Day 106 - Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter!  What a gorgeous day!  Temps in the 60's (18°C) ~ insanely warm weather for this time of year.  I'm sure it's a record high.  Morgan and I planned on having Amalia's parents come up and hide some Easter eggs for the kids to have a hunt after lunch.

We started the morning dragging around at the CLC, waiting for the icy slopes to turn a bit softer.  That didn't take long and we were at the Roundhouse by 10:30am.  We took a couple of laps through the Terrain Park .... it was Amalia, Oak, and Rowan.  Amalia is rocking over the jumps!

When lunchtime came, we had a picnic outside.  JF Pelchat rocked up and hid a bunch of eggs in the trees around the CLC.  Jonnie's class joined in and the kids had a small egg hunt complete with chocolate eggs and jelly beans.

After the hunt, we all rocked up to the top of the mountain and took a couple of laps through the Terrain Park as one big group.  It was pretty cool to see a train of purple Snowboard Club jerseys rock off the hip and hit all the boxes.  (I wish I took video of it).  The Pelchat's tagged along as well and gave the kids lots of pointers.  We finished the day at the CLC where the higher level group all got their boardslides on the box in the rope tow area.  It was a super fun day.  

Day 105 - Amazing Views

It's that time of year where the mornings are cold (meaning icy trails) and the afternoons are hot (meaning slushy trails).  Today was no exception.  Five out of seven kids showed up for Saturday Club and I knew it would be a groomer day so I decided to head up Blackcomb as I am completely bored with Whistler's groomers.

We headed out to 7th Heaven since we haven't been out there yet this season.  The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  Unfortunately, the run down Cloud 9 was basically a sheet of ice.  My kids needed water and since there wasn't any at the Horstman Hut, we crossed over into the glacier and took the cat track down to Crystal Hut.  The snow was much nicer on that side of the mountain for some reason.  Maybe because it gets more shade during the day so it doesn't heat up as much.  The kids got some water and we started making our way to the lunch room.

One girl was having a pain in her ankle so she slowed the class up quite a bit.  It was a bit frustrating as it seems every week this girl seems to have something that is sore.  Luckily the other kids in my class are pretty easy going and didn't seem to mind having to wait around a bit longer than usual.

After lunch we stayed on Whistler and my plan was to take a lap down to Red Chair and then run a couple laps through the Terrain Park.  Once again, the girl with the ankle decided she was in too much pain so instead of going up Red, we all ended up going to the CLC to drop her off while the rest of us took one more lap .... this time through the Terrain Park.  By the time we reached the CLC again, it was time to go home so we gathered everyone and headed down to the Village.  My team is eager is make it as level fives so they rode switch the entire way to the Village.  Good on them.  Unfortunately, only half will be level five next season while half will be level four.

Day 104 - winching

My friend Roby works for the Grooming Dept. at Whistler Blackcomb.  Earlier in the winter, I made plans with her to join her at work for a late night grooming shhift in her winch cat.  We picked tonight because it was suppose to be clear and it was a full moon.  Her shift runs from midnight to 10am.  I met up with her at the groomers trailer on Blackcomb around 12am.  We loaded into the winch and off we went.

Roby took control of winch #23, a new PistenBully 600 W Polar.  The machine was quite impressive and the cab had lots of space with plenty of visibility.  The cockpit was a plethora of lights, touch screens, switches, and even a joystick.  The winch can hold up to 4.5 tons.  I was in awe.

We headed up the cat track all the way to Sunset Blvd, which took about an hour.  Our first job was to winch Wishbone, just after the GMC Race Centre.  Time went by fast, before I knew it, the 3am radio call out came.  All the groomers verbally checked in with the Supervisor.

Next on our work list was grooming Blue Line.  This run is located out on the Horstman Glacier and to get there, we trekked through 7th Heaven.  This was probably the most dangerous run Roby has to winch, especially on a night with zero visibility.  One false move and her Cat could go rolling down the edge of the steep bowl.  Admittedly, I was a bit nervous when we first started, but Roby had total control of her machine.

