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Two weekends ago a group of eleven of us went heli-skiing with RK Heli Ski out of Panorama BC.

Here’s the group on the first morning of heli:

Joe was the first of the group to hit the computer and post his version, Farewell, Panorama:

I can’t wait to do this again real soon.

On how I felt going in…

Going into the trip I was very nervous about the conditions. Panorama has a 50″ base compared to the 100-170″ bases we have in the Pacific North West. Panorama also hadn’t received snow in a while (no major storm since January.) When we got there we spent Thursday skiing at the resort. The morning the conditions were icy but warmed up in the afternoon and it was spring skiing. I started asking about the refund policy skeptical that we’d want to do more than one day of heli skiing on spring slopes.

On safety…

The first morning I too was impressed with the safety orientation but still skeptical about what would happen in the event of an avalanche. The way it works it that the guide goes first carrying a pack then ten skiers follow one after the other and then the last person brings up the rear also carrying a pack. Everyone is equipped with a transceiver but only the guide and last person (the “pack man”) get probes and shovels. The ten minutes of transceiver practice we got was fine for me as a refresher as I have already taken a multi-day avalanche safety course but most others in our group hadn’t; it’s not a pre-requisite. I think the main hope in the event of an avalanche is that the guide or last person gets on the radio which would summon the helicopter. As it worked out more often than not the person carrying the pack had taken an avalanche course but I’d prefer if the person carrying needed to have taken a course.

On conditions…

I couldn’t have been more wrong! The conditions were great. Turns out RK Heli Ski has access to a lot of terrain so they were able to whisk us fifteen minutes away (by helicopter) to north facing slopes that didn’t suffer from sun exposure. Of course a few times we did have some tough turns on wind affected slopes high up and we did ski some lower southern slopes which had heavier wetter snow but for the most part it was very good.

Since they hadn’t had a dump in a month most of the time we were skiing in boot deep powder. After many deep powder days in the Seattle region I was expecting to be disappointed with the lack of depth but the lack of depth probably translated into faster skiing and less tired legs. I know the Winnipeg folks on the trip would have died with any deeper snow.

For the most part we skied alpine terrain with only a few turns in the trees as we got closer to the pick up point. The best tree skiing was in a clear cut area. This made the lumber trader on our trip laugh as I imagine most of us bemoaned the deforestation we saw as we flew into the region.

Average run length was 850-1000 meters.

On the helicopter…

We used their Bell 212, 1972 helicopter. The reason you can’t bring a backpack is that the inside is tight. It just barely fit everyone. There was definitely no leg room as we all had to intertwine our legs to fit.

The chopper was piloted by Duncan who has been flying heli ski tours for thirty years. We had two helicopter pilots in our group and both were extremely impressed with his abilities. I asked him when he got to go skiing and he said that flying was more fun which was entirely believable. Every time we saw him he was grinning. And when we didn’t see him he was either buzzing us, buzzing the resort or landing the helicopter in very tight spots.

On the group…

We had eleven people. Three boarders, eight skiers. Youngest was 26, oldest was 70-something. We had everything from software programmers, to lumber trader, to doctor, to CFO, to ski store manager. Ski level ranged from the Seattle folks with ~20 ski days so far to someone who had skied only once this season. We had one guide, Graham, who has been with RK for 10 something years. Since you pay by the run there was no rush to get down and we took our time. I enjoyed myself the most skiing first right behind the guide or last as the pack man. Last was nice because you would wait for everyone to get some distance in front then you’d go catch up. It was if you were the only person out there.

On cost…

I’m sure many are curious about what an adventure like this costs. I ended up paying $2,400 which included a two day lift ticket at Panorama, lodging, 7 heli-runs on the first day and 8 heli-runs on the second day (we had a 5 runs/day package and paid $85/extra a run.)

On random things…

When asked our guide said the best time to go heli skiing is “after it has snowed”. When pressed he said with RK the best time is in January. Their season is as long as Panoramas. They’d go longer because conditions are still good but people’s perception is that they aren’t good.

Our guide said they average 5 no fly days a year because of weather. He said coastal heli skiing operations will have many more no fly days because of weather.

They can run up to 4 groups of 11 at one time with the Bell 212 helicopter. Though not every group is flown into the heli ski region. One group will be and the rest are bus shuttled into a staging area. We got lucky and were flown in and out every time by helicopter.

For lunch we got sandwiches and snacks.

On going again…

Since the cost for day heli-skiing is so much lower than lodge/week long heli skiing let’s just say that this will be an annual or near annual thing.

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Friday night I caught the 6:20 flight to Reno. Of course I screwed up the date when I bought the ticket and had to go through the stress of paying a change fee, flying stand by, etc but did end up catching the flight I wanted :).

