Snow Trek 3: The Search for Snow

The snow fields around Vancouver have gone to hell, and I blame transparent plastic rulers. The static generated by these evil drawing implements has melted the polar ice caps, disrupted the Atlantic conveyer and energized the pink subatomic particles in the ozone layer. This has created one of the worst snow seasons in Vancouver's history, and put many on edge about the area's capacity to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. I'm much more selfish - I want to play with my shiny red shred stick, and that means fresh, deep snow - now dammit.

To beat the local snow shortage, I booked a ticket to Salt Lake City, where a good buddy of mine is working as a ski instructor. I originally wanted to go at the start of February, but he couldn't get the time off work. So, I changed the flight to the 25th, paid the cash, and booked How To Pick Up Hot Mormon Women out of the local library. This of course was a mistake, as the 25th is also the day that my Canadian work visa runs out. I could be denied entry to Canada, or stuck in a jail cell full of maple syrup thieves and terrorists. It would also royally mess up my application for visa sponsorship, which is currently filed with the government in a grey manilla folder at the bottom of a frozen well somewhere near Attawapiskat.

So, I have to pay $150 to have the dates changed. I'm hoping that next month will be fine, and that the Canadian government doesn't wait so long that I have to pay another $150 to change it all over again. That would suck. An interesting thing about the sponsorship process is once an application has been made, I am fine to work past my original visa expiry date, although I can't leave Canada, not even for weekend drug mule flights to Mexico, Jamaica or Colombia. I think Amsterdam is still ok, although 10% of my stash would have to be paid to the government under the European Decadence Levy, which really sours the deal.

To make up for this pain, I'm going to try and make it with a buddy or two to one of the ski resorts in the BC interior, like Big White or Silver Star. They're about 5 hours drive away from Vancouver, so I'll probably hire another car for the weekend and stay overnight. It sounds like a bit of a mission, but I guess it must be done if I'm to get my fix of heaped white powder.