Day 93 - same kids / different day

After sorting out 23 snowboarders, I finally took off down the hill with my Level 3 class (same kids as yesterday).   About 4cm of fresh powder fell overnight and we were able to get some pretty good fresh tracks on top of nice corduroy first thing in the morning.  By the time we got up to the Roundhouse, everything was tracked out but the soft packed conditions made for nice turns.  After lunch we ventured through Marmot Trees.  Unfortunately we didn't have time for a second run through the trees but we had a good run down Bear Cub and Pony Trail.  Made it back to the village a little past 3:30pm.

  

Morgan chatting up a Whistler McNuggett.

Day 92 - Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

Most of the kids from yesterday returned today.  I decided to take the three kids who were turning down the Super Carpet by the end of yesterday.  Since they put their carpet time in on Sunday, I decided to take them up the gondola first thing.  It turned out to be a great decision as two of the three were turning pretty consistently by the end of today.  I talked them into coming back tomorrow.  Each of the kids were a pleasure to teach.  They were excited to learn.  It was a fun day and time flew by pretty quick.

Still soft packed snow conditions up top.  A few centimeters overnight and just that little bit of snow keeps everything fluffy and soft.  Gotta love it.  A little more is forecasted again for tonight. 

Day 91 - what day is it?

I don't normally work Saturdays or Sundays so the days are all mixed up for me.  A colleague asked if I could cover his shift today.  Again, why the hell not?  Spent the day team teaching Level One's with Morgan.  I had six and he had four.  The sun was shining and it was super warm at mid-mountain.  A definite goggle tan day!  Most of the kids were turning on the Supercarpet by the end of the lesson so that's a bonus.  

Sunday was also fun photo day! 

These days the lifts close at 4pm.  Once our kids are signed out, usually by 3:30pm, we have time for a "last run".  Today I took a last run with Morgan and Charlie.  Two hunky 19 year olds who have more energy than my dog.  Charlie found us some fresh pow in treelines that I didn't even know existed.  SWEET!  It was a super fast, super fun run.  By the time I caught up with them in the village, I was exhausted.  Boys -- they are fast.  Definitely brought a much needed smile to my face and ended my day on a great note.

Catching some rays on the cushions!

Charlie - HIGH 5 gloves!

Whistler Kids professional photographers!

Morgan ollies the elephant!

Day 90 - Creekside Carpet

Today was suppose to be my day off but I was asked to work at Creekside.  Why the hell not??  Naturally I ended up with the class of kids who have never snowboarded before.  No biggee as all three of these boys were pretty good and by lunch, I had them on the gondola going up to the Roundhouse.  

We've had some snow overnight and it seems to have been snowing all day.  There was some pretty good pow on the sides of green runs.  Unfortunately I didn't get to spend much time up there as it took two and half hours to get from Red Chair, down Express Way to the Village Gondola.  Up to the Roundhouse and back to the bottom of Red Chair.  And most of that time was spent "skating" the cat tracks.

Day 89 - snow may avalanche from roof

Another end to another week. With more recent cut backs, we have just enough instructors to cover what reservations we have for the rest of the season. All full time staffers have been put on six day work weeks. Fine by me cause I got nuttin' better to do at this point in my life.

I had the same girl from yesterday and none of the other kids fit in her class. Another so-called private lesson. She was a bit lazy today and wasn't into riding too much. The soft packed conditions up top are still pretty good but we could use some snow before conditions get icy. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for higher freezing levels and not much precipitation.

Day 88 - smooo-'ing things over

An upset parent complained to my Supervisor yesterday about his daughter spending more time playing games at the CLC than snowboarding.  This kid is a level three rider and she was put with the level two riders.  Dad was not too happy to find his daughter not getting the instruction he paid so much money for.  So the higher ups had to bring in the "big gun" (me ... lol) to teach his kid for the next two days.  This ensures great lessons, extra special attention, and lots and lots of snowboarding..... I'm the perfect instructor to smooth things over.  ; )

Anyway, enough patting myself on the back for being THE BEST!!  LOL.

I started the morning with the level two's and this kid who is a level three.  We took one run down to the village (which basically took all morning) and then after lunch, I sent the two's with the never-ever's and took my level three girl up to the top for her "private lesson".

Good conditions continue with soft packed snow up top.  The tree runs are still nice, not icy yet.  Cloudy today and it was suppose to snow but no precept.  By the end of the day, Dad was happy his kid got to snowboard vs. playing games at the CLC all day.  It's nice knowing what's on tap for tomorrow, more of the same.   