The moon was shining bright while we were out and the views were amazing.  I took a couple of long exposures with my DSLR but I didn't spend too much time outside the Cat as I was pretty cold.  Once Horstman was finished, Roby let me drive back out of 7th Heaven.  Now that was pretty cool!

The last section to be winched was lower Rock & Roll.  By now it started getting a bit brighter and I was getting tired.  My goal was to last until 7am as I was hoping to catch a beautiful sunrise.  Roby finished Rock & Roll right around this time and she told me it would be okay for me to ride out since the sun had come out.  The ride out was just as cool as the grooming.  I had the entire place to myself, not to mention, the freshest corduroy one could ever shred.  Unfortunately, the sunrise wasn't anything too spectacular as some low clouds had rolled in but the entire experience was amazing.  I hope to do it again, maybe next time on a big powder night.  

Day 103 - I see humans skiing

Finally "Friday".  I knew I had another day of Lil Rippers as Blake was returning.  We had a total of eight Rippers split between three Instructors.  The day went by pretty fast until 1:30pm when it felt like it came to a grinding halt for some reason.  The sun was shining bright and it was super warm again today.  We got all the returning kids practicing on their toes, then we took them into the new Lil Rippers obstacle course, and finally ended the day with a small jump.  

Day 102 - Blake

Second day in a row of dealing with four and five year olds.  Yesterday we had seven between two of us and today we had ten between three of us (well, one of the three was my "helper" who's in a mentor program).  Regardless, he was still an able body helping us strap in bindings, zip up jackets, clip up helmets, etc etc.

Numbers dropped today with only 60 kids in snowboard lessons but that's still a busy and hectic day.  Sign in's usually don't finish until around 9:30am and even at that time, some random kid always shows up like 20 minutes later.

A local kid named Blake rocked up today.  Blake is only three years old but he was given special permission to take a lesson.  To make a long story short, Blake is going to be the next Lil Ripper Grom in the Whistler Snowboard Club.  He could side slip on his board the second he put it on his feet.  When Mom signed him out, I told he that he needed to be in Club next season so she's going to sign him up for Saturdays and she's going to request me to be his coach.  I'm hoping to take Blake out on a couple of my days off before the season ends as well.

Weather wise, it was another warm one with no new snow but not quite as sunny as yesterday.  Snow base is currently 256cm.

Day 101 - record # of kids

We had 80 kids in snowboard lessons today!  woot! woot!  It's another week of Adventure Camp, which I am not doing, so as far as lessons go, I will just take what I can get as I need the work.  Today I was assigned Destination Lil Rippers level one.  I was a bit nervous around 9:30am when all the kids were up at the CLC and I was told I didn't have a class.  Luckily a couple of kids from Hawaii arrived late and I ended up team teaching with Maree, who had 2 Adventure Camp Rippers.  We shared seven all together.

It was a HOT! one today.  The sun shined all day and it didn't take long for the snow on the carpet to turn to soft slush.  We had a bit of a rough morning trying to get everything sorted and trying to get the Rippers interested in snowboarding, but by the time lunch was finished, they could all do up their own bindings and go down the hill on their own.  We made a sweet little ramp for them at the end of the day and before we knew it, it was time to go home.

Day 100 - bear in your underwear

The Spring weather has set upon Whistler with sunny skies forecasted for the week.  Today was no exception and my goggle tan is coming along quite nicely.  It was my 100th day on the snow and I couldn't have spent it with anyone better -- my little buddy Amalia.

In the morning we took a couple of Emerald laps with Oak, Rowan, and Morgan.  We learned the "buddy system" through the trees and took a couple of laps through the terrain park.  After lunch Amalia and I ventured out alone.  The season is quickly coming to an end and I want to double check her skills so I know what level to put her in next year.  I had her ride switch down Dave Murray (a black diamond).  We then hit Blue Velvet (the bike trail) where we got a bit stuck on the step up.  It was there that the buddy system came in handy as she got stuck in the powder.  Probably her biggest accomplishment for today was doing a 180 off the new Lil Ripper jump course.  Dad was happy to see that.  It was a fun day and we did a lot of shredding!

