Day 7 | one six almost seven
Day 6 | Team teaching LeVeL ones
Another busy day in snowboard school, twenty five kids or so. I was assigned level one's. To refresh your memory, these are kids who have never snowboarded before. They usually spend the entire time on the bunny hill at the CLC. We have a small moving carpet to carry the kids up the hill called the Magic Carpet.
There were nine kids in my class so Carly came over to help team teach. We try to stick to no more than seven kids with one instructor. We also don't allow kids under the age of 7 to take snowboard lessons. Young ones tend to not pay attention in class and instead of working on the lesson plan, they normally strap on their snowboard, fly down the hill, make themselves fall, and repeat. Well today we had two six year olds. They were both turning seven in December so they were allowed to take a lesson. Both of them were amazing little guys. By the end of the day, they could sideslip on their heels and toes. They were cute and fun to hang around.
For some reason the Magic Carpet was not running today. A few Lift Maintenance guys were over in the morning to fix it but it's apparently super-broken as they all left shaking their heads in disbelief and having no idea HOW to fix it. So the kids had to walk up the hill all day. By the end of the day, they were so tired! I bet they're all asleep by 8pm. Especially the two six year olds.
I was told the conditions up top were very windy, especially in Harmony and 7th Heaven. The higher you were, the better the snow. The lower you were, the icier the snow. It snowed most of today and more snow is forecasted for tomorrow so I'm sure the conditions will improve greatly within the next day or two. Perhaps after all the holiday-ers leave .....
** if you're a regular visitor from the Toronto area, don't be shy: stop and say HI. Leave a comment. There are a couple of you out there! **
Day 5 | gobble gobble
Another Thanksgiving Day | Another first day back at work. We started our morning meeting discussing the new GPS tracking system that every child and every instructor has to wear. It's called Flaik: a real-time tracking device that measures vertical, distance, speed and more. But best of all, if a child gets lost, it will tell you exactly where he is! It's a great addition to Ski School. Parents can log on to their website and see exactly where their child skied or rode that day. It's free and it's part of Whistler Blackcomb's lesson program. The bummer for us instructors: too many hot chocolate breaks and we're in hot water! LOLWe had 23 snowboarders today with 11 of them being first-timers. I was told I was going to be teaching my Manager's and Supervisor's kids today (no pressure there!). They were both young level 4 riders. I was pretty happy with that considering the snow at the Childrens' Learning Center (CLC) was a sheet of ice! We headed up the gondola to the Roundhouse and started our day.
The sun was shining and the skies were blue. Unfortunately, rising freezing levels over the weekend combined with rain had left the conditions less than desirable. We found some decent pow off Whiskey Jack into Ego Bowl but once we hit the groomer, it was mostly a sheet of ice. We tried to stay off to the sides where the snow had been pushed around. Once you got below Emerald Chair, forget it! It was a total ice rink!!
For the past two seasons, I've taught a cool Hawaiian kid named Izayah. I saw him at check in and spoke to his parents for a bit. He was a level three so I didn't have him in my class but at the end of the day, he gave me a box of chocolate with macadamia nuts! Last season I remember he made me some chocolate chip cookies. He gave me a hug goodbye as they are heading back to Hawaii tomorrow but told me he would see me next year. That really made my day and helped me to remember why I love this job so much.
Day 4 | Another 60 centimeters!!!!!!!!!!
Freezing levels had risen to about the Chic Pea. I overheard people in the gondola saying the snow was thick and "muddy" not too far below Emerald Chair. I decided to take a warm up lap down Whiskey Jack and found conditions past Chic Pea very disappointing. The groomer was wet and packed but the fresh snow on the sides was amazing. I made my way to the green chair where the lift line was past the fencing and since the temps were so warm, the footing was almost like a sheet of ice!
I headed up again and ventured off through the top section of the terrain park. The features the park crew put in on opening day were completely buried. Skiers left into Ego Bowl and there was plenty of fresh pow to be found. You had to keep up your speed otherwise you'd get buried in waist high snow! It was amazing how many runs were virtually untouched. The reason for this was because the snow base is so high that if you don't get enough speed to keep your board moving on top of the snow, your nose gets buried and thus you are digging yourself out of .... well, waist high snow!!!
Opening day's snow base was 100cm (39 inches). A mere six days later, the snow base is 253cm (99 inches)!!!!!!! Great news for Whistler and Whistler Tourism but for the guests it's going to make for a very crowded weekend, especially if they don't open Blackcomb.