Day 87 - four and three

Started the morning with the same one kid I had yesterday.  After lunch we picked up a high level three rider which left a bit of a split but it was manageable.  Didn't do as much riding today since the level 3 girl was a bit slower than the four but no big deal.  We took a few laps through the terrain park, a couple runs through Marmot trees..... and finally a run top to bottom.

It started snowing around noon.  A few centimeters are forecasted to fall overnight.  Every little bit of snow helps, especially this time of year as the more snow we get, the longer the base lasts and the longer we ride.  The ironic thing is, we now have a higher snowbase than we did this time last year. 

Day 86 - a private lesson

Soft packed conditions are almost as fun as fresh pow.

We had 12 kids in snowboard lessons and they split into 5 different levels.  I grabbed the level four kid who I taught on Saturday.  Luckily, he was the only level four so that meant "private lesson" .... sweet!! 

We did a ton of snowboarding.  Took a few runs down Emerald Chair, hit Freight Train (the bike trail), lunch break, two runs through Marmot Trees and down the Peak to Peak line, over to the Blackcomb Terrain Garden and then down to the village.  Back up to the top of Whistler for one last lap all the way down to the bottom.  It was fun.  And he's back on Tuesday..... even better!!!

Morgan tired this Whistler McNugget out!

Day 85 - chicks in Symphony

The sun was shining, the skies were blue, and my friend Linda drove up from Vancouver to spend the day on the slopes.  There were no fresh tracks to be found but the soft packed conditions made for some amazing snowboarding none the less.  We took a warm up run down to Emerald then headed to Symphony.  Spent a couple hours out there in the glades, looking for fresh pow.  For lunch we took the Peak to Peak over to Rendezvous then headed back to Whistler for a few more runs and to finish the day.  This was Linda's first day of the season and after getting up early and then having to drive all the way back to Vancouver, I'm sure she's going to get a good night's sleep.  For me, I'm back to work tomorrow.

 

Day 84 - twenty thousand plus

Rumor has it there was untouched pow waist deep in the Alpine. Yesterday's high winds kept Peak, Harmony, and Symphony closed. I imagine the Fresh Tracks line was past the kiosk. When I arrived to work at 8am, the day lot was almost full!  I could only imagine the queue at the Peak chair before it was cleared for avalanche.

It was about 10am by the time my students and I reached the Roundhouse.  Fresh snow gets chopped up pretty quick when twenty thousand plus people are skiing and riding on it (that was the visitor forecast for today).  There looked to be plenty of fresh lines still left off the Peak but they were going quickly.

Nevertheless, I had a good day with two level threes.  We found some green run powder and hit some tree lines.  The best part was that we didn't have to stand in line at the lifts!!!  

Day 83 - perfect powder

Powder - freshly fallen, uncompacted snow.  Light, dry powder snow is prized by skiers and snowboarders.

Freshies/Fresh Tracks - untouched fresh snow.

Packing Snow - snow that is at or near melting point.  Perfect for snowballs, terrible for skiers/riders.

Whistler Blackcomb has received 58 inches (4.8ft) of snow in the last seven days.  Needless to say, the riding has been amazing!!!  And today was the best yet.  Perfect powder (light and dry) and a ton of it.  I'm talking up to your knees powder on green runs in the Family Zone.  And so much of it was still untouched at 3pm.

Not everything was perfect today though.  The winds at the Roundhouse were blustering!  Up to 100km I think.  At one point, there was a complete white out from the wind.  My kids thought they were in an avalanche.  Because of the winds, the Alpine DID NOT open today.  So whoever is lucky enough to get up there first thing tomorrow is going to have the time of their life!!  Unfortunately I have to work....

Freezing levels were high today so even though the powder was amazing above the Emerald Chair, once you got past the Emerald Chair, the snow was literally s**t.  Packing snow that was so wet, my board barely moved.  Not to mention it was pouring rain from the mid-station down.  In fact, most of the lessons downloaded at the end of the day.      

Oh yea, I taught 8 level three riders today.  

Day 82 - still a ton of pow

23 kids in snowboard school and nine instructors scheduled.  I was NOT given a class.  It had been snowing all morning with 4cm overnight.  I ran down to the locker room to get my powder board and quickly jumped on Fitz chair.  I needed to do another minor binding adjustment half way down Lower Whiskey Jack.  I wanted to hit the Peak but it was completely sopped in with clouds, in fact, you couldn't even see the Peak from the Roundhouse.  I decided to hit Mom and Pop trees.  Not too shabby in there but I really wasn't into it..... sad, I know.  I continued down to the village (downloading at midstation since it was wet and raining below Emerald) and called it a day before noon.  

