The Lead Up

At the beginning of 2012 in the middle of the northern hemi-sphere's winter, I ventured on a self organised journey to Lake Tahoe - California. I planned this trip in the hope of seeing big snow, a long standing dream which had yet to be fulfilled. My savings were to last just over a month, surely enough time to see a few big dumps.

Unfortunately I arrived in the middle of a drought and the temperatures were abnormally high. I felt cursed that the snowfall had only reached 20% of average. Somehow though, the riding was still better than that back at home in Australia. The day before I left the snow report listed 30cm of new snow overnight at Heavenly Ski Resort. The powder day had finally arrived, at last I made my own fresh tracks.

We were bobbing and weaving through trees, launching from every natural feature in sight, carving tight S bends down a steep V shaped chute. The new steel of my board was finally unleashed. The moment was bitter-sweet, knowing it was my last day.

Woke up one morning to a surprise layer of snow not in the forecast. 

On return to Australia I was kicking myself that I had to leave just as the snow gods had answered my prayers. I made it the highest priority to get myself back to the mountains, to a snow-sure destination, and for an entire season. Initially I was going to drop in to Whistler after the conclusion of the uni semester and try my luck employment-wise.

After weighing up every option possible I concluded a working holiday would meet and potentially exceed all my expectations. The research revealed that in my particular situation with uni time restrictions, finding a position on my own would be near impossible. I got in touch with some great people from The Working Holiday Club which seemed to have it all worked out. I got set up with an interview for a sweet job and was assisted in all other aspects of planning the trip.

The final destination has worked out to be Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. I'm happy it went down this way, as now I've managed to secure a position at a huge mountain on Canada's Powder Highway. The Canadian Rockies are known for their deep and light champagne powder. I'm super stoked that it's sorted, from here on in it's just socialising with my future colleagues on Facey, until I board the flight for Vancouver to meet them in person.

Check out The Working Holiday Club website