Day 101 - has spring sprung??

Guest visits have dropped significantly.  Destination has gone from 50 kids a day to 10 kids a day.  Instructors are starting to get called off.  I was scheduled for Ride Tribe and had the option to take a level two class because the Instructor assigned to it wanted the day off.  Score for me since I have the rest of the week off.

The sun shined today and temps were warm.  I had two teenage boys who progressed off the Super Carpet within an hour.  We then took a couple laps on Olympic Chair.  After lunch, we spent the rest of the day on green and blue groomers.  The boys improved quite a bit and I enjoyed the sun.  It was a pretty chill day.

Day 100 - park rat!!!

A foot of fresh snow was waiting for Oak and I to shred.  Because it was just the two of us, we were at the Roundhouse just after 9am.  Amalia is out of town at the Big White Banked Slalom Comp so it was just me and Oak for today.  Amalia missed a pretty good powder day.   It was cloudy in the Village but it was sunny at the top!!  What a nice surprise.

We ran our usual "powder run" as a warm up then Oak wanted to hit the Park for the next couple of laps.  Conditions were amazing!  Soft, light snow and lots of it.  The groomers were so soft your edges would completely sink in if you tried carving too much.  We managed to get a couple runs in before the crowd showed and chewed up the fresh powder.

After lunch, conditions changed quite a bit as the freezing level reached 1300.  The sun had disappeared and the snow got wet and heavy half way down to Emerald Chair.  We weren't allowed to ride trees so our terrain was limited.  Oak ran through the Park a few more times before deciding he was tired and done for the day.

Day 99 - I'm stuck!

Surprise, surprise - a whopping 26cm of snow fell overnight and the boys and I decided we'd take the kids up to the Roundhouse first thing in the morning and get them to experience some powder.  Only one kid was missing so we had a total of ten dropping into Ego Bowl with their purple jerseys on.  They looked like a rad team of powder hounds.  The groomed part of Ego Bowl was really soft but getting chopped up quickly.  The kids did great.  They wanted more powder so we took them down Enchanted Forest and that's where they all lost it!  It was ungroomed and had about a foot of fresh powder.  The kids were scattered all over the run.  Some were yelling "I'm stuck!  I'm stuck!"  With the exception of one boy, they all loved it!

By the time we reached the bottom of Emerald Chair, the snow had started to get wet and heavy.  We continued making our way down to the CLC.  There was a significant split between the ten of them and it took us just over an hour to get back to home base.  By the time we reached the CLC, all ten were exhausted.

After lunch, I took three tired ones to the Super Carpet while Billy & Jon took the stronger, faster kids back up to the top.  They made it back down to the CLC within 45min without the weaker kids.  Not bad.  Next week is the last week of Club.  We are hoping for a nice, warm, sunny day.


Day 98 - it snowed 32cm

Everyone was shocked to wake up and learn that it had snowed 32cm overnight!!!  I had my fingers crossed that my luck would continue for my last day of the work week and I would get a higher level class.  No such luck!!  I was assigned level two's and spent the day around mid-station.  I was even more bummed to learn that the snow up top was light, the skies were blue, and there was little to no wind.

I started the day with a full class of six.  I ended my day with a class of three.  I'm happy to say that I didn't lose any to injury.  I put one girl with the higher level two class and a second one joined her later in the afternoon.  One boy was signed out at lunch (11am) -- I'm not sure why the parents even bothered putting him into a lesson but whatever.

As I said, we spent the day at mid-station:  Magic Carpet in the morning, Super Carpet in the afternoon, and one lap down Olympic Chair … which turned into more of a train wreck than anything.  The sun shined for most of the day and the temps were warm.  Overall, it was a pretty good day - not an epic pow day, but a pretty good day.

Day 97 - in a fog

I was told to report to Ride Tribe once again today and again I was assigned a high level (four).  I signed in five kids, one of them I had yesterday, and Jonnie came up with us in case we had a split.  It was Blackcomb day so we spent the day on that mountain.

