Day 60 - sunny, hard packed, & cold

The sun is still shining, but the temps have dropped significantly (high of -8°C, 18°F).  The runs are officially hard packed with lots of icy spots, especially on the green groomers.  Since there is nothing else to do on a day off, I went up for a few laps with Sean and Libby.  We parked in the Village and hit the gondola around noon.

Our warm-up lap was down to Emerald Chair via Jolly Green Giant and it was icy.  Not to mention, my face nearly froze off when I ran the cat track to the chair.  I was ready to be finished right then and there but we decided to head up to the Peak so I could take a couple pictures.

The backside of the Peak was sooooo icy!  We found some softer snow on the right side off the groomer but you had to be careful and dodge some rocks that weren't quite covered.  I somehow managed to find some untracked soft snow and took a couple fresh turns!  woohoo, just like old times!  We hit Highway 86 down to Red Chair, followed Crab Apple to the Village .... called it a day and headed to Fat Tony's for pizza. 

Day 59 - let's get this party started

Another day with less than 20 snowboarders.  Instructors are getting called off cause it's not too busy.  Today is my Friday and because I had a half day yesterday, I wanted to work a full day and I did.  I was assigned level threes again and I had two kids who both only learned how to ride on Monday.

We headed to the Roundhouse first thing in the morning and spent the entire day on green groomers.  The kids were slow at first but as the day went by, their speed increased.  It was chilly in the morning as there were some high clouds covering the sun but in the afternoon, the sun popped out and warmed the air.  By 2pm the kids were tired so we took a break at the CLC.  They weren't too interested in doing the jump but they were more than happy to practice switch down the Magic Carpet.  And both of them could do it without a problem.  Really quite impressive considering it was only their third day ever on the snowboard.

Day 58 - tired so worked a half day

Things are getting slow at Snow School.  We only had 20 kids in snowboard lessons and I was assigned level 3's.  Only one "unknown" level 3 showed up while five level two's showed up.  I knew I was going to have to do a ride-off with Nick (who was teaching level two) as it wasn't fair for me to have only one kid.  When we got to the Magic Carpet, it was quickly obvious that my level three was a level four and would fit in perfectly with Joshy's class, who had already headed off to the top of the mountain.  Nick had two boys who were level three and not level two.  Instead of taking the level three class, I gave it to Felix because I was feeling super tired for some reason.

I took the boy who needed to be put into Joshy's class up the gondola and waited for Josh.  Turns out one of his kids broke a binding on their last run, so while Josh and he got that fixed, I took the class down to the Garbanzo Chair.  We thought it would be better to have them do a run rather than wait around.

The snow was surprisingly soft.  Yesterday the groomers were quite icy and I expected the same thing for today.  It was foggy with some moisture in the air and there a trace of new snow overnight.  I'm guessing that moisture helped with the snow conditions.  It would have been a great day to hang with Gunner and Morgan in the Park but like I mentioned earlier, I was pretty tired and wanted to spend the day chilling out.

Josh met up with us at the chair.  He took off for another lap while I went to the CLC for an early lunch.  After that, I rode down to the Village and punched out.

Day 57 - three quiet mice

We had about 13 kids in Ride Tribe and I was assigned to "float".  As soon as we broke from our meeting, Betty asked me if I wanted to work.  Yes!  Yes I did.  So she gave me her class of level threes.  The class consisted of two brothers from Brazil and one girl from Seattle.  None of them spoke a word all day, either to me or to each other.

Needless to say it was a long day with a disengaged class and no snow to play in.  Temperatures are starting to cool down.  It was a mostly cloudy day with spots of sunshine in the afternoon.  We stayed on green groomers ....... B O R I N G !!  By the end of the day, the boys were level fours and the girl was still a low level three.

