Brilliant weekend down in Washington. The weather was amazing - it's incredible how different the climate is on the other side of a big range of mountains. Blue skies and very warm, quite a surprise. Before we got there we had to travel down of course, and that meant getting across the border. I don't know what it is about the guards at the US border, but they are the surliest bunch of gets you've ever met (oh hang on, that's it). We had a woman who looked like she could kick the arse of the UFC champ, and she made me feel like every question she asked me had some hidden agenda behind it. ALL I WANT TO DO IS VISIT, DO MY RACE, THEN COME HOME. HONEST. We got in eventually.

The race was epic and as usual nearly killed me. It started at 08:30 and the temperature in the valley was cool so I had a long sleeve top on and a short sleeve on top of that. I was wearing my running backpack with 1.5 litres of Gatorade and a bunch of gels in the pocket. After about 4 miles it was getting really warm so I figured I'd lose a layer before I overheated. I had a pace going and didn't want to stop and have people flooding past me, so I figured I could do it while I was running. I even figured that I could take my top layer off without taking my backpack off. So I pulled my T up, then pulled it back and over my head. Then I almost dislocated my right shoulder trying to get my arm through something. The plan was good, I just hadn't thought it through. So I pulled it back down, took the backpack off and held it in my left hand - still running - then stripped both layers off. Can you imagine what the runners behind me were thinking? I know what I would've been thinking and the word TOSSER is in there. Anyway I eventually got my short sleeve T back on and the backpack back on and strapped on, and only one runner passed me. Result! The next couple of miles were fairly uneventful. Smoothish trails through trees, along lakes, steady climbs. Then we hit a road section for about 2 miles which I absolutely hated. Hard on the feet/knees and hot as hell as the sun was right up and we were out of the trees. At about 14 miles I stepped on a stone with left foot and I thought a red hot nail had gone through it. The pain was flippin excruciating. I've had a sensitive patch on the ball of my left foot for a couple of weeks, but it's never bothered me much, I just thought I'd bruised it on a training run. Holy crap, this hurt so much I amost fell over. I actually thought seriously that my race was over. Then I thought I'd give it a go and see how it held up to the next aid station. If it was too bad I could get a lift to the finish. And it was ok-ish, so long as I avoided any stones. I had to do a couple of very steep climbs and descents where the pressure on the ball of my foot made it uncomfortable but at least I could finish the race. At about 18 miles I started to get little stabs of cramp but I just ran through them. It started in my quads just above my knees, then moved to my hamstrings, then to my calves. Luckily they just stayed as stabs and not the full blown thing. I'll put that down to the heat and reaching the longest bit of running I've done for some time. I crossed the line in 3hrs 37mins which put me in 57th out of 132 finishers so not too bad. Actually I'm dead chuffed cos I lost a load of places when my foot exploded, and the cramps slowed me down, and the general beating that 22 miles on the trail hands out also slowed me down. My legs are sore and stiff today, but that'll pass. I'll leave it till the end of the week before I go back out for a run. I'll have to get my foot checked out though - you don't ignore pain like that.

The journey back through the Cascade mountains was ridiculously gorgeous. I tried to load these photos onto Flickr but I've hit the limit with a free account so this poxy MS blog won't do them justice but never mind.

Friday was very cool. I got uo to the top of the mountain and picked up the Dodge pickup. This thing must have a 250 litre engine in it and it's higher than a monster truck. My job was to drive to a park at the Canada/US border and get a load of our picnic table planks planed. Sweet. So I loaded the thing up with 25 big stonkin planks and headed out down Highway 1. Beautiful day, big truck, full tank of gas, not much traffic on the highway. The park is really nice, just next to the ocean at the border. And the planer is a top piece of kit. Feed a plank in one end and it comes out the other minus a couple of mill and shavings everywhere. It took about 40 minutes and then I was back on the highway. Once I'd unloaded the planks I had to go down onto the snowshoe trails and bring some of the poles in. On my way there I met up with the snowcat driver who offered to take me all the way round in the cat. Sweet with knobs on! I've always wanted a ride in the cat so that finished off a very good day. When I got home Linda suggested that - as Joe was at the movies with his buddies - we get changed and go to the pub for a beer and a plate of nachos. It was one of those days that just kept getting better.

