Day 34 | goodbye twenty ten

Last day of Adventure Camp and I only had three kids today.  It was once again clear, sunny, and very cold.  You could take yesterday's blog and copy it here as we did much of the same.  Couple runs on Whistler before lunch then over to Blackcomb after lunch.

I was a little peeved at the end of the day when I didn't get one tip from any of the parents.  I spent five days with these kids and thought a nice gratuity was in order.  The Ski Instructors make over $100 a week in tips after teaching kids for five days.  My fellow locker buddy received $260 in tips from the parents of his kids this week.  The AC Snowboard Instructors got hardly anything in tips this week.  This sparked a conversation with some Privates Snowboard Instructors.  Both said that snowboarding clients are very reluctant to open their wallets at the end of the day.  They have a different mentality than the clients who ski.  I found this odd and honestly, a bit insulting.  Why the difference?  We work just as hard as Ski Instructors.  It was an interesting conversation and I would love to get the topic started on other media outlets but I don't know where to begin.  Instead I thought I would mention it here.  Maybe someone who reads this could shed some light on the subject.

Day 33 | bone-chilling

When I parked my 4Runner in the Day Lot, my outside temperature gauge read 7°F (-14°C).  Needless to say, I was not looking forward to snowboarding in frigid, bone-chilling temperatures.  I made a stop into EBCB and purchased some toe warmers.  If it was going to be cold, at least some toe warmers and hand warmers would help.

The lift line moved much more quickly and we were at the Roundhouse before 10am.  We took a warm up run down Ego Bowl, but warm up was not even close.  Damn, it was cold.  The girl in my class didn't have a neck warmer and she was so cold that she was in pain.  We made our way to the CLC as quickly as possible and dropped her off to warm up.  The boys and I were able to squeeze in another run (down the bike trail) before lunch.

The sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky.  I decided to go to Blackcomb after lunch because we would be in the sun and that would help it feel warmer.  The kids wanted to work on switch so we lapped Easy Out to Catskinner Chair working on switch and hitting jumps off the side.  Then we took a run down Bark Sandwich, the black diamond gladed run.  It wasn't as nice as it was on Christmas Day but it wasn't icy either.  The kids did amazingly well through there even though it was hard to turn through some of the huge moguls.  The last two runs we took through the Terrain Garden.  The afternoon was nice and with the help of my warmers, it wasn't that cold at all.  Cap it off with a nice $40 tip!  cha-ching 

Day 32 | u can all go home now

The only girl in my group didn't show up for lessons this morning so instead of getting up the gondola ahead of the crowd, we waited around to see if she was going to show up and ended up in the middle of the crowd.  We waited in line for the gondola for a half hour!  And that was the Ski School line.  The Village is crazy busy and with five days left of the holiday break, I am ready for everyone to leave NOW!

When we finally packed into a cabin, we only had an hour before lunch ... or one run, so we took Orange Peel to Tokum, which was the run of the day.  The kids loved it because there were plenty of jumps to hit on the sides and I think they hit every single one!

We went in for lunch early and left early.  The kids wanted to do the same run again so we went up Garbanzo Chair.  Instead of going down Tokum though, I took them through the bike trail named Freight Train.  OMG they loved that and wanted to do it again.  Of course, we did it again.

After that I thought the kids would love to do Marmot Trees so we rode down to mid-station and took the gondi up to the Roundhouse.  As we dropped into Marmot Trees, I realized with all the snow we've had in the last week that Marmot Trees didn't exist.  No one has tracked it out so there is four feet of fresh snow covering the best kids tree run on Whistler.  Bummer.  My kids didn't mind because they didn't know what they were missing.  Instead we took the P2P line down through the trees and ended up at the CLC for ice cream apres.

One last rip down to the village and that finished the day.  It was really cold today so I was happy to finish a tiny bit early.

Day 31 | whose kid is this?

Christmas, Christmas time is here!  Whistler Blackcomb is hosting well over 20,000 visitors these days.  It's a time when you'd rather be working because you can cut in line with your class.  : )

My Adventure Camp kids met me in the Village and by 9am we were headed up the gondola for our first run of the day.  We did a nice, easy green groomer as a warm up and rode down to the CLC to pick up some Destination kids.

Levels 3,4,5, & 6 all shredded down to the Village in order to work out some splits.  When it was all said and done, my class picked up one other kid named Jack.  When we reached the Village, the Ski School queue was almost to the ticket kiosk so we went up Fitzsimmons Chair and then jumped on Garbanzo Chair.  We were then able to head down a black diamond run, Raven and then down Ptarmigan, which was the Run of the Day.

We had early lunch (11am) so we didn't do much riding in the morning.  A kid who was a level four was lapping the Magic Carpet all morning, never got put into a class.  NOT GOOD!  In fact, there were three kids on the Carpet without an Instructor from 9:30am to 11:00am.  I was given the level four kid, another boy named Jack, the other kids were level twos.

