Day 4 - team teaching

Lauren and I split the Level one snowboarders today.  A total of 11 kids who never snowboarded before.  Conditions are horrible as it rained most of the day.  Unfortunately it rained all the way to the top of the mountain so what little snow we have is slowly melting away.  
Funny:  for some reason I was singing the guitar solo to Barracuda all morning.  One of our students came up to me and asked if I play Guitar Hero.  I said, "yea I play Guitar Hero on my PS3".  He told me that he knew I played Guitar Hero.  
"How did you know I play that game" I asked.  He said, "because how else would you know that song Barracuda?"  I just laughed to myself and said "yea, I know that song from the game" and thinking to myself: little does this kid know I've been singing Barracuda long before he was even born!  

Day 3 - mmmm..... cookies!

This morning I was greeted at my morning meeting with fresh homemade cookies from my Hawaiian kid.  Nice surprise.  We had a whopping 15 kids in snowboard school today.  A far cry from the 50 we had last season.  My group was a Level 2 class which included my kid from yesterday and two other boys both from Washington.  The shredders were a little too good for the beginner area so we went to the Roundhouse and tried learning how to turn in the Alpine.  It was crazy crowded on the limited trails available but we managed not to get hurt, lost, or kill anybody.  It wasn't the most desirable terrain to learn how to turn (too steep) so we did a  lot of freeriding (just going straight and fast).  Kids love that!  It snowed in the Alpine all day but the snow was pretty wet at the bottom of Pig Alley.  I guess any snow is good snow so I'm not complaining.  All in all, I would call it a successful day. 

Day 2 - Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

It's American Thanksgiving and my first day of work.  This season's ski school bookings are well below normal.  I don't know if it's the economy or the lack of snow.  To my surprise, the cool little Hawaiian kid I taught last year returned.  He was the only one in my class.  In fact, there weren't many kids in snowboard school at all.  12 to be exact.  
The snow guns were firing as much as possible today at the CLC (Children's Learning Center).  If you look at the photo of the Magic Carpet above, you'll notice lots of plywood.  Normally, the snow is up to the plywood.   We couldn't run the Magic Carpet because the kids would fall off the sides.  And although that would be amusing, the kid's parents probably wouldn't appreciate our lack of babysitting skills.  So instead of standing on a moving carpet to get up the bunny hill, the kids had to walk up.  Needless to say, after two hours of that, they were all exhausted.
This season above.

Shred Day 1 - Season Three

My alarm went off at 6:30am.  Four hours later I was strapping my bindings on and starting another season on the snow.  (You didn't think I got out of bed that early, did you?  I shut my alarm off and rolled back over!)  It turns out people started camping out around 3am in order to be the first up the mountain and by the time the gondola starting going around and around at 8am, the line up was through the maze and all the way back to Zog's.  I'm glad I went back to sleep!

Not much was open today: Gondola, Red Chair and Emerald.  There were plenty of fresh tracks to be found off the groomers but you had to watch out for the tops of trees and the occasional rocks.  Naturally the Peak was closed but about 20 die-hards hiked up Shale Chute and hit fresh down Shale (not an easy hike).  I found myself somewhere on G.S.  I fell trying to make my way through the tops of trees and then it was all over (so to speak).  Once you fall, good luck pulling yourself back out when the snow comes up to your waist!  I managed to make my way out, huffing and puffing and dripping with sweat.  Time for lunch.

Ran into a couple of guys I work with and took an hour lunch break.  One more run through the easy powder and my legs and feet were toast.  It wasn't the best conditions but by no means was it the worst conditions.  A successful opening day in my eyes.  Now it's time to get back to work!

Season 08/09 getting under way!

No snow to speak of in October, unlike last year when Patrol was skiing a foot of pow on Oct 7th.  I wonder if we'll open on schedule.  Looks like something might be starting today.  My fingers are crossed.