like the old saying

A picture says more than a thousand words...

for more sweet pics..  click here..

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pow wow

Hallelujah Jesus Christ Buddha Allah and all that!!

Just came home from a 7 hours long day in massive powder..!
The conditions were just perfect today, and a constant dump during the night left a 40-50 cm layer of powder frosting on the delicious cake called Whistler Blackcomb !!Early up in the lift, tired as usual when you get up before 10..
but at 9 we hit the first slope and we instantly forgot how little sleep we had the last days..
It was amazing, awesome, fuck yeah and every thing Else you can come up with.. and then some more..!

And we're getting better and smarter when we ride.. and it's so much to ride when it's fresh it's ridiculous so we keep hitting new spots everyday.. and even late this afternoon on our last runs we made fresh tracks.. even though the main runs have a lot of tracks in them.. we found untouched ground..and imagine we have only been at one out of two mountains so far.. ;D
I can't really explain the feeling today.. we were just giggling like schoolgirls after every run, we just shred it big time. simple as that..

My life situation changed so quick, from being sick in bed and with no snow in the village and rain. To over a meter fresh pow in 2 days and -5 degrees and just having the absolute best time in my life..!!

I really don't know why I write this, it's maybe not fun to read.. I don't know..
just wanted you guys to know, that if you thought maybe I was having a bad time over here and just didn't like it that much and thinking of coming home..

FORGET IT !!
I'm just sooo happy..!!

tonight it's dinner, movie and early bed..
tomorrow we gonna be first up in every lift.. starting at 8 am waiting for the first lift to start then step it up for another day in paradise..
as long as it keeps snowing I don't have any problems.

there's no snow like pow pow...

remeniss

After 2 weeks since the last dump we finally got some fresh.!!
It looks like Renen brought it with him..
No morning stars directly none of us we literally crawled out of bed early this morning to catch some virgin snow, and boy did we..?!

It's hard because you have to plan ahead to get the most of it, and always be updated if/when they open up new areas.. and with a lot of people, and especially lot of beginners, the tracks get ruined quite fast..

Yesterday we had to fix the lift pass for Renen and wasn't as early as this morning.
But we hiked up a peak far out on whistler mountain that still were quite intact and got a really good and long run down the bottom.

Today we found a really good forest run with waste deep pow in some places and steep enough to get a lot of speed..
We did reruns for hours..

Afterward we sneaked into Hilton again for some well earned hot tub treatment for our sore legs and muscles.

This week is also Burton week so a lot of thing's going on.
and today they had a movie screening evening, showing movies from late 80's and early 90's..
Damn we cracked up and laughed loud at the outfits, style, crazy moves and funny people from the early ages of snowboarding hahaha.. amazing

I can say that Today was by far the greatest since I came..!!

here's a video of Renen going down the pow..





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reindeer games

So he emerged like a light bolt from a clear sky with a halo hovering above him..

well not quite but when being home sick and just wandering around the house in your socks it almost felt like it..

My buddy old pal 'Renen' arrived yesterday with a new board under his arm, and gonna rip it on the mountain with me and the rest of the boys for a good month.!

Feels really good to have someone with me in the house, that's not a drunk or a dog..

Though I had a good day with Diesel the other day when I took him for a walk over 3 hours and just sat in the warm sun, played with some sticks and chatted with the ladies.. ;)

It really made my sick day much brighter being with this little dog that loves to come into my room in the mornings and make a little cozy nest with my quilt, porking around like a little pig..

.. and sometimes when no one's around I call him little piggy...

And yesterday him and Renen found themselves too, when they both fell a sleep in my bed next to each other, both on back, both with the paws in the air..  very cute indeed..

So me and Renen are living it camps style like teenagers with a bunk bed and all in my really tiny room...

but we just laughed all day on how good our lives is right now..!!

no schedules, no meetings, no times to pass, candy whenever, ice cream for breakfast..

.. Just pure Freedom..

and now it started to snow...

flu away

This morning I felt that this wasn't just a cold, I needed some stronger shit than vitamin-C.!