My fingers were crossed that Jack could keep up with our class.  After lunch we went up Garbanzo again and rode Raven to Emerald.  Jack was fine ... he was definitely a level four rider and he could easily keep up with the class.

We took the Peak to Peak over to Blackcomb and went through the Terrain Garden twice before heading down to the Village.  We were too early to call it a day so we had to head back up the Whistler Gondola to the CLC.  I took a bit of a break while the kids hit the jump for a few.  We then finished the day with a final run to the Village where the kids were checked out and I was able to sit in traffic as I drove back home.  Christmas, Christmas time is here!

Day 30 | bananas with ketchup

In the last week, Whistler Blackcomb has received 217cm or 7ft of snow!!  That's crazy!!  But so awesome!!  It's another week of Adventure Camp and I have four kids in a level four class.  I am so happy to actually be able to snowboard this week.  And my class is great!  The kids are really nice and they're really fast.

It took us a while to get everyone sorted in the morning.  Three different levels went down to the village to work out the splits.  It's great having 15 kids and four instructors taking over the runs.  Ha ha!  After the splits were ironed out, I took my guys up to the Roundhouse and we quickly dropped into the powder off Whiskey Jack.  Of course, two of them got stuck and totally sunk into the fresh pow.  After that we hit the trees on Enchanted Forest.  The kids loved that run so much that we did it a couple more times.

We had the late lunch so the afternoon was only about an hour and a half long.  We took one run from the Roundhouse to the CLC and the kids wanted to build a jump.  They spent about 20 minutes on the jump they built and then we rode down to the village to finish our day.  

By the way, yes!  Kramey Jamer is eating his banana with ketchup on it.  He likes to gross out the kids!

Day 29 | ski in & ski out

After yesterday's early morning adventures, I decided to sleep in a bit today.  Another 7 inches of snow fell last night and the freezing levels had dropped leaving Whistler with light fluffy pow to enjoy for Day 29.  I grabbed my new Endeavor board and walked out my front door fully dressed and ready to shred.

My condo overlooks Creekside, just by the Olympic Rings, and it's ski in, ski out.  I've never experienced such a luxury and let me tell you ... it's awesome.  I walked about 50 yards from my front door, strapped on my board, and I was on my way!

I met up with Pippa around 11am and we hit a few groomers and easy trees.  The ride back up Emerald Chair was brutal with the wind whipping in your face the entire ride.  We decided to take a run down to mid-station to avoid that wind but once we hit the freezing level, the snow changed to hard packed, wet, bumpy, dangerous crap!  Enduring the wind was way better than riding those conditions again.

We ran over to Rat Fink and hit Mom and Pop trees for about three or four runs.  The snow was nice, most of the ungroomed runs were untouched as no one wanted to be the first to plow through 3 feet of snow.  We were tired from yesterday so the laps we took were perfect, nothing too strenuous, fun, and tons of soft snow.

I headed back down towards Creekside about 2pm.  It's a long way down to those Olympic Rings.  Once again the snow got crappy below the freezing level but I made it back to my condo safe and sound.  It was great not having to take my truck out of the garage.  I'm loving this ski in, ski out!!

Day 28 | Christmas Fresh Tracks

SNOW REPORT:  17 inches the last 12 hours ..... 28 inches the last 24 hours .... 45 inches in the last 48 hours.  Base:  8.4 feet!!

I was on the schedule to work Christmas Day but was called off Christmas Eve during lunch.  At first I was quite upset I wouldn't be working on Christmas.  My friend Pippa text'd me and said she was also called off and wanted to do Fresh Tracks.  I was waking up at 5am anyhow to open gifts on the video cam with my family back home so I thought having breakfast at the Roundhouse afterwards was a great idea.

At 7am I was in the gondola queue and I was well into my second plate of breakfast an hour later.  It was windy and with 44 cm of snow falling overnight, we didn't think AC would give the go ahead too early.  When the bell rang, we dropped into the powder off Whiskey Jack and ... OH MY GOD!!!  44 centimeters is a lot of snow!  It was a bit heavy with the freezing level at 1300m but it was insanely fun.  If you strayed too far off the groomed run, you would easily get stuck and spend the next 15 minutes trying to stand back up.

Before we got down to the Emerald Chair, the snow got very wet and very sticky.  We took the next run down Green Acres because it was a bit steeper.  We needed a steeper run to keep the boards moving through the deep snow.  After that run, we decided to try Blackcomb because it's steeper than Whistler.

First run down Blackcomb was the black diamond: Catskinner.  It was pretty tracked out but the snow was soft and working on the bumps helped us with our level 3 training.  After that we hit my new favorite tree run:  Bark Sandwich.  We hooked up with Rosie after a few more runs and when Jersey Cream opened, we rode down the face a few times.

