Day 105 - Brrrr.....!!!!!

Third day into my CASI Level 2 course .... the day started off great as the sun was shining and all the runs were groomed with perfect corduroy.  By noon, the clouds covered the warm sun and I was shivering like crazy.  Luckily the sun poked in and out during the afternoon so it wasn't as bad.  Snow is amazing for this time of year.  

I was nervous coming into today as I knew we would be working on carving and I didn't think I could carve.  We spent most of the day in 7th Heaven.  The basic agenda of the course goes like this:  instructor teaches us the 5 basic snowboarding skills for the turn we're working on ..... in today's case:  carving.  We break for lunch and in the afternoon the students practice teach the skills we were taught in the AM.  In between, our riding is evaluated throughout the day.  I did surprising well with my carving as I was given mostly high praise.  I'm hoping to continue that into tomorrow which is nothing but testing for the entire day.

Day 104 - did u say 15cm overnight??

Second day of my Level 2 course and everyone was pleasantly surprised to find 15cm of the fresh stuff, especially since we are almost into the month of May.  After yesterday's rain, we were all stoked to ride.  We took a warm up run and found some awesome fresh tracks through the terrain park off into some trees.  The conditions were great in the morning.  The sun even peaked out here and there for a bit.  We quickly had to start getting into the day's agenda which consisted of tactics for sliding turns.  Our instructor taught for the first part of the day and then we all taught a skill in the afternoon.  If we had to end the course today, I believe I would pass with no problems, however, we are going to get into carving tomorrow and my confidence is going to drop big time.  Who knows, maybe the instructor has some great carving tactics to show us and I can "fake" my way through the day......

Day 103 - on Course

First day of my CASI Level 2 certification.  I'm geared up for 4 full days of riding.... joy.  There are 6 people in my group, 4 of which (including myself) work for Whistler Kids.  We got a great instructor who also works for Whistler Kids.  It's nice having people around you that you know vs. talking and teaching to perfect strangers.

Conditions today were wet, cold, snowy, rainy, and wet.  It rained up to Jersey Chair then turned to snow about a third of the way up.  We spent the entire day taking runs down Wishbone practicing intermediate and advanced sliding turns.  The snow was slushy and slow.  My gear was cold and wet.   I felt my confidence go up as the day went on.  No teaching for us today, just riding evaluations with feedback.  Hoping to improve every day as the week goes on.  I pray the soft conditions don't turn to sheets of ice ..... 

Day 102 - not in the mood

I've been out of work for a week now, spring has sprung, and I am officially tired of snowboarding.  I do, however have my Level 2 course coming up so I figured I should get my butt back up to the snow and make sure my legs were still in shape.  

I made my way up the Blackcomb Gondola (the only thing running at this time of year) to take a warm up run down Honeycomb back to the Jersey Chair.  My friend Alex showed up with her roommate and we headed up Glacier.  A third of the way up, we ran into dense fog ... certainly not the type of weather I was hoping for.  Ran down the piste and back into the sunshine.   Conditions were pretty nice considering it's late April but ... it's late April and I'm just not in the mood.  Another couple runs down from Glacier and I was ready to head home.

Day 101 - last day of work

I reported to work late and groggy this AM as I had no motivation to spend my day in the unseasonably cold temperatures.  I was hoping to be sent home with a "thank you" for the season.  No such luck as the eight kids signed up for snowboard school made up 4 different classes.

Once again I had my Korean kid who was now a low level 4.  We headed straight to the top first thing in the morning.  I wouldn't have thought the 5cm of fresh snow overnight would have changed the cruddy/icy conditions of the week so I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of fresh powder on the groomers (the pic is my fresh tracks by the Chic Pea on Lower Whiskey Jack).

After lunch we tagged along with my other favorite Korean kid in the level 5 class.  Took a few runs down to Red Chair, killed some time at the Tree Fort then called it a day.  It was snowing like crazy in the afternoon so conditions for Saturday might be fairly tolerable.  