So I got up and to the medical centre, and to my surprise and joy, it was almost empty..

The doctor got a quick look and I was out of there in 30 sec with a prescription in my hand for some jolly old antibiotics ..

and I caught myself thinking if it would be as easy if I had been home in Sweden..?

You know the almost guilty feeling you have when you're going to the doctors office..

First you stay home for a few days thinking it will go away by itself, just have some extra sleep and some vitamins and tea and it will be ok in the morning..

Then when you're not, you sit at home practicing what to say.. 

like I have been resting for a week, tried normal cold medicine, I have been feeling this for a long time and please mr.doctor, I usually don't come running as fast as I get a little sniffle.. you know doc. but I don't feel that this is just a cold..

almost like you're on trail or something..

then of course when you're sitting there and waiting an that chair in the examination room, you start searching your body and mind what's wrong to come up with a good and quick answers for the questions..  you start to feel not to sick anymore..  maybe you shouldn't be here..

naah go home and have some vitamin-C and garlic and it'll be over tomorrow.

I could leave right now.. the door is open..

But maybe that's just me.. I don't like being sick but I don't like being a sissy nagging about it either..

and the past couple of times in sweden they just sent me home with just that..

go home, rest, eat well and it will pass, it's a virus, nothing we can do....

So here I was, thinking that the doctor would send me straight home with a orange in my hand and a little pad on my head, go home and get some rest..

Imagine my surprise and actually happiness when she gave me a quick look in the throat and ear and bursts out

- my god, you look terrible, I'm gonna give you some antibiotics right away..

good to know that I can get better now, and don't have to miss out on the good fun anymore..

But I do think we're a little bit harder giving out drugs in sweden,

and the pills they got here are so funny.

at home we're used to the all white almost floury pills.. not here. plastic with bright colours red and yellow..

almost like in a cartoon...

dropped the camera and broke it on the concrete schoolyard

Alright!

We had a very special quest here yesterday, namely Dj Nu-Mark from the Jurassic 5.!

And he can spin some good shit that's for sure.

To bad though, I'll think the people here don't really appreciate him as much maybe as I do, they just get as drunk as possible as usual and don't care..  

or maybe it simply wasn't my day..

I have had a cold now for almost a week and it bugs the hell out of me..

Then we have the absent of snow and I also think I woke up on the wrong side yesterday.

all those little thing topped of with some vodka juice maybe isn't the best recipe for a good night out.. 

But it all started of when we had to stand in line for 45 min to get in spite we had pre bought our tickets, and the guards were as bright as always, and even the freaking coat hangers had attitude..

then inside everybody's piss drunk..  so we think what the fuck.. lets have some drinks..

then when I take my camera out for some pictures this guy jumps uncontrollable into me so I drop it and it breaks..  I get really pissed but what shall I do,, bust this kids skull open, well the thought passed my mind but I just shoved him aside and tried to leave it with my jacket..

even more attitude from the coat checks..

-you should hang in everything right from the beginning..

 

aargh this was supposed to be a great fun night with lots of dancing.

well what the heck.. it's only a camera right, but maybe there won't be so much pictures from here on.. :(  

luckily me dear friend Renen is coming over in the next few days and I hope he brought his..

And the music was dope.. This guy is mad behind the wheels.. truly amazing, and I did get some dancing done, so not an all bad night after all..

and I did get my revenge as well.

There was this stupid guy working one of the bars with a pair of sunglasses thinking he was cool like shit, well he looked like shit anyway..

So we just made up a drink that we knew he didn't know, wasn't that hard,  and named it 

Stevie Wonder.!

ordered two and watched him search for the ingredients while we where saying the words Stevie Wonder out loud a couple of times, then paid in change..

yeah you blind fuck.. keep it!!

 

confessions of an old mind

At this point I've been here for 6 weeks and I thought I tell you a little something about this little mountain village called Whistler..

