Day 54 - much needed training

6inches of the fresh stuff fell overnight so when my training class reached the top of the gondola at 8:15am, you can just imagine how much fun we had laying down some fresh tracks. It was sweet! Much of the snow gets tracked out quickly so after two or three runs of fun, it was time to start training.

Unlike my training session last year, I now look forward to hitting the slopes with some much more qualified riders. In order for me to improve my skills and to learn new places to ride on the mountain (this place is huge!), this type of training is essential. And although I am usually the worst rider of the group, I don't let that intimidate me and I embrace the challenge. These lessons are a far cry from the three hour "first timers" lesson I took with Bonk at Smugglers Notch seven years ago. Little did I know then that there was so much more to snowboarding than just being able to get down a run.

The training was Skills Development with Feedback. It's designed to help instructors teach higher level skills to their students. We rode down sections of a run, one at a time, then regrouped and gave feedback to each other. I really got a lot out of the class and took away many pointers and excercises to work on. My riding improved twofold just from one session. I ended the day super stoked about what I learned and I can't wait for the next session tomorrow.

just so everyone knows who I am rooting for in the Superbowl!!

Day 53 - represent

Started the day with another all female morning session. Rode switch and practiced carving. I made it to the CLC for 9am only to find my supervisor split the classes in the village and since I was "out of sight, out of mind" I didn't get assigned any one of the two classes we had. I suppose I could have fought over the one star class but ......

.... instead I headed up Garbanzo chair with hopes of making a few good runs. But once on the chair, the wind kicked up and I got pretty cold pretty fast (I'm such a wussy!). And since the little bit of nice powder we received yesterday was all packed out, I decided to head home for a nap. I need to rest up for the 8-12 inches of snow we are forecasted to receive on Thursday.

Day 52 - single digits

Se7en degrees outside and se7en kids in snowboard school. I didn't get a class so I spent the day riding the fresh pow. Found some good tree runs in the Family Zone and then joined my c0-working crew for lunch at the CLC. I figured if I wasn't getting paid, I might as well eat a free lunch and socialize with the people who were working.

After lunch my plan was to hit Symphony and hike the Flute Bowl for the first time but visibility on top of Harmony Chair was next to nothing. It's difficult to ride when the sky is the same color as the snow. You feel like you are in a white tube and you have no depth perception. You can't see the ground, the sky, nothing. It's really a strange feeling and it's super easy to fall and hurt yourself because you can't tell what your surroundings are.

Anyway, I took a couple runs in Harmony. I am not familiar with the Harmony area at all so I landed myself on a flat run above a cliff and had to hike out in knee deep snow. That was my workout for the day. I decided to head back over to the Emerald side of Whistler where the visibility was much better.

From there I explored tree runs around Emerald and I ventured down Tokum for the first time! Great blue run. As usual, I always make one extra run more than I should. But the snow was so great I decided I could make one more and ran straight into a tree off Tokum (the only good thing about running into a tree is that you smell of pine for a few minutes after). Once I climbed out of the tree well* I proceeded to yardsale in the powder on Crabapple. I hate when I don't stop when I know I should. Luckily I didn't get hurt and it was a good 4hrs of riding.

Pierogis for lunch rock!

* Tree Wells: More people are killed in coastal snow regions by tree wells than by avalanches! A tree well is a phenomenon unique to big mountains with deep snow packs. A tree well forms when snow falling on evergreens accumulates between the trees but not around the tree trunk. As the snow is shed from the branches above it falls away from the tree creating a moat around the base of the trunk. As the snow gets deeper so does the tree well.

Day 51 - TELUS Winter Classic

The TELUS Winter Classic is an action packed weekend event featuring a fun Race Classic, food and wine galore, famous live and silent auctions and spectacular entertainment all for charity. It's the reason why we are spending the weekend in Whistler. Today was race day and a slalom course was set up at the bottom of Ego Bowl.