Day 99 - Rock You Off

Another sunny day in Whistler with no new snow.  It was pretty chilly in the morning but the sun kept things warm.  I had no idea what I was going to ride with my Club class today.  Only four of the seven showed up and they were the stronger kids in the group so I decided to give Harmony a try.

We followed Harmony Ridge for most of the way then dropped down into the last bowl near Krummholz.  I was expecting the snow to be quite heavy and chunky but it was actually quite soft and nice to turn down.  The kids had no problem getting down the black diamond run and we found a small patch of fresh snow to hit right before we skated back to the chair.

I scouted the next run on the chair and we hit Low Roll.  It was super mogulled lower down but I think the kids liked the challenge and this time we made it back to Harmony chair without having to skate.  It was getting close to lunchtime so we took The Saddle down towards the creek side of Whistler and made it down to lunch about ten minutes early.

After lunch we had for three runs through the terrain park and down into the School Yard.  The snow through the trees wasn't bad.  It hasn't quite gotten icy yet so it was fun.  I'm hoping to take the same runs tomorrow with little Amalia.

Day 98 - We R Not Feeling It!

After a late breakfast, Irish and I headed up Whistler to meet up with Andy Rob.  It was almost noon by the time we got up Peak Chair and just as we got off the chair, Andy texted to tell us he was leaving Symphony and heading in for lunch.  Irish and I decided to take a run down Christmas Trees then meet up with Andy in the Roundhouse afterwards.

It was cold and sunny with no new snow and every trail you could see was completely tracked out.  As we dropped down into Whistler Bowl, there was nothing but 3-5 foot moguls in front of us.  I definitely wasn't in the state of mind to deal with such moguls but I was too far down to turn back so I drudged on.  We made it to Christmas Trees and unfortunately that area was tracked out too.  The snow was hard and chunky where it was tracked but the few spots of fresh that we found was super soft nice snow.  Unfortunately, there wasn't too many of those spots to be found.

We met up with Andy and caught up with him for about an hour.  Finally we decided to call it a day and rode groomers down to Creekside.  It was a nice day as the sun was warm and the sky was blue.  There is no snow in the forecast again for at least a week and I'm going to need to find places to ride with my Club kids starting tomorrow.  One more month of Snow School left -- time flies.

Day 97 - Spanky's & Glacier

Yesterday's storm has moved on and even though there wasn't much snow overnight, the storm brought about 36 much needed centimeters.  I had made plans with JM yesterday to ride Blackcomb today but neither one of us were too excited to ride.  The only reason why we went was because there is nothing else to do in Whistler in the Winter if you don't ski or snowboard.  So we headed up the Blackcomb gondola around 10am.

When we reached the top, Jersey Chair was closed for some reason so we hit up Glacier Express.  We both had no idea where we were going to go from there and we started talking about Spanky's Ladder. JM had never been through Spanky's so we decided to give it a try.  The hike up the ladder is super easy and it wasn't too crowded.  We traversed high and to the right and ended up dropping into Sapphire Bowl: a double black diamond run.  The snow was amazing and mostly untouched.  The visibility was perfect as the sun was shining when we hit the Bowl.  We were pretty stoked about what we just hit and after the long trek back to Excelerator Chair, we decided to head up the Glacier Chair again.

This time we took the T-bars up and hiked into the Blackcomb Glacier.  It's 10.5km from the entrance to the Glacier back to the closest chairlift.  After an easy hike up, we traversed all the way across the Bowl and went into the entrance of Garibaldi Provincial Park.  A few people were hiking up to the ridge but we popped down in bounds and had fresh tracks the entire way back to the Cat Track out!!  It was pretty awesome and we were both pretty stoked.

Once we made it back to the chair, we decided we better leave well enough alone and not try and make another lap of it, though neither one of us wanted to do anything else groomer related.  We called JM's girlfriend and decided to meet up with her for some lunch in the Village.  We finished the day through some trees on Blackcomb, where the snow was pretty soft, and then hit the groomers down to the car.  It was one of the best days of the season for sure!

