CAPITAL LETTERS: Whistler

Whistler is every bit the picturesque ski town you imagine it to be with its wooden houses and snow laden pine trees. It’s even got the stereotypical Mounties dotted

aboot. (I practised saying aboot instead of about for about two months before going to Canada. Interestingly I have yet to hear a Canadian say aboot. Apparently it is a Quebecois thing).

Our two weeks in Whistler were awesome. Everyone gradually trickled in until the full complement of 21 of us were there. We had great conditions with lots of snow bar our second day which was incredibly icy and during which most of us sustained our minor injuries. You are reminded of muscles you never even realised you

had when you ski. If you had walked into our house on the second morning you would be forgiven for thinking you'd walked into an old age home by the way we were all hobbling aboot and dramatically clutching our backs. But a couple of hours spent in the hot tub every evening did wonders for our aching bodies and if that failed we could always stretch our limbs out on the dance floor later.

For a group of 21 people we emerged after 2 weeks miraculously

unscathed aside from the usual aches and pains of using muscles we didn’t know existed. There were a couple of close calls though:

Brian: Large bump resembling tail on tailbone
Liv: Bruised shins after a day of skiing in boots 2 sizes too big and not done up properly
Mads: Bruise the size (and curiously the shape) of Alaska on ass
Louise: Left knee swelled to 3 times the normal size after a hard day boarding but nothing a little RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation, hot tub and Myprodol couldn’t sort out)
Paul and Lou: Tongues emerged unscathed after licking the chair lift Dumb and Dumber style to see if tongues would stick
Volpe: Danger of suffocation from the classic Scarface face plant into the powder
Jimmy: Bruised back from a number of scorpion falls – falling face forward so hard that you hit your back with your board
Simon and Al: Bruised image for their practical but incredibly eighties full ski suits with braces and zips on the ass
Lee-Lee – Panic attack on the slopes and crying three times before getting to the bottom
Frikker – Bruised ego for taking 2 hours to get home on the cat track and still having to take the bus
Shacks and Paul – Dented reputation for renting hard-core American
Paul B - Sore stomach from laughing so hard at Rob hanging from a tree branch over a precipice after an over ambitious jump and doing nothing to help
Al - The worst smelly feet in history
John – Almost dented head from irish jigging in the Dublin bar so vigourously that he almost caused a fight
Big Air Robair - For suffering from near exhaustion after never going to sleep EVER
Nic – 48 hours of severe Mexican Wrap induced gastro
Lucy –For not being an ambiturner
Carl - For treating us all to his regular flatulence
Dave – For suffering from excacerbated Gold Fish syndrome
Nic - Damaged reputation as a result of his pink board
Dave and Brian - Damaged pride after incorrectly predicting that Joey and Dawson get together
Mims - Being diagnosed with pneaumonia on her arrival back in SA
Everyone except Liv - Emptier pockets from her cleaning us out at Poker TWICE