Another great day on the snow. About 28cm of fresh overnight. Lots of powder to be found for people who know where to look for it. The morning was crazy busy and we waited in line at the gondola for over a half hour, but once my two kids and I got up and running, it was sweet! The winds up top were gusting up to 100kph so we spent much of our time on the lower runs. It's funny how you can find a lot of untracked powder on the sides of green runs. Countless times I was in up to my knees. I overheard someone in the gondola describe the snow as "hero's snow" .... meaning the snow was so nice, anyone could ski like a pro on it. I would have to agree. It was amazing today.
Day 21 - awesome snow day
Another great day on the snow. About 28cm of fresh overnight. Lots of powder to be found for people who know where to look for it. The morning was crazy busy and we waited in line at the gondola for over a half hour, but once my two kids and I got up and running, it was sweet! The winds up top were gusting up to 100kph so we spent much of our time on the lower runs. It's funny how you can find a lot of untracked powder on the sides of green runs. Countless times I was in up to my knees. I overheard someone in the gondola describe the snow as "hero's snow" .... meaning the snow was so nice, anyone could ski like a pro on it. I would have to agree. It was amazing today.
Day 20 - Holiday Madness
Having a great week- the snow is awesome and my kids are so much fun. I had my one Adventure Camp kid and picked up four others. Although there wasn't a lot of fresh snow that fell overnight, the conditions were still amazing with packed powder. We rode everything that was open including 3 runs from the top of the mountain all the way down to the village (over 6,000ft). I'm sure my kids will be sleeping like babies tonight as we rode long, hard, and fast.
Day 19 - I'm back!!
Let's look at what has changed in the ten days that I've been gone. When I left, I believe the snow base was 50cm. Today the snow base is 111cm!!! (woo hoo). When I left, there was a full mountain download. Today: full mountain ski out!!! (woo hoo).
Since it's a busy holiday week, Snowboard School is running a 5 day Adventure Camp program. I elected to work AC because you get the same kids for the entire week - and if you get a group of great kids who can shred the gnar like there's no tomorrow then it's really a lot of fun. Unfortunately, only 9 snowboarders signed up for Adventure Camp. I was lucky enough to take the only Level 4 kid, who coincidently I had last year in AC. Since I didn't have a full class (8 students) I had to stop by the CLC and pick up more Level 4's who were only taking a lesson for today. Anyway, I ended up with three kids who could tear it up!
About 6inches of snow fell overnight and it puked all day. (there was about 5inches of snow on my truck at the end of the day) The conditions were amazing!! (it's about time!) No more ice and lots of fluffy white fresh snow everywhere! We spent the day looking for jumps and fresh powder. You'd be amazed how much untouched snow you can find on crowded green runs just by riding the sides and through a few trees. Believe it or not, the most amazing run was Olympic off to the left. There had to be a over a foot of fresh pow sitting on the sides the entire way down the run. I just surfed it .... it was amazing. Finally!!
Cute little puppy dog with little booties
Day 18 - still so crazy cold ( -11°F )
My trustee jump building crew.
We took as many breaks as possible to keep warm. We spent an hour at the Super Carpet working on our turns. We took one lap down the ice under the Olympic Chair. Lastly, my fellow instructor, Lauren (who is on light duty because of an injury) built us a jump at the Magic Carpet so we spent about an hour "getting some air". Of course, we took our breaks in between all that.
This will be my last day on the snow for at least ten days. I'm traveling back home for the holidays but will return after Christmas. Happy Holidays to everyone following my blog and pray for snow!
Day 17 - not as exciting, but fun just the same
I say "make a funny face" and this is what I get!!
Well today brought less excitement than yesterday. WB issued a press release regarding the gondola accident citing "ice jacking" as the reason for the pole's "structural failure". Anyway, as for me, I had another shadow today. We had a class of 7 level two's .... basically the same kids as yesterday. We spent the morning practicing our turns on the Magic Carpet and I made the decision to take the kids up to the top of the mountain for the afternoon.
