New Year’s Eve is a special night around the world, when hundreds of different cultures simultaneously observe another 365 days gone by. Holidays may vary from one country to the next, but there’s one thing almost everyone has in common: a New Year’s Eve bash. So when Leanne Pelosi told me that Misschief Madame Fabia Gruebler was throwing a house party…I knew it was going down. Whistler definitely knows how to party—and with the Village (pictured above) in full holiday mode, there was no shortage of celebrations on December 31, 2006.

Of course, I didn’t expect a double bonus winter dumping to ring in the New Year. But that’s exactly what we got when a powerful storm pounded Whistler on the first day of 2007. It was snowing like crazy when we finally made it up on the mountain late Monday afternoon. After all, we were at a New Year’s party the night before…

New Years Eve day was pretty mellow, as there wasn’t much fresh snow on the hill to be had. Instead I spent the day with Leanne and the newly formed RunWay Films crew, which consisted of Leanne, filmer and Dinosaurs Will Die frontman Jeff Keenen, Natasza Zurek (pictured above), and Spencer O’Brian. They had set up a nice little wall ride/bomb drop at the abandoned building where the legendary dive bar/part-time strip club “The Boot” used to be. Recently squatted in, ransacked then condemned, the whole joint looks like a crack house and smells of mold and urine. A great spot for shredding.

Inside the old bar.

Bedtime anyone?

Front door.

Young Spencer only got a couple tries in before badly spraining her ankle on the drop. She was terribly disappointed at first, and there was even talk of a “New Year’s Boycott” on her part. Don’t worry though; never one to miss a good party either, Spencer came around once the night began.

Before the official party got started, we were all invited over to Fabia’s for family dinner. It was a potluck, and Leanne’s job was to bring the salad. Fortunately Leanne is just as good at preparing food as she is at snowboarding, and her and Jeff’s double duty salad bowls almost won best dish of the meal. She even made fresh squeezed lemonade as a drink mixer, and we put it in a big ol’ jug to bring it along.

Once we got there it was Yummy time.

The surprise of the night, however, was Priscilla Levac’s secret dessert flowerpot. Originally disguised as a Christmas present for Fabia, everyone gasped in horror when Priscilla stuck her finger in the dirt, scooped up a mouthful and shoved it in her mouth.

Turns out the “dirt” was really Oreo crumbs on top of vanilla bean cheesecake pudding and was actually quite delicious. Leanne’s salad was far ahead of all the others until Priscilla pulled out the dirt cake. The salads were good, but I deemed Priscilla the winner on shear novelty factor. Well played, Miss Levac.

Soon the place started poppin' and the party people showed up in force. Spencer brought the whole Vancouver Island posse with her. It was on.

This girl was retarded hot. Everyone was sweatin' her hard and that dude was mad salty. God, I love New Years.

The other Keenen keepin' it gangsta.

Team America. Check out Mini Lexi (Lexi Waite's little cousin) on the right...she looks just like her!

Leading up to the big moment, the DJ stuck with crappy emo rock and the dance floor was not cracking. We held it down in the kitchen, next to all the alcohol and got our drink on. I opted to forgo the plastic cup and instead took over the lemonade jug, filling it with True Blue, 7up and Absolut. It was awesome.

There was a great sign in the kitchen too.

Once the clock struck midnight though, the Lil' Jon came on and the place got crunk! There was kisses all around and the dance party began.

Tanya and Will from 686/Sepia and Fabs.

Teiana and Beth shakin' it.

Spence knows all the sexy ladies.

Fabs even gave me a few nice kisses!

Priscilla and a SNOWBOARD Mag hat wearin' Gatean Chanut.

Jeff proudly displaying my Jug O' Booze.

This guy took it a little too far and passed out in the corner, serving as a good coat rack.

Faceplant.

When the booze started to wear thin, Jeff reverted to the Pelosi home brew wine.

It kinda smelled like cat pee but it did the trick.

No Whistler party would be complete without a fight or two, and sure enough there was a little scuffle out on the deck which ended with a guy getting’ tossed down the stairs and Logan Short’s tooth getting’ knocked out. Ah, Canada...how I’ve missed you.

Casualty of war.

Around 4:00 AM, the snow started to fall and we decided it was time to bounce. We had our fun, rung in the new year proper and knew it was going to be a good powder day. When we got home, Jeff's shirt was showing some serious battle scars.

When daybreak came, it was still dumping huge flakes all over. We slowly crawled out of bed, made some obligatory "Dick in a Box" jokes, and got ready to go shredding. First we had to check the site though...yeah, you know what everyone keeps it locked on.

Leanne's a local, and she knows where to go to get the goods.

What a storm! It was snowing sideways and coming down heavy at the top...just the way I like it.

Whistler's large cat fleet ready to go to work.

Leanne popped a few methods and we slid some boxes in the park before heading into the trees.

It was already deep everywhere we went. LIke I've said before...when it snows in Whistler, it snows. Hard.

The new Holden gear is so money, and despite the cold conditions I stayed warm and toasty on the chair ride up.

I tried a follow cam method through the trees and ended up with a couple keepers. Just got a new Panasonic Lumex DMC-FX07, so I'm still learning the camera's quirks.
With so much pow everywhere though, there wasn't much time for pictures. We had snow to ride, and we spent the rest of the day getting face shots through Whistler's many tree runs. Unfortunately I had to peace out later that night and get back to Portland, otherwise I’d still be up there. The entire Northwest is gettin’ slammed right now—so stay tuned for more updates on the wonderful winter start to 2007.