Day 28 - The Snowdogs

Another sunny bluebird day in Whistler Blackcomb with a high temperature inversion.  The Alpine reached +2C by mid-afternoon.  The runs are still hard packed with lots of snow being pushed to the sides of the runs.  No new snow for a quite a few days.

50 or so kids were in Destination Ride.  I'm having a super chill week with my two girls who showed up close to 9am ready to snowboard.  We took the gondola to the Roundhouse and headed to the Chic Pea for photos.  Once that was finished, we continued back to the CLC for a quick break.  There, we picked up Kat and her Lil Ripper, Travis and headed to Marmot Trees.  That was quite an adventure as the snow was soft and the kids kept falling every 5-10ft.  But they had fun and that's all that mattered.

After lunch, we had time to take a lap to the Village before our ice cream apre.  That was pretty much the day.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Day 27 - mixing up the classes

Record setting snowboard lessons day: 80+ kids!  At the meeting, gunner, Lur and I were told we needed to combine two classes because an Instructor was needed to take a level three class.  I spoke up and offered up my two boys to Lur in order to take two very nice 7 year old girls who are cool to shred some easy greens and blues for the week.  Ahhhh, I felt so much better not having the pressure of entertaining two high level boys without any chance of snow coming this week.

There was a huge inversion with temps today. -1C in the Alpine and -16C in the Village. It was a nice sunny day up top and my girls were happy cruising the Family Zone.  Luckily the snow wasn't as icy as yesterday but conditions are still hard packed.

Day 26 - another group of AC'ers

I had a very restful two days off and recovered for another week of Adventure Camp.  Whistler Kids is crazy busy this week with 250 Destination skiers and close to 70 Riders (including Adventure Camp).  I was assigned Level fours AC and though I was happy, I was also annoyed because the snow conditions right now are terrible.  No new snow in a couple days, no new snow forecasted AT ALL, and runs are super icy.

Today was a cold one.  -16C on top the mountain.  Four level 4's signed in with me and Lur quickly took one as he only had one level five and the two boys rode together last week.  That left me with one regular girl from Vancouver (Caileigh) and two older boys.  After a long sign in process and an even longer wait in line to get up the gondola, we managed to squeeze in a run from Ego Bowl back to the CLC to warm up before having to head back out.  I quickly gave my girl to a level three class as the runs were too icy for her to turn down.  That left me with a couple of pretty quick boys and no idea where to take them for something fun.

In the afternoon, we followed Gunner and Lur through the Terrain Park for a couple laps.  That was more of a nightmare than anything else.  The park is so hard packed right now, but the boys had fun.  We finished by 3pm and downloaded before the mega-line queued up for downloads.

The snow base now is 120cm.  Hoping to run through Harmony tomorrow and find some softer snow to play around in.  It's going to be a long week in these conditions.

Day 25 - end of AC

Friday!  Last day of Adventure Camp and after yesterday,  I was curious to see how the day was going to go.  The kids all arrived before 8:45am and we were heading up to Roundhouse before 9am.  The weather has been clear and cold as of late with no new snow and nothing in the forecast.  Heavy traffic'ed runs are starting to get quite icy.

We took a warm up run down Ego Bowl and kept on trucking back to the CLC to warm up with a nice cup of hot chocolate.  We managed to squeeze in a couple more runs before lunch including a lap down Raven (black diamond).  After lunch, I promised the boys we would go through the Terrain Park.  We only had time for one more run after that before calling it a day (and a week).  It was a fun group of kids this week so the week went by fast.

Day 24 - a box of surprises (Merry Christmas)

In keeping with tradition, Irish and I headed up Whistler for the Fresh Tracks breakfast.  I invited Pippa and my temporary roommate Kadey to come along.  We all met up at the gondola for 7am.  It was a clear morning with low lying clouds and we were greeted with an amazing sunrise.

Because I had to work, I had to eat and run.  I met with my kids just before 9am.  We went straight to the top of the gondola and the weird/amazing day began.  We got to enjoy five snow-rainbows.  One of my girls had a bit of a mental breakdown so it took us a very very long time to get back to the CLC.  After a quick hot chocolate break, we took a quick lap to the Village and then came in for lunch.

