I know it is still early in september and it is plus 21 outside right now but preparations have begun for 2013. We just released our schedule for this year and we have added 4 new cities. We were contacted by Jason of Rayz Boardshop in Smithers and he asked if there was any way we could make it to Smithers. I said no as there wasn’t enough time to accommodate for the long drives we would need to do. To many days wasted where we could be boarding. After a few persistent e-mails I looked at the schedule a few more times. If we started the tour a week early and flew in we could do it. Viola!! We are now coming to Smithers on Jan 3, Terrace Jan 4th and Prince Rupert Jan 5th. It may be tough to get people out that close to New Years but I believe the people there will be excited to have us, and we will be excited to check out the amazing terrain and killer powder. A highlight is going to be Cat-boarding at Skeena.

We are also very excited to be moving up in venue sizes at a couple of locations. After having to add a late show in Vancouver last year we decided to play the 1100 seat Vogue theatre on Granville St. It is a beautiful theatre for Comedy and I have played it a handful of times over the years. Never for one of my shows so this makes it really exciting. In Victoria we sold out the 772 seat Mcpherson playhouse a week ahead of time so this year we are moving to the Royal. 1400 seats, I hope our killer show last year spreads the word.

I am expecting tickets to go on sale on Nov 2 for our Snowed In members with a password. Join our facebook group if you haven’t already. Now I am off to the beach before it gets to cold and I have to pull out my board.

The last week has been a blast with some of the best snowboarding so far. I haven’t written a blog because I have been to busy. Last Monday a couple of my friends from Van joined us in Sun Peaks. We had a fun day messing around on the hill but nothing to crazy. Then it was off to Revy. Revy has always been one of my favourite mountains. It once again lived up to my expectations. Great steepness and tons of powder. We hit it two days in a row. The second day was a little warmer so the snow wasn’t quite as good but we still found tons of great snow. We actually had to leave early that day because of road closures in the Roger’s pass and we had to get to our gig in Golden. We made it in time.

Last year we were unable to hit Kicking horse but this year it was a must stop. We had a great show the night before and some locals said they would show us around. Always a great plan. With their help we had some of the best runs of the tour so far. Long untouched powder runs that made me feel like I was cat-boarding. What a great hill. So steep with tons of easily accessible terrain. I can’t wait to get back.

After that it was a show and party night in Banff before heading for some relaxation in Calgary. Well deserved and needed. Then we made the trek to the southern loop of BC. We hit Fernie on monday. It was above 0 and the snow was really wet and heavy. The had 38 cm’s but it was a tough day on the hill. No worries, Tuesday morning we were going Cat-skiing.

Fernie Wilderness Adventures has taken us the last two years and what a treat. Arj, Craig and myself got up at 6:30 excited and found it snowing lightly in town. The day lived up to our expectations with powder run after powder run. Matt and Chad, out two guides, were fun and pointed out tons of great hits. Arj and I did a double cliff drop. Only about 8 feet each but still we did it and stuck it. What a great day.

The last week is winding down but it has been a blast with still some great riding to come.

There a many small but important progressions in ones life. Learning to walk, rolling a joint tight with a filter, tricking a girl into leaving first thing in the morning thinking it was her idea.   And now on the Snowed Inn tour I have made another.

A little background first. Much like Craig, Dan and Glenn I’m from western canada originally, Kelowna specifically and I’ve had opportunities to snowboard. But I always passed on it as of the fact i was either broke or scared to fail. In the last couple years my finances have improved and my fear of making an ass of myself has started to go away, as anyone who see’s the underwear i wear into public hot tubs can attest. So i started to venture out on rented boards at Big White when i was in Kelowna, and in Meribel france when I was in the UK. Both these hills proved less fun than expected. In Kelowna I did not enjoy the rented equipment. In France I discovered nothing more frustrating than a shear ice faced mountain mixed with snotty french kids. In my heart I wanted to board but the circumstances weren’t right.

Now this year rolled around, and this fantastic opportunity of the tour landed in my lap. And two great new boosts to my boarding arrived. First was a reverse Camber board, which was generously sponsored to me from Endeavor snowboard company and second was a hit of hash before my first run.

A better discovery than chocolate and peanut butter, or even a gentle noose around the neck and vigorous masterbation. Nobody should hit the slopes without both! It was transformational! Sure I don’t rocket down the hill yet like Dan or Craig, fine I don’t do tricks and flips like Arj, but now I don’t wipeout so bad i shatter a credit card in my pocket either.

I can’t wait to hit the hill in Whistler tomorrow with my new found confidence and my hash pipe.

The shows so far have been amazing and couldn’t get any better, but there is plenty of room for my boarding to improve. But I am on my way bitches!

Talk soon again, Pete:)

Our first week is done and it was even better than I could have expected. There wasn’t one single seat left for our Victoria show. The crowd loved it and it was the first night Arj was officially on the tour. He actually made it the night before to Campbell River and did a surprise guest spot. He has been super easy to get a long with and  a ton of fun to watch. Pete Johansson has also been killing it every show. Each guy has really been raising their game starting with Craig who has been killing it right off the top, making sure we are all bringing our A-game. Glenn left the tour today to head to England. Going to miss him as we have a lot of fun hanging out and talking hockey.

