast
that at the end of each day at work they would challenge me by taking me down
harder runs and giving me pointers.
Working
at Coast was a really good experience for me. I got really confident using
manual mode on my camera and it was fantastic having some really experienced
photographers critique my work which helped me over the season become better
with getting the exposure and lighting right for my photos.
As
well as working with on mountain photography I also spend part of the winter
helping Coast out at Whistler Bungee...... as your about to guess that meant I
also went Bungee Jumping!
People who know me well know I'm usually up for anything adventurous - but as long as I'm in control! I jumped 4 times during winter and every time I did it I could never jump off the platform straight away. Jumping backwards was the worst out of all the ways I tried (swan diving and tandem). I did it backwards twice and both times I needed a push off the bridge!
Once I was off the bridge everything is fine and my fear is gone but it's just taking that initial step off the platform which always makes me feel sick in the pit of my stomach:) Later on in the season I moved out of my house full of people and moved in with 3 other people (and an amazing dog called Bella) and took one of my housemates for a jump at Bungee and she loved it but also felt the same as me - doesn't matter if you have jumped once it doesn't get any easier if you are not quite comfortable with heights!
Other great parts of winter in Whistler were the fact I got to see bands and DJs play live such as the Jezabels, Stanton Warriors, Krusha, Crissy Criss, Cat Empire, Swollen Members and Michael Franti. I got to see some of these bands at Telus Fest which was at the end of April just before Whistler Mountain closed and was lucky to get a media pass to this event which allowed me to have access backstage so I could take photos.
I
will post some of these in my next post!