Whistler is a resort town in the southern pacific ranges of the Coast Mountains of the province British Columbia Canada with a village elevation of 675m and the highest peak just above 2300m.

With a year around population of 10,000 and over 2 million visitors per year, this multiple design award winning village is one of north Americas greatest..

Well at least that's what they tell you in the brochure...

It's bull crap and fake, fake, fake..

Let's start with the design award winning thingie..  what the.. huuh.. noway. 

It looks like a damn hollywood set from a spaghetti western for crying out loud..

with it's main street facades and paper thin walls, it just looks like a big Disney world for grown ups,  like it's just there temporarily..

And the people living here, except all the young sesonaries from Australia in their young 20s finally finished school and just flew out the nest to be totally crazy like.. and then.. you know...

there's  bums, drunks and unemployeds here.. just like Grant my noble house owner. 

I'll guess that counts for the 10,000 year rounds.

And the thing me not having a job at a restaurant is actually a no brainer..

Because all they hire is young girls in their early 20s or late teens that run around in miniskirts, cleavage, ponytails and lots and lots of makeup giggling to everything you have to say to get their not so hard earned tip of 15%.. that you HAVE to give or you not welcome back despite the service...

It's like every pub and restaurant become hooters or something..   

It's sooo superficial and stereotype..

And when you go out it's like 9th grade all over again.  

Everybody is so freakishly drunk, all the guys think they are the shit, and the girls just don't have a clue where they are or what they're doing, swaying around in, again miniskirts, tube tops and what not..

In the toilets there's always someone throwing up all over and later still tries to get back in with some recycled spaghetti in his hair, cursing the security and throws up again...

simply what we call.   'finladsfarja'...

And I actually got here because of it, to feel young again and to have fun.!

when what I really feel is much older.. I always find myself in a corner sighing like Baloo in the jungle book and shake my head... josses...  

Getting a girl to follow you home here is not a question of difficulty or good looking, here everybody gets it.

It's a question of, ..do you actually want to touch her...!? 

It's a fake, superficial, stereotype and just .. just... 

 WONDERFUL !!

this is how we do it

So valentines came.. and went.. and it's really big over here..

and just to show how much I care about this hallmark invented holiday I actually caught a cold.

Haven't been sick for over 6 month.. it started on friday night..  woke up saturday feeling very down and my throat was killing me.. and today it's much better and tomorrow I'll be just fine..  hehe isn't that weird..

but I'll take an extra day of riding just in case..

Well we didn't spent it like all the corny weekenders we got up here. 

No siree.. 

Helen. who is a girlfriend of one of the guys at C.G s , and her friends had a full american house party with 2-3 DJs spinning vinyl, beers in kegs and red plastic cups..!!  

It was mad, and their house is mad too..

a two story townhouse with great common areas in front of a big stone fireplace and 5 m in ceiling..

Everybody were just mad and really drunk hehe.. so much fun to watch..

to bad I wasn't feeling 100% so I just had a few beers, did some dance moves to impress the ladies and got home early..  around 2.30..

I heard their christmas party were even better and bigger!!

can't wait until next one ;D

drinks are on the house

Here is sort of the 3rd part in my little series in stupidity..

It's about the guy I'm renting from, Grant..

He's one of these old farts that you all have met.

a 50 something drunk that nags and talk nonsense all day, everybody else is wrong and he's always right and he said that in the beginning type of guy..

heeyy that sounds like me... ;)

Evidently he had cancer, somewhere but is ok now, but he eats a crap load of pills and medications, apparently a few for the kidneys..

he's up all night watching TV in his room, or mopping the floors and cleaning,  sleeps until noon, starts every day with coughing and harrumphs really bad for 30 min.

So what do you think he does to get more value of his down going life with bad kidneys, lungs and cancer..

Well his breakfast is 2 cigarettes and a beer, lunch is a drink and from there it goes on..

I was cooking dinner one day when he got back from the grocery store..