It seemed like the season just started and it has now come to an end.  Well, the work season.... technically, Whistler is open until Sunday and Blackcomb is open through the end of July.  In the meantime, Whistler turns into a bike park/sightseeing mountain.  

 

Day 100 - woooo hoooooo!!!!!!!!!

Well, it looks like I did it.  Another 100 days.  The 6 month season of Whistler Kids is over (in one more day for me) and it feels like it just started.  But I'm tired of snow, tired of the cold weather, tired of snowboarding.  I'm still working and still riding for a couple more weeks so I'll still be counting some days.

Quite chilly for a mid-April day.  I was given one level 3 kid.  I actually had him in Adventure Camp at the beginning of the season.   He must have been tired of a long winter too as he wasn't too stoked to ride today.  We took one run from the Roundhouse down to the CLC.  He wanted to spend his time on the Olympic Chair for some reason... who was I to argue?  After lunch we took a couple runs down to the village with the level 2 class (just because I wanted to hang out with the level 2 instructor) and my kid wasn't complaining so what the heck.  It was the second to the last day of the season.  We then headed over to the CLC and did jumps for the remainder of the day.  Well, the kids did jumps while Lauren and I took goofy photos.

Also had a fun time with a mini and his lion helmet cover.  He was too cute.  Check out his pic and his video.  ROAR!!!

Day 99 - last day of Adventure Camp

Only one of my Adventure Camp kids showed up today... the other is still limping from butt pain.  Anywho, we took the gondola up to the top first thing in the morning.  The green runs were groomed nicely with hard packed snow but the blue runs were almost sheer ice.  We took a long cruiser down the backside down to the village and then in for lunch.

The only thing my guy wanted to do today was continue with his 180 jumps that he finished with yesterday.  Fine by me as the conditions were crappy.  We built a jump by the Magic Carpet and we spent the next 3hrs doing 180s, grabs, etc.  We even got into a game of P-I-G.

  

Last day of Adventure Camp for the 2007/2008 season.  As usual, it seems like it just got started.  We had a lot of fun times and the snowboard crew this season was awesome.  I took a lot of pics to help remember the good times.  Oh, and the video is Tim trying to do a backflip off a very small jump.

Day 98 - aren't we suppose to be snowboarding???

I started the day with a Level 2 star kid and a Level 3 star kid.  The difference between the two is fairly significant .... one can turn easily down green runs and with confidence, one has a hard time turning and usually falls a lot.  I had the level 2 kid yesterday but he fell so much that he quit after lunch.  He's been in lessons for the last 6 days and some other instructor told him he was a level 3 (no way he was) ..... but I felt bad putting him back down to a lower class so I kept him. Boy was that a mistake.

Half way down Whiskey Jack, he started crying and saying he was bored with s-turns and wanted to go home.  I calmed him down and told him he could pendulum the rest of the way and once we got back to the CLC we would ride the box.  He was okay with that until his legs practically gave out at the bottom of Olympic Run.  In order to make it the rest of the way down, we both took off our snowboards and walked about a half mile.

During lunch I put him with a lower class but I believe my Supervisor ended up calling his parents to pick him up.  I wonder if he is going to return tomorrow for the last day of Adventure Camp.

In the meantime, I picked up a kid from another class who was turning confidently.  We took about three runs down the family zone before he fell on his butt super hard and again.... I was walking a kid down another run.  

Day 97 - crud

Apparently the weather was "spring like" on Saturday ..... warming up and melting all the great pow I left behind last week.  Then the temperatures dropped back down below freezing Sunday night, leaving nothing but a frozen crud for my return on Monday.  How depressing.

It's the last week of snowboard school for the 2007/2008 season.  I have one level 3 kid in Adventure Camp so I will be working for the next three days.  Can't say I had fun today as the snow conditions were horrid and my kid didn't say three words all day.  

The Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival is going on:  http://whistler.mtv.ca/

"the biggest annual celebration of music, arts, sports & culture on the planet. For 10 days and 10 nights, Whistler turns up the volume with 50 live concerts, major pro ski and snowboard comps, legendary arts events, endless nightlife and the best spring skiing & riding in the world."