Day 96 - shredding with JM

Since I was called off work, I was planning on showing up and acting like I didn't get the message but then I remembered that tickets for WSSF went on sale today at Club Shred prices at 9am.  I was up early (before 7am ... because that's what always happens when I don't have to wake up for work) and caught a ride to the Village with Jean-Michel.  We bought our tickets and were at the top of Garbanzo before 9:25am.

There was 12cm of fresh snow in the morning with a forecast of up to 25cm by late afternoon.  Unfortunately, the winds were gusting pretty hard so they never opened the Alpine.  We made the most of the morning lapping Garbo a couple of times.  We got some fresh lines with some crust underneath in spots.  We then took a couple of laps under the Peak 2 Peak gondola which was the nicest runs of the day.  We finished a few hours later out by McConkey Trees, where the snow was shredded, it was heavy, and it was very crusty underneath.  By noon the Cat Tracks were ice and we decided to call it a day.  I stopped at the CLC for a coffee and some soup then downloaded the gondola.

Day 95 - nothing exciting

I was called off yesterday evening and told my Supervisor I had my four girls (possibly five) coming back today.  I was called back on ten minutes later.  So it was no surprise I was given level twos but only two of the four returned.  Between me, Dane, and Jake, we had a total of ten level twos.  We spent the morning on the Super Carpet where two of my four were turning while the other two were still sideslipping.

After lunch, I took my group down to the Village twice.  On the first run, the eight year old fell - hurt her arm and I ended up having to call Patrol.  She was tobogganed down and when I saw her parents at the end of the day, they reported she was totally fine.  The remaining three (who were older) took a couple more laps to the Village before taking a rest at the CLC and then calling it a day.  Unfortunately I was called off for tomorrow.  I'm torn between free riding (as it's suppose to snow overnight) and reporting to work hoping to get a class from a lazy Schools Instructor, claiming I never got the voice mail calling me off.   ; )

Day 94 - 50 shades of black&blue

The next three weeks should be busy.  It's the last hoorah for the season.  Snowboard School was offering Adventure Camp this week and because I work Club, I'm not allowed to work AC.  Not a problem but it usually means I'm fighting to get a class every day.  I was assigned level fours in Destination but there are never a lot of higher level kids signed up in one day so I knew the AC Instructor would get the class and that is what happened.

I was lucky as the level one Instructor wasn't super keen to work today so I took her class and had four sisters/friends from Hawaii who had never snowboarded before but they were all good skiers.  The day was a typical level one Magic Carpet day.  The sun as shining so it made it worth the boredom.  ha ha

I spoke with a couple people who were lucky enough to teach on the upper part of the mountain today. They said the snow is nice and soft up there with a few crusty spots but it's definitely nice.  Good to hear.  I plan on getting up there on Thursday.

Day 93 - Sundae Sunday

A bit of snow fell overnight and temps have gone done quite a bit.  Our snow base is at 260cm.  I doubt we will pass 300cm this season .....
Amalia showed up a bit late so by the time we got to the Roundhouse it was nearly 10am.  We found some nice stashes of powder off Ego Bowl.  It was spotty with crust underneath but some turns were nice and soft.  Amalia really enjoyed it.  We rocked a couple of tree runs and I managed to talk her into taking two runs before heading to the CLC to see her friend Oak.  We ran into Morgan, Oak, and Rowan at mid-station and we were able to fit in a run to the Village before lunch.

It was ice cream day so we didn't have much time in the afternoon so we ran with Morgan and his boys again.  It was another run through the powder, trees, and side hits.  Morgan had Amalia trying to do jump 180s on the flats.  She did pretty well for someone who is so small and not really strong enough to get the board off the ground when she jumps.  I'm hoping to get her rocking some 180s off the jump next week.

Before we knew it, it was time for ice cream!  And then time to go home.  Morgan downloaded with Rowan while Amalia, Oak, and I rode our boards to the Village.  Whistler kids are on Spring Break this week so I'm hoping to ride with the Pelchat girls this week on my day off.

Day 92 - holy baby

My Saturday Club kids are making a video on how to snowboard safely.  We are entering the video into a nationwide contest.  I needed to capture more footage as the video is due tomorrow.  Unfortunately, only four out of my seven kids showed up to snowboard today.  We made due with who we had and started our morning on Blackcomb.

