New beginnings and exciting endings

So i have finally moved from the snow after a rather successfull last week. I had a stage 2 instructors exam at mt buller which was quite stressful. 80% of the people who sat the test failed however somehow i managed to fluke topping the course! The exam included the following topics

Free run (short turns in the bumps and slushy snow)
Free run (medium carved turns on icey piste)
Christie demo
Parallel demo
Wedellen demo
Short turns demo
Adults teach
Childrens teach
Theory exam
Movement analysis exam.

I have recently taken a position at fujitsu as a senior analyst programmer, which is very exciting. Located in southbank accross the road from crown casino fujitsu is a great enviroment to work in and im expecting to enjoy the return to normal life.

I will be moving into an apartment in southbank sometime soon hopefully which will be great - close to work and all the melbourne city action!

I need to find some decent crags and decent people to go climbing with! Also this summer i would like to learn to surf, so expect to be reading updates on my surfing endeavours!

Amy and i went to a wig party the other weekend

Oh no the snow is running away

The snow is disapearing due to a huge amount of rain that has fallen on mount hotham. Dammit. The mountain needed only 20cm to open everything, now not even the summit is open. This is making my plans to sit my australian instructors level 2 very difficult!
Here is a picture of me carving it up on the last blue bird day we have had for a while.

Settling into the hotham lifestyle

After 3 weeks of skiing every day and partying most nights i am slightly tired but feeling great. I have joined the race club so i can use the gym to keep fit as well as do a bit of bouldering to keep my rock climbing fingers nice and strong!
I am working about 3 hours on average a day mostly teaching 16 - 18 year old school girls, so its not exactly demanding work! I am getting a few privates now which is interesting, its much easier to teach a single person or 2 people. Some of my groups have been crazy sizes like 16 people! It can be a real adventure teaching this many people, especially when it gets foggy and is snowing!
I have made some great friends here and am enjoying the social life! The snow is not great at the moment, but there is enough of it to ski on.
I am training for my stage 2 instructor level at the moment, which is great as it gives me a focus to improve my skiing.

Here is some shots of skiing at hotham!


Riding the chair

Arrival at hotham!

Having decided to move to Mount Hotham and instruct for the season i made the move this weekend.
I was mildly apprehensive before my arrival as i had not actually arranged any accomodation, i simply trusted that something would be found when i arrived. It was difficult but i I put my puppy dog eyes to good use and the accomodation manager gave me a fantastic room right on the side of the hill. For $200 a week i get a room that i share with Jaka (a slovenian guy who is loads of fun) and 2 meals a day!!
The view from our room

Breakfast is at one of the restaurants so is of awesome quality every morning - fruit salad is my usual fare but after a hard night the eggs on toast rock! The food is not too bad in the evening - its a little boarding school though so its bringing back not so fond memories. I have told them im vegetarian so i get special treatment hehe.
I worked as an instructor for 2 hours today which was good - i was getting a little worried that i had forgotten how to instruct! for the past 3 days i have just been free skiing and working on my technique a little. I need a new pair of skis :( as the type of skiing im doing now is substantially different to the past.
Heres a picture of me in the ski school uniform


Hotham is an amazing mountain. from the looks of things its very oriented toward intermediate to advanced skiers, with some amazing terrain that is just begging to be skied as soon as there is a bit more snow.
Its forecasted to dump this weekend, so hopefully there will be some great powder stories on this blog soon!

Arapiles weekend of climbing debauchery

The june long weekend. normally associated with the onset of winter and sitting at home with a great book in front of a warm fire. not likely! this june weekend i and some fellow rock climbing enthusiasts, rob and simon, made our way to the climbing mecca of arapiles. arapiles has some 3000 climbs some of them over 100 metres! We had an amazing weekend of climbing with vacilli and jo driving up from melbourne and meeting in us for camping at the pines camping grounds! vacilli and i set up a top rope on saturday and cruised up a couple of 15s ... then as this was his first time climbing outdoors i set him on to a 20 ... he performed admirably, only getting stymied at the crux!


This is me pulling through a 20 crack climb

leading a 16 entitled crucifixion (where the guys who set these routes get the names from amazes me!) a very artistic shot from robs digital camera. the morning this was taken was incredibly cold as you can see!

So after 3 days of fun it was back to adelaide for a shower (3 days is a very long time to go without one!) and finally some decent sleep.