Day 56 - Snow in Summer

Weather - same as the last few days:  hot and sunny!!!!  That leads to a soft snow pack, which is nice since we haven't had any new snow in a couple weeks.  It's Sunday and that's means I shred with Oak & Amalia.  It was a typical day with them.  In the afternoon, we followed Jonnie's class through the terrain park and both kids were killing it.  Amalia even hit the last down box.  Quite impressive.  Oak's goal for this season is to be faster than Amalia and today he was!  But he's pretty humble so he doesn't say much about it.

Rumor has it, we might be getting a dusting of snow on Tuesday.  And then it's going to get really cold.  We better enjoy the sun and warmth while it's here.

Day 55 - google tan day

Another hot and sunny beach day....  I mean winter day here in Whistler Blackcomb.  It was an exact replica of yesterday weather wise.  It was Saturday and Saturday is the day when Billy, Jon, and I hang out with 12 Lil Rippers.  We are in our fourth week of Club and 90% of the gromlets are side slipping on their heel edge.  A couple of them are side slipping on their toe edge.  And one of my four year olds is officially turning!!!  : )

We all spent the morning on the Magic Carpet but in the afternoon, I took three of them over to the Super Carpet.  All three can turn onto their toe edge, but they are having a hard time understanding exactly what we are asking them to do.  Instead of keeping one foot going forward, they are spinning or they keep switching feet.  With the exception of Torran - who is turning no problem, on both the Super Carpet and Magic Carpet.  Dad was super stoked to hear that at the end of the day and he was immediately taking him to the Magic Chair to see for himself.

Day 54 - feeling sunshined !!!!

Not only is Whistler on it's ninth or tenth day straight of sunny skies, but the temperatures have been record setting warm.  At 3pm this afternoon, the temperature in the Alpine was 53°F!!  (11°C)
I've never seen it this warm in the month of January.  It's crazy... but we're all soaking it in, whether it be on boards or on bikes.

I got up the hill later in the afternoon and met up with Sean & Libby.  We were going to run over to 7th Heaven to spend the rest of the day in the sun but the queue for the Peak 2 Peak gondola was out the door.  Not wanting to wait in line, we decided to go to Harmony/Symphony instead.  As we were buckling in our bindings at the Roundhouse, we literally ran into Matt and Fred and we all hit the Harmony 6-pak.

The snow was spring-like, especially the aspects sitting in the sun all day.  We hung out in the Symphony area for a while just soaking up the rays.  It was amazing!  When we got back to Harmony, we rode down the Saddle and the snow in the bowl was nice and soft.  We took a few more laps and on the last lap, we sat at the top of Pony Trail and again, just soaked in the rays and the views.  Who would have thought we'd enjoy all this in January?  It's crazy.

Day 53 - one, two ... skip ahead .... 99, 100

Lessons were a bit slower today with only about 25 kids.  I had level threes and quickly filled up a full class of six.  The kids were all in lessons yesterday so I took them up the gondola and straight to the Roundhouse to shred.  We managed to get in a couple of runs before our 11am lunchtime.

The sun was shining strong and temps were mild in the higher elevations.  The snow is starting to get icy in spots but isn't that bad  ... YET!  I ran the kids pretty hard today doing green runs, blue runs, and lots of cat tracks.  I dealt with a major split as two of the boys were level fours and two of the girls were slow as molasses.  I didn't mind as the kids were very engaging and the boys were super stoked just to ride.  In addition, I was loving just being in the sun and being warm.

The inversion is forecasted to stay for the next couple of days with sunny skies and very warm temperatures.  We desperately need snow but it could be worse, it could be raining.

Day 52 - jellyfish!!

Approximately 35 kids were registered for snowboard lessons today with 10 different Instructors.  It's surprising that it's still fairly busy considering the snow this year isn't quite up to par.  I'm not complaining as I can really use the work and I hate when I get called off for lack of kids taking lessons.

I shared a class of eight with Nick and we had level twos.  It took us a while to sort between the twos and threes in the morning and by the time we did, it was almost lunch time.  We spent the remaining part of the morning on the Magic Carpet and we got most of the kids turning.