The afternoon was fun as the girl who was having a difficult last couple of days, decided to go home.  She was a huge split in the class.  After lunch, we were able to do two full laps of Whiskey Jack, Orange Peel, Dave Murray hitting most of the jumps along the way.  We saw two white doves off of Dave Murray.  On Whiskey Jack, we stopped at the SLOW sign and got some Hersheys Kisses from the Safety "elves".

We finished at the CLC around 2:30pm.  Chris spent some time on the jump that Gunner built before we stood in the long download queue.  

Irish and Pippa had quite a day hiking Flute three times.  They said the snow was amazing.  I have to admit I was a bit jealous.

Day 23 - xray snow goggles

I had my AC kids meet a little earlier today because I wanted to ride on Blackcomb in the morning.  By 8:45am we were on the Whistler gondola heading up to start our day.  We needed to stop off at the CLC to get our group picture taken then we continued up to the Peak 2 Peak.

I wanted to ride Blackcomb today because I wanted the kids to start riding more blue runs.  I've always had a split in the class but the split is getting bigger and bigger as the week goes on.  One girl is painfully slow and doesn't take risks at all.  In fact, she starts to freak out when I challenge her on tougher terrain.  She didn't have an incredibly strong day today.  She fell a lot, cried a few times, and if anything, she stepped her riding back more than she improved.

It was a blue bird day with low lying scattered clouds.  The views were amazing.  It's Christmas Eve and there weren't a lot of people out on the slopes.  4cm of snow fell overnight and the runs were soft packed, though Whistler felt softer than Blackcomb.

Day 22 - ladybug gloves

It was raining/snowing in the Village first thing in the morning.  It didn't take too long to get damp after our morning meeting.  Only 2cm of fresh snow fell overnight.  I told my kids to meet me at 8:45am and I helped check in Destination kids until they arrived.

Once we gathered the team, we headed straight up to the top of the gondola where we were met with lots of soft snow and perfect corduroy on the groomers.  The boys started getting a bit adventurous by going over some natural jumps and drops and powder on the side of the runs.  The girls kept to working on their turns in the middle of the run.  We ran all the way back to CLC on the first run to warm up and enjoy a quick hot chocolate before heading right back up and taking another lap before lunch.

After lunch we headed over to Green Acres and found ourselves on the ungroomed powdery run.  That took some time with the weakest rider but in the end she made it and had fun.  On the next run we dropped off Whiskey Jack and into the powder back to Ego Bowl.  It wasn't anything crazy but it gave the kids a sense of what the powder feels like … and they loved it.  Before we knew it, the day was over.  We were told to download at 2:45 but the gondola ended up breaking around 3pm so we snowboarded back to the Village in the chaos.  The kids had a great day and I really enjoyed the soft snow.

Day 21 - Let the crazy begin

It's the holiday season.  The crazy crowds have reached Whistler Blackcomb.  Snowboarding has Adventure Camp for the next two weeks and I was given a level three class.  We had 20 kids in Camp with another 6 Lil Rippers.  I never did find out how many Destination riders we had.

I spent most of my morning sorting out my class and making sure they were in the right level with the right kids.  The most we accomplished before lunch was a rip down to the Village from mid-station.  Conditions there were hard packed with icy spots.

After lunch we went to the Family Zone from the Roundhouse.  Conditions up there were soft packed which gave the kids a bit more confidence with turns.  We received another 9cm overnight and winds were light.  We managed to squeeze in two runs before heading back to the CLC for a break and then we hit the jump.  It was a long wait in line to download at the end of the day but my kids' parents were ready and waiting when we reached the Village so sign-out went quite quickly.  I'm looking forward to having the same kids all week.  Hoping they reach level four by Thursday.

Day 20 - back leg burn

21cm overnight.  7:00am alarm.  7:45am standing in line at Base II.  8:30am shredding knee deep fresh pow all the way down Excelerator Chair.  9:30-10:30am standing in line at 7th Heaven.  10:45am shredding knee deep fresh pow all the way back to 7th Heaven chair.  Managed to get in another two more runs before the crowd sets in, fresh tracks most of the way.