The snow below Solar was soft and slushy.  The snow above Solar was hard packed groomers with heavy fog.  We videoed what we needed then headed down to the CLC for some fruit and hot chocolate.  We squeezed in one more run to the Village after our break and before lunch.

We didn't ride too much today.  The temperatures up top were cold and windy.  The snow was crusty off piste.  I wish it was a good powder day as the four kids who did ride today were the top four in the class and we could have ripped around all day without any one getting tired.  We finished the day at the CLC as it was Sundae Saturday so we all enjoyed some ice cream with chocolate fudge and sprinkles.  Mmmmm .....

Day 91 - forced to use Fresh Tracks

We still had three more sets of Fresh Tracks tickets that we needed to use before April 7th so we decided to have early breakfast this morning.  Only 7cm was recorded overnight and the fresh snow was not why everyone was standing in line.  I saw a few Ski School peeps who needed to start using some Fresh Track tickets as well.  We reached the Village around 7am and the coral wasn't close to being full.  We met up with Tim and Rochelle, ate a hearty brekky and hit the slopes around 8:30am.

The first drop off Whiskey Jack into Ego Bowl was fresh.  There was a decent amount of snow but it was chunky, wind blown snow.  It didn't take the long for the nice corduroy groomer to become icy as well.  Rochelle didn't stay too long, just for the warm up run so the three of us decided to head down to Red Chair.  The Peak wasn't open yet and it was probably going to be a couple of hours before they cracked that chair.  The snow just on the side of the Roundhouse was still fresh, but again, quite hard and chunky.  At least it wasn't wet and heavy.  Peak still wasn't open by the time we reached the top of Red so we headed towards the lake and next to Franz's run.  The snow report there was the same.

Irish bailed after that second lap so Tim and I decided to wait in line for the Peak Chair to open.  We reached the queue, which was to the back of the rope lines, at 10am and we were on chair at 10:20am.  The visibility at the top of the chair was non existent.  We dropped into the bowl and headed towards Doom & Gloom/Frog Hollow area.  At least I can say the snow was a bit softer up there, even as we traversed through the avalanche debris.  But once we hit Doom & Gloom, a thin layer of icy crust covered the non touched terrain.  It looked awesome but that icy crust made it hard to turn your board.  Luckily, when you're laying fresh tracks, there isn't much turning involved.

We didn't try our luck through VD Trees as I felt it would have been quite crusty in there so we headed towards Highway 86 where I bailed and headed home.  I'm pretty sure Tim stayed for a few more runs.

Day 90 - quack quack

We're getting plenty of precip this week, unfortunately, it's all in the form of rain, though 12cm of wet snow was measured at Pig Alley overnight.  When my level four team and I hit the snow off the Roundhouse at 9:30am, it was definitely wet and definitely slushy.  : (

I had a team of four, three returners and one new kid.  I had no idea what I was going to ride since the snow was so wet and heavy.  It rained to the Roundhouse and it was a very very wet day.  To make a long story short, we ended up hitting Enchanted Forest - took a couple runs through the School Yard where the boys hit the boxes and learned how to Boardslide.  We practiced some switch, ran down a couple of black diamonds, and finished the day with a huge kicker at the CLC.

Day 89 - Nugget's down! Nugget's down!

20cm of fresh snow fell overnight!  woohoo!  I woke up to find about a foot of snow on my car.  I was assigned level threes again since most of them said they were returning.  It turns out, only one returned but two other newbs showed up.  Scotty had level fours again, both were with him yesterday.  We headed to the Roundhouse immediately and spent the morning wearing out the kids in the powder.  We managed to get two laps in before we needed to head in for lunch.  I think this was my first work powder day this season.  I hit knee high fresh tracks through the Family Zone almost the entire way to Emerald Chair.  Once we hit Emerald, the snow was wet and much heavier.

It didn't take us long to realize that on a day with so much fresh powder, our five kids could have gone together in one group with one Instructor.  But both of us wanted work so we team taught for the day.  Technically we did have a split as most of the kids were level fours with one definitely being a level three.  But with the tough conditions, we got away with keeping them together.