I then caught a cab to North Star (supposed to be forty five minutes away) which was a bit of an adventure since the cab driver had forgotten his chains, chains were required, he then got lost trying to find his buddy with chains,… The trip ended taking a little longer than it should have but eventually I made it. Funny enough the cab ride was the same cost as my flight (pre-change fee.)

The next day we skied at North Star (6″ new), the resort some at Redfin referred to as the Snoqualmie of Tahoe. However, after skiing there I don’t think that’s a fair characterization. North Star doesn’t have a lot of steep crazy runs but it does feature lots of rolling easy nicely groomed blues, appears to be very family friendly, and features a pretty new plush village. Since there was some nice dry new snow I was able to get in some good runs even late in the day since the major of folks kept to the easy runs :). The tree skiing was also pretty nice.

Here’s Katrina, her sister Suzanne, and Peter:

At times it was dumping:

At other times it was sunny:

At lunch there was a big band:

Apres ski had a skating rink and outdoor lounges similar to Vegas bars:

Sunday Katrina and I headed to Squaw (2-4″ of new). Squaw, unlike North Star, appears to be stuck in the ’60s when they held the Olympics. I wouldn’t work there just because their staff uniform is so dated (sorry no photo.) But they did have some steep runs. I spent a lot of time on KT-22 and Headwall and we had lunch up at High Base Camp which features a hot tub, swimming pool and skating rink at 8200 feet. We also lucked out with a three and half hour drive back to San Francisco.

More…

• Photos from North Star
• Photos from Squaw Valley

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Heli-skiing was awesome. Best two ski days yet. Let’s just say that heli-skiing will be an annual adventure. I’ll blog about it more tomorrow and as the photos and videos trickle in from the lucky eleven.

Surprisingly after an amazing vacation it is still good to come home; don’t have to share a room with snoring friends, comfortable pillows, more moderate drinking schedule…

I also not only need a Keys, Wallet, Cell Phone door mat but also a permanent sticky on my door that says:

Leaving Town?

• Wash dishes
• Empty garbage
• Turn off excess electronics
• Turn off heat

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(Something has been going around Seattle and it’s caught up with me. I hate being sick. I should have taken a day off when I first started not feeling well as I just spent this past glorious weekend inside on the couch.)

I have two large blank walls that I’d like to hang some art on.

Now the latest Wired had some recommendations for online galleries for the masses:

Thumbtack Press: Hard to navigate quickly. No large pieces.

20×200: Large pieces are pricey at $2000

Blueflip Art: Hard to navigate quickly.

But in general I found the sites hard to navigate large amounts of art quickly and was frustrated that they didn’t have any large pieces. I’d love to find some similar sites where up and coming artists can sell their prints to folks like me who are looking for affordable art.

Yes there’s Prints.com and Art.com but I’m looking for something that you wouldn’t find at a college poster sale.

Update: My dad sent me a link to Amka Shop which seems to be just what I was looking for. Wide horizontal prints on tarpaulins that could be backlight that aren’t too pricey.

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My mother is concerned about me:

Is it your intention to sound like a workaholic and an alcoholic on your website?

So it is with some trepidation that I’m going to blog about tonight’s game night at Redfin.

Why? It involved a keg of beer, a bottle of Knob, Trivial Pursuit, Settlers of Catan, cards, a Wii and Rock Band.

Sadly, no poker.

Nothing says workaholism and alcoholism than many hours in the office followed by drinking at the office.

But I’m just kidding. We work hard but nothing like the 80+ hours a week that investment bankers, lawyers and med school residents put in.

And I least I don’t have an OC-80 addiction! :)

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My biggest pet peeve with venues is that they don’t say on their website what time the acts come on at. At best all they give is the door time. Tonight I had a variety of conflicting plans and it would have been really helpful to know what time the Editors were playing at the Showbox.

In the past I’ve tried to do the math of figuring out when an act should come on only to miss them. The worst example of this was missing The Organ at the Crocodile a few years ago. Sadly, it was my one and only chance to see them in Seattle as the band is now no more.

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Worked 55+ hours before EOD Thursday then hit Whistler. Made it in less than 4 hours. Skied some sweet lines today. Then hit GLC then Merlins for apres ski. Merlins nachos are at least 6″ deep. Now drunk.

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What follows is a little story of how my car got caught drug trafficking…

My buddy needed some help with a few details for a trip he was organizing for 40 snowboarders from his school; I was more than happy to help and head up to Whistler for a weekend of partying with 20 year olds and be the old guy.