Day 3 | +51 centimeters
By 8am the parking lots were almost full and the lift line was already back to the ticket kiosk. I ran into some ski school buddies and we got in line. It took thirty five minutes to reach the gondola entrance. By now it was 9:05am and I had a 10am meeting. Another 20 minutes up to the Roundhouse and by the time I strap in, it's 9:30. I thought: "one run down to mid-station and then to the Orientation."
Naturally I brought my powder board with me. It's a Prior Khyber and it's specifically designed for deep snow days!! I hit the trees off Whiskey Jack into Ego Bowl and the snow was so deep. Even with my powder board, which is designed with a wide nose to float on top of the snow, I got stuck. I was up to my knees in snow and had to wedge my way to a line already tracked earlier. Ego Bowl was groomed with beautiful corduroy so I surfed in and out between the groomed run and the deep pow on the side. It was a great run down to mid-station.
I downloaded and headed to my meeting. At 10am, the lift line was still past Zogs. It must have been the second wave, the crowd that slept in. After two hours of sitting around listening to what is going to happen during the Olympics, I went back up for more epic runs. There is a ton of snow up there and every day keeps getting better and better.
Tonight's forecast calls for another 25-35 centimeters! Looks like another perfect day for the powder board!
Day 2 | 214cm (7 feet!) in SE7EN days!!
The parking lots were full but the liftlines were short. I grabbed my good Burton board this time out as I couldn't find the right binding adjustment on opening day with my Prior board. My Prior board is about 4 years old. I call it my "rock board" and use it during early season conditions - if I run over a rock and damage the base because there isn't enough snow cover, I won't really care. Anyhow, by noon my snowboard was strapped on and I was ready to ride.
First run was down Whiskey Jack with plenty of fresh pow to be found on the side of the run. This green was groomed well down the center and it helped me get my balance and confidence back after a long off-season. Instead of taking the Emerald Chair back up with the wind howling at my face, I decided to head down to mid-station for the comfy cozy gondola. Below Emerald the snow was a bit more crusty, not bad but noticeably different. I was hoping to find a ton of fresh powder under Olympic Chair. I found some for the first 50 yards or so, but it quickly turned to ice with about 6inches of fresh snow on top, also known as dust on crust. Not good. I safely made my way to the gondola and headed back up.
Second run with through some trees and around Ego Bowl area. So much fresh snow to be tracked. Because there has been so much snowfall, the runs were a bit choppy but easy to maneuver through with the snow being so light and fluffy. Ankles and calves burning, I made it back to Emerald Chair and headed up for another run. As I mentioned in my first post, I've been working out 5 days a week for a month, and although those 800 squats and lunges helped my ass and quads, my calves and ankles were sore as hell. Not to mention my right knee. I froze my face off on the chair ride up and decided to ease back into the season slowly ....... I headed down for one last run. I only rode for about an hour and a half. I'm definitely still in summer mode and need to work my muscles into a daily routine slowly. Luckily I have no more commitments and can ride every day until I start work in a week.
Day 1 | A New Season - A New Chapter
Riders and skiers stood in line starting at 4am. By 7am, the line had wrapped through the maze, around the ticket kiosk and went back to The Keg!!!!! It was said it was a half hour wait from Citta's to the beginning of the maze. Not too bad, that's sounds pretty quick if you knew how far that is. By 11am, over 5,000 visitors had made their way up the Village Gondola. Biggest opening day on record.
With a Snowbase of 100cm (just over 3ft), opening day was a huge success. There was plenty of fresh powder to be found to go along with the green groomers. I reached the top of the gondi by 11:30am. The lift lines were long but expected with only a few lifts open, but the snow was amazing! It took me a couple of runs to get my "snow legs" back. I was in wakeboard stance for the first half hour and caught myself leaning back a few times during the day. When riding a snowboard, you want to have your weight evenly distributed over the center of the board.
I was surprised how sore and tired my legs were, especially considering I've done between 800 and 1000 squats and lunges every week for the past five weeks!! I was happy I had been working out otherwise I would have been toast. More on tap for tomorrow --- Day 1 of 100 is in the books!
Here's the WB video link ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEy8FWQesD8
It's Official: Opening Day Nov. 14, 2009 Whistler Blackcomb