In the afternoon, we took them to the Super Carpet and then to the Olympic Chair.  The snow was perfect for learning today:  not too hard and not too soft.  The sun didn't shine but there was another inversion so the temps at mid-station were quite temperate.

Day 51 - Ride Tribe Monday

It's Monday and Monday is my day to work Ride Tribe.  We had 15 snowboarders and I was assigned level ones.  I had a class of four:  two from Brazil and two from Australia.  We started in the Olympic area working on skating and slide slipping.  After lunch we spent the afternoon on the Super Carpet.  All four kids were pretty strong and turning on the gentle slope by the end of the day.

Sunny weather continues with an inversion today.  Temps at the Roundhouse were +3.

Day 50 - sleep over night!

Half way to 100 days and it's probably going to be a struggle to get there if the season continues without much snow.  It's been over seven days since we last saw snow and it doesn't look like any snow is coming in the next seven days.  The only thing we can be thankful for is that there isn't rain in the forecast.

The runs are starting to get hard packed, especially on the ski out.  It's busy enough where people are scraping enough snow off the trails to keep the conditions kind of soft.  Temps were suppose to reach a high of -1 but it felt much colder to me, even in the sun.

Oak and Amalia were more excited about their sleep over tonight than they were about snowboarding.  I have to admit, I wasn't too excited about snowboarding either.  Conditions like these makes riding super boring, especially when you have to do it day in and day out. 

Day 49 - Lil Ripper Saturday

Saturdays are exhausting.  Jon, Billy, and I spend the day wrangling 12 Lil Rippers.  We are three weeks into Club and they are all improving greatly but it takes a lot of work to keep them interested for six hours.  They get tired after an hour of practicing on the Magic Carpet so we have to think of other things to do with them off of their snowboards to keep them entertained.  Today we had a treasure hunt!

Weather wise, we are still in the middle of a two week "heat wave".  It's a slight inversion so temps in the Alpine are about +6°C and around +1°C in the Village.  No snow is forecasted for any time soon and freezing levels are projected to stay about the 2000 meter mark for at least another week.  The good news is that it's sunny and not raining.  Our current snow base is: 141cm (56 inches).

Day 48 - June-uary

Wasn't feeling like riding today, but knew I should get up and enjoy the sun and warm temps.  I pushed off Red Chair around noon and took a lap down Green Acres.  Conditions were slightly hard packed and it was cloudy more than it was sunny.  I went up Emerald Chair and ran down to Red.  I was going to go home because of boredom, but then Libby texted and said they were just loading the gondola so I decided to stick around.

When we reached the Roundhouse, we ran into Matt, a friend of Sean and Libby's.  We all took a couple laps in the Family Zone.  That area was pretty crowded so we started lapping down to Red Chair.  Sean and I were working on our switch riding while Matt was asking me what he could do to improve his riding.  I gave him a few tips as I could see he was steering with his back leg.  I'm glad I stuck around for the remainder of the afternoon as it was fun just cruising around with friends.

Day 47 - picture perfect

The long range forecast calls for nothing but sun and high temperatures for the next seven days.  Today was the first day where the temps were mild.  I'm talking temps in the 40's fahrenheit (+5 to +10C) with a freezing level at 3500 metres!  It felt more like April than it did January.

I wanted to shoot some photos of the blue skies so I woke up fairly early and made it to the top of the Peak Chair by 10am.  I stood around for quite a long time.... taking photos, and enjoying the scenery and warm air.  I then shuffled off to Symphony to do the same thing.  Surprisingly, the snow was nice that early in the morning.  Groomers were soft packed.  I hung out for a couple of hours, then rode back down to Creekside to drop off my camera and meet up with Roby.