I could go on and on about the many many amazing runs we took.  I could go on and on about the amazing amount of snow.  I won't bore you with the details.  Let's just say it was a Christmas miracle that I didn't have to work today!  : )  

Day 27 | red and yellow lightboard

35cm / 12 inches of fresh snow fell about 1200m in Whistler  Blackcomb last night.  I was hoping to get my class to the Roundhouse today but that plan never happened.  It was pouring rain in the village when the kids checked into lessons.  It was also gusting winds up to 125kph up top on the ridge line.  Avalanche control didn't clear Red Chair until well after 9am.  The gondola was running at 3mps which mean it took about 35 minutes to reach the Roundhouse.  And because AC hadn't cleared anything until late, the lift line on the gondola was huge and each cabin was packed to ten until close to noon.

It was snowing huge wet flakes at the CLC.  But because it was windy and the gondi cabins were packed, there were only a couple options my class had.  Braving the wind on Garbanzo Chair was not an option.  Getting back on the gondola was not an option because we would only make it down to Emerald Chair and I wasn't going to sit on Emerald Chair in the wind just to download back on the gondi.  There was no way my heavy kid would make it from the Roundhouse to the CLC.  We couldn't go down to the village because it was raining most of the way down and the gondola lift line was too long.  That left us with two choices: Magic Carpet or Olympic Chair.  Joy!

I couldn't have the kids spend the day on the Magic Carpet so we hit the Olympic Chair.  It took approximately 24 minutes to get from the bottom of the chair to the top.  By that time, we were all soaking wet.  I killed as much time as I could in the CLC before taking first run, so after that Olympic run, we went right back to the CLC to get in line for lunch.

By this time, we were all soaked.  I took as much time in the lunchroom as possible before heading back to the Olympic Chair for two more runs.  Then inside for report cards and then download to go home.  Wasn't expecting much in the way of tips but I was pleasantly surprised with $70 from two parents.  Merry Christmas Eve to me.

Day 26 | baby monkey

So much snow has fallen and keeps falling in Whistler.  I'm missing some epic days.  Once my kids were rounded up and checked in, we hit the Olympic Chair for two runs before lunch.   What use to take us an hour, now takes us 10 minutes.  They are improving but they're not turning.  The snow around the Learning Area was great.  I can only imagine how dreamy it is in the Alpine!

After lunch we headed down to the village.  Yesterday that took us about an hour and fifteen minutes.  Today we did it in just under an hour.  And that included taking the "secret passage".....

Morgan's class kept singing this song called: Baby Monkey.  They showed me the video on Youtube.  Now I can't stop singing the catchy tune.  If you're interested in the cute video and annoying song (that doesn't leave your head) ... CLICK HERE!

Day 25 | jelilah

We've made it half way through the week.  16cm of fresh powder fell last night with another 20-30cm forecasted for the next couple of days.  I won't get a chance to enjoy any of it as I don't think my team is going to quite make it to "Alpine riding standards" ..... even after practicing for a week.  I have one kid who might make it to level three by Friday but I doubt any of the others will.

So today we went to the Super Carpet first thing in the morning and practiced S-turns.  The snow was soft packed and the kids had a bit of a hard time but they managed.  One girl could turn most of the way down and my "big boy" could turn the whole way down.  I was pretty impressed with that to be honest.  The others just aren't grasping the concept.

I didn't feel like sitting on the slow Olympic Chair, (that chair makes me want to kill myself) - so after lunch I decided to take the kids to the village.  They can all zig zag in control so I had no qualms about them being out of control.  The only problem is that I have a "big boy"- he's 12 and he's a BIG BOY!  He was turning on the easy slopes going down to the village but he's so big, that he gets tired very, very quickly.  Half way down I had to let the rest of the kids go with my shadow as I felt they were waiting too long for him to catch up.  He would slip down about 20 feet and then take a rest.  20 more feet, then take another rest.  He ended up having to walk down the last third of the run.

We met back up with the other kids at the CLC about an hour and fifteen minutes after starting the journey down to the village.  Once we were all back safe and sound at the CLC, I made a ramp and the kids got a chance to roll off a jump!  They really liked that.

Day 24 | twenty one questions

The second day of Adventure Camp is always easier than day one because you know who your kids are and you know what they can do.  The girl who fell on her wrist has a cast so she is done.  But I was given another boy from a different class so I'm still at the lucky number of six kids.

We spent the morning on the Magic Carpet warming up and working on zig zags.  The carpet was out of commission for about an hour so the kids would snowboard down and then walk back up.  Very tiring after a few runs.  We took a nice hot chocolate break and afterwards the carpet was back up and running.

I made the executive decision to move the kids off the carpet and over to the Olympic Chair.  I wasn't 100% sure they could all do it, but I had a shadow following us around so that aided in my decision.  If one got stuck, I had the shadow to pull up the rear.  Coming down the Olympic run went better than expected.  We got about half way down and then my two "butterfly children" decided to not stop where they were told and got separated from the group.  Another Instructor found them alone and knew enough to call them in.  My shadow chased them down and we regrouped at the top of the Super Carpet.  Going up the chair and coming down the green run took up most of the afternoon.  We went inside for some hot chocolate and played 20 questions.  Before we knew it, it was time to go.

