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This week on Peak Season: Episode Six

Episode six of Peak Season was, for lack of a better word, overwhelming. To clarify, take the best parts of the Real World, Twilight and Intervention, mash them together, and you’ve got an imitation of life in Whistler. Don’t let those serene snowflakes at the beginning fool you, that’s what some people refer to as the calm before the storm, and this episode was a level nine on the Richter scale.

What happens:

Matt and Elle: Adrenaline-Junkies.

On a coffee date, Elle questions the value of remaining in Whistler to Matt, while he sheepishly defends his actions at the club earlier. One thing I really like about the Australians is their lingo, which consists of talking how I did in elementary school. I mean, how can Elle even consider leaving after hearing how “sucky” it will be for poor Matt?

Fortunately, all it takes is accompanying Elle to a skills competition, consisting of jumps, backflips and your typical ring of fire. I half-expected a bearded lady to Allie Oop through the ring after the competitors. After this, they continue on to complete their couple bonding by tandem bungee-jumping off a bridge. I’ll give it to Matt, he certainly knows how to make unique apologies. These Canadian fellows need to step it up!

Matt continues his new gentleman act at the bar when the Australian posse meets up for beers. When Elle is hit on, he immediately gets defensive, which translates into standing on the bar and making faces at the perpetrator. The poor guy is already single, don’t you think he has enough problems? A bar fight ensues, where they end up sloppy-UFC’ing outside in slippery conditions. Elle cries, because that’s what girls do best when someone else gets hit, and Matt the manly man comforts her outside the bar. All’s well that ends well.

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This Week on Peak Season: Episode Five

Another Monday night has passed, and with it, another drama-filled episode of Peak Season. As I sat down with my twelve-pack of beer and snow globe (the closest I can get to be Whistler local), I realized this episode marks the halfway point of the first season. It’s almost like the six month anniversary of a relationship, when you decide to persist or ditch. Is it worth the emotional investment, the time and the mind games? In my opinion, yes. Sure, it’s maddening when your emotional other can only dedicate thirty minutes to you a week, but sometimes, that’s what these one-ended relationships consist of. I mean, what other show has tractors plowing snow as a riveting opening shot? It’s one-of-a-kind, and I’m excited to see where this season will take the psychologically-insane individuals of Whistler.

What happens:

Stephanie Just: The fearless snowboarder.

In this episode, a lot of focus is put on Steph and her snowboarding. Her pass for the slopes has been reinstated, and she wastes no time getting back on the hill. When watching Steph in the park, hitting every jump and rail possible, it’s hard not to feel inadequate in comparison. I find myself on my feet, carving and leaning as though she is my Wii character (outfitted in my baggy pants and Jamaican toque), and I’m (not her!) garnering points for every trick. It works wonders for temporary self-esteem boosts.

In shows like The Hills, Lauren and Lo can use their powers to bypass lines at celebrity-infested club events. However, in shows like Peak Season, Steph and her friend use their overwhelming star power to wheedle and talk their way into getting spots in full Snowboarding competitions, more specifically, the “Showcase Showdown.” This competition features inflatable Redbull, gnarly tricks and Steph’s announced “aggressive frontside board slide.” I feel as though this is a personality characteristic of girls in Whistler. Instead of long walks on the beach, the new thing to enjoy is aggressively grinding a rail (no inappropriate innuendo implied).

After placing a respectable fifth place in the competition, probably due to a tragic bail on her final run, Steph congratulates her third-placing companion with a reassuring “I told you, if you beat me, I would kill you.. Congratulations!”

It’s truly hard not to love this girl.

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Peak Season's Matt James

This Week on Peak Season: Episode Four

As this past Sunday night drew to a close, I couldn’t fathom what that anxious and excited feeling was in the pit of my stomach. I haven’t had this feeling since Heidi still had her original nose on Laguna Beach. Perhaps it was hunger, but perhaps it was the signs of another dilemma. Then I realized it. I have officially become addicted to a television show.

The affliction, commonly recognized by symptoms which include: placing a half-hour segment of television before things such as personal hygiene, university papers, and essentially shunning social interaction, is a serious one. Yes, admittedly, I have googled Whistler on more than one occasion, and I blame my recently terrible social graces on Grant Fraggalosch, the guy who created Peak Season. He can answer to those who wonder where I disappear to on Monday nights, and then reemerge, with an insatiable appetite for alcohol, snowboarding and drama.

This episode of Peak Season revealed a lot, and while it seemed sort-of like a base to set up all the adventures to come, it was definitely essential.

What Happens:

Who is Stephanie Just?

In what appears to be a car reminiscent of the Toyota Camry I remember from childhood, the boys (men?) of Peak Season head to Stephanie Just’s house for a backyard barbeque. For clarification: in Whistler, this means jumping off roofs, and grinding homemade rails, commonly referred to as ladders. Don’t worry, it’s safe, as justified by Just’s “200-pound” father who set the lovely contraption up. It almost seems like an “America’s funniest home videos” moment waiting to happen, but instead, the audience is treated to Just’s snowboarding skills, and can appreciate the loud-mouthed daredevil for her passion to her craft. Unfortunately, the brash snowboarder gets caught for “speeding” on the mountain (does that go on your record?), and her pass is suspended. Cue the heroine of the story: Just’s mom, who also happens to be her sponsor. Remember cunningly asking your parents for help with that long division, slyly slipping the pencil into their hand, and watching the homework magically do itself? Apply this notion to Steph’s apology letter, and you’ve got one happy, marijuana sweater-wearing boarder.

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