By late afternoon the freezing level had reached Chic Pea and it was raining.  The snow was almost slushy.  We made it to the CLC around 2pm and did the usual jump for the rest of the arvo.  Snow base is currently at 270cm with snow forecasted for the rest of the week, though the freezing levels are high. Also, Peak and Harmony Chair never opened.

Day 88 - apple turnover

Things are picking up at Snow School as we had a total of 20 kids today including two Lil Rippers.  I was assigned level threes and signed in six.  Scotty was the level four Instructor with two kids and we met at the Super Carpet to sort a split.  All but one could turn so I brought him to the CLC while Scotty took the rest of the kids to the Olympic Chair.  We spent the morning there before heading in for an early lunch.

We ran to the Village after lunch and that was a great run to sort the remaining split.  When we reached the Roundhouse, Scott took four kids and I took three.  Two of my kids were pretty good at turning while one was slow and still side slipping down the steep parts of green runs.  After a couple of runs through the Family Zone and Enchanted Forest, I somehow figured out that that weak kid could turn perfectly if he was following my track.  He was a bit of an "A.D.D." and when he followed exactly where I lead him, he could turn with ease.  Amazing!!  Needless to say he spent the rest of the afternoon in my tracks and finished the day as a strong level three.

Day 87 - We mustache you a question

Sunday!  My favorite FUN DAY!  It cloudy and sunny with no new snow overnight.  Amalia and I followed Jonnie's class down Green Acres on our first run while Gunner and Nicole followed us.  She felt compelled to ride a lot of switch in the morning.  She only did one run before she decided she wanted to see Oak so we ran down to the CLC, picked up Oak, and continued down to the Village.

After lunch we rode down Rat Fink to Marmot Trees and then took a lap through the Park and Bone Yard.  Although she likes snowboarding, I think Amalia prefers the socialization of Club over snowboarding as she would rather spend her time with the other kids in other levels.  I can't blame her.  She doesn't have the strength to keep up her speed with the bigger kids so it's hard to ride with other teams.  At the same time, she can ride better than most of the other kids who ride on Sunday.

We finished the day hanging out at the CLC where her and Oak switched snowboards and took some runs down the Carpet with different snowboards.  The sun was out in the afternoon and conditions were Spring-like for the last run down to the Village.

Day 86 - booby buster

Back to work and still no new fresh snow.  Snow base is sitting at 246cm and it was warm and sunny today.  Groomers were medium packed with some icy spots.  Nothing great but nothing too terrible.  By late afternoon, the lower elevations were spring like slushy conditions.  I probably have a bit of a goggle tan starting.

Lunch was early so we stayed on Whistler for the morning.  We ran the trees between Green Acres and the terrain park.  We also took a lap through Marmot Trees down the gondola line.  The snow was okay.  It wasn't super soft but it wasn't icy either.  It was manageable.

After lunch we had a bit of an accident.  Peyton fell on a side hill close to the water tower on Crank It up.  She fell pretty hard on her tailbone and couldn't stand up.  I didn't realize this until I was already at the bottom of the gondola.  I ended up having to walk up to where she was hurt while the other kids waited at the gondola for at least a half an hour.  Peyton is okay, just badly bruised (boy I know how that feels).  Hopefully she will be back next week.

After the incident, we headed up Blackcomb and ripped through the Terrain Garden.  I made the kids practice switch and carving turns.  Our last run was down the Boarder Cross track and we finished with a snowboarding snowball fight.

Day 85 - orange machine

My snowboarding today was exactly the same as yesterday.  Five kids were taking lessons (3 Rippers, 2 big kids).  We also had five Instructors on the schedule.  It was a day that management hates:  five one on one lessons!!  : )~
All three Rippers were different levels along with one level three and one level five snowboarder.  I spent the day on the Magic Carpet with curly haired Apollo.