Amazing day.  Waking up early was well worth it.  Standing in line for an hour … again, well worth it.  Conditions were awesome.  Snow was deep and not too heavy out in 7th.  The lower you dropped, the heavier it got.  We managed to get in a couple of good tree runs off the cat tracks as well.  Found lots of powder on the side of Ross Gold late in the afternoon.  Ran down to Blackcomb for a sandwich at Portobella's before calling it a day.  So glad we woke up early as the 9am lift line at Creekside was over the bridge.

      

Day 19 - freeride pow day

Irish and I had the day off and we decided to get up early to enjoy the 14cm of snow overnight.  Another 14cm was forecasted to fall during the day.  After a quick breakfast at Dusty's Backside, we headed up the Creekside gondola.  Winds were high and the only sheltered chair was Garbonzo.  We headed down Dave Murray to check out what was happening off the Garbo chair.  There was plenty of soft pow to be found on Dave Murray.  Raven was out of bounds and looked untouched so we gave that a whirl on the second lap and found a ton of knee high powder on that run.  We hit that twice, the second time going all the way down Ptarmigan.  Fresh tracks the whole way.  

The high winds kept the Peak Chair closed so we hit Harmony around noon.  Visibility across the ridge was terrible but once you hit the big field, it was powder powder powder.  We took a couple of runs through Gun Barrels and decided to give Symphony a try.  By now it was after 1pm and the storm had settled in, making visibility next to nothing.  I couldn't see on Burnt Stew at all and kept getting vertigo so we basically ran back out of Symphony and made our way back to Creekside gondi to download before the crowds.  

It's been snowing for the last couple of hours and we're hoping for more powder turns tomorrow. 

  

Day 18 - Covered Carpet

Exciting News:  the new covered carpet opened at the CLC today!!  Snowboard lessons still weren't too busy with only 21 kids.  I managed to get myself the level 2 class and I only had three kids, one of whom left right after lunch.  Of course, we spent the entire day on the new carpet.  Neither kid made it to level three.

14cm fell overnight and conditions up top were amazing (so I heard).  Another 4cm fell during the day. At the CLC, it snowed on and off while it rained most of the way down to the Village.  There is currently a 108cm base.

Day 17 - sharked

Another 3cm overnight with a potential storm on the horizon for the next three days.  Snowboard lessons are picking up as today we had 23 riders.  I shared a Lil Ripper class with Matt.  We didn't really need to split the class but Matt wanted work and no one really questions Lil Rippers so we said we had a split.  The little girl, Anna, from the other day returned and I knew I wanted to take her on the Super Carpet so technically I guess we did have a split.  One kid was a never-ever and one had been snowboarding before.  He was able to side-slip on his heels.  We stayed on the Magic Carpet for the morning and after lunch I took Anna to the Super Carpet.  She was able to turn from heels to toes with the help of me holding the hula hoop.  She got tired after four runs in the longer area, but plans on returning tomorrow.

Day 16 - I did not get a class

3cm of snow fell overnight.  Ski School was busier than Snowboard School with 70 skiers compared to 12 riders.  I was assigned to RFID the skiers and Sean hadn't assigned me a class.  I knew that meant I wasn't going to work and I was a bit upset about it.  I headed up the gondola around 9:30am with Nick and Steve, who also didn't get classes.  We hung around for about 45 minutes before Shimmy told us we could head down and check in with Adults.

It was lightly snowing in the Village when I left and I decided to drive down to Squamish and ride my bike.  So that's what I did.  It made me feel a lot better about not getting to work today.  Scheduled to work the next two days, when things are picking up for Christmas, so I guess it won't be so bad in the long run … and by long run, I mean my paycheck.

Day 15 - Jameson & Guinness

Mid-way through December, our snow base is 90cm and most of that is man made.  Most runs are still closed, including Lower Whiskey Jack and Jolly Green Giant area.  We haven't had any new snow in a couple of days and runs were a bit icy today.  Snow guns are still firing here and there.

We had 10 kids signed up for snowboard lessons and I had one Lil Ripper.  It was a typical Ripper day with runs on the Magic Carpet, long breaks and colouring.  Anna was from England and she had the best accent.  She was quite a talker and quite a rider too.    

Day 14 - guns ablazen'

No new snow overnight.  It was sunny in the morning and clouds rolled in during the afternoon.  Temps have been cold enough to blow snow on the lower elevations so the guns were going full blast today.  We are getting a new carpet at the CLC so there were about four guns blowing in the kids area and it was so loud, you couldn't even think.