- grocery list for Grant Johansen 

1 big juice of any kind, preferable Tropicana

1 six pack of beer, min 6.5% ( when it's hockey take 24 pack)

1 litre of smirnoff vodka

1 steak 

Then he goes on about this trip he made his neighbour Keith, an even older and worse conditioned old man, do with him to his doctor to get some medicine so he could live a bit longer..

yeeah your a big hero Grant..

and you got this magic medicine so you don't have to worry.. drink and smoke away.. this coughing and harrumphs is just normal..

fuck it's a spectacle to see him every morning get up staggering around making pig grunt noise and a - shit, oohhuuuagh  ahhhhhhh uuuurgh before he gets his first drink

almost like he doesn't know where he is he he he...

and today he was on his new medicine and it got him all fired up with energy..

like a teenaged boy on to much coffee.. dropping pans, slamming cabinet doors and ooiii hiiooo with a cracked voice 

hahaha  well I guess I don't have to say more...

  

a tribute to the all mighty

you just got to love the TV shows over here.. 

you all know this but it's sooo funny. ya'll know we say they have 100 channels..  but they literally do!

But the thing is, a lot of channels shows the same thing, same times.. and there's a lot of crap out there.

A few good thing is that they show seinfeld, south park, simpsons, scrubs, family guy, futurama and all great shows every day and up to 4-5 episodes in a row if you zapp around..

and also classics like the cosby show and family feud  still runs here hehe..

But the remarkable thing is that they even have not one, but TWO channels competing over the masses to view just their recorded wooden fire..!

They actually have two whole channels that shows a burning fire in a fireplace 24/7 !!

The first is more like a calm and quite small fire that you might have on a casual cocktail party.

The other one is more for the people that wants some action in their living room with a bustling, snapping, loud sparking fire, and also with a complementary helping hand putting on more wood for that authentic feeling.. wwahahahaaa

Not to talk about all the Judge shows they got.. jesus christ, it's judge Judy, judge Joe, judge Bill, judge This , judge That and bloody judge Jerry Springer..

And the cases they bring up, they have no self respect or pride..

The other day when eating breakfast I had the TV on and

this woman accused her ex daughter in law for steeling her two lamps..  lamps..! and really ugly small cheap lamps as well.. 

But the judge actually had some humor and laughed.. 

man they really like to make a fool out of themselves..!

Then we have the commercials.. or actually there's more commercials then actual shows..

always and all the time it's commercials.. and really bad ones..

there's one for cough medicine, and the slogan is.

It doesn't taste good, but it works..!  gotta love that honesty hehe.. 

Today I saw a really funny one.

It was one for personal injury attorneys. there's a lot of these going on..!?

I'll guess it's like they say.. they got no public health care, and suing everybody all the time.. 

well..  in the end you see this boring, skinny balding middle aged man who supposedly is the lawyer.. 

looking in the camera and says with a single tone in his voice.

- you got a personal injury.. call me.. helping people got injured with legal help is my life.!

It really cracked me up, you couldn't miss the hidden meaning in it.

I'm a looser and my life sucks..

and I bet if you played it backwards you would hear..

-kill me...  kill me...

kan da stupid

There's something about americans that's not quite smart..

It's not all one thing you can finger point, but it's those little things..

Like today for example, they got a bit of snow in Vancouver, nothing much just a few centimeters.. And everybody starts hitting the snow walls, finding ditches and skidding all over the place.

The news rampage over the big danger on every channel, the local traffic is paralyzed and there's general chaos.. for what.. a few celcius below and a little snow...

and why??  because they don't have winter tires..!!?

Hold on.. I thought we were in bloody Canada, I live just 160km north of Vancouver, and here they usually get more then 10 meters.. yes.. obviously not this year, but every other.. not bitter..

10 meters of snowfall a year.!! I think you should know by now that with winter comes snow..!! 

and even up here they don't have them..

You see people popping their trunks and lifting out snowchains..?  and like.

- Sorry love, yu's gonna spit in me hands and put this 30 pound chains on, only be 2 hours, we'll make it in time.. 

Snowchains!!  do you live in the fucking 80's or what's the problem..!

