A week of ups and downs...part 2

I filled Michelle in on my mornings adventures, she was obviously shocked but also relieved that I was ok. She had overcome the frustrations of the previous day and was now really happy that she could turn both left and right, but was determined to master these turns before tackling any other parts of the mountain. With her mountain guide out of action for the rest of day she had no choice but to keep practicing on the magic carpet first timer's slope. I took the opportunity to wander around the base of Front Valley and take photos/video of Michelle, the Perisher Blue half-pipe and other general goings on. I couldn't wait for tomorrow!

I decided to take it a bit easy on Wednesday morning...for a little while at least. My neck was still a little stiff, and the doctor said to be careful because range of movement would be affected by any swelling, therefore any impacts may not be as well cushioned as they normally would be. I took a few runs down Front Valley and Happy Valley in the morning, nice easy green runs and all seemed good. Met up with Michelle again for lunch and she was so happy that she'd actually gone up a lift and had skied down Front Valley with her class!! We caught our first chair lift together in the afternoon and I took her down to Happy Valley and showed her some of the easy tree-lined runs around here. I was so proud of how in control she was, although she confessed that it was mostly due to intense concentration!! Very hard to get any emotion out of her while we were on the slopes but she was absolutely ecstatic when we finally called it a day. She was loving the skiing much more than she thought she would and was progressing faster than she had expected. Not even the cold, blizzardy weather could dampen her spirits...the beanie, goggles, scarf, thermals, gloves and socks we'd invested in had sure paid off!!

I felt a little more adventurous on Thursday and thought I might head over to Blue Cow, unfortunately Top-station was closed and so there was no way of getting there(apart from jumping on the skitube). Instead I headed over to Sun Valley in the morning...bad idea...complete and utter white-out, foggy and snowing. I could not tell where the sky finished and the snow started, no discernible horizon and only about 2 metres of visibility...not really what you want on one of the steepest blue runs on the mountain. I slowly traversed my way down until visibility improved and decided to go in search of something more sheltered. Found myself at the bottom of Pretty Valley again, contemplating whether to make my way down to the base of the Interceptor quad chair around at Nth Perisher, this was an alternate route to Blue Cow. Ground cover on the access trail was limited and so I had to pretty much pick up my skis and walk! After a couple of runs down here I realised it was getting too late to go to Blue Cow, so I headed back over to Pretty Valley and did a couple of runs there...the snow was in great shape and visibility was good, so I thought it would be a great place to bring Michelle in the afternoon. She loved it! I headed up high on the ridge to look for some fresh snow and try to get to the Copperhead Road run, a long, fast and narrow tree-lined green run. Got some really good photos of Pretty Valley from up on the ridge.

After a bottle of wine over dinner, I lost a game of pool to a couple of 9 year olds....better to retreat back to my room and go pack...we unfortunately have to leave tomorrow.

Friday morning was glorious, our reward for a week of cold, windy and snowy weather. I decided to start my day on a high. Olympic, the steepest black run on the mountain, caught my eye in the morning sun as a bright white wall of fresh snow just begging to be carved out with fresh tracks. I got off at top station and made the steep traverse across to about mid-way up Olympic and skied down the lower section...my skis felt great and didn't let me down as I put in some strong turns.

I'd promised little pool shark Brendan and his dad, Ian, that I'd show them some good blue runs and hopefully I didn't disappoint. Sun Valley has been my favourite run all week, even in adverse weather, so with today's improved conditions it was simply perfect. Groomed to perfection, it was an absolute dream run, I couldn't resist just gunning it down the lower sections and I don't think I've ever skied faster...what a rush!!! Brendan and Ian loved it as well. Brendan must have been one of the only kids on this side of the mountain and he was handling it really well, only a couple of little spills (not counting the couple of times on the T-bar with me...ooops, sorry Brendan!!). Brendan told me how he was born deaf and that he'd had an operation as a baby to restore his hearing...what a great story, it sure hasn't slowed him down! He was one of those kids that you meet that have a real spark, and real charisma, and you can tell that their mind is always ticking, absorbing everything around them. After a few runs on Sun Valley I suggested we try the Towers run on Mt. Perisher, one of my favourite runs. Unfortunately it looked like the groomers had given this a miss overnight and the snow was really slushy and slow...and not much fun. Ian's legs were still burning though...Towers is always good for that! I took the opportunity to take Brendan and Ian to my favourite spot on the mountains...the top of Mt. Perisher! On a perfectly clear day like today there is no better view than looking out over the main range of Australia's highest mountains. So we took off the skis and trudged upwards through sometimes knee-deep snow to look out over the back of Mt. Perisher. They weren't disappointed! I had to go meet Michelle and so I took this opportunity to say goodbye to Brendan and Ian. Was very touched when Brendan told me that I was the best friend he'd made all week...what a great little person! I told them that I'd decided to take on Olympic...from the top this time.