Day 23 | the Adventure begins

It's Monday and we had more kids today than yesterday.  I think we ended up with about 75 snowboarders with 15 of them being in Adventure Camp.  I desperately wanted an Adventure Camp class so I gave myself six first timers!  Not the best move in the world, but I'm hoping it wasn't the worst either (think tip $).  To remind the readers, Adventure Camp means we get the same kids for five days in a row.

It took us awhile to organize 75 kids into the correct levels but we eventually got it done and everyone was on their way before 10am.  There have been lots of kids new to snowboarding taking lessons lately.  That means lots of kids on the Magic Carpet area.  I think at one point we had close to 30 kids in that small area.

My kids are all very well behaved.  At first I thought I was going to have a few who weren't going to "get it" but surprisingly, all my kids are picking up the balance on both edges quickly.  Hopefully they will all progress quickly and at the same time.  Though I do have one very heavy set boy who I know will probably have a heart attack when we can finally reach the point of riding down to the village.

After lunch, the best girl in the class fell on her wrist and I had to call Patrol.  She went down for x-rays but I have a feeling it's not going to be good news.  She didn't cry at all when it happened but she did say it was very painful.  It's usually the non-criers who have the worst injuries.  The kids who bawl and bawl are the ones who are usually fine.  That being said, I am hopeful she will return to class tomorrow but in all honesty, I am very doubtful.  

Day 22 | jingle all the way

The holiday season has fallen upon Whistler Kids as about 200 of the small fries showed up for lessons today, with 50 of them being snowboarders.  I was once again assigned to teach the Lil Rippers and I had two boys ages 5 and 6.  I certainly didn't mind teaching the Lil Rippers ... especially after witnessing the chaos of trying to organize 50 riders into levels.  Most of the instructors had around 7 kids in their class so my day was easy with just two.

Once we go up to the CLC, we went inside for some fruit and hot chocolate.  Then it was outside to practice our sideslipping for about a half hour.  Time for another break with juice and cheese and crackers.  Back outside to practice.  40 minutes later, time for lunch.  That took about an hour after I broke my kids zipper on his coat and had to find an extra jacket for him to wear.  More practice on the Magic Carpet and then it was our time on the jungle gym.  One last half hour of snow time and then it was back inside so I can fill out report cards and give the guys the crushed chocolate chip cookies I stashed in my jacket pocket.

Teaching the little guys is easy as it's mostly a day of breaks with very little riding.  But it's also a hectic day as you're technically babysitting.  You can't take your eyes off a 5 year old for a second!  I didn't mind not having to worry about the 50 other riders in Snow School.  I'm sure I'll do my time "worrying" as the week goes on.

Day 21 | out with the old, in with the new

I found another dime again today!  Third dime found in three days.  I'm starting to get a little freaked out.
All the hectic, low level, jam-packed classes I've had over the past two weeks have finally paid off!  Today I had ONE level four kid.  It was so relaxing, especially during lunch.

We had another twenty something kids in snowboard school.  Lots of level ones, and even more level twos.  I was so happy to take the "private" class.  And it was the miraculous cool kid from Sunday who strapped on a snowboard and started turning on his own.

I decided to hang up the old Prior board and I christened the new Burton Feelgood.  I love new gear!  It was freshly waxed and the edges were sharp as knives.  We warmed up down Ego Bowl and then headed to Marmot Trees.  One more run and we went in for lunch.

In the afternoon, my kid wanted to hit Marmot trees again.  Nine out of ten kids love the Marmot trees!

When asked what his favorite part of snowboarding was, his answer was: jumps!  So we went through the small park on Whistler and then we went through it again.

It was a clear day which meant the temps were cold.  The snow was hard packed on the easy groomers and pretty soft off piste.  We decided to head down to the CLC to warm up and have some hot chocolate.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hitting a jump off the Magic Carpet then rode down to the Village to finish the day.  And it was a good day!  New board, one kid, high level .... and I found a dime.

Day 20 | deuces

I found a dime on the ground two days in a row.  That has nothing to do with my day of riding but thought it was interesting.  I went to work today determined to assign myself a nice high level class since I've had low levels for two weeks solid.  At the morning meeting, my manager quickly assigned me the level twos with a shadow.  Bummer!

We had 24 riders signed up to take lessons.  My shadow and I took 9 level twos.  Some of whom I had yesterday and some fresh faces.  We got them warmed up on the Magic Carpet and then decided to take them down to the village.  That didn't turn out to be the brightest idea since snow guns were blowing about 3/4 of way down the entire run.  They were really loud and pushing out lots of soft snow that most of the kids kept getting stuck in.  It took us about an hour to reach the village and then we headed in for lunch.

Once we started going to the village, we found out about three of the kids were turning and needed to be bumped up a level.  So during lunch we sent those kids to the level three instructor.  My manager also informed me that my shadow will also be going with the level three instructor so she could get an idea of how higher level classes ran.  I grabbed my six remaining kids and headed to the Super Carpet for practice on their S turns.  We spent most of the afternoon there.  At the end of the day, my kids were exhausted.  I think the run to the village in the morning really wiped them out.