Busy day in Snow School.  Over 100 skiers in Adventure Camp, another 50-75 in Destination, and 23 riders.  I shared a level two class with Kat and we had eight kids.  We spent the morning at the Magic Carpet and spent the afternoon on the Super Carpet.  The class was an even split with half of them confidently turning by the end of the day and the other half still needing another day of practice.

Day 13 - Peak, 7th, Harmony open

The pineapple express moved off on Wednesday but left behind about 30cm of snow in the higher elevations.  Whistler Blackcomb opened Peak Chair and 7th Heaven on Saturday.  Irish was willing to get up early and give it a go but I said I didn't want to.  I hated the idea of getting up early for a couple of good turns and then waiting in line forever.  I heard the snow was awesome but the lineups were crazy.

Today, Whistler opened Harmony Chair.  People said the snow was filled in like it was mid to late February (everything is covered) and the snow was amazing.  I worked and didn't get a chance to sample the goods.  We had about 20 kids in snowboard lessons today and another 5 Lil Rippers.  I was given one Lil Ripper who was a level 3.

We spent the morning on the two carpets and after lunch we rode down to the Village then took one lap from the Roundhouse back to the CLC.  The snow was nice from RH to 3/4 of the way down Emerald Chair, where it started to get icy.  Luckily it was cold enough for the snow guns to cover most of the ice from Emerald back to the CLC.  The day went by fairly quickly as my kid provided some great entertainment for the day, including mimicking Macauley Culkin from Home Alone and telling me that Brandon Semenuk was his older brother.  Gotta love 6 year olds.    

Day 12 - Please, no more rain!

I was called off yesterday and I didn't complain.  It rained (poured) all day and although the winds weren't as high as Tuesday, conditions were still just as terrible.  This morning the rain stopped and 9cm of snow was reported overnight.

We had the same seven kids signed up for lessons and I was assigned level 3 and ended up with Greg, the same kid I had on Monday.  Terrain was limited in the morning with Olympic Chair being closed, the run to the Valley was "marginal", Olympic run from Emerald to mid-station was "marginal", and Expressway was closed.  Greg and I headed up to the Roundhouse and managed to do three runs lapping the Emerald Chair before we needed to download for lunch.

Conditions at mid-station were horrible, with lots of "rivers" running across the area.  I think there is more dirt than snow.  Conditions at the Roundhouse weren't bad.  In fact, it looked like a winter-wonderland from the gondola but the runs were actually hard packed.  There was about 6 inches of fresh heavy pow in the areas that weren't groomed and I managed to get a couple of first pow turns in on the side of Ego Bowl.

 

Day 11 - EVAC!

Interesting day all around at Whistler Kids.  Seven kids were signed up for lessons.  Four showed up on time, one was a no-show, and two showed up at 9:30am.  Pippa and I were assigned to the levels for the two kids who showed up late.  It was pouring rain from Village level to the Peak Chair and winds were gusting over 100km.

Pippa and I got our kids ready for the CLC and we boarded the gondola around 9:45am.  We unloaded the gondola (at mid-station) at 10:15am!  High winds were causing constant stops and finally Lift Ops separated the two lines and eventually closed the top line.  Blackcomb also ended up closing due to high winds.  Because of the Pineapple Express, the warm weather also wreaked havoc on the snow.  The CLC was nothing but slush with big "snow puddles" everywhere.  My boots were soaked before lunch.

I had a Lil Ripper and he was keen to be outside and learn how to snowboard but conditions didn't allow for much teaching.  By noon, both mountains were closed and we were waiting to get permission to go outside.  There was lots of talk about how we were going to download since both lines of the gondola needed to be stopped due to the wind.  Cats were discussed but in the end we downloaded around 1:30pm.

Snowboarders aren't ones for hanging inside the CLC for too long, so after lunch, we were the only crew outside on the Magic Carpet, in the pouring time, snowboarding on the minis side.  We even built a jump!!!  The Carpet wasn't running and all the fencing was either blown down or taken down.  It was a rare sight …. and interesting day, that ended an hour early.  Forecast for tomorrow doesn't look like much will be improved.

