Day 66 - snacks and snoozen … snoozen and snacks

I've had the last three days off as things have slowed down and there aren't as many tourists in town. But there has been no change in the weather and we haven't received any snow.  Bike trails are completely clear of snow all over Whistler, Pemberton, and Squamish.  Temps have dropped slightly, so it's cold enough to blow snow and Whistler is taking advantage of that.  Today it was super sunny and quite warm, especially at the CLC.

All of my Saturday Club kids showed up and we headed up to the Roundhouse to shred those groomers we have been shredding for a month.  It was another day of drills after drills after drills to stop counter-rotating.  After lunch we built a small jump at the CLC then took a lap through the Terrain Park.  That's pretty much the day.

Day 65 - super duper forgetful

Most of the tourists have left town and lessons have quieted down.  We only had a total of ten riders in snowboard lessons.  I was assigned Lil Rippers and three were signed up but I only ended up with one because they were all different levels.

The day started out as mostly cloudy and a bit chilly at the CLC area.  Kayden was a local kid from Spring Creek and this was his second snowboard lesson.  He was able to sideslip on both edges so we worked on turning for most of the day.  He was a cool kid, very athletic and very well behaved.  By the early afternoon the sun had come out and the snow had softened up.  At the end of the day, I made a jump for the little guy before having to download the gondola to get back together with Mom and Dad.  

Day 64 - last day of nine

This blog is getting quite boring.  Nothing new to report.  Sun was still shining.  Temps were still above normal.  No new snow overnight.  It was still a bit busy as it's the last day of Presidents' Week.  The boys and I spent the day on green runs.  They're low level three's and need as much mileage as possible.  They are improving every day.  It would be fun to get them to experience some powder (if it ever snows).

Presidents' Week was busy and I completed my nine day work week.  Unfortunately, the following week is now dead.  I've been given Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off.  As of Sunday, there was only 1 kid signed up for snowboard lessons for Tuesday.  I'm expecting to get called of on Tuesday as well.  

Day 63 - bored with boarding

No new snow overnight.  Sun was shining strong.  Freezing level 1300 metres.  It was windy, which kept the temps feeling colder than they were.  The conditions were, once again, all over the board:  icy, slushy, piled, groomed.  Everyone seemed a bit tired.  We spent the entire day doing drills to help correct the counter-rotation that every kid in my Club class does.  At the end of the day, we all enjoyed some ice cream sundaes on the covered-carpet while sitting in the warm sun.

Day 62 - rainbow

Last day of Adventure Camp and my seventh day in a row of work.  Feeling tired with another two days to go.  My kids showed up promptly at 8:30am and we squeezed in three long runs before early lunch at 11:15am.  I have to admit that the groomers are doing an awesome job pushing all the snow back onto the runs as the conditions first thing in the morning are quite enjoyable.  During the course of this week, I've learned what runs have decent snow coverage and what runs to totally avoid because they are basically a sheet of ice.  It was an enjoyable week of Adventure Camp as the kids were engaging and there was only two of them.  Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

The weather today was all over the board:  fog, clouds, snow squalls, and sunshine.  We even saw a rainbow.  The crowds are still heavy with long lift lines and we still haven't received any new snow.  Freezing level was approximately 1400 meters.

Day 61 - extreme, awesome, ultra

It's Thursday and the clouds rolled in.  No precipitation, just variable clouds - sun - and fog.  No new snow overnight and conditions are still the same … hard packed, ice.  We had a later lunch today so we managed to squeeze in a couple runs in the morning and a hot chocolate break.  It was more sunny in the afternoon so I decided to take a couple laps on Harmony.  We had to stay on the blue groomer cause everything off piste was hard as a rock.  But it was exciting to change the view and scenery for the afternoon.

Day 60 - GNU safety

Nothing has changed as far as weather or snow conditions.  My two kids and I managed to get up the gondola before the massive kid lineup.  We squeezed in about four runs before our early lunch.  Kelly was signed out after lunch as she wanted a day of rest with her family.  Andre and I decided to hang with Jon and his level fours … he had three of them.  We stayed on Whistler trying to find snow that wasn't ice.  Before we knew it, it was time to get in the massive download queue -- day done.

Day 59 - the Burton hate

Not much has changed between yesterday and today.  The sun was shining with a weak inversion so temps up top were a high of +6C.  The runs are still super icy and busy unless you get on something that has been sitting in the sun.