Here are a few pics of the machines tearing down the jump for the Big Air contest.  It's a great way to celebrate the end of a fantastic season.

Day 96 - snow in the village

Another day with my AC class.  A few cm of fresh snow overnight made for some good conditions above the Emerald Chair.  I wasn't up for much "teaching" today so we snowboarded all around Whistler hitting jumps and drops and finding powder.  I guess we would call that "freeriding".   I call that Day 96 in the books. 

Day 95 - The Home Stretch

Things are winding down for the end of the season but snowboard school was surprisingly busy with over 50 riders.  I continued my work week with an Adventure Camp class of Level 3's.  Only four in the group and their speeds and abilities are all comparable so its a good class.

We started the morning from the Roundhouse where the snow was fresh packed powder.  Good conditions for this time of year as I'm not expecting much more in the way of snow storms anymore.  As the day rolled on, my kids all improved their turning skills.  We hit some hard blues, the Marmot trees, and even found a bit of fresh pow.  Overall it was a good start to a short work week.

Day 94 - Spanky's Ladder

Spanky's Ladder is a 15 meter bootpack that you must hike to access the Blackcomb Glacier Valley, home of the Gemstone Bowls of Garnet, Ruby, Diamond, and Sapphire (all single to triple black diamond runs on Blackcomb).  I've read and heard about the amazing powder in the glacier but I had yet to venture that way until now.  I was taking another level 2 prep course and, after lunch, my instructor decided to hit Spanky's Ladder to Ruby Bowl and Playland (my first double black diamond chute). 

As I stood on top of the chute, my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking.  I could have easily zig-zagged my way down but I was in a training class with my peers..... zig-zagging was not an option.  So I took the advice of the instructor, listened to her instruction and away I went.  Turning heelside was easy, it was the turning onto toeside that played with my mind.  This chute was steep.  In fact, it was the steepest run I have ever been on.  I took the chute one turn at a time, each time completing the toe side and saying to myself: "that was actually pretty easy."   Only to find myself scared to death once again when the next turn came along.

It was the perfect situation to be in having never been to this area of the mountain before:  guided through with an instructor who knew where to go and had the trust and confidence in me to push me past my comfort zone.  If you've never been there, words can't quite describe the terrain, steepness, snow conditions..... let's just say it was amazing and super scary at the same time. 

Day 93 - hard packed crud

I was suppose to get my review today so I was given a class of Level 3's.  For reviews, my Supervisor follows me around all afternoon and makes sure I'm actually teaching the kids something and not just snowboarding around all day.  But when lunch came, my Supervisor was busy so she rescheduled for tomorrow... 

Spent the day with four kids on the top of the mountain.  They were low level 3's so I spent most of the time fine tuning their turning skills.  The conditions this week are hard packed.  Even the Marmot trees were icy and cruddy.  Hopefully we'll get more snow before the season ends.  

Day 92 - fun in the sun

Well it was another day of level ones.  Nothing exciting to report except for the fact that I had almost all of them turning on the Super Carpet by the end of the day.  For most of my day  I stood around in the sun ..... and worked on my goggle tan.  It was gorgeous and soooooo warm (I even took my  jackets off).  Oh, and baked potatoes were the special for lunch.  yum    yum

Day 91 - boring

I've been sick for the past four days so I didn't get an Adventure Camp class this week.  Therefore, I was stuck with the daily "leftovers"... which means, level one kids who never snowboarded before and are only in snowboard school for the day (not three days).  There were 5 level ones today,  those kids could have made up one class but I got lucky and was able to sneak two of them for my very own.  Basically it means:  I was able to work today.  JOY!  I spent the entire day on the Magic Carpet with two kids who are basically sideslipping on their heels and toes by the end.  It was a long day, but the sun was shining so I was able to work on my goggle tan.  BONUS!  I'm sure there is more of the same in store for me tomorrow.  BUGGER!  I mean: JOY!