Back in business!!! :)

Hey guys!! Well... Merry Christmas! I can't believe it: we moved to Colorado a year ago! It feels like we just moved, and never went through summer!! But we did... and winter is back around. We have just had the first big dumps of the season and yesterday we got 15 inches over 24 hours... go Colorado powder! Sunlight needed it, and now the patrollers are happy: the whole mountain is opened, and covered ;) We have just put the flip pac back on the new truck today: it looks much better with the flip-pac on... and we are super psyched to have it again :) Minnie, my grandma, sent me some French cheese just in time for our holiday celebration, so Fondue tonight!!! The downside is I can't drink anything because I'm on call, but I'll eat all the cheese I can eat ;) Joyeux Noel!!! -Chloe

Coucou les poulets! Joyeux Noel!!! C'est dur a croire, mais ca fait deja un an qu'on a demenage!! On a l'impression que c'etait hier, et qu'on n'a pas encore eu d'ete... mais si... et c'est de nouveau l'hiver! On vient d'avoir les premieres tempetes de la saison, et il est tombe presque 40cm en 24h (38cm exactement!) ... vive la poudreuse :) On en avait besoin a Sunlight, maintenant les ski-patrols sont contents: toute la montagne est ouverte aux skieurs, et enfin couverte de neige :) On vient de mettre le flip-pac sur le nouveau camion cette apres-midi: il est beaucoup mieux avec le flip-pac dessus... et on est ravis d'avoir de nouveau notre petit camion :) Minnie, ma grand-mere, nous a fait un petit paquet de fetes plein de fromages, juste a temps pour pouvoir se faire un fondue pour Noel ce soir!!! Je suis de garde, et donc je ne peux pas boire de blanc avec, mais je vais me ratraper sur le fromage ;) Merry Christmas!!!!! -Chloe

Quick Update

Sorry, this is going to be another pictureless post. We'll get some on soon.
We found a replacement vehicle. Pretty much the same thing we had beefore, only newer and better. It was already the perfect truck before, so no reason to change too much. We are in the process of getting it suited up for roadtrip/living capability, like the last one.
We finally opened our local ski mountain last week, and were skiing a lot of rocks and grass, but thanks to some persistant snowing these last few days, conditions are dramatically better and the ski season is now officially on! Working as ski patrol for a small mountain like Sunlight is eternally entertaining. It seems that the mountain will be changing medical directors and we will be working towards acquiring some ALS (Advanced Life Support) equipment and having me operate as a paramedic on the hill, which will be fun. Meanwhile I'm pretty much just waiting for my official certifications to come in the mail, and will then begin orientation and working as a paramedic at the ambulance company (WECAD).
Until next time: happy holiday shopping ;)

Sad and so bummed...