Today has been gorgeous in the Cove. Blue skies, warm temperature, and a Capsize Recovery course with 4 people on it. We all had dry suits on as the water is still ffffffffffffffffflippin freezin. My first time in a dry suit and I'm impressed. I'm used to the warmth of my wetsuit so I felt that difference, but they're a hell of a lot easier to get on and off - and you stay dry! Except for my head which gave me hellish brainfreeze when I was showing off and doing a roll. That'll learn me.

After the course I did a 3 hour Explorer tour, with just one guy. Who happens to be the most interesting guy I've met. He's called Pat and he's a pilot for FedEx. He's from Memphis and is on a stopover in Vancouver. He also plays guitar and gigs with people like Jimmy Johnson (American bluesman), Chris Difford (ex-Squeeze), Marty Pellow (ex Wet Wet Wet) and others. He played at the Albert Hall for that teenage cancer thing that Roger Daltrey organised. And he's been kayaking for years. His FedEx job finances his guitar playing job. This guy had some awesome stories, and paddled like a demon. We basically did the 5 hour tour route in 3 hours. Top day.

We did a tour yesterday afternoon, simple enough, 10 double kayaks and one single, young adults in their early 20's. 2 hour tour, out of the Cove, down Indian Arm to Grey Rocks, around Grey Rocks and back. The weather was ok - breezy and chilly with some cloud approaching but not looking too serious. We got everybody launched and set off out of the Cove. I was on sweep duty so stayed at the back making sure nobody got left behind. As we came out of the Cove to head south we went into a headwind which was fine as that gave us a tailwind on the way back. The ride to Grey Rocks was fine, Jesse was leading and set an easy pace that everybody handling, Cindy was in the middle keeping everybody together. We turned around Grey Rocks and within five minutes hit big trouble. The wind came out of nowhere, completely turned around, and grew in strength to problem force. Then the waves came with it. We were paddling into a very strong wind with 3 foot waves. The doubles were all over the place. They're high-sided boats and once the wind caught them it turned them around pretty quick. I had to chase a few and shout instructions at them to paddle on the right side to turn the boats back into the wind. In the meantime the waves were bouncing us up and down, spray was everywhere, and the wind was making progress very slow. I didn't have any gloves on and my hands were getting pretty damn cold. The double that was in front and to the right of me suddenly cut across my bow and caught my boat, at the same time as a bloody huge wave hit me from the side. And that was it, I was over. I went under and tried to roll back up but my paddle sweep started at the top of a wave and then ended up in fresh air. I didn't have enough time to set up again so I bailed out of the boat. The guys in the double didn't even know they'd hit me so they just buggered off as best they could. There was a floating dock maybe six metres or so away so I grabbed my paddle and boat and dragged the boat over. The water in the Arm at this time of year is very very cold - you've got seven minutes before hypothermia hits - so my priority was to get out of the water and back into the boat. My plan was to grab the dock and haul myself back into the boat using that. Trouble is, the dock is three feet high, and it's being pushed three feet up in the air by the waves. And there was a bloody great boat tied to it. As I got closer to the dock I was being pushed towards the stern of the yacht, and potentially underneath it. Not good. I pushed my paddle against the stern of the yacht to keep myself away and then grabbed the side of the dock. The lower half of the dock was covered in mussels and they're very sharp so I had to keep my legs away, but each time the edge of the dock went up into the air the water (with me in it) got sucked underneath it. I couldn't let go of my boat or I was really screwed so I got my legs against the side of the dock and kept a distance after my first scraping. I threw my paddle onto the dock and then as the dock went up in the air I grabbed the edge rail and lifted myself ass-first into my boat. I was actually amazed that it worked, but it did. Next thing was to get away from the crazy bucking dock so I dragged myself around to the sheltered side where there was less up and down movement. Still hanging on to the dock I pulled my bilge pump out from behind me, stuck it between my knees and started pumping one-handed. I was so cold, and couldn't actually feel anything in my hands at this point, and it was taking waaaaaaaay too long to get the water out. So I decided the important thing was to get paddling in the hope of keeping my temperature up, and also to get me closer to safety. I tried to put my spray skirt on but I couldn't use my fingers, so I set off paddling with my boat a quarter-full of water. My plan was to hop from one dock to another using the shelter of each dock and also giving me somewhere to swim for if I capsized again. There was no way I was going back out into open water - my boat was far too unstable. Eventually I saw Jesse - he'd doubled back once him and Cindy had got all the doubles into the safety of the Cove. I told him I was really cold but ok so he turned around and got back to the other guys. Looking back I probably wasn't ok, I was sat in a boat full of freezing cold water and hypothermia was setting in fast. Anyway, I got back to the Cove and had to turn my line towards the boathouse. The problem now was the wind was hitting me side on, and with the boat being so weighed down with water I was struggling to keep it straight. Even just paddling hard on my right I couldn't stop it turning right, into the wind. I hard to keep reverse padding on my left which was a major ballache because I was moving backwards again. And the waves were sloshing over the side and gradually filling the boat. My big fear at this point was another capsize. Luckily I managed to get it back to shore. I dumped the boat and legged it into the hot shower. My hands were incredibly painful - I couldn't put them under the hot water, and I was shivering very hard. I knew I had to get home really fast so I went into the office, saw Jessie, told them I was running home and did just that. I legged it through Deep Cove and got home. I stripped off and dived into the shower and stayed there for ever. Linda brought me some warm layers and had lit the fire so I got dressed and sat in front of the fire. And then outside it snowed like you wouldn't believe. That was my closest call, and I don't ever want to do that again. I've learned some valuable lessons, and one of them is never get complacent when you're going kayaking. Anything can happen, particularly at this time of the year, and you should be prepared.