We hit Mount Washington last week, but unfortunately we didn’t have any new snow. I was kind of grumpy going to the hill knowing what a great mountain it is in powder. After a couple runs I settled in to it being a groomer day and had a blast. Speed runs all day with Craig and I trying to beat our time with our ski tracks app. 71.6 km/hr, not bad for a couple of old guys.

We also made the Globe and Mail this week. We were all pretty stoked about that. Thanks to Courtney for taking the photo and having her first published photo.

We are now all settled in to Whistler for the next three days for some killer riding. Supposed to start snowing. Can’t wait. We had added a second night here but both our shows are already sold out. Sorry to those that waited. We have 8 shows this week and 5 are already sold out. Maybe this tour is about to be a big deal. Pretty cool for a bunch of guys just out to have a blast.

Here is a link to the review of the Vancouver show in the Georgia straight. http://www.straight.com/article-584306/vancouver/snowed-comedy-tour-brings-laughs-granville-island.

Just checked in to the hotel room in Nanaimo awaiting the start of our first show. Really excited about this year. WE have already sold out several shows and are doing late shows in a bunch of cities. Victoria is sold out already and that surprised me. It was our first time there and didn’t know how they would respond. It is also our biggest venue at 772 seats. Can’t wait for that show.

It is also been the start of press time. We have all been doing interviews, which is a nice part of being on a show with three other acts. We can spread the interviews apart. Sometimes they are super fun and sometimes we’re like wow, we weren’t funny at all. Glenn Wool and I did Urban Rush in Vancouver yesterday and had a blast. Always fun to do a chat show with Glenn. Here is the clip below if you want to check it out.

Putting together a tour like this always has it’s frustrations and surprises. First the surprises. Tickets are selling even better this year than last. We have added a late show in Vancouver, Kamloops and Prince George. We are also debating adding a late show in Victoria but with 772 seats it would suck if only a hundred people came to the late show. Might decide tomorrow if I don’t hit powder king.

As far as the frustrations, this year it’s Canada post and their complete lacking of knowledge on their business. Sent the posters and tickets to Banff in mid-november and they still haven’t gotten them nor have they be returned to me yet. Usually it’s Budget rent a car that screws us over. I am going with Enterprise this year after be screwed over the last three years with lies and ineptitude. Hopefully this will all get straighten out soon.

Just stopped by Endeavor snowboards and showed them the posters for the tour. They are pretty excited and we will be working together to get the word out. All the guys are going to pick out their new boards and bindings this week. I am thinking of getting the 157 Live Rev wide. I have a 159 now but I am thinking of going a little shorter to see if I can be a little bit better at tricks. That being said I am horrible at them now and I doubt a better board is going to do much for me.

Tickets are now fully on sale everywhere and I am super excited about the response so far. We have 50% of the tickets sold in Vancouver and Victoria with 7 weeks to go. My cousin in Victoria said that there was huge buzz about the show there. Can’t wait for that show at the beautiful 772 seat Mcpherson Playhouse. In Vancouver we have doubled the size of the venue from last year and it’s a good thing we did because we have already matched last years total. Hmmm, I wonder if a second show is in the works.

Also on a personal pride note I just read an interview on Ed Byrne, who some of you may know from his JFL appearances and tv appearances in the UK, was just saying that his ideal day was spent doing the snowed in comedy tour. It’s to bad he can’t make it this year as he’s a great comic and even better guy. You can read the article here.

Winter is definitely starting to feel like it’s on it’s way. It has been getting colder in Van for the last couple of weeks but now we are seeing the days get shorter too. Cypress has already opened and I am fighting my itch to hit the hill. I want to go up there but don’t feel the base is quite deep enough to not nick up my board. We are only a couple of weeks away at best from some great riding conditions. I should be hitting whistler when I get back from Calgary around the 27th.

Not only is the snow coming but so is the tour. Tickets have started selling this week with a pre-sale to those of you that have the password (snowedin). Victoria started selling on Monday and to my surprise we sold over 200 tickets in the first couple of days. It is our first stop in Victoria and I wasn’t sure how we were going to do there. Along with Vancouver the next night, it will be the two best stops of the tour for the audience. Due to an overlap in schedules there will be 5 of us on each show. Glenn Wool and Arj Barker will be performing together for these two nights. We should be charging way more for this show but we’re not. Same price.

I am excited to have Arj Barker on this year’s tour. He is a comic that I have respected for a long time. He’s funny and super likeable. He has become a star in Australia and is building an amazing reputation around the world. Pete Johansson, who is also a very strong comic, and set for a break-out year, brought him in. Pete and I have been friends since I started. It feels like a reunion tour with Glenn, Pete, Craig and I on the same show. I am excited about the line-up we are bringing and the quality of show. I expect that most of the shows will be sold out and the audiences will be glad they came. See you in two months.

Dan Quinn

The Snowed in Comedy tour is proud to have a sponsor this year. Endeavor Snowboards, a vancouver based snowboard design company will be the title sponsor of this year’s tour. We are excited to be working with a great company like theirs. Snowboards built by snowboarders and their office is right in Vancouver. Really excited to try out their board in a few weeks. Not positive which one I am going to get yet and want to hear what Max has to say. Their boards also feature some of the most original art of any snowboard company. I am also deciding on which bindings to ride. Last year was a fiasco for me with bindings and I am hoping upgrading to the new endeavor ones will solve my problems. Check their stuff out http://endeavorsnowboards.com/