Day 19 | twelve and seven

I was nice and handed out the higher level classes to two other instructors.  I gave myself four level twos: two twelve year olds and two seven year olds.  I must have still been half asleep in the morning when I gave myself that class.  I don't know what I was thinking.  With such an age gap, there is bound to be a gap in riding ability too.

We spent about an hour on the Magic Carpet and finally I said "eff it" ... let's go down to the village.  The only thing the kids could do was side slip and we were suppose to work on turns, but how boring is that?  It took us about an hour to make our way to the village.  The kids were really super stoked that they got to go down a real run.  After lunch we went over to the Super Carpet to practice S turns.  That is such a great area for practicing turns, even the seven year olds could eventually turn down it.

I wanted to take our last run down to the village again, but the boys were fooling around (wrestling) in the CLC during our afternoon break, and of course, someone got hurt.  I ended up calling Patrol to come take a look.  It wasn't anything serious, but the Patroller told the kid he was done for the day.  So instead of riding down to the village, I ended up building a jump for the bigger kids to hit and we downloaded in the gondola at the end of the day.

Day 18 | W E T

Woke up this morning to pouring rain.  I was soaked by the time I reached the locker room from the parking lot (damn pay parking).  It was raining all the way up to the Alpine so I had no problems not getting a class good enough to go up there.  I was more than happy spending the day at the CLC - even better if I got to go home.  I was planning on spending the day with my returning kid who needed extra attention.

We had six instructors on and four classes.  One of each level.  Two guys went home and my kid from yesterday never showed up.  That left me with one level two girl that I was trying to get good enough to go with the level threes after lunch.  Yesterday she was a first timer and fell on her forearm.  She said this morning it was fine but just a little bit sore.

After wasting as much time as possible inside and then wasting even more time with the Whistler Kids photographers, we headed over to the Super Carpet.  She was working on S turns and because the snow was quite wet and choppy, she kept falling a lot.  We spent about an hour there.  By the time we reached the CLC, she was holding her arm and I asked her how it felt.  She said it hurt a little.  When she took off her jacket, her arm was really swollen and her fingers were turning blue.  Time to call Patrol.  Patrol splinted her up and took her down to the clinic.  That allowed me to head home after lunch!

The ski out opened a couple days ago so I wasted no time strapping on my board and actually snowboarding down to the village to end my day and my long week.

The kid in the picture showed up today as a first timer.  His second run down the Magic Carpet, he was turning!  And he's here all week so I'm sure at some point he will be in my class and we'll get to shred.  He seems like a cool kid so I'm looking forward to it.

Day 17 | have u ridden a board lately?

I was excited first thing in the morning when my Supervisor said I would be taking the level fours today.  My excitement quickly deflated when the ten kids in Snowboard School turned out to only be level ones and twos.  Oh and add to that, four Lil Rippers.

My day was a hog wash of all different levels.  I was told to help out with the Lil Rippers but there was also a new Instructor who never taught kids before and was given six level ones.  Included in that six was my "special" kid from yesterday who needs a little extra attention.  Basically I did a little bit of everything: I helped the level one instructor, I helped the Lil Rippers, and I helped "special" kid.

After lunch I took a 5 year old female Ripper and "Special" over to the Super Carpet.  I walked up and down with them for about an hour.  This is the fifth day in a row that I have worked but have not strapped on my snowboard.  I'm getting a lot of exercise walking up and down, up and down.  Tomorrow I'm hoping to take my special needs kid on the Olympic Chair for at least one run.  He will love that and my snowboard will be grateful that it gets used.

Day 16 | Glacier chair opens

Eight kids in Snowboard School today!  woo hoo.  There were only three classes: levels one through three.  I took the level one kid, who we learned yesterday, needed extra attention.  Not that he's a trouble maker or anything, he just has a hard time concentrating.  He never got two feet on his board yesterday but today he did really well and could side slip on his heels by lunch.

Needless to say I spent another day on the Magic Carpet.  I'm a bit jealous of my fellow instructor, Kramey Jamer, who got first chair up Glacier and then hiked up to 7th.  70cm of untouched heaven!  And he was the first one up there.  Hopefully I will get a higher level tomorrow and get myself into the Alpine to enjoy some actual snowboarding.

Day 15 | boat-moveal

Today was my last day with my Lil Ripper (and hopefully my last day with Lil Rippers in general for a few weeks).  I had high hopes for him, wanting to get him on the Olympic Chair but his attention span wasn't quite all there and he was tired from the previous two days.

There was a bit of snow that fell on the Magic Carpet area overnight, making the run extra hard to practice on.  We took a few laps, then went inside to color, took more laps and then made a snowman.  The day went by pretty fast as he didn't do much snowboarding today.  He got to take a ride on the Whistler Kids snowmobile which he kept calling a "boat-moveal".