My two AC kids showed up by 8:45am and we promptly loaded onto the Fitz Chair.  We ran Whistler in the morning and Blackcomb in the afternoon.  Neither one of them were too engaging so it was a long boring day trying to keep them entertained with my silliness and trying to find something fun to snowboard on.  In the end, we practiced our switch riding for most of the afternoon.

Day 58 - Prez Week

A record setting 991 kids were taking lessons in the Village today!!!  More than over the Christmas holidays.  Adventure Camp ski had 371 kids with 67 Instructors scheduled.  Destination had close to 250 kids and snowboarding had just over 75 kids.  Plus throw in a bunch of Minis from Destination and VKP and Ride Tribe.

I was assigned level 4 in Adventure Camp because I had a request, who will be in lessons tomorrow.  I didn't think there would be a lot of Campers in level 4 and I was correct.  I signed in one girl from New York and Luca from last week.  There was also one girl in level 4 Destination assigned with Gunner.  It took us 45 minutes to get on the gondola and we reached the Roundhouse at 10:30am …. just in time to take one run and then head down for lunch.  Gunner ran the show with the three kids and I was more than happy to watch and learn the Master in action.  After lunch, Luca went with level 5, Gunner went home, and I took the two girls.

Snow conditions are the same as they've been since Saturday -- ICE!  We still have a 145cm snow base.  Temps were a bit colder today even though the sun shined.  Winds blew up the mountain and into our face, which is unusual, making it feel colder than it really was.  And, of course, it was busy!

Day 57 - bike park trails are clear

The sun feels good.  The crowds are crazy.  The runs are icy.  The lift lines (up and down) are long.  The snow base is 145cm.  And the Bike Park is clear!

I wasn't sure what to do with the boys today as I knew the concrete conditions weren't going to be fun. We hit the Olympic Chair a couple times and went down to the Village before lunch.  In the afternoon, Gunner suggested going over to Blackcomb and shredding Easy Out.  Most of that trail sits in the sun and it's an easy green.  So that's what we did.  Unfortunately we had to download at the end of the day and because snow conditions aren't suited for beginners below mid-station, everyone else downloaded too.  Lift lines to download are crazy busy, which is not normal in February.

I was told the reason this week is so busy is because Chinese New Year, Prez Week, and English mid-break all fall on the same week.  Usually they are all different weeks.  Tomorrow will mark the start of close to 1,000 kids in lessons just out of the Village pod.  Should be fun times.

Day 56 - Happy Valentines Day

It rained quite a bit during my days off and the snow base has dropped to 145cm.  Today the sun came out but the temps had dropped a bit, making the snow hard as concrete.  Not to mention, it's the start of Presidents' Week so the runs were super crowded, especially around the Family Zone.

I picked up a new student in the Club class.  His name is Harrison and he's technically suppose to be with Destination but because he's been coming to lessons for quite some time, he was put into my Club class but he will only come every other weekend.  Harrison was one of the original Lil Rippers and started snowboarding when he was 6years old.  It's three years later and he's now a solid Level 5 rider.
Oak spent the day with Ellen as she was missing her top kid Anthony.  We spent the morning on Whistler just trying to survive the brutal snow conditions.  Besides the hard packed snow, the grooming was terrible, leaving uneven surfaces and ice cookies everywhere on some runs.

After lunch we picked up another girl from Devon.  She needs to slow down and work on her technique and I think our class will be perfect for her.  The kids wanted to give Blackcomb a try so we headed over and we got wind that 7th Heaven was pretty nice.  The class is pretty fast and even though we only had time for one run out, we headed over to 7th where we found blue skies and soft snow.  It was the nicest part of the day.  We quickly had to run out and head down where we downloaded in the gondola because each of the kids had fallen on their butts (on the ice) throughout the day and they were kind of hurting on the tailbone.    

Day 55 - high concentration of water

The weather is still not shaping up to be winter and it's almost mid February.  At this rate, I'm riding my bike more on my days off than I am snowboarding and I might not even ride 100 days this season.  Temperatures are forecasted to stay above the freezing level for another five days (at least) and precipitation is also on the way, which means snow is going to melt faster.  Snow base is now 156cm and conditions are slush, even in the Alpine.

18 kids and 8 Lil Rippers were signed up for snowboard lessons.  I was assigned level 4 and I knew it was going to be an easy day as I only knew of one kid returning who was a level 4.  I had him yesterday.  His name is Lucas, he's from Australia, he's an awesome rider, and he's really cool.  His mom even half admitted to me that out of her four kids, he is her favorite.  We spent the day shredding around Whistler trying to stay dry in between the occasional rain showers.   