I was on the bus, actually my last bus trip to my old home last week, and the bus got freakin stuck in 2 cm snow.. he was skidding and sliding and finally in the snowbank.. Jesus come oooon!!

I was so glad I was moving the next day :)   

 

And fucking learn how to drive please will ya..

They think the bigger the car, the smaller the problems, of course,

and the way to tackle snow, ice and slippery roads is to just give it more gas..!!

STUPIDITY MAKES ME SAD..!!

and fucking annoyed .. ;)  

passa foppa!!!

yesterday i finally got the boys together for a game of poker..

and have to say it's not their main interest..

Their main interest is smoking a spliff and mellow out in the couch.. 

So it wasn't very hard to win some money, good for them we only played for 2 bucks hehe.

They mostly giggled and went all in on 9-2 or something hehe.. but we had a good time.. not to serious..

Today I had a typical saturday..  slept until 10, applied for some jobs, went to the gym then direct to Hilton and snook into their outside hot tub with a couple of beers, a shower and then a cozy leather chair at Hiltons sportsbar in the same building, (duuuuuh) for a game of hockey, a burger and a pitcher of beer.  

I always think it's funny shouting out PASSA FOPPA!!! in the middle of the game.. :)

The Canucks actually won, with a monster 7-3..!!

good day mmmmh  

O'boy O'boy O'boy

I decided the other day to step down my tricks rather then step it up, take it back and do it right..

get more secure at the ones I know and on my board..

So I have been playing in the baby park a bit more the last days.. practicing spins both in jumps and on boxes.. 

I almost exclusively ride with C.G and his roommates when they are a funny gang of 10 people and always  atleast one or two on the mountain.

C.G has become really good the last couple of weeks, but he's not as chicken as me ;)  and good inspiration.

but we all have our wounds and aces..

the other day C.G caught an edge on the heel side in a landing and went head down, Liam slipped on a rail an fell backwards slamming his head in to it.. we all wear helmets but they got really dizzy and saw stars I guess..

Rhys did a freaky thing and over shot a landing in the XL-park on the third kicker..!!

Just to understand how much speed you need to do that and to jump that far is hard to imagine.. in this park section you need a special pass to be able to ride, and the jumps are monstrous !!!.. well the power in the landing squeezed his body together like a pizza pie, pushing one knee in his eye and the other in his chest, giving him a black eye and what we think some broken ribs..

So it was time for me.. I already had some wounds on my chin bones after sliding off rails and tree branches, a bit of bleeding and swollen that's all..

The sun was shining and only Nilz and I were out in the rather hard and icy conditions..

but I felt good after taking it slow and it was time for some step up challenges..

The day went smooth and I got some new stunts under my belt.. so in the end I came up with the bright idea that we should test spinning 5 s . ( for you that don't know, that's one and a half rotation 540 degrees) Never in my life tried it before..

It was in a smaller hip and I cleared 360s easy.. so why not..

The First ones where close but sat down in the landings, I was positive..

then in my fourth attempt, I slipped just before taking of, making me fly through the air flat on my back landing right down on my tail bone... it hurts..  it hurts..!  

So now I have trouble sitting, laying down, walking, getting my shoes on/off and getting up from all above..

I guess I'll have a week off at least.. 

well that's the price you pay right..

Went to C.G s in the evening and what a hero.. He gave me swedish glogg (blossa) O'boy and cookies, just like mom did when you came home after crashing your snowracer or something as a kid... :)

 

the fast lane

We have world cup weeks here in Whistler..

last week it was the ski jumping, this week it's bobsledge and luge and later this Feb. they're gonna have womens fis downhill .. Go Anja !!

So I and C.G spent our evening watching skeleton where some crazy people throw themselves down a ice track at 125 km/h on a little sledge..thing.. head first!!
Just a great thing to do after a great day in the funparks.. wild enough for us old people that don't have the energy to party all time, or the guts to throw ourselves down the track. :)

It's fun though when you think of it.. but some sports really get away being macho and dangerous spite the fact they are wearing tight rubber suits..

more crazy photos click here...

aaahhhh..