Large snowflakes fell after lunch and we went with Lauren's level two class to the Super Carpet.  I've been teaching for the last three days and I haven't put my snowboard on.  I've done way more walking than I have done snowboarding.  Up the carpet, down the carpet ... up the carpet, down the carpet .....

Day 14 | more Rippers

Another 20 cm of fresh snow fell overnight.  I think it's getting pretty good up in the Alpine, however I'm still teaching my five year old.  I'm not complaining as he's a lot of fun.  Besides, the wind gusts reached almost 100kph today!  That's blizzard conditions.  Still lots of snow coming our way through Sunday, but those freezing levels are going to rise and rise and rise.  That's not good.  No idea when I'll get back up in the Alpine but I imagine it will be sometime before the season comes to an end.  ; )

Lauren and I had two Lil Rippers today.  I had my return kid from yesterday and Lauren also had a kid who was returning. He got lost in the older boarder shuffle the last two days.  Today we got him sorted out.  It was fun hanging with Lauren today.  She spent the last winter in Australia teaching these little guys how to shred so she had a lot to shed on the subject.  She knows the secrets on the best way to teach them.  We even made it to the Super Carpet today.

My guy is ripping it.  He can now control himself and use his heelside edge.  His mom was totally impressed!  and in disbelief..... Hopefully I can teach him again tomorrow because I'd like to get him onto the Olympic Chair.  Did I mention how much fun he was??

Day 13 | rain

There is lots of snow forecasted for the week ..... more than 90cm (3 ft).  The problem is the freezing level is right below the Emerald Chair.  Above the chair, the snow is mixed with rain and it's very wet and heavy.  Hopefully the freezing levels will get back down to the village as the front hangs around the area helping the snow get drier.

For me, that meant I spent the day in the rain at the CLC babysitting, ooops!  I mean, teaching a five year old Lil Ripper.  Actually the kid wasn't that bad.  He was fun to hang around.  He was smiling all day and laughing.  He had a great time.  He had gone snowboarding a few times with his dad so he had great balance going down straight and fast.  By the end of the day, I had him using his heel edge as his "brake" so hopefully he can start keeping some control.

Teaching these kids is totally different than what we're use to doing.  Here was our day:  upload the gondola to mid-station, pictures taken at the CLC, three runs down the Magic Carpet, inside for hot chocolate, two runs down the Magic Carpet, build a snowman, inside for lunch, three runs down the Magic Carpet, inside to the jungle gym, back outside to visit the snowman, one run down the Magic Carpet, inside for running around (a break), four more runs on the Magic Carpet,  .... time to go home.

He's signed up until Thursday and I was already asked if I would take him tomorrow.  I couldn't commit either way so we'll find out what happens tomorrow.  It's definitely more like babysitting than it is teaching someone how to snowboard.  But if the snow is going to be crap in the Alpine, I might as well put in my time on the Magic Carpet now.  Leaving me open for higher classes later on when the snow is good.

Day 12 | shadowed

Not an extra busy day at Whistler Kids and I had my first shadow of the season.  His name is James and he's from Australia (go figure).  There was a grand total of six kids signed up for snowboard lessons and James and I worked with the level ones.  It turns out there was only one true level one, one kid who never snowboarded before and the other kids were level twos.  We worked with Zac, who had the level two class, and switched off a couple kids here and there as Zac took some kids to the Super Carpet and Olympic Chair.  The rest stayed with us on the Magic Carpet depending on how tired they were.

The day was nothing exciting.  In fact, the hours seems to drag along.  At one point, we all tobogganed down the Magic Carpet using our snowboards as sleds.  That was fun.

Day 11 | Harmony & Crystal open

It was a beautiful clear day in Whistler, which meant it was quite cold.  My morning went by fast as I took two kids who were at two completely different levels.  Of course, I didn't realize the extreme until we got to the Roundhouse and had to snowboard down.  It was fine, it just took over and hour to get back to the CLC.  So my morning only consisted of one run.  I'm not complaining as my feet were frozen by the time we hit the kids area.

After lunch, I dropped the slow girl and picked up a fast girl (my bosses daughter).  Because the sun was shining, I decided to head over to Blackcomb where the sun shines on that mountain all day.  Whistler is completely shaded by early afternoon this time of year.  Crystal Chair opened today so we headed over there to check out Ridge Runner.  It was nothing to brag about and the kids hated taking the 1.5 mile cat track back to Excelerator Chair.  From there we wanted to head back up on Jersey but that chair had stopped and had a ten minute fix ahead of it.  So we skated over to Zig Zag and took that run down to Solar Coaster.

Once we hit the top of Solar Coaster, we took our "cool down" run on Easy Out.  I wasted time by trying to get the kids to practice ollies, 180s, tail presses, small jibs etc.  Anything that required us to move slowly and because it was easy terrain, the kids could practice some cool tricks.  We made our way to the gondola where we downloaded and reached the village just in time to get signed out for 3:15.  