Day 10 - Stinger to the Face

A huge band of precipitation has moved into the region, unfortunately, it's mostly in the form of rain.  Today stayed fairly dry around mid mountain with sprinkling rain on and off.  Snowboard lessons had a new batch of kids, most of which are signed up for 5 days (8 kids total).  I was given level two and I only had one boy from Mapleridge.  Spent the morning on the Super Carpet getting confident on his S-turns then spent the afternoon riding down to the Village.  He finished as a level three.

Day 9 - Spinning a web of lies

Back to work and conditions haven't improved in the last three days.  (sad face)  No new snow to report.  It was clear today and not too cold.  The runs were hard packed, very hard packed.

We had eight kids in Snowboard School and when the day first started, it was looking like I wasn't going to get a class.  I was assigned level one's and all the kids who signed in, came in as two's or higher.  Luckily Riley had a split with level 2 and I was able to stay and take one girl, Kalynne, who remained a level one star by the end of the day.

Day 8 - We can ski to the Village!!!

We can ski to the Village!  Exciting news!  Cold temps had the snow guns running full blast, non stop and they made enough snow from mid-station to the Village so we can now ski out.  yay!

Two new kids signed up for snowboard lessons today, making our total of 6 kids!  Riley had three level ones, I did a Private with my level 2/3 girl, Gunner took the level four boy, and Jordan had his Park Rider.  I started off on the Super Carpet for a few warm up laps before heading to the Roundhouse for a lap before lunch.  Taylor, my kid, was turning perfectly down the Carpet but she froze and wouldn't even try to turn on her toe edge down Ego Bowl.  She did the same thing yesterday and I got so frustrated because I couldn't make her do it and I couldn't do it for her.  Grrrr … I wanted to scream at her because I knew she could do it if she just gave it a try.

After lunch I decided to take Taylor back to the Super Carpet to make her do some fast moving J-turns on her toe edge.  That worked and it built her confidence up enough where I thought it would be good to take her down to the Village.  She managed to turn most of the way down Olympic, getting over the "block" she had.  I was so excited and so was she!!!  She even popped off the jump we made at the CLC at the end of the day.  It was a great way to end my week.

Day 7 - I C U P

Another quiet day in Whistler Kids.  We have four snowboarders and I took the same two as yesterday.  We took a couple of laps on the Super Carpet first thing in the morning to warm up.  Both we ready to hit the Emerald Zone up top even though I knew it would be challenging for the girl.  After a quick hot chocolate at the CLC, we headed up to the Roundhouse before lunch.

It was a blue bird day and views were amazing.  The snow is getting icy in spots.  We ran Ego Bowl a couple of times, which created a huge split between the kids.  The boy was running fast and strong, while the girl was using my hand to turn onto her toes.  A bit frustrating but I made it work.  Tomorrow they will definitely be split up.

Day 6 - still cold still no snow

Back to work today after not getting a class on Saturday and having Sunday off.  Conditions in Whistler are still the same.  Snow base is at 50cm but no terrain is available to ski except for Ego Bowl, Whiskey Jack, and a run down to Red Chair.  The good news is temps have dropped so the snow guns are blasting snow like crazy.  We might be able to ride from top to bottom soon thanks to man-made snow.

We only had 5 kids in snowboard lessons today.  I had two level 2/3 kids who spent most of the day on the Super Carpet practicing their turns.  The day went by quite quickly for some reason.  It was quite cold today so we took quite a few breaks.  I'm sure that helped pass the time.  Looks like it will be slow all week in Snow School but I should get the same kids for a couple days in a row.

Day 5 - Sammy

The weather is wreaking havoc on us this season.  Yesterday's rain was a lot of wasted precipitation that didn't come down as much needed snow.  The temperatures dropped significantly overnight and the clouds moved out with heavy winds.  We were greeted with solid ice on the runs.

We had about 30 kids in snowboard lessons.  I was assigned to Lil Rippers and we had three signed up.    Luckily our "regular" named Sammy showed up.  She is a level two so that created a split and allowed two Instructors for the Rippers.  I took Sammy and had a pretty easy day.  We spent the morning on the Magic Carpet and then did a few runs on the Super Carpet after lunch.  We spent much time colouring and drawing.  It was quite an easy day.