Originally my buddy was going to drive but recently his car had been in an accident and so we took my Cruiser (which while ‘mine’ is not registered in my name but in the name of a co-worker) and picked up two randoms from the group and headed to Whistler.

As part of this trip a few organizing emails went out with some warnings:

However, it is very important that all of us keep in mind that there will be a border crossing–making sure we have valid paperwork for entry into Canada and re-entry to the states and are abiding by any rules and regulations regarding transport of substances across the border will help ensure a quick and painless trip for everyone. Please guys, we want you to have fun, but no illicit substances at the border crossing, capice?

And later,

Be a bit careful with the transportation of meat or produce across the border.

And finally everyone signed a waiver saying NO DRUGS.

Waiting in line at the border I even joked about there being no need to smuggle drugs into BC because it’s BC, the home of “BC hydro.”

When we got to the front of the border line they asked the usual questions but then started to drill in on convictions. Any convictions? No. Any pending charges or arrests? Turns out that yes, someone in our car had a pending charge in Washington for marijuana possession. Well sure enough we get flagged as needed additional screening.

After much waiting they re-run our passports, spend a lot of time researching us and then head off to the car to begin the search. No more than five minutes later are they back and ask who owns the gray backpack. One of our riders (the one with the prior arrest) says its his and off he goes for additional screening. Then the next person gets additional screening and then its my turn. They ask if I know what’s going on and I don’t and they inform me that one of our riders is transporting some weed. I tell them I don’t even know the guy. Off they go and re-search the car this time they take it apart. Then they summon me and I put it back together. And then we wait. And wait. After some two odd hours we’re told how it’s going to go down. The weed was being confiscated, no one was being charged but the weed carrier and the car would have a record with the border guards (remember, it’s not my car.) Also the three Americans were denied entry to Canada and the vehicle was denied entry. As a Canadian I could proceed on foot. Sick of being with Mr.Idiot Drug Smuggler I opted to proceed on foot and had another friend pick me up and the Americans headed back to America after a total of at least three and half hours at the border. Now apparently the Americans were expecting them as they said without prompting “back so soon?” And apparently they then told them “Why would you bring weed to Canada?! That’s like bringing sand to the beach!” (we’re going to Whistler after all!) They were then search again and waited in line again to get back into Canada.

And sure enough once we all finally get to Whistler, some eleven hours after leaving Seattle, one of the other group members not riding with us has already purchased weed for less than the cost of Seattle weed.

Now while waiting at the border I was pretty relaxed but a little bummed I had taken an afternoon off work to sit at the border instead of drinking at the Longhorn. It didn’t even cross my mind that I might get into trouble or have a problem but looking back had we been going the other way we likely would have all been arrested and put in jail!

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Yesterday after a long day of meetings I decided to sit in on the Redfin card game which ended up with 31 players. Here is Dave’s, our tournament director, re-cap of the night:

Matt Goyer (pronounced “go-yay”, given his French Canadian heritage, eh?) took down the big prize in a stunning display of laissez faire poker. Scratching the felt several times in the early rounds, he made it to the final table with a solid chip stack, garnering the admiration of Alex Coon, who also made the final table and had witnessed Matt’s Lazarus-like return with awe. All those years in Boston (the last several years of Pro sports success notwithstanding) have trained Alex to identify and latch onto the underdog.

Steve Marcus defended his tournament victory crown with an impressive repeat performance, finishing 2nd after losing the heads-up duel (that only took 1 hand) with Matt.
The blinds were $600/$1200, with Steve in the Big Blind. Steve raised pre-flop, Matt called, and we got a flop. Steve checked, Matt bet $2,500 and Steve moved all in. Mat had him covered, though it would cost Matt about half his stack to make the call. After pondering (or not realizing it was his turn to act, it’s hard to tell sometimes), Matt said “It’s late. Why not.” (It was about 11:15). Having been called, Steve flips and has a straight draw and nut flush draw. Matt has a pair, gets a second pair on the Turn, and Steve comes up dry on the River. Nice call Matt.

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Say your house has been on the market and you’ve had no one through to see it. What might be wrong?

Well today one Redfin employee found this California listing where the listing agent accidentally added two extra zeros to the price. At a $1,490,000,000 (yes 1.5 BILLION dollars) I’m sure the number of online searches it showed up in was very few:

Being the nice company that we are we called the listing agent to let them know that for 107 days they had the wrong price. Not surprisingly, they updated the price.

First recommendation: Engaged owners should verify their listing on a few online real estate sites to make sure everything is correct!

Second recommendation: If you’re selling a 1.5 million dollar house you should have more than one photo!

(Yes the screenshot is from a Redfin test server, the price updated so quickly I couldn’t get a screenshot from our production servers.)

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