Along with my shadow, one of my other fellow instructors joined us and ten of us ventured down Ego Bowl. The snow was great actually. Powdery and fluffy. There were some patches of ice but nothing like the ice skating rink we've been having. And it was cold! Single digits once again.
It took us about an hour and half to get from the Roundhouse to the Emerald Chair. Even though they had to zig zag most of the way, the kids loved it!!! They were so excited to be somewhere other than the Magic Carpet. Most of them had been in snowboarding school since Monday (three days on the Magic Carpet can get wicked boring) so going up top was a big deal...... They wanted to take another run but unfortunately we ran out of time. Most of them are returning tomorrow and I promised them more Alpine time. I only wish Marmot trees were open. Man they would go crazy for Marmot trees ......
Day 16 - gondola tower collapses
I hope this is the one and only time that title is part of my blog. How about this one: "still bitter cold in Whistler and nothing is falling from the sky except gondolas." (stolen from someone on Facebook) - before I start with the breaking news from Whistler Blackcomb, let me tell you about my day.
Another cold one but not as cold as yesterday. I had another shadow today and we were given a class of eight level 2's. All of them were just learning how to turn. We spent the day on the Magic Carpet, but had the Olympic Chair been open, we would have ventured over there by mid-afternoon. Unfortunately, the CLC area was all we had to work with. Nothing exciting.
Conditions up top are still horrible. And when I say horrible, I mean most runs are a SHEET OF ICE! The winds have been considerable the last couple of days and those winds are blowing what little snow is there right off the runs, leaving nothing but the ice underneath.
Here's what I heard: The top half of tower four split from the botton half and the top half fell to the ground leaving the three gondola cabins that were in between towers 3 and 4 hanging from the rope. One cabin landed on the top of the bus shelter, one cabin was hanging over the creek that separates the two mountains, and one cabin landed on the roof of a house (I don't think this last one was true). No one was seriously injured.... no broken bones, just bumps and bruises and most likely sheer terror!!! How does something like this happen? One theory: water was inside the pole, froze (with the sub-zero arctic cold temperatures we've been having) - the ice expanded and crack.... there goes the tower. I'm sure WB is working on a press release. I wish I had better pictures.
Cabin resting on roof of bus shelter.
To the left of the ladder is the bottom half of the tower.
Great shot taken by Dave Steers. You can see where the tower no longer exists and you can see it resting on the ground.
Day 15 - foiled again!!
A cold spell has reached the greater Vancouver area sending 6inches of snow to the city and arctic temperatures to Whistler. Luckily, here in the Northwest, temperatures like these only last a few days to a week unlike the Northeast where sub-zero temps can last for over a month or longer. In the Alpine, the temperature today was -22°C (or 7°F) with winds up to 80kph (50mph). Needless to say, if we had too many instructors working today, I was volunteering to NOT have a class.
Now don't get me wrong, I love my job and I love working. But working in single digit temperatures is brutal.... even when you're equipped with hand warmers and toe warmers, which I was. Once all the snowboarders arrived at the CLC: I was in luck...... there were only three classes (a level one class, a level three class, and one level 6 kid) and four instructors. Sweet! I was going home to keep warm on my couch.
Not so fast! In order to have a Level 5/6 class, you have to be minimally certified as a Level 2 instructor. Remember that certification class I took last year at the end of the season? Since I was the only Level 2 instructor working, I had to take the one kid in the high level class. Rats! Foiled again! I found it quite amusing and carried on with freezing my butt off all day. It worked out in the end though ..... I ended up getting a tip from the kid's dad.