Winter is gone and spring is here again.. above temperatures and sunshine.. and all the snow we got two days ago is gone..

I haven't slept so well the last couple of nights.. there has been moving, work issues, and on top of that I have struggled with some water damage at my apartment in Stockholm.

trying to figure out what to do, insurance, constructors and so on, so on..

I gotta give big props to my dad though.. I called him today just to have someone to ask around for advice, and he's by far the greatest dad there is, we gonna work something out.. love you paps!!

So I have been up early mornings.. 6 am to call sweden to get a perspective, and no exceptions this morning.. so when I tried to put my snowboard gear on I just felt that this is not going to work.. I went straight to bed for a sleep in, got some groceries from the nearby store ;) and went to the gym instead..

But what a better way to end a sunny bright springlike winter day like this in style.

Then sneak into Hiltons Outdoor hot tub and relax away with a few cool ones in a perfect sunset over mountain peaks and clear sky..!

Me and Henrik , whom I went with, almost got a bit romantic there for a moment, convenient enough when it's gay week and all here in Whistler he he..

I say no stress!!!

Jealous ..?  You damn should be !! 

for more hot sizzelin' tub pics..  click here...

say hello to my little friend

This is Diesel, my new roommate.. that's right I have moved.!! To a better place? don't know but it's 5 min walk to the lift, 5 min walk to the grocery store, 5 min walk to C.G s and 10-15 min walk to village center and It's almost half price then out in Emerald..!

and for Whistler, 3900 sek/month for a room this close to village is considered a bargain..

That means no more waiting and riding the bus, no more freaking expeditions through the forrest and no more damn i forgot to buy...

and I'll save almost $1000 on it.. that's crazy!!

We are 3 people living here. In main room next to mine is the owner, a 40 something washed out bum, likes to drink beer and a bit narrowed minded.. but his not all bad. in the big room there's Brooke, a 20 year old girl from england and I'm in the small room. Then Diesel of course.. a happy little 4 year old Jack Russel..

It's a clean home, got internet and my own TV in the room as well hehe... luxurious heey.. :)  

I think I gonna have a great stay here..

no more slippery shortcuts.!

getting high on that white powder..

Finally we got what we came for.

POWDAH!!!

On sunday as they foresaw it started to snow!! and during the night we got 3-4 dm

of white powdah !!

got up really early! only got 5 hours sleep, what what the heck..

ate breakfast on the way in, met up with C.G s crowd at their place and headed for the lifts..

C.G himself had promised himself a day off when his legs barely carried him after 7-8 days nonstop riding.. bad day off though, bet he's home moping about it hehe..

all morning, even out in emerald where I live, you could here the explosions from the

dynamite charges go off and getting the avalanches move rather early then late..

We started off at some well used runs, but good for

warmup, always one eye peeking at the top lifts to open up peak heaven.. and right after noon they did..

we raced to the lifts and got 2 really good and 2 decent off pist knee deep 30 min powdah runs..!!

It's a wonderful feeling,.! steep enough to get some speed in the slow snow, jumping at the power of each turn, caressing the top snow with your hand when you carve and the cascade of snow that your board's trowing up filling your sight with colour white.

and everywhere around the forest and mountain sides you hear cheerful whoops and joyful whooiis ..

almost like at an amusement park... :D

more powdah day pics, click here...

sunday football

So the very glorious and sophisticated day of super bowl came.. and we where exited... NOT

But we got together in Emerald,, finally where I live, and had a few beers and sort of watched the game..

we were 3 swedish, 4 danish, 2 swiss, 1 aussie, 1 kiwi, 1 german  maybe some asians in the background and a poor bastard alone american..

He was full time occupied  just explaining the stupid rules of this game, and sometimes even he got lost hehe.

but we made the most of it,  just picked our favourit colour and rooted for that team,, my yellow team, won hehe but it was a close and fun game and we had a great afternoon screaming and shouting...

cheers