There was no new snow overnight but it was forecasted to snow 8-10cm throughout the day and it did snow throughout the day.  Unfortunately, a dense cloud hung over Blackcomb all day making the worst visibility and it was almost impossible to see.  Add to that, the wet snow/rain dripping off your goggles.  All that combined made for a long day.  It was quite frustrating to be honest.

I'm glad Jonnie came up for the split because we noticed right away that we had a significant split.  He took two fast kids and I kept three kids who had a hard time with the conditions of today.  My kids were quite tired by the end of the afternoon.  We took the Peak 2 Peak across to Whistler for our last run.  It was super busy over there!  By the time we reached mid-station, it was raining.  By the time we reached the Village, we were super soaked.  Fun times people.  Fun times.


Day 96 - Team America

Today was my Ride Tribe day (teen agers) and I was pleasantly surprised to learn I was assigned level three's.  I had four kids from the States and they were low level three's.  We started from the Roundhouse where conditions in the morning were freeeeezing!!!  The snow was soft packed on the green groomers throughout the Family Zone.  It was also pretty busy.  We lapped Ego Bowl and Whiskey Jack a couple of times before heading in for lunch early because we were all so cold.

After lunch, the sun tried poking through the clouds and temps had definitely warmed up in the hour we were inside.  The kids were starting to get a bit more confident on the greens so I decided to take them down some blues.  None of them will be heading to the Olympics anytime soon but they all improved as the day went on.  Our final lap was down to Tokum because that run consists of every grade of steep (green, blue, and a small section of black).  The kids were exhausted by 2:30 and I did my best to drag out the last run to finish as close to 3pm as possible.

Day 95 - Club Sunday

Sunny day!  Love it.  Blue bird with warm temps.  Amalia showed up a bit late so we rode up the gondola with Jonnie's class and took a run with his class.  My kids wanted to shred the Terrain Park on their next run so that's what we did.  Oak & Amalia are killing it in the park.  It's cool to see.

After lunch we lapped Garbanzo a couple times with Carly.  Conditions were spring-like with a strong warm sun hitting the snow.  It was a bit crowded as most of Canada (including Whistler) is on Spring Break.  I think my goggle tan may have officially started today.  It was a typical Sunday:  shredding the gnar with a couple of cool lil kids.

Day 94 - my dad farts really loud!

Back to work with no new snow overnight but conditions up top were soft packed.  We started the morning with the usual Super Carpet to CLC to Magic Carpet to lunch.  We only had seven out of the eleven kids so it was a pretty easy day for us.  Destination was quite busy with almost 50 kids signed in for lessons!  I think there were about 18 level ones!

All the kids we had today were turning down the Super Carpet so we decided to take the group up to the Roundhouse.  For some of them, it was their first time to the top of the mountain on a snowboard.  To our surprise, they were all turning down the green runs in the Family Zone!  We even took a lap through the Enchanted Forest and they all killed it!  As Instructors, we were so happy to see how much some of them had improved, especially this one little girl named Maisie.  Her turns improved two fold just on the one lap from the Roundhouse back to the CLC.  It was great to see.  We finished the day with a drawing contest and some hot chocolate back at the CLC.  Like I said, it was a pretty easy day. 

Day 93 - blizzard to Spring

It was snowing in the Village first thing in the morning.  3cm fell overnight.  I was assigned level three's as two of my kids were returning.  I signed in four kids and one of them I should have taken to the CLC to "test" his level, but I trusted the kid could turn (I should have known better).  Once we reached the Roundhouse, I quickly learned he was NOT a level three!!!  I hate when I do that ……  It cost us a 50 minute run back to the CLC.

Like I said, Whistler Blackcomb reported 3cm overnight but there was at least six inches of fresh snow out there.  I had a fun day with my three boys.  The snow conditions were super soft which made going through the trees so awesome.  We also ran through the terrain park a couple of time.  The boys were technically level four by mid-afternoon and we were able to cover a lot of terrain because they were pretty fast and we didn't need to stop as frequently to wait for a slower person.

The weather in the Alpine was super snowy and windy.  There was a full on white-out blizzard around 2:30pm.  By the time we reached the top of Olympic Chair, the sun was shining and it was warm and sunny in the Village …… welcome Spring!