Day 81 - fifteen level two's

Busy week at snowboard school. I love it but at the same time, I hate it. It's so hard to get organized first thing in the morning. Especially when you have 15 kids who are all level two.  Three of us managed to sort everything which left me on the Supercarpet all day.  I did manage to get in two runs to the village and one of the runs was first thing in the morning so I was able to enjoy some freshies on the corduroy.

Lots of snow falling during the day but winds were strong --- keeping Symphony closed.  Also I think Harmony was shut down by noon.  With more snow in the forecast, that should leave some amazing powder in those areas for tomorrow.  Unfortunately, I'll probably be spending another day on the carpets.

Day 80 - powderboard cluster

Whistler has received 30inches of snow in the past 7 days!! Our base is finally back to average height for this time of year.  I woke to find my truck covered (pictured above).  It didn't dawn on me to sign up for AM session.  Oh well.  The only thing I prayed for was to NOT get a level one class so I could enjoy a bit of the 6 inches we got overnight.  Sure enough I was given the task of signing in Level ones.   CRAP!

Two hours later my Supervisor asked if I wanted to work or go home.  Hmmm...... Level One's on the Magic Carpet all day or shred the gnarly pow???  Needless to say, I was shredding three minutes later.

I have three different snowboards and all of them had technical difficulty today.  I can't use the EST bindings on my new Burton board, so I had to "steal" the bindings off my Prior pow board.  That left my powder board with no bindings.  No problem when there wasn't any snow.  But now, we got snow!  I decided to grab the bindings off my "old" board -- unfortunately, one of the screws is stripped and I couldn't get the bindings off.  I wanted to use my powder board so bad but I had no bindings.  So I ran to Showcase to buy the least expensive pair of bindings they had.  Like an idiot, I let the guy who worked there mount the new bindings instead of mounting them myself.  I was in a hurry and didn't really check the stance he gave me.  When I started riding, the stance was too close together and I couldn't get a good balance on the board.   I headed over to the tool board and tried to adjust -- no such luck.  One screw was in so tight, I practically stripped it trying to get it out.  I said screw it!  I flew back down to the village and got my Burton.  Wasted over an hour!!

Finally back in the gondola and headed over to Symphony. I didn't have the pow board but my Burton held up well. So much snow out there! The snow was sooo soft. I got stuck so many times on the flats in Symphony. Closed the lift at 2:30pm then headed to the Saddle and down to the village. My legs were spent! Great great day. If anyone is considering coming up to enjoy the snow we're receiving, stay home! It's crap! The snow is horrible! Stay away! ; )

Day 79 - *A*MAY*ZING*!!!!

A system has stalled over Whistler and there is nothing but snow forecasted until midweek.  I had every intention of doing fresh tracks this morning, but when the alarm went off at 5am, I rolled over and hoped the conditions would still be amazing when we finally got up there around 10am.

I was not let down as today was AMAZING!!  The morning started out sunny and with six inches fresh overnight, there was nothing that could upset the day.  We hit the terrain park for a few laps and shot a bunch of video (to be added soon).  The cue at Emerald was fairly quick so it was easy to get a lot of laps in quickly.  

At noon we headed into the CLC to try and mooch a free lunch.  Score!  Baked potato day and a package of Rice Krispy treats to go.  Back up to the Roundhouse where it had started to snow.  We found so much powder through the trees, off the jumps, just everywhere.  Did I mention it was awesome???  

Si'Aire's last day was a good one.  We spent 5 hours on the snow and we were totally spent by the time we called last run.  

Day 78 - park and powder

16cm overnight and nothing but snow forecasted for the next five days!!  FINALLY!  The boy and I wanted to sleep in so we didn't get up the hill til about 12:30pm.  It had been snowing all morning and the conditions were great.  Soft packed everywhere and a bit of powder to be found in the less common areas.  We lapped the Whistler Terrain Park for about three hours working on jumps, grabs, and 180s.  Stay tuned for the video!!!

Day 77 - Dr. Fill

The kid pictured above is Philip.  We've been calling him Dr. Phil all week.  Too funny.  Quite a cool kid actually.

Last day with my Level 2's.  I am happy to report that they all progressed nicely and finished their day/week as Level 3's.  

The snow at the Roundhouse was soft packed and flurries started around noon.  Forecast calls for more of the white stuff through out the weekend.  Looking forward to the powder!

Day 76 - heel toe * heel toe

I chose another day with the Level 2 riders.  Will probably choose to have them again tomorrow.  One girl was a repeat and two kids were new.  I got one of the boys turning by midmorning.  Did the usual Level 2 stuff:  Supercarpet, Olympic Chair, and valley runs.  Sun was shining once again and temps were soooo warm.  In fact, I think it was 45°F in the village at the end of the day. 

