Day 74 - back to my roots

Since I'm on holiday in Montreal, my friend and I decided to take a ride to Smugglers Notch, the mountain where we both learned how to snowboard. I brought all my gear with me, everything but my snowboard, so I rented a high-performance Burton Feelgood..... which worked out perfectly since I wanted to demo that board anyhow. We threw on our gear and headed up the lift in the sunny, 8 degree (F) weather.

We started on the "easy" mountain and took things slow. Last winter, Bonk crushed her ankle on her snowmobile so she wasn't sure how her snowboarding would fair. As we made our way down the Lower Morse Liftline, I couldn't help but feel nostalgic about our very first day on boards. That was eight years ago! Time flies.... and things have changed.

Bonk gave it a great effort but after three runs, her leg was in so much pain, she just couldn't continue. She drove me over to the Madonna/Sterling area so I could take a run down my old favorite Rumrunner.

All the chairs on Smuggs are two person non-detachable chairs. They seemed perfectly normal to me back in the day when I had no idea what a high speed quad was. Now they seemed dinosaur like and it felt like it took forever as I made my way up the Sterling Summit Lift.

Conditions were amazing for east coast skiing. A nice soft packed powder covered the runs with a few patches of ice but nothing horrible. Also, it looked like a good six inches of the fresh stuff fell overnight. Unlike Whistler, there were plenty of fresh tracks to be found at two in the afternoon.

As I made my way down Rumrunner, it was much like I remembered. I glanced over at the gladed run, something I never would have attempted when I held a seasons pass at Smuggs, and giggled to myself. This black diamond run would be equally rated with Marmot Trees at Whistler. Much like the blue line I was riding would have be rated a very easy green on Blackcomb.

Before I knew it, my vertical decent was completed and so was my trip back to memory lane. After riding WhistlerBlackcomb for the past two seasons, I am completely spoiled.... and screwed, in the sense that nothing else can or will compare. I explained it to my friend like this: it was much like going back to the house you grew up in. Everything seemed so big and scary when you were a kid but when you go back as an adult, you realize it's not as big as you perceived it and nothing about it was scary at all. Still it was a great experience. And that Burton Feelgood is on my list of boards to consider for next season!

At least Vermont has the Ben & Jerry's

Day 73 - Creekside filling in

I was asked to fill in for my co-worker who broke a couple ribs over the weekend. He had a class that was taking part in WESP: Whistler Elementary School Program. Once a week, for six weeks, elementary students in Whistler learn how to ride or ski for a day instead of going to school. Today was the last day of the six week period.

I only had three girls who were on the verge of turning. They started at Creekside, which is on the other side of the mountain. I took them to the top and down into Ego Bowl. We had lunch at the CLC. Spent the afternoon learning how to turn on the Supercarpet. It was then time to head back up the gondola and make the long trek back to Creekside. The day went by super fast and although I got a few runs in, I spent most of my day standing on the Supercarpet catching some rays and darkening up the goggle tan. Stay tuned, I'll be back in seven days ....... taking a much needed vacation.

Day 72 - ..... after some much needed rest

Back to a day of Level 2 training. Sun was shining so I was working on my goggle tan. I can't believe how long the sun has been out. We didn't have this much sun all last summer. Unfortunately, I'm serious.

Met Sean, our instructor at the top of Blackcomb. Conditions were packed powder (sort of) with some icy spots here and there. We worked on almost everything that is covered in a Level 2 exam course: intermediate sliding turns, advanced sliding turns, basic carving turns, intermediate carving turns, switch riding, and analysis and instruction. Sounds like a lot I know. You can imagine how stressful it is to take the course. The price of the course is about $425 and runs over a period of 4 full days. You are tested on your riding ability and your teaching ability. If you fail, you can re-test the section you failed (for an additional price of course). All that in order to increase your pay about $0.50hr. I guess it's more of a prestige thing.

Day 71 - more of the same

More of the same..... same weather: no new snow, sun was shining, temps were warm. Same level kids: none of them could really turn. Spent the day under the Olympic Chair and took one run to the village. The highlight of my day was getting asked if I wanted tomorrow off. SCORE! You bet I do....

Day 70 - Surf's Up Day

Wednesdays are dress up/photo day for Adventure Camp. Every week is a different theme. Can you guess what today's theme was? Surf's up dudes.......