I've probably mentioned this before but Olympic is one of the steepest black runs in Australia, and a real challenge for a non-expert skier like myself. With steely determination and a fair amount of bravado, I caught the dog-leg T-bar to the top of Back Perisher Mountain and joined the ranks of skiers and boarders teetering on the edge of the concave cliff face. After some photos and video to capture the moment, I took a deep breath. Hurtling down the face at a million miles an hour, carving aggressive lines through the soft fresh snow and hitting the bumps with some jumps would have been a really cool way to die! So instead I took the first few metres nice and easy before slowly putting in some hard, aggressive parallel turns all the way down the mountain, following the steepest line that I could. I was so puffed at the end...really hard work, but wow, what a buzz! I'd had problems keeping my skis attached during previous attempts at this run, but everything felt perfect this time, my bindings were on a harder setting and the flex and power in my Salomon CrossMax 700's was great...did I mention that I loved these skis!

Still buzzing, I met Michelle for lunch and told her all about my great morning and promised that I'd challenge her skills this afternoon. We decided to ski out the rest of the day instead of heading back to Sydney early. I took Michelle up to Top-station and on the Blue Cow Expressway and Copperhead Road runs down to Pretty Valley. After taking her on a few ridge traverses and pushing her to her limit a few times (and over it on maybe one or two occasions) I was really proud at how far she had progressed. Her determination had sure paid off, and I promised that I would take her over to Mt. Perisher to take on some blue runs...this caused hardly a flinch!! This girl is up for anything! First up was Sun Valley...not in as good a condition as the groomed paradise of this morning but still a considerable challenge for someone who had only been skiing for less than 5 days! Michelle handled this run pretty well, with only a couple of spills to complain about. I felt completely unbreakable after conquering Olympic this morning and must have done my largest carve stop ever at the base of Sun Valley, just showing off to Michelle I guess! I decided to take Michelle to Eyre next, the scene of my accident on Tuesday morning. I later found out that this was quite a difficult double-blue run, no wonder Michelle got a tiny bit cranky at me...but she was still determined to conquer it, even after a spill going up the T-bar, which again was possibly my fault...did I say this girl was tough! Of course, what better way to end our week than with a walk to the top of Mt. Perisher. After a few complaints about tired legs I finally convinced Michelle that it would be worth it...and she wasn't disappointed. Some clouds were rolling in over the distant main range but it just added to the spectacle. On this note we bid farewell to the mountains and made our way back to the Ski Bunny to collect our luggage, drop off our rental gear and catch the skitube back down to Bullocks Flat.

The plan was to head back home to Sydney tonight, and after a pizza craving driven dinner stop in Jindabyne, it looked like we wouldn't make it home until well after midnight. A close encounter with head-on crash death on the road to Cooma convinced me that this would not be such a good idea. It continues to anger and amaze me how people can pay so little respect to their lives and the lives of their family and others when put behind the wheel of a car. They think they have a right to disregard speed limits and no-overtaking lines for whatever petty reason is in their tiny little minds at the time their decisions are made!

A night's rest in Queanbeyan before heading home on a beautiful Saturday was just what we needed...

A week of ups and downs...part 1

Pardon the pun...I couldn't resist...but it truly does describe the week Michelle and I just had up at the ski slopes. We set off early last Sunday morning after having busily prepared all our new (and handed down) ski gear the night before. I didn't know what to expect when we got there. Checking the Perisher Blue webcams all week I noticed a steady decline in the snow cover but weather reports indicated a strong cold front was due on Sunday, and was expected to bring snow.

For Michelle's first true skiing experience (not counting the near tragedy of our little Swiss incident), I decided that it should be as pure as possible. No waking up at ridiculous hours every morning to scrape the snow and ice off the car, strap the skis to the roofracks and drive the possibly icy Alpine Way, just to be the first person to drag all your gear and squeeze onto a packed skitube carriage for the journey up the mountain. Instead, I thought staying on the snow at Smiggins would be ideal, and I wasn't far from being right.

We arrived in Jindabyne at around 2pm and headed up to the Skitube terminal at Bullocks Flat, where we left my little black Audi for the week and jumped on the skitube to take us up the mountain to Perisher. When we got there and had a look outside, I was shocked to see that the entire Perisher Valley was brown instead of white!! Apparently a huge downpour of rain on Friday and Saturday washed much of the snow away and conditions on the slopes weren't much better! We got a lift to our accommodation for the week, the Snow Bunny Ski Lodge in Smiggins Holes, dropped off the luggage in our room, lucky number 7, and went to pick up our hire gear, with grey clouds gathering over the mountain.