It was about 1pm when she and I reached the top of Red Chair.  We took a lap down Green Acres before heading off towards Harmony.  We hit Harmony Ridge, where, once again, the snow was very nice considering how warm it was.  Back up the chair and this time we went down Sun Bowl.  It's named this for a reason as it sits in the sun all day.  There was enough coverage but the snow was heavy and much like April conditions.  I quite enjoyed it actually.  Another ride up the Harmony Chair and this time we rode down the Saddle.  Roby stayed on the groomer while I hit the snow on the right.  That area is shaded all day so the snow there was nice and soft.  We quickly got on the Peak Chair before it shut for the day and headed towards Highway 86.  By the time we got out of there, I was exhausted.  We finished down Franz to get back to Creekside and called it a day.

Day 46 - Beer Goggles

What a day!  It was one of those weird ones.  We had close to 40 kids in snowboard lessons and I was assigned level twos again.  We had seven kids so I spent the morning with Steve Levine.  After getting our fun photo taken, we went immediately to the Super Carpet and on the second run, a girl fell and most likely broke her wrist.  First call to Patrol.

That left Steve with only six kids, I.E., one class.  Bummer.  But it was almost lunchtime and I knew Gunner was looking for another Instructor to take a Lil Ripper so I was hoping to get another class.  After lunch, Gunner gave Steve and me the okay to take the six level two's as one girl was technically still a one.  Well that didn't last long, as that girl fell (for the second time)... on her wrist... getting off the chair and she needed a lift down to the Den.  Second call to Patrol.  Now Steve was down to five kids so I took off to the CLC to check in with Gunner and go home.

As I was leaving, Melissa hailed me down.  She was given the Lil Ripper in her never-ever class and the Ripper was ready to move on from the Magic Carpet.  So I took her over to the Super Carpet, where she was turning the entire length down.  After a couple laps there, I decided we should go down to the Village.  That killed most of the long afternoon as she got pretty tired but she turned most of the way.  Not only is she just six years old, but today was only her third day ever snowboarding.  Quite impressive.  We finished the day hanging at the CLC.

Day 45 - roller to jump

Snow School is still pretty busy.  There are lots of Australians in town because they are on summer holidays.  We've had some kids in snowboard lessons for three to four weeks straight (must be nice!).  I was assigned level two's with Bryan and we split nine of them.

The morning went by quite quickly as our lunch was 11am.  Gotta hate early lunch as it makes for a long afternoon.  After shuffling a couple kids around, Bryan went to the Olympic Chair for the afternoon and I stayed on the Super Carpet.  With the exception of one girl, all my kids were turning down the carpet by the end of the day.

We made a couple of jumps at the CLC as almost every class showed up to play at the end of the day.  This is the part of the day that I enjoy most at work.  Kids usually say it's their favorite part of the day as well.

Day 44 - WESP

I filled in for Morgan at WESP located at Base II today.  I was happy to cover his shift as I knew Morgan taught Oak and Amalia on Mondays.  Because the snow was so nice yesterday, I was excited to get back out on the slopes.  My class filled up with the other kids by 9:30am and we headed for the Wizard Chair to start shredding.

By the time we reached the top of Solar Coaster, a couple kids needed to pee so we went inside Rendezvous.  It was around 10:30 by the time we started snowboarding.  Unfortunately, the snow wasn't as nice on Blackcomb as it was on Whistler yesterday.  It was very windblown and not very soft.  The groomers were soft packed and everything was completely tracked out.  It was very disappointing.  : (

We spent the day on Blackcomb but I heard the snow on Whistler (especially down Green Acres) was still super soft.  Gusting winds once again lead to the closure of Peak Chair so that has yet to be cracked since the storm.  Unfortunately, we once again have no snow forecasted for the rest of the week and high temperatures are coming for the end of the week.

Day 43 - tornado topic twister

Sunday is my favorite day and I was looking forward to checking out the new snow that fell the last couple of days.  Oak and Amalia were super stoked to ride the powder and we were at the top of Whistler before 9:30am.  We weren't allowed to ride trees but that wasn't a problem as the snow was amazing.  We didn't get much in terms of fresh tracks but the snow was so soft and there was so much of it that riding was super super fun.  I was amazed at how well two tiny kids could get through the powder as well.