We added two more snowboarders to our Level two group and had a total of five. A few of them were turning by the end of the day and a couple of them still aren't "getting it". No worries.

Still no new snow and another day of warm temps. For our apres party this week, we fed the kids ice cream cups with an Oreo and then played a couple games of BINGO! Small kids are so much fun.

This is the Magic Carpet. So much smaller than the Super Carpet.

Day 69 - feels like spring

I must have looked horrible today as five different people asked me what was wrong and said I looked tired. Hmmm..... maybe it was the two beers I had last night. I'm such a lite weight. Anyway, the sun was shining and it was soo warm today. It felt so good. My three kids practiced turning on the Supercarpet (pic attached). Only one kid got it. We also took a couple of runs under Olympic Chair. It wasn't an exciting day, but like I said, the sun was shining and the temps were warm. Makes me wish it was actually spring. But I won't be fooled!! I'm sure it will be back to below freezing soon enough. It's a long season here at Whistler Blackcomb.

This is the Supercarpet.

Day 68 - Prez Week

36-40 degrees at the top of the mountain yesterday, today, and the rest of the week. Warm temps ruin the snow but I'm liking the spring conditions and the WARMTH!! It's President's Week, one of the busier weeks of the season, which means we have "extra" snowboard instructors from other pods working at Whistler Kids. The normal Whistler Kids instructors didn't get to see much of each other today since we all had full classes.

Fifty five snowboarders were signed up for lessons today. I got myself a group of four Adventure Campers who never snowboarded before today. Three out of the four of them will be moving up a level and learning how to turn tomorrow. One "young" seven year old, who has a hard time focusing, will be held back from the group.

Oh, and this week is the week the Olympics will be held in 2010. I'm guessing the warm temps aren't making anyone feel too positive about what the weather is going to have in store during the Olympics.

Tobogganing! The "mini's" have so much fun ....

Day 67 - oops! brain fart

The day started off a bit whacky. The freezing levels were suppose to rise and the radio traffic guy said the roads were bare, but as I drove north, the rain was snow and it was snowing its butt off. Needless to say, I was quite a few minutes late for work. Way to start the day.

I was hoping I could get sent home but no such luck. Fortunately, I was assigned the Level 4 class. My girl from yesterday returned and was joined by four others. Funny story: I was handed my class card with five kids on it, but left "base camp" with only four and didn't realize it until my coworker found me outside the Roundhouse and asked me what happened to my other kid.

"What other kid?" I asked, "I only have four."

"No. I signed in five kids to your level." he replied.

As I stood there for a minute, I realized I did see five kids on my class card but I had completely brain farted and left with only four! Oops, my bad. This is why I love kids: find a big snowball, snowboard with it as long as possible!

Day 66 - Valentine Valentine

Thursdays are such a big let down after our big Adventure Camp apres parties on Wednesdays. It's Valentine's Day, and other than the chocolate surprises I found from my Valentine, it wasn't a particularly exciting day.

The weather was cloudy and cold. No new snow overnight and conditions below mid-station were solid ice! Good packed powder up top but everything is tracked out. I had one Level Four girl today. We hit a bit of everything: greens, blues, Marmot trees, terrain park, and practiced riding switch. She's quite a little hucker as she was jumping everything in site. That was cool, but as I said, nothing exciting.

Day 65 - Blackcomb Terrain Garden

Wednesday! Final day of Adventure Camp ..... I had the same kids and we rode steep blues, easy blacks, and Marmot trees this morning. After lunch, the kids were ready to hit the terrain park so we joined two other upper level classes and headed over to Blackcomb's terrain garden.

The Blackcomb terrain garden is a perfect place to practice beginner features that you jump on or over. The features include sliding boxes and rails, jumps, and spines. In this day and age of X Games and action sports, kids love the terrain park ....... and it's all they want to do.

At the end of the day, we decided to have a jump competition of our own. We had five judges and each kid had to score a perfect "5" from all the judges in order to draw from the big bag of chocolate. Twelve snowboard competitors ranging in age from 7 to 12. Most of them pulled away with a piece of chocolate. After all the judging was based on your level and difficulty of the trick.

Day 64 - all kinds of weather

Picked up the same three kids from yesterday and added a girl from England. We started the morning with a ride through Ego Bowl. There was only a few centimeters of snow overnight and the winds were ripping when we exited the gondola. After that we had time for a run in the Marmot trees then down to the CLC for box slides and jumps before lunch.

