The sun was shining and it was super warm today. Naturally I was working on my goggle tan.
Day 79 was a gorgeous winter day on Whistler. -- (or is it spring already??)-- The sun was shining and the views were incredible. Best of all, I had one kid in my group today. Since I called in sick yesterday, all of the Adventure Camp kids were already paired up with instructors. I ended up with a Level 3 girl who was with my boss yesterday. We spent most of the day in the Alpine. I don't know where all the tourists were today but they weren't skiing or snowboarding. The runs were bare. Today was one of those days when I shake my head in disbelief ...... I can't believe I am so blessed to live and work here. 
I somehow convinced Kevin we should do fresh tracks today. In order to guarantee that we would get out of bed before 5am, we invited a co-worker of Kevin's (and his family) to stay at our house so they wouldn't have such a long drive to Whistler in the morning. The plan went off without a hitch as we were standing in line at the gondola by 7am. (breakfast buffet, yum yum)
There was only a trace of new snow overnight, but Symphony had been closed for the last two days and a ton of snow fell since Friday. We took a few powder runs through Harmony then headed over to the amphitheatre. We discovered that taking the Sun Bowl from Harmony down to Symphony was the best way to get there. We took countless fresh tracks this morning and got stuck in powder that was up to our waist. Day 78 was an insanely great powder day!!!
The birds in Whistler prefer to be hand fed.
Let's see: Monday we had over 50 snowboarders, Tuesday we had 67, and Wednesday (today) we had 72!!! The weather has also been crazy all week: pouring rain all day, beautiful warm sun, and blustery snow. What else has been crazy? Well, I started Monday with 11 kids in my group, I've already called Ski Patrol 3x, I've had to repair 2 sets of bindings. KNOCK ON WOOD! ..... about the only thing that hasn't happened this week is a lost kid. Day 75, over and out.
It was kind of clear at the Roundhouse and instead of rain, it was actually snowing. Peak Chair to Symphony seemed like the most logically place to try and find some good snow. MISTAKE!!! The wind was blowing like crazy on the peak and the visibility was a complete whiteout. We actually walked (carried our boards) the cat track from the Peak Chair to the Saddle run that took us back down to the Peak Chair. There was no way we could have made it over to Symphony and with no visibility, what was the point? In fact, by the time we made it back to the Peak Chair, the fog had completely covered the Roundhouse. It was a long way back to the village but we made it. Day 72 ended on a good note as we met back up with the client and had some apres at the Longhorn. Kevin has had two bad weekends in a row, he's dying to shred up some good pow. Hopefully next weekend will be a little better. 
Once again, the morning started off as a sheet of ice. Today's forecast was for clear skies but it snowed for most of the late morning and into the afternoon. Our snowboards were buried in the light fresh powder after lunch. It was sweet. It didn't take very long for the light fluffyness to cover up the crap from the weekend. Unfortunately, the freezing levels are expected to raise back up to the peak for the weekend and more rain is coming.
Imagine how the Level 1 kids felt trying to learn in these conditions. When they fell, they fell hard. ouch! Day 68 was nothing exciting. A few runs on Olympic. I had 8 kids in my class today, only 1 is scheduled to return on Tuesday. I hope the conditions improve.
We ended up with another girl in our class today too. So on Day 67, we took the gondola up to the top (the snow was amazing by the way) and did some green runs all the way down. The day went by pretty fast and my cold seems to be going away so I'm glad I decided to work. I'm also glad it's Friday. I'm thinking about taking the weekend off from snowboarding. I'm pooped!
At the end of my shift yesterday, someone told me to report to 10am training on Thursday instead of my regularly scheduled shift. Being the worker-bee that I am Let me explain my riding level. I am a Level 4..... maybe a Level 5 snowboarder. I never realized there were so many technical aspects to snowboarding until I got to Whistler. My definition of snowboarding was to strap on my board and head to the "groomiest" blue runs. Up here: people snowboard on powder, double black diamonds, bowls, moguls, tree runs, runs you can hike to, virtually every kind of run you can think of..... including runs that aren't even on the trail maps!
You can imagine my surprise when I was told I was signed up for Basic Survival Training 3 (Day 66), ESPECIALLY when I never took a Basic Survival Training 2 course! I took BST 1. That was easy and was done on green runs. I assume BST 2 takes place on blue runs because BST 3 was on black runs!!! Not only was I heading to territory I was already intimidated by but I was heading with a few of my colleagues who are probably Level 12 riders!!!! I mean, one guy was riding half way up the side of a mountain and then jumping back down over the cliff! And here I was sideslipping my way down to my group who had already been waiting for me for about 5 minutes. It was kind of a humiliating day. My only hope is my boss still believes I am qualified enough to teach Level 1's and not a complete moron who has no business working in Snowboarding School.
Gore Tex is my friend!
Day 64 was a better day with the kids. My group of four started out as Level 1 hearts (basically, the beginning of the beginning) and ended the day at Level 2 hearts (working on basic turns). Even my "crazy go fast" kid named Jacque (he lives in Montreal but was born in Trinidad) worked on his zig zags and then linked about 20 turns on the Olympic Run. I guess his butt was so sore from yesterday, he decided to practice today. tee hee.
We woke up this morning hoping for another epic afternoon like the one we had last week. Unfortunately, Day 62 was a bust. Temps have risen resulting in soft spring like conditions, even on the Alpine. With Symphony closing around noon, the crowd made its way to Harmony and we didn't feel like standing in a long lift line for conditions that were sub-par. Boy, have we gotten spoiled!!! It's powder or nothing for us I guess. We headed home after a couple hours and decided to take the dog for a nice long walk. On the positive side, the forecast calls for 40cm of snow by mid-week! woo hoo! 
I showed up for work this morning only to find we only had 3 snowboarders signed up for today. Seconds before my boss was about to send my butt over to Ride Tribe, Sam showed up. He had been in my Adventure Camp Mon-Wed and asked if I could be his instructor for today. Luckily for us, he was the only Level 2 rider so it was a private lesson at the price of a group lesson for little Sam on Day 61. Sweeeeet!!
It's Not All Fun and Games!
At the beginning of this week, one my kids fell backwards and his helmet smacked straight into my shin. It's a pretty bad bruise. Thank God the kid had a helmet on. Sucks for my leg though.