It was a typical Sunday and by that I mean, we took a run then took a break then took a run then went in for lunch.  After lunch I was able to keep them out a bit longer but Amalia eventually had to pee and once we were inside the CLC, they wanted to colour instead of go up for another powder lap.

Winds were gusting so the gondola was running super slow.  Everything opened on Blackcomb but only Harmony and Symphony opened on Whistler, leaving heaven for whomever can up Peak Chair tomorrow.

Day 42 - 43cm of chaos!

Well, we've been doing the snow dances for some time now and Ullr finally came to visit dropping 43cm overnight!  Over two feet of snow fell in the last 24 hours.  Our current snow base is at 176cm (69inches).  You can imagine the people (and the chaos) such numbers bring to a small ski town on a Saturday.

Fresh tracks never opened.  People stood in line for two hours and were turned away around 8am.  Very high gusting winds at Roundhouse and Alpine levels caused avalanche control to delay opening all the chairs except for the gondola to mid-station.  At 8:30am, the queue for the Blackcomb gondola stretched down to The Keg!  Rumors were spreading that Whistler wasn't going to open past mid-station at all but by 9am - all the chairs were turning, with the exception of the Alpine of course.

Photos of chair line ups were insane!  The queue for Garbanzo Chair was at the top of the Fitz Chair at one point in the morning.  If you were riding out of Green Acres, you couldn't continue down to the Village as the line for Emerald Chair stretched out past the cut down run to get to the Village.  Colleagues who went up had a great day as they didn't have to wait in the lines.  They said the snow was good, a bit heavy and definitely cement-like by the time you reached the bottom of Emerald Chair.

I didn't get up today as I spent my day at the CLC with 11 Lil Rippers as it was Saturday Club.  The snow there was a bit difficult for the kids to learn on but we made the most of it.  It also snowed all day so we had plenty of fresh tracks off the Magic Carpet and some of the kids were actually good enough to get through it.  It was pretty cool.

Day 41 - can't live without ...

The snow was so nice yesterday, I knew I had to get out for another day.  I made plans with Kyle, Libby, & Sean and met up with Kyle around 10am.  We stuck around Emerald since we were waiting for Sean and Libby to show up.  We hit the trees on Jolly Green Giant for a couple of runs.  The snow through there was so sweet yet so scary at the same time as you never know if you're going to hit something unexpectedly.

We took a good long break at the Roundhouse and then took a couple more laps with Sean and Libby before calling it a day.

Snow Forecast is reporting over 20 inches of snow between tonight and Monday.  Fingers crossed and big snow dance for the forecast to come to fruition!!!!

Day 40 - powder please! YES!

I love my friends as they forced me to go up and ride today.  We only got 3 inches of new snow in the last 24 hours but the snow is light and it's slowly covering up all those mystery rocks that are still around.  I reached the Roundhouse around noon and met up with Sean & Libby.  Libby's cousin Nick was with them and he wasn't the best skier so we stuck to some easier runs where Nick could stay on piste while Sean and I could find some powder on the sides and duck through some trees.  There was really nice snow through the trees down Green Acres.  We lapped the gondola a couple times and lapped the Red Chair a couple of times.  The best run was through the trees off Whiskey Jack.  I was sooo happy to see that area filled in as it's so much fun when you can only ride the lower parts of the mountain.

Our snow base is 115cm and growing over the next five days.  Snow is forecasted to fall through Monday with over 20cm coming Friday night!  Fingers crossed that it's here to stay and we can all stop complaining about the miserable conditions.

Tasty sushi after a long day of powder!