I did a Dragon Boating session this morning. Me, Lorraine, Jesse & Cindy took a bunch of 12th grade girls out on 2 boats. This was my first taste of DB'ing so as Jesse was giving the on-land talk about commands and stuff I was writing the commands on the back of my hand! Me and Lo took a boat - she steered and I shouted. We ummd and aahd for a bit about the weather as it's pretty breezy today, but in the end we decided to give it a go and stay in the Cove. What a top session! I got the team warmed up and settled in, then we paddled at 50% for a few minutes, then 75% for a minute, then a 100% effort sprint for 30 seconds. Then we cruised around for a bit, into the wind, wind behind us, side on, and then steered over to the other crew for a race. I dropped into my loudest, most competitive alter-ego and off we went. We made a good start, got the rythmn going and then just hit the pedal. They already knew what it felt like to go flat out so there were no surprises, and it all came together as we put a boat length and a half into the other boat by the finish. Top stuff! Apparently, the boat we were in is known as the slow boat and never wins in a race. We were even paddling with one less crew member. Awesome team!

Yesterday I was kayaking in the warm spring sunshine, today I was working at the top of the mountain in the falling snow. Only on the North Shore. There's more snow in the forecast for Friday when we're expecting a big dump so I can feel a hike and ride coming on for the weekend.

Special day today - it was the Seymour Staff Day. The mountain is closed this week but this afternoon from 1 till 5 it was open just for us. And we had another 20cm last night (nearly 60cm in the last 2 days!!!!). I was working in the park this morning so finished at 12:45, met some of my other snowshoeing buddies and hit the hill. Literally. The snow was so deep I was planting all over the place. But it was so deep and soft it didn't matter. Proper boarding without consequence. The visibility was generally good - the sun even cracked it's way through for 10 minutes! Riding down the steeps in deep snow is just awesome. The best Seymour Day this (and last) season.

After the riding we went to the Elevation (Seymour's restaurant-type place) for free burgers, cakes, and soft drinks. There was a free raffle (didn't win) and then the General Manager, Eddie Wood got up to say a few words about what a great season we'd had, and to announce the winner of the Employee of The Year. I didn't even know they did that. Anyway, turns out it's ME!!!!!!!!! I was amazed to say the least. My award is a new snowboard!!!! And what a sweet board it is.....

This coming weekend is the last weekend. We move to our new apartment on Saturday so I'll be swapping my bindings and riding the new board on Sunday.

Stupid Microsoft Live Spaces - I typed a big blog entry and it went and lost it somewhere. Ho hum

The kayaking went well yesterday. One lady on an intro course, weather not bad, water nice and flat and crystal clear. Turns out her mum and dad are from Morecombe and Bolton so we had lots to talk about. Her son bought her the lesson as a moms day present - nice one son! While we were out we saw a seal and a river otter which is always very cool.