Day 4 - This blows

First day of Whistler Kids and I was assigned to Ride Tribe.  I wasn't too thrilled with that as I assumed I wouldn't get a class.  There were 6 skiers and 6 riders signed up for lessons.  Luckily for me, one level 2 showed up right before 9am and I grabbed him and headed for the Super Carpet.

Khai was from San Diego and he was pretty cool.  We started off at the bunny hill where he was turning but needed some pointers and some confidence.  It rained on and off throughout the morning but it wasn't anything too significant.

Khai built up his confidence quite quickly and I knew that he would be ready for Emerald Chair after lunch.  Unfortunately, it was raining like crazy in the higher elevations.  Within an hour of being outside, the two of us were drenched.  By the end of the day I had puddles in my boots.  I had never been so wet after a day of work.  It was horrible.  Happy first day of the new season.

Day 3 - Izayah, a seven year tradition

My annual shred with Izayah.  It's probably the only day we have to ride together this season as it's suppose to rain tomorrow and then I start work on Thursday.  We reached the Roundhouse just before noon and we were met with snowflakes, fair temps, and light winds.  The snow was very nice but only groomed runs are filled in so terrain is still very limited.  The base has reached 62cm at least.

We warmed up down Ego Bowl and on our second lap we hit the new bike trail off Whiskey Jack.  So much fun.  Too bad we won't be allowed to take our classes through there once work starts.  We then made our way down to Red Chair.  The conditions at lower elevations are a bit more icy, especially on the narrow cat track just before the lift.

Chris took Izayah's brother and cousin to the Super Carpet and Izayah wanted to see how they were doing so we made the decision to ride down via Olympic Run.  It's a temporary boundary right now which means it's not groomed and it's not patrolled.  I knew it was going to be an adventure.  The first half of the run was lots of heavy snow.  We quickly ran into a couple of creeks and lots of grass sticking out of the snow in spots.  It took us a while and we were both exhausted by the time we reached mid-station but we did finally reach our destination.  We found Chris and the kids and helped them on the Super Carpet for the remainder of the afternoon.

Day 2 - RST on the snow

For the first time in all the years I've worked at Ski School, this is the first time they've scheduled training before we actually start work.  Good idea because I didn't have to take a day off to do five hours of training, nor did I have to spend a day off doing training.

It was great to see most of the gang back:  Gunner, Ellen, Jon, Steve, Mathias.  We met with Tall Sean at Whistler Kids for 10am and loaded into the gondola.  Conditions up top were heavy winds and lots of snowfall.  We took a few runs and talked about Safety, new Flaiking, etc etc.  It was quite busy on the trails for a Monday.  I guess some of the local schools didn't have classes today.  We spent a couple hours at the Roundhouse discussing more and then took another lap after lunch.  We finished up just around 3pm.  It snowed in the Village for most of the afternoon and evening.  Still only three runs open.

Day 1 - Happy Opening Day!

Whistler opened with a whopping 34cm base today.  It's mid-November, and we haven't had any snow in the Village yet.  It's not a good start to the season but fingers are crossed it gets better.  I met Pippa in the Village at 9am.  We climbed into a new gondola cabin and headed up to the Roundhouse.  As you can guess, a 34cm base doesn't leave much open for runs.  We headed for Red Chair as we worked the kinks out of our muscles.  I managed to muster up three runs in total.  The snow to the Emerald Chair wasn't bad.  Ego Bowl was the place to be, and everyone was in Ego Bowl.  I made it back to the locker room exactly two hours after reaching the Round House.  It wasn't much, but it was something.  For those who braved the limited amount of runs until the end of the day, they suffered standing in the download queue which reached the Red Chair.   Let the season begin.

Day 112 - The Unit

Ahhhh … Friday!  Last day of Adventure Camp and possibly last day of work.  That would mean it may possibly be my last "ride" of the season, however I am scheduled to work on Monday.
The morning started out with clouds and wind.  It was cold on the Super Carpet, where we spent close to an hour before the kids got tired.  Our plan was to take all three of them to the Village in the afternoon but I realized that the weakest one wasn't going to make it all that way so I knew I would be staying back on the Magic Carpet with him.

