OPENING DAY 2020-2021

 Thursday November 26th.  Lots of corona virus protocols in place.  BC is currently on a NO TRAVEL advisory due to the growing cases in the province and the government has asked Vancouver locals to ski their local North Shore mountains.  Base is currently at 86cm.

Kevin and I got in line at Creekside around 7:30am.  The corral was very spread out to help with social distancing.  Instead of the lineup going over the pedestrian bridge, it wrapped behind Legends and then around the front of Legends and down the street past the bus stop.  We started at the front of Legends.  The lineup started moving around 8:10am and by 8:35am we were on a gondola.  The queue definitely moved faster than the bike park lineup this past summer.

Lineups were long, reservations were capped and sold out.  Once on the hill, there was lots of soft fresh powder lines were still be found even after 9:30am.  Honestly, the snow was amazing.  Weather was partly cloudy and quite mild.  Lift lines moved very quickly considering how many people were lined up in the Village.  I have yet to go onto social media to see if any members of the public had problems with their reservations or their passes.

Day 40 - bamboo socks

Today was the same as yesterday.

Day 39 - concussion

Had a headache all day during my last day of work, turns out I got quite a concussion from my fall in the park a week earlier when I was in Intro to Park training.  I had a few days off and now I'm on light duties for a few days.
Spent the morning helping sort people into appropriate levels and then walked around at the Olympic area in case anyone needed help.  I wasn't on my board but it felt good to be outside.  No new snow fell overnight and it wasn't quite blue bird but it was still a nice day.

Day 38 - suppose to be on Blackcomb

Cloudy day with lots of flurries.  Once again conditions at mid mountain were way better than conditions at the top of the mountain.  The Olympic area had soft packed snow, perfect for learning on.  I, once again, assigned myself to level ones so I could get work and I quickly had a full class:  1 guy from Australia and three Hawaiians.  They all did amazing and by the end of the day, I had them all turning down the super carpet.

Day 37 - take in the views

For some reason it was very. busy on the mountains today.  At 9am, the lineup for the Village gondola was down to Showcase.  Strange.  There was only 2cm of snow overnight.  The alpine hasn't opened in a few days but temps got really warm, it rained, and then temps got really cold.  The snow up there isn't particularly great.  I was told it was quite icy.

At midstation, it was perfect.  Temps cold but not too cold.  Warm if you were moving around.  The sun was shining.  Fresh snow on the mountains.  The snow conditions were soft packed, so perfect for learning on.  I grabbed a group of four girls from Australia who had never snowboarded before.  By the end of the day, most of them were turning on the super carpet.  Not confidently, but they were turning.  Great day to just be outside enjoying the outdoors.

Day 36 - vagatarian

The last two days have been nothing but rain .... lots of rain.  "Rivers" were flowing down some ski trails.  The weather today was clear and much cooler.  Conditions in the Family Zone had lots of "golf balls" on the runs.  But it was all time conditions on the lower mountain as it was cold enough for the snow guns to be blowing, adding some grip to the somewhat icy conditions.

I was assigned to gopher and had a nice lap from mid station down once my duties were finished.

Day 35 - orange and teal up

Today was my Friday and I was scheduled to gopher.  It was quite busy with 15-20 Max 4 lessons, 5 Intros, and another 5-7 staff wanting lessons.  Also Zero Ceiling had eight people.  It felt like we were quite understaffed.  I sorted out the level ones and intro classes, then took a group of five females on the staff side and helped get them up to level 2 standards.  I reported back at 12:30pm to find one guy wanting a half day lesson.  Paul took him and I went home.
The sun was shining and the snow was nice at mid station, but the clouds came in by 2pm and it was raining before the day finished.

Day 35 - wettest morning to dry afternoon

It was pouring rain this morning in the village.  No new snow overnight, which surprised me because it rained all night in Squamish, but it was puking in the alpine once the sun came up.   I was told the snow was really good as well.
I was assigned to Zero Ceiling again today and had a group of eight show up.  I worked with another guy named Griff.  Luckily it was snowing at mid station so I didn't get super soaked.  Snow isn't as wet as rain (sometimes) -- By the time we finished lunch, we had some sunny breaks in the clouds and the precipitation had stopped.

Day 34 - a beautiful day in paradise

Another gorgeous day in Whistler, BC.  Sun, nice temps and soft snow.  I had my Zero Ceiling girl and she started turning today.  It was a big breakthrough.   She even went up on the Olympic Chair.  After lunch we did a ride on the Peak 2 Peak.
Currently have a 238cm snow base.  Snow is soft packed right now and stashes of fresh tracks can be found all around.  Snow Forecast is calling for a big storm on Friday but high temps.  Stay tuned.

Day 33 - park session

Today was the perfect day:  sunny, not freezing, not windy, and the snow was nice and soft.  I signed up for Intro to Park full day training session.  Got into the alpine via Fitz and Garbo chairs.  We had 8 peeps in the class.  Learned a lot and got some confidence back up on the board.

Day 32 - GOPHER

Welcome to June-uary.  Freezing levels for the past couple of days have risen and the snow has turned into anything but EPIC.  It was raining at mid station level this morning and conditions were slushy from Olympic Zone down to the Village.