As the fog rolled over mid-station, we took Garbanzo Chair to Raven (an easy black run). On Raven, all the kids were doing perfect sliding turns which means they moved up to Level 4's. They were all excited. We decided to brave the windy chair lift again for a couple more jaunts through the Marmot Trees (kids love the Marmot trees).

The weather was super crazy today. At one point, it was clear but cloudy. About 20minutes later, it was snowing like you wouldn't believe. Then 45minutes later, the sun was shining. Below Olympic Station, it was also raining at one point in the morning and afternoon. Not fun.

Here is Kaitlyn. She is a snowboard instructor who had to teach skiing today (because too many ski instructors called in sick). Kaitlyn is a great skier and loves to teach skiing, the only reason she doesn't look happy is because her feet are killing her in those rental boots.

Day 63 - repeaters

In my Adventure Camp this week, I actually have two kids who I taught last year. How exciting. I semi-sort-of remember one and I definitely remember the other. Anyway, my class for this week are level threes/fours. Should be a good week.

I started my morning with a private session practicing advanced sliding turns. Spent the rest of the day all over the mountain including some easy tree runs, steep green runs, blue runs, and even an easy black (Raven). At the end of the day, my kids spent some time on the box outside of the CLC.

3cm overnight with snow forecasted for today. However the freezing levels rose significantly, leaving nothing but slushy snow towards the village. The snow that was suppose to fall today felt more like freezing rain.

Day 62 - CASI Level 2 prep

In order to teach snowboarding in Canada, you have to get your Instructor certification through CASI ...... Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors. Their objective is to train and certify snowboard instructors to ensure that a national standard of safe and efficient instruction is maintained. CASI offers four levels of Instructor certification. I have the first level (Level One) but I am hoping to take the second level at the end of March.

I've mentioned the available training sessions available to instructors in the past. Today I signed up for a CASI Level 2 Prep, an all day session designed to help you pass your Level 2 instructors certification. Class started at the top of Blackcomb at 10am. 4cm of snow overnight, low visibility and cold winds were what we started the day with.

We worked on our riding ..... intermediate and advanced sliding turns. We did some A&I .....analyze and instruct. We also hit some tree runs to help improve our steering and even found a few drops. The Level 2 Instructors course is a 4 day course so we didn't have time to cover everything there is to know. I need to take this session about 10 more times before I feel confident passing the course.

Day 61 - hugs

Ahhh.... finally Friday! My kids from yesterday returned and we added one more guy from Alabama. Not much snow to report overnight and the winds were houling at the Roundhouse. We stuck to green runs before lunch and found lots of jumps and wall rides. After lunch, the kids wanted to go down Tokum (a hard blue run) but in order to get to Tokum we had to ride through some other steep blue runs with moguls and a short black run. They aced those runs with no problem and were turning down most of them! And they all loved it/had a blast! At the end of class we hit the box and the jump at the CLC and worked on 180s.

I always ask my kids what they learned at the end of the day. Today's answers were:

" I learned how to turn on my toe side."

" I learned how to go over moguls."

" I learned how to turn down black runs."

and

" I learned how to keep going fast when I go straight."

Sounds like a job well done!

Jinny was a tiny quiet girl I've had for the past three days. I don't believe she said 20 words all week. I tried to pay a lot of attention to her since she was the only girl in the class and she was really slow so the boys were always patiently waiting for her. At the end of the day, she gave me a huge hug! and her mom took her picture with me. Tips are greats but hugs always mean so much more. Thanks Jinny.

This is the event poster for Pride Week. I find the hard body in the goggles hilarious and unfair to the lesbians of the event. Where is the hot chic in the other goggles? Someone should complain. : )

Day 60 - not quite Friday, but almost

7 inches of the white stuff fell again last night! Unfortunately, the snowy roads hindered my early arrival for session and I didn't make it in time. Instead I settled for a normal work day with three Level 2 kids who were amped to hit the runs. Conditions were great from mid-station down and the kids enjoyed the different terrain that can be found on those green runs. By that I mean, we found some jumps - then we went to the "secret passage" ... a little roller coaster-ee path through some trees that kids love. Practiced 360's on the flat section of another run and then we went from the top of the mountain all the way back down to the village in one run (took almost an hour and 45min!). I wore those kids out! But they had sooo much fun. And so did I for that matter.