Kevin and I raced head to head. The first trip down he wiped out trying to make the turn around the third gate. The second race was a bit closer but I pulled out the win. After that we headed to the village, Kevin practicing his carving and I was practicing riding switch (backwards riding). We had a couple pieces of leftover pizza for lunch back at our hotel then I headed up to Blackcomb while Kevin headed to the Whistler Brewery to drink some beer with his vendor.

It was snowing all day but by late afternoon the runs were choppy with lots of patches of snow and ice. It was windy on Blackcomb and visibility wasn't great. I took Cat Skinner down to Cruzer where I ended up back in the village. One more run on Whistler via Orange Peel and Bear Paw then over to Crabapple and back to the bottom where I met the rest of our group at the pub for a beer.

Day 50 - smokie fries

Another cold one and no new snow yet. We had four small classes and I had three never evers. Two of them were turning before lunch so I shoveled them off to another instructor and spent the rest of the day on the Supercarpet with one.

We had a nice surprise during lunch. Alarms suddenly beeping loudly as we were trying to enjoy our wings and chips........fire alarm. Smokie fries were the culprit. Never had that happen before. No panic. We all stopped eating, quickly put on our jackets, and waited outside until the alarm stopped. Pretty amusing actually.

Day 49 - how many do we have?

At the morning meeting, the five snowboard instructors scheduled to work were told by our Supervisor that we had one kid signed up for snowboard school. Remember Christmas time when we had about 75 per day??? An hour later, we had 4 kids (two classes). I opted for one class and got one kid who has been here all week named Noah. He and I spent the day on green runs between the Roundhouse, Olympic Chair, and the Village. I rode switch all day and I'm starting to carve!

Conditions in the Alpine are still soft packed powder with the inversion that has been here all week. Temps in the village are about 10 degrees F with temps at the mountain top (5,000ft) around 30 degrees. The sun has been shining all week and we're in desperate need of some new snow.

HEAVENLY!

.... and now for three nights at the Westin!

Day 48- girlz ride

Another great day for morning session. The four instructors doing Adventure Camp this week asked me to join them for 8am session. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. We rode with Jose, a freestyle instructor from Quebec. He took us down Whiskey Jack where we practiced riding switch, then ran over to Orange Peel where he helped us with our freestyle riding (going over jumps, riding up the sides, etc). This particular session was really fun as it was only women in the group and there was no pressure to catch crazy air or do anything we weren't comfortable doing. A couple of us weren't big freestyle riders but we really enjoyed the session and we were all stoked at the end to practice on our own and try some of pointers Jose gave us.

Back at the CLC, we had three instructors scheduled for Destination and only one class to teach. I volunteered to take this level one class as I already got sent home Monday and I want to work the rest of the week. The guys were all too happy to let me have it and probably enjoyed a blue bird day of riding on their own.

Day 47 - never evers

Not getting a class yesterday guaranteed me getting a group of kids today who have never snowboarded before. It's been a while since I had a level one class. Four kids were blessed with me as their coach today and they were four cool kids who were all turning by the end of the day. We spent the morning on the Magic Carpet and after lunch I took them to the Super Carpet. I didn't get much snowboarding done myself but at least I got some work.

Heads Up!

Day 46 - work is never guaranteed

The sun was shining and it was cold today. I was ready for work and hoping for an Adventure Camp class so I could be guaranteed work for the next three days. Unfortunately, so were the four other co-workers that were working today. 18 kids were signed up for school but there weren't a lot of different levels. That meant two of us had to go home and since I wasn't a 20-something year old in desperate need of money, I volunteered to go. Took a quick run from Olympic to the village and called it a day.

It's Martin Luther King Day and there were many license plates from the states in the parking lots. I overheard someone in the locker room saying they could tell the Americans were here this week as "the Americans leave the place a mess". Whether it's true or not, this is the impression Americans leave behind to the rest of the world. I tend to agree with the statement as the village, lift lines, and restaurants have noticeably more trash left behind when many Americans are visiting. Sad.