I was assigned to Gopher for Max 4, which means I didn't get a class, I organized the guests into the appropriate groups.  Since it was raining for most of the day, I didn't mind having this task for the day.

Day 31 - Schools

31cm of cement, I mean snow fell overnight.  Temps all over the mountain were above zero which made for crappy snow conditions.  I was scheduled for Schools and although I was told to take level 6 elementary kids, the two kids who showed up for that rode with their friends who were all skiers.  I made my way to the CLC via the Blackcomb Gondi and Peak2Peak where I had a nice FREE lunch and killed some time with my old colleagues.  A quick ride out to the Village with Bea and that was my day.

Day 30 - Zero Ceiling

I went up early and did morning session today.  First time I've done morning session in many many years.  It was a blizzard with high winds at the Roundhouse at 8am but the snow was amazing.  High drift piles and shallow corduroy underneath.  I managed to do two laps before having to report to work where I taught a girl from Zero Ceiling today.  We spent the day on the carpet trying to learn how to turn.

Weather today was literally a mixed bag.  It snowed at mid station, then the sun came out for a few, then it was cloudy, then it was a blizzard.  Temps weren't super cold and the terrain was that warm icy crap (tough to learn on).  Also the carpet was very busy with lessons today.

Day 28 & 29 - Missed all the good snow but also the freezing temps

I haven't been on the mountain for nine days.  Partly because I took a long weekend in Seattle and partly because the temps in Whistler have dropped to single digits (Fahrenheit) for almost a week.  I wasn't going outside in those temperatures.  But it also snowed during that time, it snowed quite a lot.  And when it's that cold, the snow is really light and it's the best snow ever.

Currently we have a base depth of 212cm.  Again, quite deceiving as I believe 100cm of that is man made from the first two months of the season's lack of snow.  Temps have also warmed up this week (too warm honestly) -- it was raining at the Roundhouse today (Monday).

Yesterday I reported back to Max 4 and took a nice level 3 lady from Seattle.  She tired quite quickly so we only did about four runs.  Today I was sent to Whistler Teens (formerly Ride Tribe) and had three level 2 kids who were all engaging and were turning by the end of the day.  I stayed relatively dry today considering it was really raining in the village first thing in the morning.

Day 27 - officially first day of Max 4

I have successfully transferred over to Adults Base Pod where I will be coaching Max 4s.  It was a clear morning with no new snow overnight.  Current snow base is 191cm (6ft) but that number is deceiving considering over 100cm is most likely man made snow.  The trails are filling in with all the snow we've received in the last seven days but the Peak Chair and Symphony have yet to open for the season.  Glacier Express opened on Monday.  Spanky's officially opened today.  But most of the Whistler alpine has been closed all week due to high avalanche dangers.

I had a great day with four level 2 riders who practiced S turns in the Olympic area.  We went to the Roundhouse for lunch since it was such a clear day.  Rode the Peak2Peak before heading back down to practice a bit more before the day ended.

A super cold arctic front is due to hit starting on Sunday and staying until Thursday.  Temps in the Village are forecasted as a high of 3F !!!  in the alpine a high of -11F !!!  I've never seen it so cold here and I've requested most of the week off.

Day 26 - Momma Fart Fart

More snow!  Today was the wettest day at work by far.  It snowed seven inches overnight and snowed another seven inches during the day.  The CLC was useless for teaching as the snow was impossible to learn how to edge on.  We had just under 50 kids in ride lessons and I was assigned to Lil Rippers and had two of them.  We all finished the day quite wet.  Snow up top was good for the first couple of turns then got quite sticky and heavy the further you skied down.

Day 25 - sugar juice

Finally winter has started in Whistler.  We've had 53 inches (134cm) of snow in the last seven days.  Avalanche risk has been all over the place last week, including hitting a high extreme and chairlifts for Vail have not been co-operating but still people are here and people are happy to shred.

We had just under 40 kids in snowboard lessons.  Most of them, maybe all of them are from Australia and most of them are here for the next five days in lessons.  I was assigned to one kid as a level 5 so I was able to enjoy some nice soft powder and some fresh tracks for two runs straight away in the morning.  After lunch I joined him with the level six class who only had a couple of boys in the group.  I tailed a level 2 class on the Olympic Chair for one run then was dismissed early.  I headed up to the top of the gondola for one last lap.  I didn't find any fresh tracks but the snow was still nice and soft.  Another storm forecasted for tonight.

Day 24 - ladder to a ladder

Temps dropped to -8 degrees in the alpine overnight.  Conditions on the groomers were quite icy, however Harmony chair opened after being closed for the last few days and the snow in Harmony was really good.  I was on super level 2s and had five of them.  It was snowing quite a bit at the end of the day and 10 inches is forecasted overnight.  About 50 kids in snowboard lessons today.

Day 23 - I'M OKAY!!!

Lots of snow yesterday turned to poop overnight.  It snowed quite a bit until around midnight and then the snow turned to rain.  Conditions were okay to Chic Pea level.  15cm was published for overnight but it didn't seem like that much.  It was a partly cloudy day with no new precipitation though snow is forecasted for the next few days with varying freezing levels.  I was on junior 2's and had three kids in the class.  One girl from Brazil who only spoke Portuguese and every time she fell, she put her thumbs up and yelled "I'm okay!" .... It was quite cute because she fell a lot.  LOL