Day 71 | Gold Canada Gold!

Not many kids showed up for Club class this morning.  Could be because most instructors hinted to their parents that they were planning on watching the Olympic gold medal game that was scheduled for noon.....  Could be because Canada was going up against their biggest rival (USA) and Canada had much to prove....  I'm sure that was the only reason why kids were missing lessons today.  I'm sure that's the only reason why there was not one skier or rider on the mountain today between the hours of 1:00pm and 3:00pm.

I switched my Club class with Rusty's Club class.  Rusty was working the Zipline in Vancouver today and I figured his level three girls would go much easier on me than three eight year old boys who want nothing but to ride the park.  I was right.  The girls were tired and we took an easy morning hitting only green runs and taking an hour for lunch.

Because the game was on, I figured we'd ride for another hour then head up to the Roundhouse to watch the last half of the hockey game.  It was a perfect plan as we were able to do a bit of riding and we were also able to watch the hockey game where Canada beat USA in sudden death overtime.  We were a little late getting back to the village but no one noticed as every single person in Whistler was watching the game and no one was going to leave the TV screen once USA tied the game with 10 second remaining.  I don't need to tell you what happened in the end .....

Day 70 | back to work

The sun is still shining in the greater Vancouver area and we've had nothing but warm temperatures and a goggle tan atmosphere for almost a week.  Unfortunately, all that powder that was around has been tracked out and what hasn't been tracked out has been feeling a bit heavy and wet.

It was Club day so I was happy to get up for work as my kids are eight year old shredders.  I have to admit I was pretty tired after being up late for what seems like the 100th day in a row celebrating the Olympics.  One instructor didn't show up so I took his 7 year old who fit in perfectly with my two boys.  The only thing these guys wanted to do was ride park and I was too tired to figure out other terrain to ride on so we rode the small park all day.  Lap after lap ... ugh.  By the end they had all improved on their rail skills along with their balance off some pretty high jumps.  Next week I'll have to get them back into a skills developmental lesson, unless I'm still too tired from celebrating the Olympics.  ; )~

Day 69 | Symphony

Blue skies and perfect temps were slated for today and it proved to be no disappointment as we made our way over to Symphony equipped with the SLR and my friend Aimee from work.  We got off the Harmony Chair and saw fresh lines waiting to be tracked down Sun Bowl.  There were plenty of face shots and Si'aire did very well in the powder with his new board.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well he has been snowboarding this week.  At the top of Symphony, we spent about an hour taking photos of the amazing scenery with it's blue sky and white snow.  The conditions were awesome out there and we couldn't get enough.  We finished up after 4pm and it was by far the best day of my season.

Day 68 | se7en154

The boy bought a new snowboard last night with the money that he made selling the cellphone that he won.  He bought a 2010 Burton Seven board.  I think it will serve him well as it's suppose to be good in the powder and flexible enough to give him some pop in the park.

I thought I had to work this morning, so we were up at 6am.  Hopped on the double decker bus at 7:15am and didn't arrive at the village until 8:30am.  UGH!  I am never taking one of those huge azz busses again.  I rushed over to my office as I was already late for check-in and I still needed to get Si'Aire signed up for a lesson.   My Supervisor asked me what I was doing since I wasn't on her schedule.  Are you kidding?  Apparently I was given the day off and I never checked my schedule, so we got up at 6am for nothing.  It was all good since we were awake by now and ready to shred.

Forecast said there was quite a bit of fresh snow overnight and it was right.  We did a quick warm up run to get Si'Aire use to the new board.  We then took a couple runs through the terrain park.  As mentioned earlier, there aren't many people skiing and riding these days, so there is a ton of untouched snow to be found if you know where to look.  I knew where to look and we hit a couple tree runs and found a ton of fresh snow.  We rode those trees for two to three runs.  It was fun and we finished our snowboarding day on a great note..... even if we did wake up early for nothing.

Day 67 | boy

Got my boy back with me in Canada!  Today starts a week of Olympic craziness, out late - up early, and let's not forget a ton of snowboarding.  Since it was his first day back on the slopes, we did a nice warm up run down the Emerald Chair family zone section.  The snow was nice, with soft packed conditions.  We've received a ton of snow in the last few days and there hasn't been very many people on the runs taking advantage.  No worries, more for us.  We did our best to lay our tracks down.  Took a couple laps through the Whistler terrain park.  I wanted to explore Harmony a bit so we dropped off Harmony Piste to find a ton of freshies.  The powder was amazing.  I was surprised at how well Si'Aire could get down a black run.  He did amazing!   After all that powder, he naturally had the "back leg burn" and had to call it a day.  We made our way back to the Roundhouse and took a last lap through the terrain park.  It was time to hit MOD at the GLC where the lucky boy won a Samsung smartphone.