Day 59 - working on 180s

Only 4cm of snow fell overnight but with so much snow yesterday and the high winds keeping the Alpine closed, the line for Fresh Tracks was out the fence even at 7:45am. Fresh Tracks is a special ticket you buy to get up the gondola earlier than the opening time.... 7:15am vs. 8:30am. The ticket includes early upload and all you can eat breakfast buffet at the Roundhouse. Quite a deal actually.

I started the morning with session and worked on surface 180s then took it to air 180s. By 9am I was back in the village picking up the two kids I had yesterday. We spent the day hitting jumps and walls and surfing powder.

My fellow co-workers took the time to make a super nice jump in the kids' area. After our ice cream party, we planned on the kids having a big air competition complete with score cards. But when we returned outside, we found the skiers had taken over our jump and there was no room for us. Bummed, we decided to all ride down to the village in a big group. It wasn't as fun as a jump competition but the kids still enjoyed it so that's all that counts.

Day 58 - one fun day at work

Today was a fun day at work and it helped with my depression about the Patriots. I forgot to mention that the liftys on the gondola found it humorous to write: " Giants won!!! ha ha ha Ronia " all over the message boards yesterday.

The winds were really whipping today, upwards of 100Kph, but it puked snow non-stop so the conditions were amazing..... that is, once you got to an area where you could actually see where you were going. My kids from yesterday returned and we hit as much powder as possible. They still didn't talk much but I could tell they enjoyed the powder as much as I did.

Four other instructors had lower levels and decided to build a nice jump on the Magic Carpet where the kids could practice their skills. It was quite a production with 16 snowboarders plus 10 skiers all in a line waiting their turn. I myself joined in the fun and tried landing my first 180. After landing two "90's", I finally completed my rotation and landed a 180. Needless to say I was stoked!

Day 57 - Pride Week

Another cold one with no new snow overnight. I was determined to get an Adventure Camp class this week so I could work. It was my lucky day as I scored one AC kid who is a high level 3 or low level 4! There were two kids in my class today and neither one of them spoke ten words all day. My energy level fed off their energy level (none) ... combined with the Patriot's loss in the Superbowl, made for a long cold quiet kind of depressing day. At least I was snowboarding .....

Day 56 - head over heels

After taking Cabo to the Vet first thing this morning, Kevin and I headed up to Whistler only to find a full parking garage at Creekside. Hmmm, what's up with that? So we pay parked under Pan Pacific and uploaded via the Village Gondola. Conditions were sunny and cold, a slight breeze and 5cm of snow overnight. By the time we made it to the Roundhouse, all of the runs had been tracked out but they were still nice with packed powder.

A warm up run down Lower Whiskey Jack to Orange Peel and Tokum then back up via Garbanzo. The Garbanzo chair stopped for a good 15min and we took that time to admire the beauty of this wonderful place we live in.

The Garbanzo runs were too shady for Kevin's vision so we thought we'd give Harmony and Sun Bowl a try. Ten feet into the Sun Bowl, which was heavily mogulled and very steep, I took a tumble trying to turn toeside. And by tumble, I mean that I "looked like a big rubber ball bouncing down the moguls". (quoted by Kevin Nash) Lucky for me I stopped bouncing after four complete rotations and no part of me was in pain! Kevin found it very amusing as he is usually the one tumbling down the runs. Where's the video camera when you need it?

Day 55 - training part two

I was amped to get back to training today! Another 5inches of snow fell overnight and there was nothing but blue instructor jackets heading down the slopes sucking up all the fresh lines.

Our instructor took us over to Blackcomb where he started us with a lesson on drops. Drops are going over a ledge (cliff) and dropping down into the run. Drops can be anywhere from 1ft to 100ft down ... of course, I was only doing about 1ft drops. We then made our way into the Blackcomb Terrain Park and worked on jumping spines (a spine is a jump resembling the shape of an oblong pyramid). As you can imagine, doing things that involve my snowboard actually leaving the ground scares the crap out of me! and by lunch, I was mentally exhausted.

After lunch we headed over to the boarder cross track (I'm sure you've seen boarder cross on TV, if not, check it out some time, ... it's pretty insane!). We then ran a few mogul trails and ended the day with a run through the halfpipe. It was a pretty insane day for a lowkey rider like myself but it was great to learn the techniques of how to do all this different stuff. Now I can practice on my own without the stress of having to look cool doing it in a Whistler Blackcomb instructor's uniform. LOL!