Day 45 - a bunch of fun kidz

Taking yesterday off from work was perfect to recharge my kid tolerance. I emerged this AM ready to work. I had 7 kids in my class, a lot for this time of year. They were a mix of level 2's and 3's and they were a whole lot of fun. By fun I mean: they were excited to snowboard, willing to learn, and had great conversations. We lost one in the afternoon to patrol with a wrist injury. Spent the afternoon on Emerald chair where the sun shined and the snow was soft packed. Quiet day as there seemed to be no one on the runs and no lift lines. On the way down in the gondola, we played "chinese whisper" where one person whispers something into one person's ear and then they whisper what they hear to the next person, so on and so forth until the last person says what they heard out loud...... and it's never what was originally said. It was pretty entertaining.

Day 44 - Peak to Creek

We had three classes of kids and 5 instructors working this AM. I was the first to opt out. It probably wasn't the best move on my part since I was guaranteed a level 3 class and there was only one kid in that level. But honestly, I didn't feel like freezing my butt off all day again. The inversion is still happening so it wasn't as cold in the Alpine as it was at lunch level but I didn't care.

Instead of working, I decided to head up to the top and take a couple runs before I headed home to chill-lax for the day. Little did I know the sun was shining on a blue sky in the Alpine and the winds were calm. Seemed like a perfect day to try Peak to Creek!

Peak to Creek is the longest intermediate run in North America. The total distance of the run is 3.3miles! It winds along the back of Whistler Mountain and ends up at Creekside. On a day like today, the scenery is amazing. I didn't wander off the groomed run as the snow is starting to get a little crusty and it has lost all of its light fluffy-ness (sniff, cry).

I tried to capture the essence of the peak, the beauty, and the vastness with the video. I hope you get the idea. I also took a few pics.

Day 43 - still sunny and still cold

Another sunny cold one today. No new snow fell overnight and the Alpine is all tracked out. Oh well. I'm still pooped from all the holiday work anyhow. Rode all around green chair as there was an inversion (warmer at the top, colder at the bottom). My level 3 Adventure Camp kids ended as level 4's.

This is why we love our job! The two most popular kids in snowboard school: Jonathon and Judd. A couple of 6 year old rippers who spent the week in the terrain park. Check out the video.

Day 42 - arctic bitter frosty nippy polar

Get the point that it was cold today? 3 degrees Fahrenheit was the high temp. The sun was shining so I guess it beats the rain/ice from yesterday. My level 3 kid was joined by three other kids. The runs below Emerald Chair were pure ice so we elected to ride where the snow was powdery. Spent most of the day on Ego Bowl, Enchanted Forest, and Marmot trees. Although my kids were cool and the riding was fun, I was sooo cold that I couldn't wait to get home and take a hot bath. Ahhhhh .............. now that feels better.

Day 41 - one wet kid

No, not another pants pee-er. Bad weather. Nobody wanted to work this morning as it was raining in the village, icing at midstation, and gusting winds 80-100kph at the Roundhouse. My boss gave me level 3's and only one kid showed up. He was in my class last week so I knew what kind of a rider he was so rather than throw away 3 days of guaranteed work with a kid who could ride anywhere, I opted to work in the crappy weather knowing the forecast for the rest of the week is sun.

I didn't feel like fighting the wind and snow up top so we rode midstation to village all day. The freezing rain/freezing snow made for a miserable day. My gloves were soaked by lunch but the Goretex uniform held up well. The snow was heavy and wet. Depressing since the snow has been so amazing as of late. Hopefully it won't turn to ice.

Day 40 - morning session

Morning session is one of the perks of being an instructor. You can sign up to take a morning session the day before, then instead of reporting to work first thing in the a.m., you report to the gondola and a group of you go for a couple runs (and get paid). Not to mention, you are usually the first people on the mountain and making fresh tracks is almost guaranteed!

Since I didn't get a high level class yesterday, I figured I would sign up for session today. I wanted to guarantee myself a few good runs in case I had a low level class again. Luckily for me, another 15cm fell overnight.