Day 92 - fell right out of her boots

Destination was a bit slower today but my kids all came back, plus another six level threes showed up so Darren took the new kids and I took my returning kids.  No new snow overnight and it was cloudy all day.  I was glad I played around in the powder yesterday because there was no powder to play around in today.  But we could go through trees so we did that for fun instead.

The snow on the groomers was soft packed until the bottom of Emerald Chair.  The snow through the trees was nice and soft too.  We ran Enchanted Forest a couple times before lunch.  I actually did some teaching today …. we worked on advanced sliding turns and switch.  We also took a run through Marmot Trees.

I had a small 7 year old girl in my class the last couple of days.  When we started down Green Acres, I had the kids working on turning with their knees.  I was in the middle of the run when I saw a tiny snowboard speeding down the blue run, and then I did a double take when I noticed the kid's snowboard boots were still strapped to the snowboard.  Somehow, the girl literally snowboarded right out of her boots!!!!!  The poor girl was running down the hill in her tiny purple socks, crying of course.    It was no big deal in the end, but it was really weird.

Day 91 - your anus is a huge planet!

10cm fell overnight and it was a partly cloudy day with mostly sunny skies.  It's suppose to be busy for the next couple of weeks with Canadian Spring breaks.  We are running an Adventure Camp for snowboarders this week and we had over 50+ kids signed in for lessons.

I'm doing Destination and I was assigned level three's.  I had five of them and they all checked out fine at the Magic Carpet first thing in the morning.  We headed up to the Roundhouse and ran down Ego Bowl on our warm up run.  Some of the kids were keen to hit the powder on the side of the run and I took that as a good sign for a good day.  We only took one run before heading to the CLC for a small hot chocolate break.  Although it was sunny, it was quite cold in the early morning.

After lunch I decided to forego the usual level three lessons and hit some powder!  We dropped off Whiskey Jack into the powder field and although they fell a few times, the kids loved it!  We then hit the moguls on Cougar and jumped the hits in The School Yard.  We found a lot of powder down Green Acres and more moguls.  By the time we hit the cat track, the kids were exhausted so we headed to the CLC for a much needed break.  We ended the day with some jumps and a last run to the Village. Most of the kids are returning tomorrow so I'm hoping for another fun filled powder day!


Day 90 - today was FUN!

It snowed 11 inches overnight and it continued to snow through out the day.  Amalia was coming late so Oak and I took a lap before the "crowd" showed up.  We found some sweet powder in our powder field that we usually run.  The snow was nice to the bottom of Emerald Chair and then the snow was crap.  We met up with Amalia, Juliette, and JF and took a couple more laps through the Emerald Zone before it was time for lunch.  Those laps were a lot of fun …. good snow, jibs and jumps, and fast paced.

After lunch, it was back to just Oak & Amalia and we took the same runs to close out our afternoon.  A run through the powder field, a run through the terrain park, and a run through Green Acres.  I have to admit, I had fun today.  Albeit, the chairlift ride was torture since it was so windy, but I put my head down and got through it.  Before we knew it, the day was over.  Only three more weeks left for Club.  Time is flying by.

Day 89 - las behgas!

Back to work and back to winter!  No new snow fell overnight but it snowed all day and forecasted to snow until late Sunday night.  It was Lil Ripper Club day so I didn't leave the CLC/Village area but the day went by fast.  All the kids, except for one are officially turning on the Super Carpet.  We squeezed in one lap to the Village with everyone but the snow was so heavy we stopped at one.

The snow report is saying we got six inches during the day and current snow base is 253cm and counting.

Day 88 - two kids, three broken wrists

A great sunny start to the day.  It's freezing in the mornings but nice in the afternoon these days.  The snow conditions at the Magic Carpet are bullet proof until well after lunch.  I was assigned level ones and started with five of them.  Bryan got the three never-evers up to speed while I warmed up the one stars.  By 10:30am, one boy fell backwards and hurt BOTH his wrists!!!  He was wrapped up like a mummy when Patrol finished with him.