Si'Aire had another Ride Tribe class with Tall Sean.  He said his riding has improved the last couple of days so that's good.  He lasted the entire day so his stamina must be improving also.  tee hee

Day 75 - super goggle tan day

The sun was strong today! Not a cloud in the sky! We had ten riders in lessons, managed to squeeze out three classes.  I had four kids who were on the cusp of turning.   I love having that level class because I have a secret trick that is guaranteed to get kids turning.  Sure enough, by the end of the day, all four were turning.  Two of them moved up a level for tomorrow.

Si'Aire had his own lessons today.  He spent the day with Tall Sean and a 9yr. old in the terrain garden/park on both mountains.  By 2:30 he had a headache and was pretty tired so he met up with me at the CLC and took a final ride down to the village with me and my class.

  

Day 74 - sunny and shi**y!!

Alpine high: 10°F!  Luckily the sun was shining so it felt a bit warmer (when you were standing still).  Once you got moving, your face froze instantly and it felt like a brain freeze (when you drink a milkshake too fast), only instead of your brain freezing, your entire head/face is frozen.

First day on the mountain with my nephew Si'Aire.  It's been a year since the boy has snowboarded but he didn't let that slow him down.  He was done by the end of the second run!  LOL - yet he had the nerve to tell me you don't have to be in shape to snowboard.  Teenagers.  Boy they know it all!  

The runs were absolutely horrible today.  Hard packed and icy.  

Day 73 - minus 2°F--> windchill -31°F

BRRRRR!!! I went to work this morning but wanted to stay in bed where I was comfy cozy, nice and warm.  We had four snowboard instructors scheduled... a change from last week when we only had two people scheduled.  12 kids were signed up for class but only 9 showed up.  Amazingly enough, 7 out of the 9 had never snowboarded before, which only left one other class.  Two of us were sent home (hint, hint) -- My face was frozen by the time I reached the village!

Day 72 -three fur....

We tripled our snowboard business today with three kids signed up for snowboard school.  I was able to take the two higher level riders while Jose was left at the Magic Carpet with the never-ever.  The sun was bright today and the temps had warmed up a bit from yesterday.  Snow conditions were mostly hard packed, soft in some areas and icy in others.  I guess I can describe it as a little bit of everything.  No snow forecasted in the next coming days, in fact, the forecast is showing nothing but sun!  ho hum, sun again......

Day 71 - a lone snowboarder

The economy is taking it's toll on Whistler Blackcomb.  There was one snowboarder signed up for classes today.    The same snowboarder is the only kid signed up for classes tomorrow.  I don't think there has ever been a time when only one kid was signed up for snowboard school in the village.  Lucky for me I was able to take the class and I will able to take the class tomorrow too.

Temperatures were F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G!  The sun was out so that helped!!   But who-doggy! it was cold in the Alpine and windy.  Above Emerald, snow conditions were soft packed.  Powder was around but you had to be careful.  Where the winds blew up, the snow was hard and crusty.... then you'd get back into nice soft packed snow.   Runs got a little icy after that, especially close to the village. 

Day 70 - Magic Carpet Level One's

Four kids in snowboard school today -- double what we had yesterday!!  I was given two Level One kids and spent the day on the Magic Carpet.  I'm not complaining as I can't even remember the last time I had a level class.  My day wasn't very exciting as my kids weren't engaging at all.  I don't think they spoke ten words between the two of them all day.  The morning was wonderful as the sun shined like crazy.  Clouds rolled in by the afternoon but temps were above freezing which made for nice slushy snow.

No one dared go off the groomers up top because what looked like powder was complete ice.  

Working hard or hardly working?

Morgan sporting the crewcut!

Day 69 - rain! .... and then sun!

Boy was it raining hard this AM. It was crazy!  I was told it was raining all the way to the Roundhouse but then other people who went on morning session said it was snowing up top but the snow was really wet and heavy.  Three kids signed up for snowboard school and Charlie and I were hoping for a split so we could both work.  We wasted as much time as possible hanging out in the CLC while the rain fell, but finally we decided to take the three on a run to the village.  Unfortunately they were all the same level and after lunch, Charlie and I rock-paper-scissored to see who would work the rest of the day.  Charlie won.  But one kid is signed up for lessons all week so I'm going to snag her tomorrow.

Day 68 - c e m e n t

A perfectly good waste of 9 inches of snow.  36°F in the Alpine leads to nothing but wet, heavy, choppy snow..... aka "cement".  It was horrible.  I hate when the freezing levels rise.

Took a quick late afternoon lap.  I was hoping I would miss the crowd and get some good pow left over from last night but no such luck.