The line up at the hire place was almost out the door, and having pre-booked didn't earn us a place at the front of queue. I was quite amused by somebody's observation that we were lining up for Snows hoes...check out the photos in the gallery to see what I'm talking about! While we were waiting there were murmurs in the crowd that it had begun snowing! Curious to see for myself, I headed outside and found that in the half-hour or so that we'd been waiting, about 2 or 3 cm of fresh snow had fallen outside and had started covering the big brown patches of mud. Excellent! By the time we picked up our gear, about 2 hours later, the valley had turned into a classic winter wonderland, about 10 cm of fresh snow covered just about everything, and it was still falling! I was now getting very excited at the prospect of fresh powder on the mountain the next morning! We had the first of many great meals back at the Snow Bunny and bedded down for the night in anticipation.

I woke at around 3am! The heating seemed to be broken and the room was absolutely freezing! I rugged up a bit and tried to get back to sleep. The alarm went off at 6.30am and we hopped in the shower...no hot water!!! What was going on? Not too happy about the lack of heat but all was forgotten when we looked out our window to all the fresh snow that had fallen overnight! After a big breakfast and a converstaion with little Brendan(more about him later) we collected our gear and jumped on the bus for Perisher, as all lifts were still closed in Smiggins.

Michelle met up with her first timer's class and I headed up the mountain for my first carve in over 3 years! I felt a little rusty at first, especially with the poor visibility higher up and the deep, heavy cover on many of the runs. It didn't slow me down too much though and I spent most of my morning tackling the blue runs in Centre Valley, Mt. Perisher and Sun Valley. Caught up with Michelle for lunch and was happy to find that she was really enjoying her skiing, although a little bit frustrated that she still couldn't make turns! I spent a bit of time with her on the magic carpet at the base of Front Valley, but she was determined to get an extra lesson this afternoon and she apparently scammed a free level 2 lesson!! I decided to look for some shelter out of the wind and snow and thought that Pretty Valley might provide this...I was wrong. Virtual white-out over here as well, still had a good time though. Michelle and I decided to build a snow chicken outside our lodge...quite a pathetic little thing really...?!! Hot water was back and running and so I thoroughly enjoyed my first hot shower! Brendan, the little nine year old I'd met at breakfast had challenged me to a game of pool, but in order to be fair to all the other kids we decided to team up and and take on some of the other little pool sharks...seriously these kids were good!! Went to bed early all rugged up prepared for the cold night ahead...unfortunately the heating worked fine tonight, so I completely overheated at around 1am and couldn't get back to sleep!!

Woke to beautiful blue skies and some more fresh snow...couldn't wait to take on Mt. Perisher's groomed Tower's run this morning. When I got there the weather was starting to close in, but I managed to get a good run on Towers before I was talked into heading across the mountain to the Eyre T-bar, conditions were apparently fantastic with lots of fresh stuff to carve up. It turned out to be a bad decision...Having skied groomed runs for the first two hours of Tuesday morning in relatively good visibility I was definitely getting the groove back, feeling very strong and balanced in my turns, and probably feeling a little bit too over confident. I headed across to Eyre and found the conditions not too different, although the cover was a little heavier and visibility had definitely deteriorated. I thought that I'd tackle the Eyre Bowl, a natural half-pipe just to the right of the regular Eyre run, that I'd skied the day before and found quite heavy, maybe some softer stuff today. I really should have checked it out before entering it at speed...I went up one lip, turned and was heading for the other when my right ski caught in some heavy snow and spun me around, causing me to ski backwards for a few metres before crashing and snapping my head backwards heavily into the snow. My goggles and beanie came off in the impact and I was a bit dazzled and confused by the sudden brightness. The first sign that something was wrong was a deep burning, tingling sensation all through my left arm and a dull pain in my neck. Hmmm...not good! Silly bugger that I am, thought I'll just twist my head from side to side and try and "crack" it back into place...pain override stopped me from trying that again, and now I was a little bit worried. I waved down a passing snowboarder and told him to get some help. The feeling in my arm had reduced to a dull tingling (something I'd been more than used to over the last few weeks), but the pain in my neck was getting more noticeable. I gathered my gear and formed an "X" with my skis and stocks and rested on my backpack.

