March 2nd 2008 - Skiing

March 2nd 2008

Mountain life

We're back ! We missed our update last week from general bad health and poor karma. Luckily there wasn't a whole lot to write about, as Paula had been ill all week and only left the apartment on the Saturday, as we went out for lunch with Val.

Estamos devuelta despues una semana. Estubimos enfermos, yo resfriada en cama y luego Peder con su alergia. Aqui estamos con Val en su ultima semana aqui. Peo y Val .

Val saying her goodbyes to Peo. Val decided to go back home on Thursday, as John was moved to offshore work in Nigeria.

Val diciendo chao a Peo. Val se fue el Jueves , John esta en Nigeria asique ella decidio irse a uk.

Eating lunch with Val at VIPS in downtown

Aqui almorzando con Val en VIPS en el centro.

There has been quite a lot of flu going around and several of my colleagues have been down with the flu lately. I was hit this past week, as my allergy had left the back door wide open for any malicious virus attack, and had to stay home from work on Tuesday. Out of the 8 people employed at our office only 3 turned up on Tuesday ... that's how hard we've been affected. I feel much better now, after a weeks worth of antihistamine and Tylenol. The reason for the allergy attack was that I had to go through all my old boxes to look for my ski gear. All of a sudden my nose started to tickle and I knew immediately that I was in trouble ! Anyway, I got up at 3 am Sunday Morning and met up with Geoff and his two colleagues, Adam and Sejin. We had a looong drive ahead of us - we were going to go skiing at the High1 Resort at Kangwon Land Hotel in the Kangwon Province. Geoff had heard that this place was killer, so as Geoff is rarely wrong on these things, we followed as blind puppets ! We arrived at the resort at 8:30 and had half an hour to get sorted with gear and passes before the lifts started.

La semana estubo tranquila la semana pasada, yo en cama y Peder con su alergia. Aqui Peder esquiando en High 1 resort. Quedaba a 4 horas manejando desde Ulsan.

Here we all are - Adam, me, Sejin and Geoff ready for combat!

There was a little snow on the ground, but not nearly enough to ski. But as we got on the gondola we could see that the pistes had been beautifully groomed and filled with artificial snow. No worries there. The facilities were fantastic. The resort had opened in 2007 and everything was still spotless. You can say much about the Koreans, but they do not do things half way. High1 is a big ski resort (for Korean standards) and if you consider that all the piste's had to be maintained with artificial snow, you cannot be but impressed.

Lo pasaron super bien , el lugar era parece bien bonito y habia poca gente lo que hizo que disfrutaran el dia. Pasaron a buscar a Peder a las 03.20 de la mañana y salieron del lugar a las 17.00 llegando a la casa a las 22.00.

Going up for our first run

The gondola left us at 1600m of altitude. I strapped myself on to the snowboard and started down the first piste. I didn't get far ... Up again .. it was probably just a fluke. Bang - down I went again ! "What's this" I thought. How come this seems so unfamiliar - It's only been one year ... Until I realized that I was trying to ride with the (for me) wrong leg forward !! I had already feared how the day would end if I didn't even remember how to glide down the easiest slopes, but after turning around I was sorted ! My friends must have thought I was a right air head !

Getting strapped in ... Sejin and her friend (I forgot the name, but he got us half price on the lift passes, so we liked him !!)

The snow was generally good, even if it was artificial. Unfortunately it was pretty icy in the morning, something I do not like when I am snowboarding, so after a few hard falls (on one I continued sliding on my bum for about 200m down hill ... couldn't stop for the life of me), I was seriously considering switching to skis. Especially seeing how much fun Geoff and Adam were having. I was saved by lunch and the sun, which warmed up the slopes a little. It also helped that more people had been over the piste's in the afternoon. For whatever the reason the snow was heaps better in the afternoon, and I stayed with the snowboard all day. Bum didn't suffer too much either (except for the first few hours torture).

Geoff and Adam getting ready for the black piste. They were patient with us boarders, who take much longer to strap in

Not yet strapped in

There was a beautiful view from the top of the hill

The three musketeers !

At 16:00 we had our last lift to the top and enjoyed a nice easy ride all the way to the bottom of the hill. Our legs were a bit wobbly, so even if we had big plans for the last ride (Adam was determined to scale a fence and run off-piste - refer to above statements about snow coverage and you'll understand the madness of his plan !!), we still ended up taking it slow. Most accidents occur on the last run of the day !

Geoff showing us how it is done !

We hit the road at 17:00 and reached Ulsan about 5 hours later. Traffic wasn't too bad and we had the delightful company of the lady-in-the-box (the GPS) to guide us, so we made good time. I was starting to feel the flu coming on in the car, so I went straight to bed when I got home. Poor Paula !

Beat but not broken .... On our way home

Check out the video from our ski trip below

The rest of the week was pretty much a stay-in, to nurse my health a bit. Even Paula was suffering a bit from the flu she was just getting over. Pretty miserable ! Friday we went out to dinner with our neighbor Stuart, who is here alone for a month, before Pauline returns. Saturday I played tennis. Or tried to - my head was spinning at times, but I still managed to hit the ball from time to time ! Today I got up for an early ride with Geoff. I still feel short of power / breath, but I wasn't suffering as much as Geoff, who seems to be coming down with the flu I (possibly) handed over to him on the ski trip ! Sorry Geoff ! It was a beautiful ride on a pretty ugly day. I still took a few photos for you to see ...

El resto de la semana fue relajada. Peder estubo en la casa el martes y le sirvio para parar un poco la alergia. Hoy domingo Peder y Geoff fueron a andar en bicicleta cerca de la casa. El lugar es super lindo , pero bien dificil , los cerros bien parados.

Geoff seconds before he thought his breakfast was rebounding !

Geoff aqui a minutos de saludar a gajardo...jiji parece que esta empezando un resfrio , asique el pobre se sentia medio mal.

But he made it to the top in one

Pero logro llegar hasta la punta del cerro.

And proud of it too !

To his credit, it was a steep climb. Here looking out over Hyundai Heavy Industries (the shipyard)

Making bread on Saturday

Aqui Peder haciendo pan con el delantal que nos mandaron mis hermanos de regalo. Esta feliz con su Delantal de Condorito.

Peo caught in the act. I'd been wondering why our plants had a low survival rate !

Ahora cachamos que pasaba con las plantas. Estan todas con las hojas a la mitad. ....Peo se las estaba comiendo ! es una fresca .