Day 14 - so close yet so far
I had a lot of errands to run today so I was hoping to not get a class and get out of work early. We had four instructors scheduled and by 9:30am we had three classes (levels 2-4). As I sauntered over to my Supervisor to let her know all classes were taken care of and I was going to be the one leaving .... she proceeded to tell me we had one more snowboarder coming up the gondola: a late arrival and a level one!!! I couldn't believe it. I was so close ..... not only that, I had already given away the upper level classes to my co-workers so I stuck myself with the guys who never snowboarded before. How's that for karma?
So needless to say I spent the day at the CLC on the Magic Carpet. It wasn't too bad as there were mini's (2-3yr old skiers) everywhere (see pic). I spent most of my downtime (while my class was practicing their zig zags) picking up Mini's off the carpet. They're really little and they fall over a lot. ha ha
Day 13 - blue bird skies
Wednesday, Hump Day = another shadow. I don't mind having shadows as you're guaranteed to have an upper level class. We had a class of four who were moved up to Level 3 yesterday, but as usual, they were really only level two's. Nothing we could do about it so we headed up to the top of the mountain.
We took a few runs down Ego Bowl, taking our time and showing the kids how to turn. The snow wasn't bad where there was snow, but like it's been all season, there are patches of snow and then bigger patches of ice. And again, it was crowded as only the green sections of the Emerald Runs are open. But the sun was shining strong and it felt so good on my cold face.
By the end of the day, we got most of the kids turning. In the Gondola on the ride down, the girls (three of them) decided to peel the snow off their boards and start a small snowball fight with my shadow, Morgan ( a cute young buck from Toronto). They all had fun. It was a good day.
Day 12 - snow and a shadow
Well, it snowed all day in Whistler. The snow conditions are getting better but they are nowhere close to being "Whistler good". Still icy in many spots and the traffic congestion is still insane. They only runs open are Whiskey Jack, Ego Bowl, Orange Peel to Pony Express, and Express Way down to midstation. Hopefully the snow will keep falling and more terrain will open. Very cold with gusting winds....
I had another shadow today. We took one level 3 kid and one level 4 kid. I stuck with the three who took about an hour to get from the Roundhouse to the Emerald Chair and my shadow shredded some gnar with the four. After lunch we left the three with the level 1 class as he was super tired. Got in a run down Orange Peel to Red Chair and from Red Chair down Express Way back to the CLC. Long lines at midstation to download (see pic).
Day 11 - red skies in morning
Straight out of the camera, no photoshop.
Conditions again were the same old crap. Very few runs open, icy, and lots of traffic at the merge sections of trails.
Day 10 - one and done
Slept in this AM as the weather was forecasted to be wet. I made it up to the Roundhouse around noon. Wasn't expecting much and was hoping the rain had turned to snow. No such luck. Not only was it raining but it was crowded with limited visibility. I strapped in and headed down Ego Bowl. The snow was wet and slushy. Once I made it down to Emerald Chair, I wanted to be done and headed down to the GLC for apres.
Day 9 - Training part deux
Omer pretending to fall to teach us the proper way of lifting.
Warm temperatures and rain have washed out 4cm of our snowbase. We are now down to a 41cm base with no snow in the forecast and warm temps and more rain forecasted for the weekend. If and when it finally does "dump" on us, the masses are going to swarm! This November was record setting for the least amount of snowfall. Please pray with me.
Anyway, I had another training session today. Unfortunately, it was raining in the Alpine so the two runs we did were wet and cold. On a positive note, the warm temperatures are melting the ice. But it's soooo hard to stay positive. I'll be praying to Ullr (the Norse God of skiing) for snow all weekend.