When we got to the Roundhouse, the powder was amazing. It was pillowy soft, not touched, and the sun was just starting to rise above the mountain. My group headed off to the tree runs I enjoyed so much this weekend. Mom and Pop trees I guess is what they are called (something like that). The only negative to the run was that I didn't have my powder board, I had my regular all mountain board. And not that this is a bad board, I just noticed how much more effort it takes to move this board along when there is a ton of fresh snow under it vs. the powder board that just floats to the top. I definitely noticed using much more energy with the all mountain board. Not a biggee but made me appreciate that powder board even more. Took two runs down through these trees and not wanting to be late for work, I headed down to the CLC on Upper Olympic that again, was untouched with corduroy underneath a fresh 6inches of pillow soft snow. Unfortunately, I was a bit early for work and I could have taken another run. Note for next session.

Good thing I sessioned as I did end up with another low level class and spent the day on the carpets once again. Another storm is headed to Whistler for the weekend but the freezing levels are forecasted to rise so this might be the end of the powder for a bit.

Day 39 - carpets

Magic Carpet and Super Carpet. Two great places for beginners to practice on. I had two kids in class, level one. Level one means we spent the entire day on the carpets. 6inches of the fresh stuff fell overnight and it puked snow all day. The conditions were soft packed powder. It's hard to learn how to snowboard in these conditions cause the snow is so soft and sticky. It's hard to keep your board moving. But at the same time, it's great to learn in these conditions because when you fall, it doesn't hurt. My kids weren't quite picking up on the whole snowboarding thing today so they didn't move up a level at all. I hope to get some higher level kids tomorrow as I'd like to enjoy some of the 52 inches of snow we've received in the last week before the rain comes and turns it all to ice.

Day 38 - in need of Red Bull

The holiday season is officially over and everyone is pooped. It's nice that everything has calmed down but we all feel too calm. Too tired to work. We averaged 70 kids a day in snowboard school during the rush, now we are down to less than 20 kids a day. Two instructors had to play Rock, Paper, Scissors this AM to fight out who was going home since we all were willing to go home and go back to sleep!

I stayed and ended up with two boys in level 2. Neither could turn and by the time the day ended, one was turning like crazy and one just couldn't get it. We took a couple of runs on Olympic, ran to the village from midstation after lunch, then went from the Roundhouse to the village on the last run of the day.

Weather today was cold (12 F). Not too windy and packed powder conditions.

Day 37 - solo

The snow was still flying on Sunday morning so I decided to ride solo today. Alli headed back to school and Kevin needed to go to the states to get a script filled. I was looking forward to a day of solidarity as I wanted to explore more of Whistler with hopes of finding some good runs I didn't know of. Mission accomplished.

I ventured off towards Club 21. A black diamond tree run off of Raven that I never noticed before. Nothing too difficult but it was kind of tracked out. After that I ran over to Marmot and headed into those trees from 3 different entrances. I spent most of my day there. The storm was still lingering around and even though Operations had hoped to open the Alpine, neither the Peak Chair or Harmony Chair opened. I was hoping to do some exploring off Harmony but it didn't happen.

Instead I found a few hidden runs off Franz as I made my way back down to Creekside. I rode for 3 solid hours straight! It was a much needed day of solo riding. Once again the snow was incredible!

I have noticed a drastic improvement in my riding also. Last year at this time, I was just starting to run tree lines and this year I feel so confident through the trees. The powder board is great also! I'm so glad I had it for the past couple of days. Back to work Monday. I've done so much riding the last three days, honestly, I could use the downtime........ (famous last words)

Day 36 - EPIC DAY!!!

Checked the snow report at 8am to hear that 32cm (1ft + ) had fallen overnight. As of 4pm on Saturday Jan 5th: 53cm (21in) in 24hrs and 72cm (28in) in 48hrs of fresh snow has hit Whistler Blackcomb. Needless to say, anyone who skis or rides within a 3hr drive has come to the slopes!

