So our stay at Palliser Lodge room 402 sadly came to an end. Now we have found our own apartment in the town of Golden, two bedrooms, one bathroom, sizable living area and decent kitchen. We managed to pick up a few bargains in terms of furniture, couple of couches, coffee table etc from the local second hand shop. It took a few days to find beds for a reasonable price so we were forced to sleep on the minimal furnishings we had. Fortunately now, we all have Queen beds, which we picked up for a bargain of $75 each, with a free TV for each bed. Sounds like a deal!! although these TV's are pretty much post vintage and unoperable due to the fact that we are not subscribed to cable. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will pick up a dvd player so we have something to do with our nights rather than sitting around aimlessly.

With that out of the way, we had Christmas to think about. We were lucky enough to be given the weekend off work, so we took the opportunity to head out to the ever so amazing Lake Louise. I've seen so many photos in the past but it wasn't until we actually arrived at the lake that i fully appreciated what it was all about. The entire lake is frozen over, with ice skating rinks and ice towers set up on top. I will add a few photos to the album for viewing. Needless to say the weekend was quite hectic, spent all day out on the slopes as expected, with nights filled with booze and partying...Christmas day itself was spent snowboarding, with a hearty burger and poutine lunch, as for Christmas dinner, due to the limited supplies at the local general store, ended up consisting of instant mac and cheese...delicious! We crashed a party at the local staff accommodation village which ended up being a very good night!. We had to draw straws to see who would be driving back in the early ours on the Monday morning in order for us to make it to work by 8:00am. Luckily for me, it was Leo who was stuck behind the wheel. That day of work was an absolute mission. A couple more shifts this week as well as a couple of days on the slopes. Fresh tracks every day, powder like i have never seen. There has been points where we have been off the tracks doing some tree runs and actually getting stuck chest deep in powder. Needless to say it is an absolute mission to get out of these situations! Totally worth it though for the runs! I'm sure there will be days where we will be hiking for hours to get the one amazing run in a day. Skill levels are increasing on everyones behalf, big jumps and drops are a regular occurrence, with a few grabs and spins starting to enter the scene. There has been a couple of avalanches on the mountain which is quite interesting, apparently is happens quite regularly so hopefully i will not be in the situation where one occurs!!!

Unfortunately my brand new board has run in to some troubles, the base plate is splitting from the board. Despite being able to get a replacement under warranty, it's still a serious inconvenience as this will take a couple weeks at least. Until then i am stuck with my back-up board which also is in a pretty serious state, but it'll have to do!.

Work itself isn't too bad, the days go quickly and we are getting to know the people we are working with a lot more so there is lots to chat about. Although it is isn't a good feeling looking out the hotel window and seeing people snowboarding in the fresh snow. But it has to be done!

As for New Years weekend, we were fortunate again to have the time off work (i think they like us), we headed out to Banff. We arrived without booking any accommodation and upon seeing the forecast of -22 we soon realised that getting cozy in the car may not be the best option. We got a room at a small hotel and began to party. All in all it was a seriously satisfying new years. The day after was Leo's birthday, clearly being severerly hungover, movements were slow. We eventually started making our way back to Golden after a drive through of Banff's amazing town! I honestly could take a photo in any direction and use it as my desktop wallpaper!.

Since then we have been living the simple Golden lifestyle. Snowboarding, working, partying on designated nights.

Leo had a bit of a run-in with a tree, collecting a stump right to his ribs, after being sledded down the mountain and whipped off to hospital, scans revealed that all was good, just a bit battered and bruised. Few days off the slope and all is back to normal.

We had our work christmas party last night, and cleeeeaned up!. Prizes were being handed out like they were going out of fashion. Luck was with us, picking up a sweet stereo system, vouchers. Leo won a back-country tour, Quentin took out the major prize of an all expenses trip for two for 2 nights in Whistler, so the cost of the third person will be split between us all. Super excited!

As for my board, it has finally been processed. And on that note i will leave here as i am now going next door to Darkside to pick out my brand new ride. Hopefully in time to whip up the mountain for a run or two!