After lunch I gave one girl to the level two class and soon afterwards, another boy fell and hurt his wrist as well.  He was sent to the clinic and that left me with two kids.  Luckily no one else hurt themselves after that.  It was a long afternoon on the carpet where the sun went behind some clouds for a while but then came back out around 2pm.  Snow base is currently 240cm.

Day 87 - after three days sick

I'm back!  I was on my couch sick for the last three days (going crazy!).  It's a bit busier in town this week as most of Canada is on Spring Break now.  We had over 30 Riders signed up for lessons.  I was assigned level two's but ended up taking a nice quiet class of four girls from Houston who were level one stars.  

It was a perfect class for someone who wanted off the couch but still wasn't quite up to riding yet.  We spent the entire day on the Magic Carpet and most the day it was warm and sunny.  By late afternoon, the snow had softened up quite a bit and three out of the four girls were starting to link turns.  It was good to be outside again and breathing in some fresh air.

Day 86 - went home sick

Not much to report today.  There is a storm in the area with high winds but it has also brought high freezing levels.  20cm is forecasted to fall over the course of today but I am assuming that snow isn't going to be anything to brag about.  It was raining in the Village in the morning and snowing at the CLC.  The boys and I took the Rippers to the Super Carpet first thing.  I wasn't feeling very good so when we took our break, Lisa covered my class for me and I went home sick.  Assuming by the afternoon, the snow at the CLC will have turned to rain.

Day 85 - chunky

Lessons are getting slower with only 15 kids signed up today.  I was assigned level two's but ended up splitting a level three class with Bel.  We had nine of them, a mix of high three's and a mix of low three's.  It was puking snow, a full on blizzard from 8:30am-10:30am!!  There was about 6 inches of fresh powder on the Magic Carpet when we all arrived at the CLC and none of the kids could do anything with it.  Bel and I took the kids for a lap down to the Village where we got plenty of fresh tracks on somewhat decent snow.

After lunch we took the kids to the Roundhouse.  By now it had stopped snowing and we knew the chunky snow would slow the kids down quite a bit and it would take a while to ride back to the CLC.  I think it took us just over an hour and the lower level kids were exhausted by the time we got there.  After an afternoon break, the kids spent the rest of their time building snowmen.

Snow conditions were soft packed to the top of Olympic Chair then the snow got wet and heavy.  Snow base is currently 229cm (90") - There is more snow in the forecast but freezing levels look to hover around the Chic Pea area through the weekend.  : (

Day 84 - Steve squared

We had about 20 kids in snowboard lessons today.  I was assigned level ones and only had one kid.  Morgan had one Lil Ripper so it was a "carpet day".   Nothing too exciting as you can imagine.  It snowed lightly all day but the snow didn't really seem to stick.  Morgan made a sweet obstacle course then spent most of his day ollie'ing the rainbow cushion.  As I said, it was a long and boring carpet day.

Day 83 - eye spy snow monsters

Snow is back!  Temps have warmed up a bit.  5cm reported overnight but when Oak and Amalia and I started down from the Roundhouse, it felt more like 6 inches or more.  Some of the turns were dust on crust but some turns were almost knee deep soft powder.  It snowed all day and it's forecasted to continue into the evening.

The kids and I did a lot of shredding today.  Lots of fresh snow first thing in the morning.  Hit some trees, the terrain park, and the School Yard.  In the afternoon we took the Peak 2 Peak over to Blackcomb and went to the Terrain Garden and the Castle.  We also did lots of tree runs.  It was a pretty fun day as conditions were mostly powder and soft packed.

Day 82 - be lazy

It was a cold one today and conditions of the snow on the lower mountain weren't that great.  It was a long day for us with all our Saturday Club Lil Rippers.  We were able to do a few runs on the Super Carpet before lunch.  In the afternoon,  we lead a big pack of eleven purple jersey Club kids from mid-station to the Village.  With three coaches and six kids turning, the trip down went quite well and quicker than we anticipated.  After our shred, we spent the remainder of the day colouring inside and keeping warm.