The winds were still brutal and nothing in the Alpine was open, so again, everyone was below the peak line. The wait for lifts was around a 15min que but it was worth it to head back up to the amazing snow.

We started to Garbanzo Chair after we got off the Creekside Gondola. From there, we hit 2ft of fresh powder down to the Franz chair. Visibility was horrible, as it was snowing like crazy so Kevin quickly headed back to the Starbucks before he killed himself riding "blind". Alli, Kerry and I headed over to Marmot trees. We overshot Marmot only to find the most insane tree run ever. I have never been through so much snow in my life! At one point, I was standing in snow CHEST deep! Alli spent most of her day digging out of the powder. We have to buy her a new snowboard that can handle the insanity of Whistler.

The video is Kerry riding the awesome tree line. I tried to take pics of the amazing snow but it's hard to capture the depth and consistency of the gnar. I'm sure the smiles on our faces at the end of the day captured it perfectly though.

Alli coming through the trees!

Day 35 - " puken "

Alli and Kerry are in town to shred some POW this weekend and they couldn't have picked a better weekend to ride. It snowed all day Thursday, measured 5cm overnight and then it "puked" snow all day Friday! (see pic)

Despite the awesome snow, there were some negatives to the day. It was super windy up top, winds gusting over 100kph, which meant Symphony, Harmony, tbars, and Peak Chairs were all closed. This caused huge lift lines at Emerald, Garbonzo, Red Chair, and the gondola. Also, because it was snowing like crazy, the visibility was horrible!

We weren't complaining though because the snow was amazing! We found so much fresh powder through the trees, especially around Marmot. Forecast calls for another 20-30cm on Saturday. OH MY GOD!

Day 34 - Ready for a day off

Woke up to 18cm of fresh powder and it was still puking snow til mid-morning. Things were looking great when I took my class up to the Olympic chair. I was headed for fresh tracks down Fantastic when my 6yr old (from yesterday) told me he peed his snowsuit. Nice! So we all hiked out of the powder and walked to the CLC where the kid threw his pee soaked thermals into the washer (our youngest kids start skiing at the age of 3 so ski school is prepared for accidents like these that happen every day). It was now time for lunch.

After lunch, his clothes were fresh as a flower so we took a run to the village. By this time, all the fresh pow was tracked out. Once at the village, I asked my little yellow streamer if he had to go...... he said no. We unloaded the gondola and walked over to the Olympic Chair. We were on the chair for 5min when my little friend told me he had to pee again. I told him to wait until we got to the top. Well, if you've ever been on the Olympic Chair, you know getting to the top takes about 20-30 minutes. It's a beginners' chair, so it travels super slow and it stops a lot because people have trouble loading and unloading. Anyway, well low and behold, before we could reach the top, the little pee-er peed AGAIN in his snowsuit!!! I couldn't believe it. By now we only had about a half hour left of class so I told him he had to stay wet until the end of the day. He must pee his pants often as he seemed okay with that. Go figure. Another example of why we don't like 6year olds in snowboard school!! Needless to say, having the next 4 days off couldn't come soon enough.

Day 33 - Happy New Year!

My one kid from Adventure Camp returned and we added four more. We spent the morning trying to learn how to turn on the Magic Carpet. I could tell the little buggers quickly got bored with that so we took one run off the Olympic Chair before lunch. After lunch I decided to take them down to the village. These kids were pretty young. Two 6 year olds, .... whose parents obviously lied about their age to get them into snowboard school (you have to be at least 7yrs. to be in snowboard school) ...... *** Kids are funny about this cause when you ask them how old they are without their parents around, they ALWAYS tell you their real age. ***

Anyway, my kids today were young. Two 6 yr olds, an 8 year old and two 10 year olds. I tried as much as I could to teach them how to turn but none of them were getting it. And they all wanted to just go fast and freeride. Since I'm a really cool snowboard instructor and I want them to have fun, I let them freeride a lot today.