Day 39 - Elvis is in the building

Snow School has been super busy this week.  Snowboard lessons have been sold out all week!  We've been teaching between 40-45 kids... which is pretty busy for snowboarding.  Today I was assigned level fours with Pirate Joshy.  Unfortunately, there were only four kids who signed up in that level so I didn't get a class.  Instead I spent the morning shadowing his class.  It's always good to see where and what other Instructors teach and Josh is a really good Instructor.

The snow up top was really nice with 2cm of fresh overnight.  Runs were soft packed with small patches of ice here and there on the busy sections.  I picked up a couple of new exercises I could use to help kids with counter-rotation and also found some good hits through the terrain park.  I stayed with his class until lunch, grabbed a quick salad and then headed home for the day.

Day 38 - no title

Woke up to some snow falling from the sky this morning.  I think there was about 2cm of fresh powder at the CLC when we arrived at 9pm.  It didn't snow for too long at mid-station and I don't know what it did on the top of the mountain as I was assigned level ones and quickly filled a class of six in the morning and spent the entire day on the Carpets.  My kids didn't progress much.  Not sure if it was them or me.  Probably a bit of both.

Day 37 - KING

Busy week in Whistler Kids with over 400 skiers and riders between AC and Destination.  Seems a bit odd as usually the numbers drop significantly after the holidays.  I was assigned level twos with Dan and we split a class of seven kids.  Spent the morning on the Magic Carpet and in the afternoon we got all of the kids turning on the Super Carpet.  Dan took a couple of the stronger kids on the Olympic Chair and I kept a couple on the Carpet.  Finished the day with a jump at the CLC.

Weird weather inversion today.  Temps in the Alpine were +6°C!!  Clear and sunny.  It was quite cold at mid-station and even colder in the Village.  Snow is forecasted to start falling tomorrow and Snow Forecast says a few centimeters every day going into the weekend.  I hope it comes to fruition as we definitely need the snow.

Day 36 - Oak & Amalia

Sunday is my favorite Club day.  Instead of just having Amalia this season, I have Oak and Amalia.  They are best friends in real life so it makes it an extra fun day cause they enjoy spending time together.    Not to mention, they both kill it on a snowboard!!

On the weather front, we had an inversion today with blue skies.  It was super cold in the Village (and at mid-station) while it was warm and sunny up top.  We hit all the lifts today including Garbanzo.  We even managed to find some pow through some trees where both the kids managed to get stuck a couple of times and had to take off their bindings.  They both said that was their favorite part of the day.  Mine too!

Day 35 - Lil Ripper Club

The storm that blew through left 20cm of snow and the following day was a beautiful blue bird day.  The clear skies continued today and are forecasted to stick around for a few more days.  Unfortunately, I haven't been up to enjoy the fresh powder yet.

Club started this weekend and this year I signed up to take Lil Rippers who are starting out as Level 2.  A total of 15 Rippers are in Club on Saturdays so that's a lot of kids to sort for the first week.  Billy, Jon, and I spent the day with 11 Rippers.  Naturally we didn't leave the CLC area.  With the exception of a couple of kids, all of the little tykes seem to be pretty strong on their boards and it doesn't look like we will be spending lots of weeks on the carpets.  I'm looking forward to getting my four year olds out on the runs and shredding all of Whistler on Saturday afternoons!

Day 34 - ugh!

I knew having fun, engaging classes would come to an end soon and today was the day.  I was assigned level twos and I had six filled up on my class card well before 9am.  We only spent a few minutes on the Magic Carpet before going up to the Super Carpet.  By the time the morning was over, most of the kids were turning on the bunny slope.

The big news for today was the snow.  It snowed all day ... YAY!  Granted, it was a bit wet, but wet is what we need to stick to all the rocks at the top of the mountains.  It was super windy in the higher elevations and I don't think all of the Alpine opened.  I spent the afternoon on the Olympic Chair where I was miserably wet.  Not to mention I lost a kid who was also hurt.  The day didn't drag on as much as I thought it would.  It's still snowing and I have tomorrow off so I'm hoping for a sick powder day tomorrow.