The snow in the morning was hard packed and we were interested to see how the boys would do in those conditions.  They did about the same as in the slush.  In the afternoon, the sun came out for most of the time and the snow softened up to it's usual slushy-ness.  Bel took Hamish and Lucas to the Village where they started turning a bit better.  I stayed behind with Noah, who really had no interest in snowboarding all week.  But he was happy to be in Snow School and hanging around with us.  Darren had his level threes jumping a gap and over kids.  Quite amusing.  We painted the boys faces again to kill some time in the late afternoon.  At the end of the day, the parents thanked us for a great week and showed their appreciation by tipping nicely.  It was a decent last week to the end of the season.

Day 111 - Peak 2 Peak Adventure

As I figured, the boys were exhausted today after spending a couple hours at Bounce last night.  Once again, we started the morning on the Super Carpet trying to get them turning.  They can definitely "do it sometimes".  But fatigue was definitely playing a role in their riding today.  Bel and I decided to take them on an "adventure"…  so after lunch we took the Village Gondola to the Roundhouse then loaded on the Peak 2 Peak gondola.  Once over at Blackcomb, they spent about a half hour playing Nintendo Wii at Rendezvous.  We then rode the Peak to Peak back over to Whistler and downloaded back to the CLC.  We didn't do much riding today so we are thinking tomorrow we might venture and take them to the Village!!  

Day 110 - snow sausage

Half way through the week of Adventure Camp and our Lil Rippers are getting tired.  The snow at mid-station is granular slush and it's difficult to walk through, let alone try and snowboard over.  We started the day on the Super Carpet and the boys lasted about an hour.  After lunch, they last another hour.  The rest of the day was spent playing games and colouring.  In the evening, Bel took Hamish and Luke to Bounce!  I'm sure the boys will be exhausted tomorrow.

The weather for the last week of work has been crappy!  Rainy, foggy, windy and cold!  We are all hoping the sun comes out eventually so we can end our work season with a warm Spring day.

Day 109 - lots of mums and dads

Another successful day with Lil Rippers in Adventure Camp.  One was signed out at lunch because he was feeling a bit tired.  It was a typical day with practice on the Magic Carpet, coloring, and flying paper airplanes.  After lunch, Bel and I decided to take the three to the Super Carpet and they all did great over there.  We are hoping to get them all turning by the end of the week!

Weather today was crap!  Cloudy, windy, and cold - even at mid-station.  It snowed for a bit around noon.  After that, the sun came out for a brief moment and then it felt warm.  But most of the day was in clouds, and we all froze because we dressed like we should have dressed yesterday when it was sunny and hot.

Day 108 - why does this keep happening to me????

Whistler Kids is running snowboard Adventure Camp this week and I got a class!  yay!  It's a Lil Ripper class, but it's a class (guaranteed work all week) so I'm not complaining.  Bel and I are splitting three AC'ers and one Destination.

Weather today was amazing!  Sunny and warm.  Perfect day for hanging on the Magic Carpet.  All the munchkins were decent and able to side slip on their heel edge by the end of the day.  No muppets so that is good.  They are all pretty chilled out so it's going to be a relaxing week.

Day 107 - never reached 300cm base

After three days off, I returned to Snow School with hopes of getting a class.  It's the final week of the Whistler Kids 13/14 season and it's kind of busy but not crazy busy.  About 30 kids were signed into snowboarding and half of them showed up after 9am.  I snagged a level two class with only two kids while Dan Beaver took another level two class with five kids.

I spent the morning on the Magic Carpet getting my two boys reacquainted with snowboarding.  They needed a couple laps on heels then toes.  They were kind of turning so I knew I wasn't going to spend the entire day at the CLC but I was waiting for the snow to soften up before moving away from the bunny slope.  Around 11am, one boy fell and possibly broke his wrist.  He left with Patrol and that left me with one kid right before lunch.

I decided to see if my one leftover kid would fit with Dan Beaver's level two class after lunch.  We all headed over to the Olympic Chair and after two laps, my kid easily fit in with Dan's class ... so I left around 1pm.  I quickly changed and ran home to ride my bike.  : )

Day 106 - telephone game

I had five level ones today.   None of them had ever snowboarded before but they all knew how to ski. We had a sunny start to the day but the conditions were hard packed.  By the time we got up the busy gondola, dealt with a sudden bloody nose, had our photo taken, and learned how to skate … the icy carpet area had started to warm up.