The first thing we did was take a group photo with everyone.  We felt a big group shot was better than one on one shots for the parents.  Next thing I did was rock into the CLC where the kitchen staff had made yummy chocolate chip waffles.  Mmmm, that was a nice treat.  Apollo was keen to snowboard a bit more this time around so we did some laps.  The lunch special was Beef Dip but I requested leftovers soft tacos from the day before.  Sophia hooked me up with a big beef taco for lunch.  That was nice.  After a few more hours of snowboarding, coloring, and paper airplane flying, it was time to call it a day --> my Friday!

Day 84 - three Rippers three Instructors

I didn't work yesterday because I am catching a cold and there were only four kids registered for lessons with seven Instructors on the schedule.  It's the calm before the storm -- Snow School is not too busy now but the last two weeks of March should be crazy.  Today was no different than yesterday: 3 Rippers and 4 Riders with five of us getting work.

I was assigned the never-ever Lil Ripper and since there was only one, I didn't mind.  I thought it would be an easy day and it was .... it was just boring.  And since I was sick, it felt like an extra long day.  My Ripper was pretty cool.  He did a few runs then got bored with it.  Melissa had two higher level Rippers so we spent most of the day hanging with them.  Jon made some paper airplanes so that took up most of the afternoon when it was break time.

Day 83 - lots of pow for a lil ripper

The Pineapple Express has left the "building"- leaving behind over 55cm in 48 hours.  Our snow base is now 272cm.  The sun was shining today and the temperatures have cooled down, taking most of the moisture out of the snow.  The Alpine didn't open last the last couple of days, so all that new snow was untouched as of this morning.  Thousands of people rolled into Whistler to find that champagne powder.  At 9:15am, the lift line for BOTH gondolas was past Zog's in the Village .... There was at least a 20 minute wait at all Alpine lifts for the entire day.  I overheard someone saying the Harmony wait at 3pm was over a half hour.  It might have been busier than xmas today.

Amalia was racing her dad at 10:23am but I knew he wasn't going to make it to the GMC Race Centre for that time as he would have had to stand in the long lift lines.  They raced an hour after their start time but beforehand, Amalia and I explored some of the powder off Jersey Chair.

It was such a beautiful sunny warm day.  We took the Peak 2 Peak over to Whistler so we could eat lunch.  We found some nice powder on the way to the CLC also.  Half way down Emerald Chair, the soft snow turned icy and it was ice all the way to the Village.

After lunch, we took Oak on a short run to the gondola.  He didn't seem too keen to snowboard today so we spent the rest of the day sledding in the shovel at the CLC.

Day 82 - thirty nine in twelve

Only four kids in Club (out of seven) showed up to snowboard today.  Can't say that I blame the kids who decided to stay home and stay dry.  It was a wet one today.  Really wet.

Whistler logged 39cm of fresh snow in 12 hours.  Again, with the Pineapple Express, it was a wet snow and it rained from the top of Olympic Chair down.  The kids and I loaded up Blackcomb first thing in the morning as we had a parent/child giant slalom race scheduled for 10:15am.  Two parents rocked up to race their kids.

After the race, everyone was soaked so we booked down Blackcomb and up the Village gondola to the CLC so the kids could have a snack, a hot chocolate, and to dry off.  We stayed there for the next hour and a half.  After lunch we went to the top of Whistler to find the snow had dried out quite a bit.  We dropped off Whiskey Jack into Ego Bowl where everyone got stuck in knee deep powder.  Ditto for the run through the terrain park.

Digging yourself out of deep powder can be exhausting, especially when you're a kid.  We stuck to the groomers from Emerald Chair down and ended up spending the rest of the day at the CLC because it was so wet.

Day 81 - Pineapple Express

A Pineapple Express rolled through Whistler Blackcomb, bringing with it, lots of snow/rain and warm weather.  Irish and I woke up early and headed to Base II where we stood in the rain for about 15 minutes before getting on the gondola.  Close to 40cm fell on Thursday but it was heavy and chunky.  We rode in knee deep powder from the top of Exelerator back to the lift line, tearing a lot of fresh tracks.

My lower back was still bothering me from my fall last month so I didn't last too long.  The thick heavy snow was more torture than it was fun for me so I took one more run and headed to the car park. Irish stayed out for another couple hours.  When I picked him up, he was soaked from head to toe.