Day 66 | coyote ugly

Whistler has received a ton of snow in the last few days.  What's even better is that because the Olympics are in town, the ski visitors are at an all time low, leaving fresh tracks to be found all day and no lift lines.  It's awesome.

I was given two level two kids and I have to admit, I was a little disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to enjoy some of the fresh powder up top.  Once I established the kids had good control, I took them down to the village.  They were both learning how to turn.  The conditions in the morning on the lower half of the mountain were pretty hard and kind of icy.  So, I did what I do best, I brought the kids to the Roundhouse so I could check out the fresh snow.  Naturally they loved the powdery conditions and it was easier to learn how to turn on the soft stuff than on the icy stuff.  It took them the rest of the morning to make their way down to the CLC.

After lunch, one kid wanted to practice turns on the Super Carpet.  So we spent the afternoon there and then took a final lap down to the village.  While I was waiting for my kids to catch up to me on Lower Olympic, a coyote crossed the run -- coming from the woods and headed back into the woods on the other side of the run.  It was really cool.  I never saw wild life on the runs before.

Day 65 | zero

Zero.  Zilch.  Nil.  Zip.  Diddly Squat.  That's how many snowboarders we had in lessons today.  It's the first time I ever saw a goose egg in my last three years of teaching.  Thank you Winter Olympics.

After reporting to work knowing we had no kids, I put in my one hour stand-by time and then grabbed my camera and headed up to the Mens' Downhill Olympic practice.  It was here I saw 42 of the Olympic athletes practicing on the Dave Murray racecourse.  It was just as exciting as the real thing, if not better!  I didn't pay any money for a ticket to watch the race and it wasn't very crowded so I got a prime viewing location for pictures.  It was very cool and very exciting.  

Next I found my friend Aimee in the Whistler terrain park.  She was hitting medium features with her buddy Jordan.  Again, I grabbed my camera and shot some stills and video of the two of them.  The park was empty, it was snowing, and the conditions were great (aside from a little fog and snow).  I took about three laps with them then headed down to the village to meet the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld.

Yes it was a fun filled and exciting day that never would have happened if we had kids at snowboard school as I would have had to teach.  Thank you Winter Olympics again!  : )  

Day 64 | not the brightest bulbs

Only two of us scheduled to work and only three kids signed up for lessons.  Luckily they fit perfectly into two different classes.  I took the two brothers who were never-evers.  We spent the entire day on the Magic Carpet.  When kids don't quite pick up the balance needed on a snowboard, it makes for a super long day.  ugh!  These guys weren't exactly the next Olympic athletes.  After lunch I got the bright idea to take the kids up to the Roundhouse to see how beautiful Whistler is.  If nothing else, it was a bit of a time waster.  The sun was shining so the views were amazing.  I think they were a little too young to really appreciate what they were seeing to be honest.  I built them a jump at the end of the day, but they could only get to it about one out of five attempts.  Like I said, not exactly the next Olympic snowboarders.  But it paid me for another day so I was happy.

Day 63 | guess who

One and a half kids in snowboard lessons today.  I say a half of a kid because one was only six years old.  Not only that, but he didn't want to snowboard so he ended up going home after lunch.  Luckily I took the one level four kid from West Vancouver and he managed to stay the entire day.  Dad was a tipper so that was much appreciated.  Conditions are the same, no new snow overnight and cloudy with partly sunny skies.

With the Olympics in town, you never know who you're going to see or ride up a chairlift with.  This afternoon, my kid and I were running laps through the terrain garden.  On one ride up Solar Coaster, we were on the chair with the parents of an Olympic athlete, a mens halfpipe competitor from New Zealand named James Hamilton.  I thought that was kind of cool.  His parents were very modest and seemed very proud.

Day 62 | Superbowl Funday!

