Day 70 - it's finally over!

For the last day of winter operations on Whistler Mountain, it was quite busy in Snowboard Lessons.  We had 21 kids with only 5 Instructors.  It made for an interesting morning when 8 level 5/6 showed up and another 5 level fours.  We had to summon Jose from Ride Tribe to come help.

I was assigned to level twos and I had two kids who didn't talk much.  We spent the morning at the CLC and hit the Olympic Chair in the afternoon.  We got in four laps on the chair where I soaked in as much sun as possible on that 20min ride up the hill.  Both kids made it to level three and I'm happy for winter to be over so I can start biking.

Day 69 - HEL-0

Another sunny day at work with only 15 kids in snowboard lessons.  I was getting my review so I was given level three and only had one girl whom I had the day before.  She was keen to improve her snowboarding so it was easy to help her out.  We spent the day on greens and blues in the Family Zone on Whistler.  Bel followed us around in the afternoon.  It was a lucky day for the kid:  private lesson with two Instructors.  Happy to report her riding did improve quite a bit.  : )

Day 68 - powder turns in April

12cm of fresh soft snow fell overnight.  I was given level threes and after a fun photo and sorting through two other classes, I had my class set and we headed up the gondola.  The snow conditions were soft packed right out of the gate.  We dropped between Whiskey Jack and Ego Bowl and was able to get about five fresh turns through some nice soft snow.  Temps warmed up quite quickly, softening up the snow.  It was a slow ambling day in the Family Zone.  It was mostly cloudy with some isolated snow showers.  

Day 67 - I'm a mean one

Rainy day in Whistler and kids' lessons are starting to dwindle.  Ten kids were signed up and I had the pleasure of taking level ones.  Two boys from Seattle showed up who had never snowboarded before.  The snow was very slushy and very wet.  And did I mention it rained most of the day??  We spent the morning and some of the afternoon on the small carpet and then took a couple laps over by the tunnel.  Overall it wasn't an exciting day.

Day 66 - turtle-ly awesome

Lessons are slowing down as the season is wrapping up.  Sixteen kids were in lessons and I was assigned to level fours.  I wasn't sure if I would get a class or not.  One girl from Kentucky showed up just before 9am and we headed straight up to the Roundhouse.

Spent the day on Whistler working on her technique and stance.  Weather was a mixed bag of everything but mostly cloudy.  It was icing at one point up top, raining at the CLC, rainbows and even some sun.  My girl improved quite a bit and it was good to finally snowboard for a change at work.  Unfortunately tomorrow I've been sent back down to teach level ones.

Day 65 - a very fun last day of Club

I love sunshine!  And today was sunshine!  Warm temps, riding with no layers, no gloves, slushy snow.  All six Club kids showed up and we promptly went up to the Roundhouse to shred the gnar!  Lunch was early so we managed to get in a couple of runs before eating lunch.
Since it was the last weekend of Club, all the snowboarders met up at the lightboard at 1:30 for a "parade" down to the CLC for our season ending celebration cake.  I had a fun time riding today.  I don't think it's going to be too busy this week but I am scheduled for six more days.

Day 64 - the lazy way

Finally!  It's Friday!  The thing that sucks about Spring skiing is that by early afternoon, your boots are soaking wet from the melting snow.  Then you spend the next four hours in wet socks.  Anyway, I started the morning by taking Alfred over to the Olympic Chair where the snow was soft but not quite slushy yet.  He managed to do a few nice turns but also looked like a muppet part ways.  He never finished as a level three like I had predicted earlier in the week.  No matter as I enjoyed hanging outside in the warm weather working on my goggle tan.

Day 63 - Man, it's a hot one

Started the day by heading over to Olympic Chair.  I was hoping little Alfred would get his turning mastered.  He managed to zig zag all the way to the Super Carpet where we took a few more laps.  After lunch we tried turning by the Tunnel.  Finally I decided to draw a blue track down the slope for him to follow.  Yes!  That worked.  Now hopefully he can do it tomorrow under the Olympic Chair.

Weather today was partly cloudy with mostly sun!  and it was super warm.  Temps reached close to 60F with freezing levels over 3800m.

Day 62 - What's in the cupboard of fun?

Another rainy start to the day with low clouds at the CLC for most of the morning.  Three other Lil Rippers were in Destination but I managed to only teach my AC kid.  I was hoping he would start turning down the bunny slope today but it didn't happen.  I thought the firmer snow at the higher elevations would help him with the turns so after lunch we went up the gondola.  After an hour, he finally reached the Emerald Chair, but he was no better at turning.  Maybe tomorrow it will click in as he has all the ingredients, he just hasn't put them all together in the pot yet.

Day 61 - are we high right now?

Day two of Adventure Camp with my little guy named Alfred (who is from England).  It was a bit of a miserable day weather wise, the CLC sat in a cloud all day and it was misting.  It was cold and the snow was super soft.  Sadie and I hung around most of the day as she had two Lil Rippers.  It was a typical six year old kind of day:  morning runs on the Magic Carpet, afternoon runs on the Covered Carpet, playtime in the jungle gym, and plenty of hot chocolate.

Day 60 - My brain is bigger than William's

I think we were anticipating a busy week as Adventure Camp was scheduled for snowboarding but overall, we only had about 20 kids in total combining AC and Destination.  I was assigned to Lil Rippers Adventure Camp.  One boy from England is in my class and I also took one from Destination.

Today's weather was a mixed bag.  3cm of snow fell overnight.  We started the day partly cloudy.  Around 10:30am we had a blizzard of hail for about an hour.  The sun later came out and it stayed partly cloudy partly sunny for the remainder of the day.  Rain started falling around 4pm and lasted into the evening.

Day 59 - Ewoks

I'm scheduled to help Kat with her six Lil Rippers in Club for the next couple of Sundays.  Last week only four showed up, but this week was a completely different story.  We had all six kids and one of them is quite a handful.  None of them were all that motivated to snowboard.

Conditions up top have turned into Spring conditions with soft/wet snow from the Roundhouse down.  The snow base is melting fast and it's down to 294cm with rain coming for the next couple of days.  This week doesn't seem to be as busy last week with visitors.