If you're every unlucky enough to be in Hinton...

Just kidding. Hinton is a lovely place...really. I was out there last week as part of a well trouble-shooting course. We're about to spud a well out there. Kinda big...you know 6.8 km deep with a 1600m horizontal kickoff...$26 million...sour critical...get the picture? Very interesting course...really. So interesting in fact that I needed 5 or 6 cups of coffee each morning just to stay awake. Okay, that puts a bad spin on this. It really was a good course and I contributed a fair amount...I just don't do well in warm classrooms, especially when I was up late the night before drinking wine and cheering the Oilers. Luckily the girls that run the resort we were at had plenty of coffee for me and the 30 others (engineers, sups, roughnecks, service guys). Actually they did a great job with everything which is the topic of this blog. (Probably going to make a few new readers happy)

The place is called Venturescape Resort, formerly the Blue Lake Centre, which is located in William A Switzer Provincial Park just northwest of Hinton. They have a main lodge, hall, bunch of cabins and a beautiful lake. With the course and the rig visits I didn't get too much time to walk around but did take a couple of short walks when I could. (Actually one was a short run but I was going wrecky myself running through the forest and the cold air was killing my lungs.)

So let me describe the experience.

The Arrival: I was up there with my boss, Rocky, and some of the other people from the office involved in the well. Flew up on Monday. Amazing flying beside the mountains. Thought I could see the Columbia Ice Fields in the distance. Arrived in time for supper. Enter Laura, Tara, Brefny, and Nicole. They've only been managing the place for 3 weeks now and it doesn't sound like the conditions were great after the last owners. (Had to facilitate a wedding their first weekend too.) Not exactly roughing it. They cooked a great meal for us there AND had a big screen TV to watch the Oilers stomp the Coyotes 5-2.

The Course: Three days of reviewing the current well plan, going over safety issues, learning about Trouble Free Drilling from Aaron (engineer from Texas), and discussing ways to maybe make the well better. I really enjoyed the small work sessions with the drillers and roughnecks. Even the new guys have seen a lot and have some great advice. I could tell I was pretty "green" compared to the rest but the few courses I did take in unversity backed me up nicely. This kind of course is rarely done because most wells don't need this degree of planning, plus when you consider the combined salaries of 30 people there for 3 days (plus the trip, lodging, course materials) the price tage is scary.

The Fun: I've never laughed so hard in "working" conditions. Each night the 8 of us would sit at the same table, drink lots of wine/beer/rum and coke, and tell funny stories from the "patch". Naturally I didn't have much to say so was just content to throw in the odd witty comment. It was especially good on the last night when our Drilling General Manager, Dave, joined us. He and Rocky go way back and were having a little competition to see who could tell the most embarrassing stories about the other. The girls joined us for this last meal too.

I gotta say more about them. It truely is impressive what they've accomplished there so far and I'm sure that the place will continue to improve (don't worry, it's nice already). It was enough to make me think about an alternate life plan for myself (I have about 20 now...I really need to live to be 300 or so). I encourage anyone travelling to Hinton to check their place out. I need to go back to hike and bike some of the trails there (and I'm sure they offer much more for tours). But next time, Tara, Laura, I need to get more sleep! Playing crib until 1:00am is probably the real reason for my mid-course naps...plus my coworkers "may" be the types to get rumors started around the office. Side note: I wonder what kind of stories will be told about me in 20 years?

The Highlight: Winning my walking stick. I came second place in a prize draw and won a sturdy, good looking walking stick. Didn't think it would fit well coming back on our small plane but I promised to come back and get it next time (probably going back for the surface cement job).