Day 10 | Peak Chair opens

I was called off from work today so I signed up for Level 3 Prep training.  My plan is to take as many of these training classes as possible this season in order to improve my snowboarding and with hopes of getting certified as a level three instructor at the beginning of next season.  Higher certification means more pay.  And the training that Whistler Blackcomb offers instructors is free.

I met up with my friend Pippa (who also wants to train for her 3) at the bottom of the village gondola and we headed up to Blackcomb via the Peak 2 Peak.  There we met with Adam, the Instructor, and three other guys who also work for WB.  Adam worked us hard today!  We spent the entire day working on moguls.  Luckily the snow was really soft which made it easier but after a couple runs, the legs were slowly turning into jelly.

We worked on moguls for about two and a half hours before we broke for a late lunch.  After lunch we did some freeriding and searched for some powder, which wasn't hard to find.  After a couple more cool down runs, we called it a day and headed to the Blackcomb gondola to download.  It was a great day as I feel like I definitely improved on my mogul work and I look forward to practicing more.

Day 9 | groomy groomers

It's still slow in Whistler Kids and today we had two snowboarders:   brothers from Toronto.  Luckily for Devon and I (the only two instructors working) they were both in different levels.  For the boys that meant private lessons, for us that meant we both got work.

I took the seven year old and for his age, this kid was a ripper!  I made him take a run down the Magic Carpet where he quickly zig zagged down.  Next up was Super Carpet where he turned the entire length.  I threw him on the Olympic Chair and he had no problem turning down that section either.  I didn't waste any time taking him up the gondola.

Finally I got him to a place where he had a little tougher time turning.  We did a couple runs on the greens and then headed in for lunch.  After lunch we headed back up the gondola and I ventured into some powder off of Whiskey Jack.  Because he is only 7, he tired easily and started to fall even on the groomers. I decided to head back to the CLC and finish the day off with a jump.

The conditions were soft packed powder.  Because it's not so busy, some corduroy was still showing even late in the afternoon.  The runs were really sweet.
I've already been called off for tomorrow.  I'm not sure why Ski School isn't very busy.  WB is reporting higher visits this year than same day as last year.  I'm guessing it probably has something to do with the dollars being equal.  Hopefully it will start to pick up again soon.

Day 8 | Adults part two

Another day of working with adults.  The two Australian honeymooners returned and were joined with four other people who also took group lessons yesterday.  By 10am we were in the gondola headed to Olympic station and the Super Carpet.  We spent some time on the carpet and I evaluated the group's riding ability.  To make things more exciting, I suggested we try the Olympic Chair.

After one run down Olympic we headed up to the Roundhouse for lunch.  Again, I had to pay for my own lunch.  Really hating that!  I never realized how valuable a free lunch is.  It saves me approximately $30 a week!  After we got some food in our bellies, we made our way back to mid-station and headed back up Olympic Chair.  We did one run down Olympic again and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the Carpet.

I enjoyed working with the adults as you can have "adult" conversations but I'm starting to realize that nothing exciting happens when you work with adults.  I certainly don't have any diaper or peeing in your snowsuit stories to tell.  Makes for a boring blog!  Back to Kids tomorrow .....

Day 7 | 31cm overnight

I was originally scheduled to have the day off today.  I was excited as the forecast called for lots of snow to fall during the night.  Around 8pm last night, I got the call and was asked if I wanted to work Adult Groups.  I hesitated knowing how good the riding would be today but reluctantly agreed to work.  Needless to say my decision was even more upsetting when I woke in the morning to find a foot of fresh new snow with snow continuing to fall all day.

Anyhow, I sucked it up, or should I say: I dried my tears and then got my butt to work.  I was handed a level one group with only three people.  A WB employee and a married couple from Australia on their honeymoon.  We spent the day on the Super Carpet.  Working in Adults is very much different than working with kids.  It has it's pluses and minuses.  The biggest minus being that I had to buy my own lunch.  Lunch is provided with Whistler Kids.

I'm scheduled for Adults again tomorrow.  There haven't been too many kids signed up for lessons this week.  Not sure why.  I'm guaranteed to work tomorrow since my honeymoon couple is returning.  Too bad it wasn't a Private lesson with request.  That's how you make the big bucks!


** 137cm | 4.5ft base **

Day 6 | Kramey Jamer

We had plenty of staff lined up for the 23 snowboarders booked in for lessons.  It has snowed over 24cm (9 inches) again last night .... for the second night in a row.  I was stoked to find out I'd be teaching the level three class because that meant I could finally enjoy some fresh powder.

Jamey Kramer was teaching one level four girl so we decided to make it a day together since I only had two kids in the lower level.  We headed to the gondola and got to the Roundhouse by 10am.  I let Jamey lead the way with the kids while I enjoyed some free riding behind them.  I hit as much powder on the sides of the runs as I could.  It was awesome.  Everything was tracked out after a couple runs but the soft packed conditions were super fun to play on.

