Sun Peaks 2013/14
Yeah TJ! Loving the updates. Living the dream. 
Newest update to the blog! http://bwcanada.weebly.com/tjs-experience.html
Training
(Sun Peaks has the most amazing sunsets)
Well training has come and gone, I started working this weekend but I figure I should summarize the last 2 weeks anyway.
We started training on the 13th of November which was 10 days prior to opening. First day was an instruction manual day, we pretty much just sat around while they read most of it out to us. That continued into the next morning where they made us read out a page or 2 each. Some people made actual presentations and poems to read out their page but I got a page with “How to restart a lift” so I didn’t have much choice lol.
In the afternoon we went out and did some actual on lift training. Pretty much pushing buttons and climbing ladders. Was much more fun. On the Monday afterwards, we had our last training day which was a test and then a lift evacuation. Test wasn’t too hard and the evacuation wasn’t anything special. We had a rope come up which we had to put through a ring and then back down to the evacuation person. It was pretty much just like coming back down after rock climbing. I brought down one of the guys just to give it a go… Bit jerky but we got them down safely.
We then built a snowman to kill some time while they got all the other chairs down (I was second to come down)
I didn’t have any more training until Thursday that week which was the mountain orientation which involved us all sitting in the Delta hotel conference room and watching presentations and movies. They gave out free flu shots so I got it seeing as others I know who have had it in the past have been pretty healthy for the whole winter which sounds good!
They had a game of Family Fued on information for the mountain so I volunteered to get up on stage and play. We ended up losing (close game though) and our runners up prizes was a $15 gift card and a hat. Plus now everyone in the whole mountain knows my name so I keep looking silly when they come up and say hi and I haven’t got a clue who I’m talking to.
Rest of the week consisted of walks to the village, parties and a bit of backyard shredding. One of the other lifties built a 20ft kicker in his backyard so we hiked that a few times and tried to get our legs in shape. Great fun but I ended up looking like a snowman in my hoodie and had to walk home all cold and wet. Totally worth it though!
Ummm you sure thats 20ft?
Looks about 5-10ft to me.
Jealous about the riding though…damn ankle 
not that i could board since its almost summer but yeh…i want the option to ride if i could
our runners up prizes was a $15 gift card and a hat.
You should have asked to trade it in for a lanyard! 
Thanks for the update, mate. Looks like you’re having a great time. Keep making the most of it. Looking forward to hear more about the mountain, shredding etc. Is there any snow in the forecast? Do you have your work schedule yet?
Ummm you sure thats 20ft?
Looks about 5-10ft to me.
Jealous about the riding though…damn ankle
Haha I wimped out and didn’t go fast enough that run… I was saying it was more like 15ft but others were flying over it.
our runners up prizes was a $15 gift card and a hat.
You should have asked to trade it in for a lanyard!
Thanks for the update, mate. Looks like you’re having a great time. Keep making the most of it. Looking forward to hear more about the mountain, shredding etc. Is there any snow in the forecast? Do you have your work schedule yet?
Haha would have been a good trade I think… though I’ve gotten 3 lunches out of the $15.
There is a few cm next weekend but nothing to write home about :(. Got Thursday, Saturday on a fixed grip quad and then Sunday on the platter lift. Should be fun. I had my first shift yesterday on Parking which kind of sucked but was super cruisy…
Ummm you sure thats 20ft?
Looks about 5-10ft to me.
Jealous about the riding though…damn ankle
Haha I wimped out and didn’t go fast enough that run… I was saying it was more like 15ft but others were flying over it.
“The faster you go, the less time you’re in danger.” 
Just ask K2…
Working the Lifts
Hey All,
Thanks for keeping up with my blog. It’s awesome to see 40-50 unique visitors every time one us posts! Never thought I’d see this sort of support from all you wonderful people! And then there is the 600+ views on Boardworld. Stoked!
Onto the next post, I started official work on Sunday the 24th of November. The mountain opened on the 23rd but I had the day off with a bunch of the other lifties. We all got out relatively early in the morning and went straight to the top of Crystal chair. Link to the trail map for anyone who hasn’t seen. From there, we went down Crystal Bowl for some sweet powder lines and fresh turns which turned into Blue line. We went back up and rode 5 mile down to the bottom and headed over to Mt Morrisey as it is always less busy than the main mountains. We found lots of powder stashes and had a great time! Rode most of the day and went and “poached” a hot tub from the hotel to end the day. It was pretty amazing.
On the Sunday, I had my first real shift. I worked parking which was pretty quiet, I had to setup barriers for people to park around (just long pieces of rope) and then just hung out and chatted to everyone about how stoked they were to be on the mountain. At 11am, we removed the ropes and went and helped with lunches. This meant I went to the platter lifts (J-Bars) and took over for 30-45 minutes at a time. I finished at about 1 but since I could use a few more hours, I offered to go do some shoveling of the magic carpet which kept me busy to fill out my 8h day.
I then got Monday to Wednesday off which meant lots more shredding. We pretty much just stuck to the Morrisey side of the mountain as the main areas were pretty tracked out. Every day we have been praying for more snow since it’s getting pretty icy and there is still plenty of sticks and rocks showing even on the groomers.
Thursday and Saturday I got to work the Elevation chair (on the trail map it’s the new quad). To be honest, it’s a pretty pointless chair as it goes from half down the mountain to the top of the Sun Burst (one of the main lifts). It was introduced for the racing teams which meant I got to bump a chair for teenagers in lycra all day… As it’s a fixed grip quad chair, you have to slow it down for everyone who gets on. That means I got a pretty good work out by the end of the day. The next few days were pretty painful. Think going to the gym for a few hours a few days in a row and that’s how I felt!
Sunday I got to work the Village platter and Magic Carpet. This was pretty cruisy, a later start and the main duties were raking and pulling more platter lift. I could also see the mini park from here so that passed the time when it was quiet. Though I could barely lift a shovel, we got through it!
The sunset from where I was packing up at the end of the day was pretty amazing!
Had 2 days off which included “Twonie Day”, a day where people come up to the mountain and can get a lift ticket for $2 and a non-perishable food product. Suffice to say, the mountain was packed. We had snow all morning and I met up with Didi for some tree runs. It’s quite clear that I’m not Canadian as I was struggling to keep up to people and some times fearing that I was going to lose control a bit. I made it through and it was tons of fun though. Check back with me at the end of the season and we’ll see how I’m faring then.
The other day was super icy and cold. I forgot my face mask so I braved the elements as much as I could but ended up going in for coffee and then hitting the park for a few sneaky laps and working on the small jump. Conceded that I was done for the day so I went to guest services and got my Christmas dinner ticket and signed up for the hockey league. That’s right, I’ll be playing ice hockey. Future updates will show you my gnarly skills!
Today I worked at the top of the world. That’s the highest lifted point on the mountain, 2081m above sea level. Top station of most lifts pretty much means just hanging out in a lift hut, waving at people and trying to stay warm. It was -22 today so I tried not to go out as much as I could. Even riding down for lunch pretty much froze me solid and I had a few layers on. All worth it though, first and last runs are pretty amazing, and when you have a group of 10 lifties all going down at 4:15 in the afternoon while the sun is going down is a pretty cool experience. I’ll get a video one of these days 
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Anyway, we just made brownies so I’m off. Peace out everyone!
Great update.
But unless its a specific Sun Peaks thing I think you will find it is Toonie day 
Nice one, TJ!
Great update.
But unless its a specific Sun Peaks thing I think you will find it is Toonie day
It said Twoonie day on the board so thats what I went with…
Ahhh makes more sense with the oo
Loving your blog TJ