Ok, so it wasn’t really any of our birthdays…yet, but we knew the snow would be suspect at this time of year and figured that adding a birthday celebration into the mix would definitely keep our 3-day weekend interesting. It did:

Throw an awesome 5 bedroom house, multiple cases of beer, and some luchidor masks in the mix, and you have the recipe for a great weekend!

Lewis, Eric, and I (with Burton) were the first to arrive on Thursday to check in and open the place up. Drew and Theresa (with Ceasar) arrived well after we’d returned from our usual stop at Foxfire Grill, but we kept the party going until about 4:00 am. I actually woke up Friday morning with my worst headache of the weekend, but I blame the blonde ales I was drinking with dinner.

Lewis and I had a hard time getting motivated to ride on Friday, but finally made it out for several runs down the quickly melting trails. Then it was back to the house for hot tubbing, cocktails, and to meet up with Dharma. Along with Ben and Steph (with Bailey) arriving early Friday afternoon, 8 of us were now there. The other 3 – Tom and Amy and Laura – would arrive later Friday evening; missing out on the lasagna dinner, the initial rounds of beer pong, and Drew’s hip-hop iPod mix (uh-ohhhhhhhhhh!).

On Saturday, we were all excited to get out on the snow with the exception of Laura, who had some school work to do, and Theresa, who hung out with Ceasar. Lewis took Amy under her wing with some snowboard instruction while I helped Dharma. Team Mummert made some laps by us and would stop to throw snowballs and generally harass the pupils and teachers. Tom actually took off on his own and made great progress in his first day on a snowboard. Amy and Dharma both took to it quickly as well, but soreness prevented them from riding the next day; even after a marathon hot tub session (literally like 3 hours). We never did see Ben and Steph out on the snow, but rejoined them back at the house for the requisite cocktails and hot tubbing. While Laura, Lewis, and Amy continued to enjoy the tub for the aforementioned marathon, the rest of us chilled on the sweet leather sofas watching DVDs (primarily “Triumph: The Insult Comic Dog”) and enjoying our beers.

Saturday night, after our awesome ham dinner, was the night the luchidor masks came out that Eric discovered on the Wrestle Warehouse website. We played some flip cup and then more beer pong to keep the fun factor high and shuffled back and forth between iPod playlists. We laughed a lot, quoted Will Ferrell movies ad nauseum (we had already watched “Blades of Glory” earlier that morning), and Lewis managed to keep her clothes on.

We woke up Sunday to a light dusting of snow on the ground, but only Lewis and Tom made it out on the slopes while the rest of us started cleaning up with “Anchorman” playing in the background. It’s always a bummer having to part ways after such a great weekend, but Theresa had to get back to Buffalo (via Ohio) and the rest of us had our 4-hour drive back to Virginia to contend with.

In the end, the weekend brought Lewis’ and my final day count for the season to 24.

A rather routine weekend at Snowshoe became hilarious when Rich failed to get on the lift properly and ended up dragging himself and Carla into a slushy puddle. Eric and I could only laugh.

Although a cloud of sadness was still settled on Lewis following Paw Paw’s passing just weeks earlier, we enjoyed some decent backcountry conditions and had a good time riding with Rachel, Ike, Maria, and Maria’s sister. Heavy snow forced us off the mountain early our last day at The Canyons.

Our trip to Panorama, BC turned out to be “the big one” for the season in more ways than one. Aside from it being our longest trip of the season, with six days on the snow, we also had the opportunity and fortune to give heli-boarding a go. Accessing the mountains via helicopter has long been a dream of mine, and the Panorama resort area just happens to have a heli operation sitting right next to it. On top of the that, because we were traveling with the DC Ski Club, we were able to take advantage of discounted rates. All we needed to know once we got to British Columbia was if the weather was going to accommodate us while we there.

DAY 1

The trip started EARLY on Saturday morning with a 3:30 am drive out to Dulles to connect with Scott and the rest of our 6-person crew (Sarah, Don, and Nathan). We were the late registees that didn’t make it into the main group flying out later in the day. Instead, we would fly out to Denver, kill several hours at DIA, fly up to Calgary, kill a few more hours while we waited for the other group to catch up, and then make the 4 hour drive up into the mountains. The wait in Calgary did allow us time to grab a decent dinner and some drinks though; something the later group did not get.

Once on the bus, we met the rest of the group and our trip leader, Dennis; who, I was excited to find out, was a snowboarder as well. We snowboarders were still grossly outnumbered, so it was nice that Dennis was one of “us.” Not that we bear any ill will toward skiers, but we didn’t want to feel like the outcasts on the trip for being knuckle-draggers. Plus, he entrusted me with the DVD selections on the bus ride. “Let it Ride: The Craig Kelly Story” certainly wasn’t what the skiers had in mind, but it certainly beat “Spiderman 3,” which bombarded us with a higher volume level than the previous flick. It was late, and we were all trying to get some sleep on the bus, but it would only be sporadic.

Finally, we arrived at the resort around midnight, mountain time, and were told to meet back in the common room in 20 minutes to be briefed by our mountain hosts, Dave and Shelly. There would be pizza and beer as well, but neither tasted too good by the time we were getting to it. All the same, I enjoyed 3 complimentary Konkanees before we all turned in for the night.

DAY 2

After some well-needed sleep, we headed down for the continental breakfast and prepared to meet our guide at 10:00 am for a tour of the resorts in-bound, advanced terrain. Lewis, Scott, and I were the last ones to get down to the meeting spot, but hooked up with Dennis and some others for some fun runs down the likes of Millennium, Tree Time, and Schober’s Glade. The snow in the trees was past its prime, making the glades challenging, but it was still soft enough to get some grip.

DAY 3

Heliboarding!

heli-boarding in the purcells from Todd Bayliss on Vimeo.

DAY 4

Lunch was provided that afternoon by SkiCan, our mountain hosts, at the Greywolf Nordic Center. We’re certainly not ones to turn down free burgers and beer. Made our first foray into Taynton Bowl and were introduced to some college dudes in banana hammocks.

DAY 5

Toga party

DAYS 6 & 7

Thursday and Friday were near mirror images of each other, except that Friday morning did not follow a toga party; thus minimizing the hangover.

Although Thursday started a little later in the day, Lewis was anxious to get into Taynton Bowl herself; so, she, Ben, and I headed off there after bumming around the hotel for a bit. We’d do the same thing on Friday, but with Steve instead of Ben, while Ben was off at Kicking Horse. Steve was feeling a little queasy on Thursday after Wednesday night’s festivities.

DAY 8

Time to head home.