The weather was a mixed bag of everything.  Sneak peaks of the sun in the morning.  Then a few low clouds came in fogging things up for a couple of runs.  After lunch the sun was shining like crazy.  Since it's that time of year when it gets dark super early, the sun hides behind the Peak around 1:30 making Whistler super cold from being in the shade.  But Blackcomb is still sunny for most of the day.  We chased the sun by taking the Peak to Peak over to Blackcomb and finished up our day on that side.  The kids were exhausted by 2:30pm.  Job well done!

 

Day 5 | nightmare in a box

Another busy day at Whistler Kids with 25 snowboarders.  I shared a class of nine level two's with Pip Bennett.  She normally works Schools but is filling in at the Village until the School Program opens.  Over a foot of snow fell overnight making conditions at the Magic Carpet very soft but fun to learn on.  We spent the morning teaching the kids how to S-turn.

After lunch we headed to the Olympic Chair where we had the longest chair ride of our lives!  For some reason the lifties had the chair running at 1mph.  I swear I could have walked up the bunny hill faster.  One of the kids was afraid of heights and when he got off the chair he said the experience was a "nightmare in a box" .... He was terrified.  LOL  I have a feeling he was embellishing a bit.  : )

It turns out not everyone was 100% on their zig zags and some of them were a little wild/out of control.  Pip walked the length of the run helping the stragglers to get up to snuff.  Needless to say the kids had a blast.  We only had time for one run on Olympic Chair so we headed back to the CLC for hot chocolate and then we had free ride time on the Magic Carpet for the rest of the afternoon.

Day 4 | lil rippers

Whistler Kids is starting a new snowboard program this year called: Lil Rippers.  Normally you have to be at least 7 years old to take a snowboard lesson.  Now, with the new program, 4-6 year olds can take a lesson.  It's not an easy to program to start because it's difficult to teach kids at this age.  First, they don't have the attention span to concentrate on the lesson you're teaching.  Second, some say they don't have the muscle development needed at that age for snowboarding.

Today was the first day of work and we had 18 snowboarders taking lessons.  Three of those 18 were in the Lil Rippers program and I was the golden instructor given the class.  Well, I wasn't really given the class, I was the one who stepped up to babysit when no one else wanted to.  And that's exactly what it was:  babysitting.  Well, not really, but kind of.

My class consisted of a really cool six year old girl, a very independent four year old boy, and a very whiny, cranky, crying, four year old girl (who was still in diapers by the way!).  The boy was awesome!  He had been snowboarding since last Christmas and could rip down the hill no problem.  The six year old girl was pretty good too with great balance on the snow.  But the other girl wanted nothing to do with snowboarding and basically stood around crying until I kidnapped a Mini's ski instructor to help me.  Luckily she took the girl for the whole day.  Once I didn't have her to worry about, it was pretty fun hanging around with the other two.  Most of the riders signed up for today were level ones so it really wasn't any different than teaching a level one class.  The perk is that the smaller kids need more breaks!  And we get to play on the new jungle gym!!  No too shabby!

Day 3 | day before work

I met up with Izayah around 10:30am.  I hoped to spend the afternoon with him since the temperatures were suppose to warm up.  We strapped on at the Roundhouse and although the thermostat still read "COLD", after yesterday, it felt like a heatwave.

We took about four laps down Ego Bowl.  Doesn't sound like much but when you're only ten years old and learning how to turn, it was pretty exhausting.  We stopped for lunch halfway through the afternoon.  Izayah was able to conquer the ever difficult S-turn by setting a new personal record of 18 turns in a row with his best run being run #3.  He successfully worked his way up to Level 3.  We finished riding about 2:30pm.

The weather was cold but the sun was shining for most of the day with low level clouds.  The runs are starting to get a bit crowded so I'm assuming we should be pretty busy tomorrow (Thanksgiving).  Izayah asked his uncle if he could come to Ski School tomorrow so I should be seeing him first thing in the morning.

Day 2 | Deep Freeze

The weather took a turn for the worse over the weekend.  The average temps in the Alpine have been around -20°C (single digits in Fahrenheit) and colder than that with the 50kph wind chills.  Needless to say, I haven't been up since Friday.  That's too damn cold for me!!

My little friend from Hawaii is here for the week and I offered to take him up the mountain since no one in his family skis or rides.  The winds have died down today and the sun was shining, so even though the temperatures were still very frigid, it was bearable if you dressed correctly.

Izayah and I hit the village gondola around noon.  We strapped on our boards and headed down Ego Bowl.  Izayah is a great and speedy zig zagger who is working on his S-turns.  I got him doing a couple turns in a row on the flat parts but it was too cold to really work at them.  We managed to get in two runs before I called hot chocolate time and called it a day.

I've had Izayah in my class since he was 7 years old and he had never been on a snowboard before.  He comes back year and year for Thanksgiving, usually bearing great Hawaiian gifts for me like chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  Now he's ten years old and growing like a weed.  Here he is over the last couple of years!