Our pick up is dead. What a bummer... here is how the story goes: We had 5 days off together with Brendan, and headed over to Southern Utah (Ibex) to go bouldering. We got snowed out, even the cows looked cold under the snow! After a few brave attempts by Brendan to climb (I climbed too, but didn't take my mittens off!) we decided to change our destination if we wanted to go climbing. It seemed to be a gnarly strip of 3-4 days just about everywhere, so we decided to go home, and head the other way, towards Boulder. I was driving, hit some black ice on the road in the middle of nowhere in the middle of Utah, car to the left, car to the right, so far I am pretty much ok, and so is Brendan (who... haha, had just closed his eyes) and before I know it, I am looking through the windshield at where I come from... ok, this isn't going so well anymore... indeed, I finished planted in the center divide, and... the worst part is the center divide had little poles every 2ft or so, and it grabbed, and ripped, the front wheel. Voila, the pick up is done. We got towed out, slept in the flip pack on 3 wheels in the tow yard, and the insurance lady came out the next day in the middle of nowhere to evaluate our pick up, which is fairly old, and has a fair amount of miles on it, and... after a few hours of plugging in numbers and pictures in her laptop said it was to be totaled. Soooo bummed. I was absolutely heartbroken, and so was Brendan, to total our little pick up. Not only Brendan had worked his butt off to get it, but it is basically more our home than anywhere else, and it represents so much to us. This is what we do: go climb with the flip pac... so yeah, I felt pretty miserable, and Brendan was oh so the best with me, but pretty bummed too. We were really torn as far as attempting to fix it anyways, or leaving it with the insurance people to be salvaged. Since none of us knows anything about mechanics, we opted for the safest option, which was to take the bigger check, and leave the car. I was so mad at myself, and so sad to leave it. Yeah yeah, it is just a car, and all that, but we were still super sad. It took us a while to make a decision, but once it was done, we just wanted to go home, with the campershell. So we rented a moving truck... The insurance people gave us a ride with them to the nearest UHaul, and Uhaul it was... Stripped down the pick up of its flip pac, loaded the moving truck with all our crap, and hauled home! Like always, it could have been worse: no semi to run into, a center divide to stop the car instead of another car coming the other way, a decent check from the insurance, nobody hurt, all that good stuff, but we are still bitter about the whole deal. But here we are... truck shopping, because we won't be flip-pac-less very long ;) This whole thing sucked, but we'll redo our awesome set up, and it'll be good again, no doubt, it is just a hassle to deal with. Brendan said he would improve on the flip-pac bench properties when he builds the one in the new pick-up, andwill incorporate a hole in the bench to hold a bottle of wine!! No no, we're not completely depressed :P just really bummed. I'll put a few pics, and will keep you posted on our coming adventures... Cheers! -Chloe, the pick-up killer.

Climbing at the Fortress

OK, I might consider climbing outside this winter in this frigid colorado state, at the "Fortress of Solitude". We climbed there on Friday for the first time. It is a very cool crag, big amphitheater type of rock, pretty imposing, and south facing (hint hint, it gets some sun!!). It is an hour hike, uphill and in the snow, but it is good climbing up there. The hike is a little rough, but pretty :)) I am putting pictures, but I won't babble much, because we are heading over to Utah for 3 days, and we might celebrate Brendan's license again :P Cheers! -Chloe

Je vais peut-etre pouvoir concevoir grimper dehors cet hiver au Colorado, ca caille ici! On est a alle a la "Forteresse de la Solitude". C'est un amphitheatre de cailloux, et c'est oriente Sud!! Donc soleil... C'est une heure de marche d'approche, dans la neige, et ca monte! Mais ca vaut le coup une fois qu'on y est, et l'approche est jolie :)) Je ne vais pas ecrire beuacoup ce coup ci, parce qu'on se prepare a aller a Utah pour 3 jours, et on va peut-etre bien re-celebrer la license de Brendan :) Bises! Chloe-

And he is a paramedic!!!

Hey guys! Brendan has been on a little cloud for 24h, as he is now an official paramedic!!!!! I am so proud of Brendan for pulling thru... it was getting really hard to go to school instead of going climbing :)) But he did it, and passed with flying colors! He passed the written exam on Monday, and the practical just a few days ago on Saturday. We celebrated the written part, see the pictures ;) and we were so excited about the full deal last night we forgot to take pictures!!! We had some dulce de leche cheesecake for our celebration!!! Rock on Brendan!

Coucou! Ca y est, Brendan viens d'atterir sur terre, il est sur un petit nuage depuis 24h, parce que ca y est: il est officiellement paramedic!! Ca commencait a etre dur dur pour lui de se coller les fesses sur une chaise a l'ecole, plutot que d'aller grimper. Mais ca y est, il a passe l'ecrit lundi, et la pratique samedi! Il a pete les scores, et le v'la paramedic pour de bon!!!! On a celebre l'ecrit, je vous mets des photos, mais hier soir on etait tellement dechaines, qu'on a oublie de prendre des photos! On s'est paye un super dessert (un cheesecake au dulce de leche) pour celebrer! Genial Brendan!!!