Day 8 - Ride Tribe
During my morning meeting I was sent over to work Ride Tribe. I ended up with the same kids I had the other day at Whistler Kids. We immediately rode the gondola up to the top and headed out for a day of fun. Temps were about 23 degrees first thing in the morning and the snow guns had been running all night. The runs weren't too bad with regards to ice and we took three laps down to Emerald Chair. The best part of working Ride Tribe is that you get a lunch voucher to eat lunch at the Roundhouse vs. eating at the CLC . The Roundhouse offers different food choices such as: sandwiches, soups, burgers, fries, poutine, sushi, fish and chips, and stir fry. I opted for chicken teriyaki stir fry. Much tastier than the veggie burger special offered today at the CLC.After lunch we managed to fit in about five more runs. I ran into my friend Lauren from Whistler Kids who had 2 kids in her class. We all downloaded together in the gondola.... finishing my work week off by 3pm. Nine days into the season and eight days into the pursuit of 100. Not bad.
Day 7 - training
Today's training was Skill Development for Kids. It's a full day paid training session that focuses on safety and techniques on how to keep kids working on their skills through different games. I was hoping the ice from yesterday was covered with artificial snow since the temperatures have dropped and the snow guns were blowing all night. The conditions weren't the best, but the guns were doing their jobs and covering as much of the ice as fast as they could. This year's training isn't as fun as in the past since there is no terrain to shred on but we made the most of it. My trainer was a guy named Jose. I've had Jose many times for training and sessions last season. He is from Quebec and sometimes I have a hard time understanding what he is saying as he has a strong french accent but he's great as a trainer. He's a certified Park and Pipe Coach so he's always showing us different air tricks or surface tricks. What's great is that he keeps the tricks within your level so he's not trying to get me to do a 360 off a jump or something crazy (what I would call crazy) like that. Today we were practicing butters and 180 nose and tail rolls. It didn't look like there were too many kids in Snowboard School so it was a good day to get paid to shred and train. Back to work tomorrow though.......
Day 6 - 45cm Base
To give you an idea of how much snow we DON'T have, here are some statistics: November snowfall in 07/08 was 162cm (5ft). November snowfall in 06/07 was 416cm (13.6ft)! Today (Dec 2nd) we have a total snow base of 45cm (1.4ft)!!!!!Day 6, I was given a Ride Tribe class (13-17yr olds) because there were no instructors scheduled to work Ride Tribe. Reservations showed zero kids in this age group so there was no point in having any instructors scheduled. My kids showed up last minute and since we had enough instructors for the younger kids, we gladly helped Ride Tribe.
The boys were friends from Singapore and when asked to rate their snowboarding skills, like most teenage boys, they overstated their skill level. Since they told me how awesome their shredding talent was, I immediately took them up to the Alpine only to find out their abilities weren't quite up to the skill level needed to ride the trails up there. Not to mention, the snow in the Alpine was a complete sheet of ice! Even I didn't want to be up there.
Luckily the guys weren't too thrilled with the ice either. After one run, I asked if they wanted to head back to the CLC where the snow was much softer and where we could practice turning. They were both interested in doing that. Thank God.
**Note: I teach at the Children's Learning Center. It is about 1/3 of the way up the mountain. It's a great teaching area (when there is snow) as there are many small bunny hill type trails to learn on. The Alpine is almost at the top of Whistler (over 6,000 ft). Here your skills need to be up to par as an advanced beginner or higher level. There are no bunny hill type trails in the Alpine.
Day 5 - what month is this?
Warm temperatures and rain over the last couple days has washed away more snow. As you can see from the pic above, there was dirt and rocks showing through the bunny slope where the kids would practice. Not to worry as only 4 kids showed up for snowboard school today. I think we had more instructors than kids. Most of us got the day off.
I volunteered to head home early and headed up the gondola to see how the trails in the Alpine were holding up. There was snow up there but it was warm and soft like it was April or May. The Thanksgiving crowds have gone back home so it didn't feel very crowded. I wasn't wearing a neck warmer, goggles, or a hat and I was perfectly comfortable. That was nice. I took one run down to Emerald Chair and then headed back to the locker room. I would have rode longer but I was still in uniform (I worked for two hours) and Whistler Blackcomb frowns upon instructors wearing uniforms without a class.
Whistler Village Dec 1, 2008
Where is the snow??