After a few minutes, I'd gathered my thoughts and figured that I was probably ok and that I would be able to walk again!! Just as I was gingerly getting up and about to put my skis back on, ski patrol found me. I explained what had happened and was told that as a precaution, all neck injuries had to be stretchered off the mountain with a neck brace and strapped to a back board. I'd always joked about how cool it would be to be carted off the mountain by ski patrol in a stretcher...but was quite embarrassed when it was happening for real! The ride down was surprisingly smooth and they got me into a transport vehicle to the medical centre in Perisher Valley. It was really weird getting the cliche TV medical drama "patients eye view" of the ceiling and looking up doctors and nurses noses, etc...quite surreal! I had a chat to the nurses about what happened and also explained the recent medical history about my neck problems. X-rays were taken and I was told that any abnormalities would mean I'd have to be transported to Cooma or Canberra for CT scans! The nurse was a bit concerned with some of the narrowing between my vertebrae on one of the early films and said that he'd seen people sent for CT scans for much less. He tried again and went outside to consult with the doctor. I really felt like I was okay, but the uncertainty over my X-rays was starting to worry me...had I caused more damage than I thought? After a few nervous minutes I spoke to the doctor who explained that given my past history, the X-rays didn't indicate that there was any recent spinal injury. He told me that he had a 100% record on spinal injuries and that he thought I was ok. The neck brace was removed and I was able to stand up-right for him to show me the X-Rays. Apparently, he had broken his neck previously, but his X-Rays didn't look as bad as mine did!!! Thanks doc!! If he hadn't have known about my pre-existing neck problems I would have been on my way for a CT scan! He recommended I take the afternoon off, but that I should be ok by tomorrow morning...sweeeeet!!

I rang Michelle to tell her I'd be a little late for lunch and that I had a bit of a story for her!....more tomorrow

I have built it...will they come?

It is done...for the time being I guess. I'm finally happy with Pizza Boy and Tetris Girl!! What started out as being a way to get some photos on line to share with friends and family became a bit more than that. As usual I am never happy with doing things the easy way, and hopefully the blood and sweat stains are still visible on these pages as a legacy.
This will become a portal into our lives over the next few years, as I'm sure we will have some wonderful adventures to share with everyone...can't wait.

Kevin John Mizzi (1977 - 2005)

I hadn't seen my little cousin Kevin in over 3 years. The last time we'd met was only for a quick hello at Joshua's christening...he wasn't so little anymore, he'd easily outgrown me and then some. Prior to that meeting, maybe 8 or 10 years had passed since we'd previously talked. I won't go into the petty details of the various feuds that have kept our families apart, but needless to say there was never any personal conflict between myself and Kevin. My most vivid memories of him, were therefore of our childhood...of Xmas and New Year's parties, playing practical jokes on Santa (Nanu)...of playing in the back paddock and looking for fox dens in the wood pile...of teaching him how to "Bee Gee" his voice with helium gas straight out of the tank...then watching him pass out backwards into a pile of laundry because he'd sucked down a little bit too much!! And all the while that infectious giggle, that cheeky smile, that tremendous love and affection for everyone.When Mum called last week to tell me that Kevin had committed suicide I couldn't understand why? How? I didn't really know Kevin, the man, maybe the people that were closer to him than I had been over the last few years could answer these questions...but no, they had no answers either...from all accounts my memories of Kevin, my little cousin, would not have diminished with age.
I stopped asking myself why. The time for crying is not yet over, moments of quiet reflection will inevitably lead to a tear being shed. Tears of sadness for a life taken, tears of sympathy for his immediate family and loved ones and tears of regret for the missing years. If anything positive could possibly come from Kevin's death, it is that family's can put aside their differences and unite in support of one another. Who knows, maybe this will be a catalyst for family to look forward, start afresh and forget the mistakes of the past. I sure as hell hope so, anyway...

First post!

Ahh...hockey season is over again for the year, so I get my Saturdays back. I finally get a chance to start putting the finishing touches on the new website today...almost ready to actually tell people about it! The problems I've been having with my back are also getting better, meaning I can now actually sit in front of a PC for more than five minutes at a time without numbing pain shooting down my left arm...makes a big difference!
Heading out to watch 4th grade in the first prelim finals later this afternoon, unfortunatley Michelle has to work today, UNSW has a careers info day! Still working out what to do tonight...maybe the football at the SFS, Australia vs. Solomon Islands, otherwise Charlie & the Chocolate Factory looks great? Definitely want to see Charlie, I'm a big Tim Burton and Johnny Depp fan.
We spent much of last weekend listening to Triple J's "Impossible Music Festival" on the radio...what an amazing weekend for anyone that loves good music! The concept was simple, but only a station like the J's could pull it off. An entire weekend of live recordings from the J archive from 1975 - 2005. Some amazing sets, including my highlights, INXS from 1983 when they were still a bunch of unpretentious young musos from the Northern beaches jamming in a pub...pretty sad to see what they've been reduced to in 2005, Jeff Buckley at Sydney's Phoenician Club in '95, one of the gigs that I really regret not having gone to...the same can be said about Nirvana from '92, if only I knew then what I know now, I would have given a kidney to be there! Some of the gigs I was at, System of a Down at 2002 BDO, pure power, absolutely awesome, Placebo at the Hordern in 2004, if you listen hard enough you can hear one or two of my inappropriately placed "Woooooooooh's", and Faith no More in 1995, probably the last time they toured. There was a lot more that I missed, although I worked out that I'd actually been to see about 30 of the 50 artists on the line-up anyway. I hope that Triple J makes this a yearly event.