Day 54 - whoop!

It was a busy Monday because it was Family Day in BC, which is a stat holiday.  5cm of snow fell overnight but freezing levels were forecasted to reach over 2000 metres this afternoon.  I was assigned level 4's and ended up with three kids who were all 8 years old.

We spent the morning on Whistler which was basically slush from top to bottom.  Took the Peak 2 Peak over to Blackcomb in the afternoon for the same conditions but with some snow flurries and rain showers.  One kid fell in the GMC Race Course and ended up going home with Patrol.  Overall it was an easy, chilled out day.  Slopes were busy with the holiday crowd.  I think we had close to 40 kids in lessons.

Day 53 - stay badass

I think there was about 8cm of fresh snow that fell overnight.  I didn't think much of it since my Sunday Club kids are still a low level.  Everyone was signed in before 9am and the boys reminded me that I said we could go to the top this week, … so that's what we did.

I have to admit, it was nice to get a couple of pow turns in on Ego Bowl first thing in the morning.  I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the snow.  But then I rode about 50 yards down - where we hit the hard packed ice.  It turned into a nice slush just below the Emerald Chair.  All of the Alpine opened today and although there were long lift lines, they say the powder was - well it was actually nice powder.  The boys and I stayed around mid-station for the remainder of the day.

Day 52 - happy birthday oak

The pineapple express has settled in nicely as it's been raining in Whistler since Thursday and will continue to rain for another couple of days.  It's a lot of wasted (and much needed) precipitation.  Had it been a bit colder, we probably would have seen over 3 feet of snow from this storm.

Only one of my kids showed up for Club this morning - Jack.  Ellen only had one kid show up also, so we rode together in the morning, trying to get the two six year olds to work on their technique.  Oak showed up at lunch as today was his birthday so his mom let him sleep in late and then took him out to breakfast.  The boys had a very good day and worked hard at improving their riding skills.

Snow conditions were slush.  It's like April only without the sunshine.  Snow base is currently at 150cm but the trails are in bad shape.  Some have rivers flowing right across the trail, others have huge puddles in the middle of the run.  It's long weekend (Family Day on Monday) and it was surprisingly busy with the lift line at Emerald almost out the fencing all day … mostly because the Alpine never opened though they managed to get Harmony going by early afternoon.

Day 51 - mundane

Eight kids were signed up to take snowboard lessons today and I was assigned level four.  I knew there was one kid who was a level four so I was happy to get work.  The sun was shining in the morning but then the clouds crept in during the afternoon.  A storm is heading our way but the freezing level is suppose to rise so lots of rain is in the forecast.  Maybe we will get lucky and it will be wet snow.

It was a pretty boring day keeping to the groomers as my girl wasn't interested in venturing off piste at all.  Not only that, but she didn't speak at all.  I think I got ten words out of her during the course of the day.  It was like hanging out with myself for seven hours.  Not that I'm complaining because I did get to  snowboard and I got paid for it.  It just made for kind of a long day.

Day 50 - the beginning of "dead season"

Just under 20 kids were signed up for snowboard lessons today and most of them are part of the new WESP program, five weeks of lessons on Mondays for a special price.  There is literally one kid signed up for lessons for the rest of this week.  I am only to assume the lack of snow is finally catching up to us.

I was assigned to Lil Rippers and two were signed up.  One of them was a Club kid who was a level 3 and another was a girl I had last week who is a level 2.  Jon took the Club kid and I took the girl as I remember she was quite athletic and I wanted to try to get her turning.  It was a typical Ripper day, with some snowboarding on the carpets, some snacks and some colouring.  It snowed quite a bit throughout the day but it didn't seem like it was accumulating at all.  

Day 49 - everybody loves snow

BREAKING NEWS!!!  13cm (5 inches) of snow fell in Whistler!  Woke up to snow on the ground and slippery roads.  I was late for work due to an accident on 99 near Nordic.  The snow base is 133cm.

My three boys in Sunday Club were right on time and we headed for the CLC promptly at 9am.  It was snowing in the Village first thing in the morning and it snowed all day off and on.  Conditions were slow and sticky at the "tube" but the boys managed to pack the snow down pretty good.  We spent the morning at the CLC then headed to the Village after lunch.  We also hit the Olympic Chair for a lap.  The boys are doing well and are close to being level threes.