Day 10 - some snow

Another day at work with my level four boys.  Today I only had Andrei and Ransome, who were both pretty tired from the last two days.  Billy had four kids in level 5/6 so we tagged around with him for a few runs here and there, however we spent most of our day at the CLC building a jump and hanging around in the snow.

The good news is that we received 7cm of snow overnight so conditions are improving as it snowed a bit during the day as well.  The bad news is freezing level is right around Chic Pea so there isn't far to snowboard before the dry snow turns wet.

Day 9 - Is it April yet?

Another busy day at Snow School and on the mountain.  American holiday is here!  We had about 35 Riders and I had level fours again.  It took a while to get sorted but in the end I had the same class of boys I had yesterday.  It was a weird weather day, dense fog at midstation up to the bottom of Emerald Chair and sunny / partly cloudy from Roundhouse to the chair.  I was happy to see the sun but as soon as I strapped on my board, I wanted to die ..... icy hard packed snow everywhere!  It was horrible.

On our first run, we headed to Franz.  There weren't too many tourists venturing over there first thing in the morning.  It was nothing but an ice skating rink until the cat track where it turned into instant slush.  After we got off the Red Chair, I decided to head over to Jolly Green Giant, thinking the snow might be softer.  Boy was I wrong.  Jolly Green wasn't groomed so I got the boys traversing on their edges over the huge moguls all the way down the run.  That was fun ... NOT!  I broke the run down into a couple of different exercises so the boys didn't complain about the conditions at all.  I was tired of the ice so we kept heading down after Green Chair where we ran into a wall of fog but at the least the snow was soft.  We spent the rest of our morning on the lower half of the mountain.  After lunch we took one run down Ego Bowl then headed to the CLC for our jump session.


Day 8 - Happy turkey/return back to work day

American Thanksgiving was late this year so getting back to work at the end of the month is a little tough on the pocket book.  But it finally came and we started the season off as quickly as the last season finished.  I had a request from a return boy named Andrei.  Andrei has been riding with me since he was five.  He is nine now and he is a level four.  I filled my class with three other boys, including handsome Ransome .... another kid who's been coming to lessons since he was four.  Ransome is seven now.

Blackcomb opened today and since I was pretty bored with riding Whistler with no new snow, I thought I'd relieve a bit of boredom by riding on Blackcomb.  Our first run down the green line was hard packed and icy.  Not fun at all.  The runs under the Solar Coaster weren't groomed and they ended up being pretty fun.  It wasn't powder by no means as it's been too warm but the snow was soft enough to somewhat enjoy.

After lunch it started to rain/snow/sleet so we took one lap down Whistler to the Village and then built a jump at the CLC where we spent the last 45 minutes.  It was a decent first day back to work.


Day 7 - raining at Roundhouse

I bought a pair of new snowboard boots so I felt I needed to "break them in" so I headed up the hill around noon.  Just before I got to the top of Red Chair, it started to sprinkle.  Temps have been above freezing for the last couple of days so conditions were spring like with icy patches here and there.  Sarah and her friends from Hawaii were going to practice on the Super Carpet so I headed down and spent a couple of hours walking up and down the carpet helping them learn their edges.  Around 2pm it started to rain hard so I headed back up the gondola to make my way down to Red Chair so I could download and call it another day.

Day 6 - lil shredders

I was batting a thousand for a while with days open vs days riding - I was five for five and then I got lazy.  Well I hit the slopes again today and this time with my two buddies:  Izayah (from Hawaii) and Oak (from Club).  Temps were warm, above freezing past the Peak.  We are in desperate need of snow but I don't think anything is forecasted to come our way.  It was the first day for both the boys so we stuck to the groomers, even making our way down to the mid-station gondola.  It's nice the snow guns have been able to build up enough coverage so we can get that far down.  We were up there for about three hours and that included a small lunch break.  Both boys were super stoked just to be back on the snow.






Day 5 - subzero

Clouds dispersed and temperatures dropped drastically.  At noon it was -13C at the Roundhouse.  I met up with Roby and although we knew we wouldn't last long, we wanted to go up and get a couple turns in.  The sun was shining so it didn't feel as cold as thermometers would make you think.  We stuck to groomers as Roby forgot her knee brace and didn't want to ski anything bumpy without it.

As I mentioned, it was a full blue bird day.  The groomers were hard packed and off piste was okay (nothing great).  Though I didn't venture off the groomers much.  We managed to stay out for an hour before heading back down.

Day 4 - best snow yet

It snowed most of yesterday and well into the night.  WB reported 11cm of the fresh stuff.  At this point, every centimeter helps with coverage.  The winds had died down a bit and temps were a tad warmer with partly cloudy skies.  It was nice to see and feel the sun again.

I headed up with Libby and Sean and we ducked a rope to get onto Jolly Green Giant.  The snow was amazing and definitely felt a lot deeper than reported.  Unfortunately, Libby's legs were really sore from yesterday and she couldn't muster another run so we headed toward Red Chair via Dave Murray where they downloaded for Starbucks and I headed up for another couple of runs.

Day 3 - Skittles

Sean and Libby have a No-Weekends pass, which means they can only ride Monday through Friday, so today was their first day up the hill.  11cm of new snow fell overnight and conditions were the same today as they were yesterday (snow flurries and high winds).  We met up with Pippa after taking one run down the Family Zone.  We managed to find some decent snow through the terrain park area and also on Dave Murray.  I think we all lasted about two hours before calling it a day.





Day 2 - A Kiwi & A Irish

We met up with Pippa around 10am at the Roundhouse and gave this snowboarding thing another go. The weather was the direct opposite from yesterday with clouds and lots of snow blowing.   And blowing good as gusts up top were probably close to 75kph.  The good news is that the snow was better as we rode a bit more off piste. Technically we were still on marked runs, but they were roped off so I guess that counts as off piste this time of year.  It was Pippa's first day of the season and after abut four or five runs, we all called it a day.

Day 1 - Opening Day

Another season has literally snuck up upon us in Whistler.  With a record setting dry October (driest October in 22 years), we were all still in "bike mode" when suddenly it was time to hit the slopes!  It was a bluebird day and everyone was stoked to be back on the planks.  The snow base was 60cm (24") with the typical Red Chair and Emerald Chair running.  There weren't many runs open, in fact, Lower Whiskey Jack was roped off.  Most of the runs had the snow guns blowing, building up the base.

Irish and I were in line at Red Chair by 9am.  Two hours later, the lift line for Green Chair was out the gates!  We rode the Family Zone for a few runs before heading in for coffee and a snack.  We called it a day around noon but it was nice to get out and get the muscles back in snowboard shape.