This is the first time I've ever had to work on Superbowl Sunday.  It didn't matter because I had my Valley Club kids:  two level four's who can tear it up like nobody's business.  We only had 2cm of snow overnight, but again, it kept the conditions soft packed.  Right off the bat we headed up the gondola to the Alpine and just shredded it!  We hit everything from tree runs to the terrain park.  We also participated in the Treasure Hunt and snowboarded all over the mountain in search of clues for a treasure (lollipops).  The boys had a great day, mostly because they spent the last part of the day gapping over a long foam block off a jump at the CLC.  Eight year olds are so easy to make happy!!

The Olympics are five days away and the mountain is changing.  Red Chair side of Whistler is nothing but blue fencing.  VANOC uniforms are everywhere and if you look close enough, you're sure to find some Olympic athletes either practicing or just having a fun day on the slopes.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling Ski School business is going to drop significantly starting tomorrow.

 

Day 61 | four cool threes

Snowboard School was pretty hopping today with fourteen riders signed up for lessons.  Not bad for the weekend before the Olympics .....
Aimee and I took the seven level two kids to the Super Carpet.  We wanted to see if we could get them turning and then split them up into two classes.  It worked like a charm as four of them learned to turn immediately, while three of them still needed practice.  I took the four higher kids and Aimee kept the lower ones.

Before lunch we took a run down to the Valley on the concrete corduroy.  Instead of doing that again, my team decided to build a jump at the CLC to practice getting some air.  We spent about a half hour building our ramp and then polished our aerial skills.  I am getting pretty good at my jump building.  This season I have no one to build my jumps for me, so I have been building them on my own.  I have to say, I've gotten pretty good at it (pat myself on the back) and my ramps have been superb!

After lunch I told the kids we would head up to the Alpine where the snow was soft packed and the sun was shining.  Boy it was a beautiful day to be working.  No one on the runs and amazing views in all directions.  My kids were all pretty stoked on learning to turn and they were all cranked to be snowboarding.  That made for a fun day.  We saved enough time to hit our jump at the CLC a few more times before it was time to head down to the Valley for sign outs.    

Day 60 | calm before the storm

As I mentioned previously, things have come to a grinding halt in Ski School.  We had two kids taking snowboard lessons, even ski lessons have less than fifty kids.  The ski runs are bare, lift lines are non existent.  This is definitely the calm before the storm.  With only nine days left until the Olympics start, village traffic is going to go from a ghost town to a full on crazy town!!!

I took the level four kid today from Oregon.  He was really cool and keen on learning whatever he needed to in order to reach level five.  We spent the morning working on his turns on blue runs.  Conditions are good as we've been getting a few cm's of snow overnight for the past few nights.  The snow isn't significant but having a small dusting every night helps keep the conditions soft packed vs. icy or hard packed.  Freezing levels during the afternoon have gone up to mid-station, making the lower mountain slushy.

Day 59 | pointing is now allowed

As you all know, the Winter Olympics will be in Whistler starting in less than ten days.  As Whistler Blackcomb employees, we've been given specific instruction on what NOT to do during the Olympics (especially while in uniform).  The biggest and probably the most the important is to make sure you use the words:  "NO COMMENT" if asked any questions by any of the Press.  The most humorous sample of what we are not allowed to do is point.  If someone asks us for directions, we are not allowed to point in a certain direction.  Instead, we are to show them by extending our arm with an open palm.  How funny.

Ski School is getting slower and slower with only four kids in snowboarding lessons today.  I took the two level two kids and helped them get more stable with their turning.  We never went any higher than mid-station and during the our first valley run after lunch, my girl fell, hitting her head fairly hard and having to go to the clinic with patrol.

Day 58 | carpets

We had six kids in snowboard lessons today and for some odd reason, I opted for the two level one girls who never snowboarded before.  I'm not sure why I took this class especially considering I was given the level three class. Sometimes it's just nice to chill on the Magic Carpet for a day.  There was another instructor on the carpet as well, teaching the two boys who had been in lessons yesterday.

My girls were awesome.  By lunchtime they were strong on both edges and I wanted to take them on the Super Carpet after lunch so they could learn how to turn.  By the end of the day, all four kids were turning (the two in the other class as well).  One was turning WAY better than the others, so she went with the other instructor on the Olympic Chair and then took some runs down to the Valley.  She finished her day as a level four!!!!  Pretty unheard of actually.  I took the remaining three kids back to the CLC where we built a jump and got our big air on!  The day went by pretty fast for having low level kids.