All of my kids were pretty good.  They didn't need much help on the toe edge and did even better when they turned around and worked on their heel edge.  To work on "falling leaf", I set up cones all over and played "minecraft" on snowboards.  Towards the end of the day we made a jump but the kids preferred the Minecraft game.  Go figure.

Day 105 - guess the weather

Another day assigned to Ride Tribe and I knew I would get a class as most of the kids from yesterday were returning today.  I was given level fours and I knew the four kids from Monday.  It was Blackcomb day and the strangest thing about today was the weather.  In a two hour time spread, we ran into dense fog, wind, sun, ice, hail, light fog, blizzard, and a rainbow!

My knowledge of the terrain on Blackcomb isn't all that great so after lunch I had no idea where we should go aside from lapping the Terrain Garden.  Luckily, Jordan followed us out of Rendezvous with his level threes and I decided to "hang" with him for the afternoon.  His plan was to head to 7th Heaven and that was the best plan of the day …. mostly because it was sunny out there and it felt like a Spring day!  We did about three laps before getting bored, so we dropped over the glacier side and headed out to the Crystal Zone where the weather was completely different … it was hailing.  Weird.  Anyway, we did a couple laps through Crystal before our time was up and we headed down to the Village where the sun was shining.  Nice!

Day 104 - snow or cement??

It was a Ride Tribe day and I was assigned level threes.  It is quite busy with kids' lessons this week.  I don't know why it's so busy. Destination is running an Adventure Camp and they only do that when it's busy.

I signed in 7 level threes while Emma signed in 3 level fours.  We headed up together (with Jordan) to try and sort the ten kids into two different groups.  Miraculously the split worked out perfectly with both of us taking five kids.  My five were the slower group and they needed some work on turning.  We spent most of the morning doing exercises that would help with their body position on the board.

After lunch, we did a few more fun things:  black diamond runs, trees, terrain park, natural hits and drops.  My group was fun and engaging.  I enjoyed my day with them.
Conditions were horrible.  Freezing level was well over 2200 and the snow was heavy, wet and very very sticky.  It felt like cement and slowed your board almost to a stop.  We made the most of it I guess.

Day 103 - what's up with the banana??

Sunday has been my favorite day since January.  I ride with Oak & Amalia, the coolest couple of kids who can really shred the pow.  It's an easy day, since I only have two kids, and the two of them are best friends … so there were times they didn't even know I was around because they were totally consumed in each other.  Today was my last Sunday with these two cool cats.  It was happy yet sad at the same time.  Happy to see how far their riding progressed throughout the season (especially Oak) and sad, well, sad because I will miss their cute smiling faces.

It was cloudy in Village when we started our day yet surprisingly sunny up top.  It had snowed 4cm and conditioned were soft packed and a bit powdery first thing in the morning.  We ran down the gondola line, into Enchanted Forest and through the School Yard.  We headed to Marmot trees before temps warmed up and ruined the snow.  We also took a lap through the Park.  By the time we finished all that, it was time for lunch.

After lunch, Amalia's dad wanted to ride with us so we followed him and Jonnie's team for a couple of laps through the Park.  My two kids got tired of them quickly and asked if we could ride alone.  I said sure and we hit the Park again.  Amalia crashed hard on a jump and was pretty shook up.  She rallied on and continued riding but I could see she was getting tired quickly.  I bought them a belgian waffle and we took a small break.  The day ended at Showcase Snowboards with stickers and saying our goodbyes.  Time flies and another season of Club has officially ended.  It was another great four months with lots of kids, lots of good riding, and lots of smiles.

Day 102 - WKids Snowboard Club

I've been out of town for four days so I have no idea what the weather has been or what the snow conditions have been.  It's the last weekend for Club.  My how time flies.  It feels like just yesterday, Billy, Jon, and I were trying to figure out how to teach 15 Lil Rippers!

We didn't do much snowboarding today.  We got our photos taken professionally by Coast Mountain Photo.  We took a lap to the Village.  After lunch, Gunner arranged for all the kids in Snowboard Club to do a lap down Ego Bowl so we participated in that.  I think we had over 50 kids in their purple jerseys take over the run!  It was awesome.  We had ice cream and then handed out certificates and stickers at Showcase Snowboards at the end of the day.

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.