Went for the run with Steve this morning and it was a really good one. Really mixed conditions, dry soft pack, mud and water, and snow! Running downhill on snow-covered trails is interesting. Steve just kind of wings it when he does his long runs, so we ran along whatever trails we saw which was good fun. We were out for 2.5 hours and it felt good so I'm pleased again. The knee gave me some serious stick throughout the run which was a bit of a drag but I just ran through it. This is the year of the Knee Knacker! So, 2.5 hours and still feeling good. I'm happy with that - progress is good. We'll go for 3 hours next week.

I left my backpack at the kayak shop yesterday so I've just been down into the Cove to get it. It's a beautiful day so I grabbed a coffee and donut from Honeys and sat on the seawall in the sun. Blue skies with big fluffy white clouds, crystal clear water, warm sun, snow on the mountains - I love this place.

I had a call from Tricia earlier - she wants me to do some more survey stuff. I have to do it as it's great money, but my schedule's filling up now with work on the mountain (closing the winter ops down and getting ready for summer) and the kayaking. Plus we're moving on April 12. Some creative rescheduling will have to be done.

Last week was fairly epic. Our task was to survey 100m on either side of the proposed powerline route. And that could be flattish thick bush or ridiculously steep and high rock slopes that are covered in moss. We did all the kinds of terrain, and got all the kinds of weather (overcast, rain, snow). Tricia had to give me a safety talk about bears and cougars which I could have done without, cos once again I was walking along looking over my bleedin shoulder. On day one I spotted a bald eagle sat in a tree miles away (well ok, maybe 500m). It was a juvenile so unlikely to be nesting so we just kept an eye out for him for the rest of the week. My city-boy roots just wouldn't let go - I was getting spooked when I was on my own in the bush; it was so damn quiet at times. I'd expected the place to be teeming with wildlife (like on a Disney movie), but there was nothing. The animals haven't returned from their winter hideouts yet. We saw a herd of Elk which was pretty cool - they crossed the river just in front of us. I thought they were really big deer (city-boy again).

 After a day of hiking through the bush (we started at 07:00 and finished at 17:00) we were back at the lodge for hot showers and big food. And then most nights we all hit the sack by 21:00!!! Some of the stretches of forest were harder than others; when they were originally logged back in the early 1900's all the logs that weren't wanted were just left on the ground. So you have to scramble over big rocks and big logs, sometimes logs on logs......bloody tough work. I realised what a clumsy get I am while I was there. I'd never make it in the special forces - the enemy would hear me coming from miles away ("oh crap, climb that?....whoooaaaa....bollocks....jesus this is slippy....whoooaaa.....fckin ouch...") and so on and so on. I spent a fair amount of time on my arse. Every so often we'd come across swathes of Devils Club - the nastiest, thorniest, ugliest, most evil plant on the planet.

It can shred a suit of armour. Luckily my super-heavy duty gloves were a match, but my pants weren't.

One of the really awesome parts of the week was witnessing an avalanche! Me and Tricia were walking down the road when we walked past a clearing. We heard a noise that we both thought was a very low flying jet coming over. When we looked through the clearing we saw what we thought was a waterfall flowing over a drop on the side of the mountain. But then the waterfall began to subside and we realised it was an avalanche! Jeff and Damian had been only 100m from the zone where it hit the lower slopes, and they'd had to leg it to get out of the way.

All in all it was a great week. Big experience. I've loaded some more photos into Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/gp/8152856@N02/6dAV97

Some news - we're moving again!!!! Me and Linda were having breakfast in Honey's last week when she spotted an ad for a really nice apratment in the centre of the Cove. We've both had enough of the crazy woman who lives above us so it was a real no-brainer. We went to see it that afternoon and paid the deposit. We move in 2nd week of April.

I lost my Leatherman a couple of weeks ago. I've had it almost 9 years - somebody bought it me for my 40th (I think it was George and Suzy Buchan). I was gutted. It was only the small one but it's really come into it's own since we moved here and I've been lost without it. So, had to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Did the big run on Sunday and I'm really pleased again. My knee gave me some stick right at the start, but that's because the start of the run drops down fairly dramatically and I hadn't had chance to warm my legs up before I tackled it. After that though it was all fine. 1hr 40mins for 8.5 miles of hard trail and I still had stuff left in the tank at the end. 

Seymour has had some major dumps of snow just lately. I worked this morning and the snow was beautiful - real soft powder. Shame I was working or I'd have been on the board.