Season 08/09 getting under way!

No snow to speak of in October, unlike last year when Patrol was skiing a foot of pow on Oct 7th.  I wonder if we'll open on schedule.  Looks like something might be starting today.  My fingers are crossed.

Day 106 - passed

Final day of being on course for Level 2 certification.  It was all business today as we were being tested on our teaching and riding abilities.  We jumped on the gondola and immediately got started.  In the morning we taught carving turns and in the afternoon we taught sliding turns.  I felt equally confident on both of my lessons and my fellow course takers gave me positive feedback.  I also felt my riding had improved since Monday and was up to course standards.  Everyone in our class of six passed.  I'm glad the course is over.  I'm a bit sad the season has come to an end.  It feels like it just got started.  I had big plans on what I wanted to do this season and I feel like I didn't do anything but work.  Oh well.... can I really call this a job anyhow?  I do remember a few great pow days when Alli was in town.  Blackcomb is open until the end of July for skiing and riding, however, I doubt I will be making any more turns this year.  Bring on the bike park!! 

Day 105 - Brrrr.....!!!!!

Third day into my CASI Level 2 course .... the day started off great as the sun was shining and all the runs were groomed with perfect corduroy.  By noon, the clouds covered the warm sun and I was shivering like crazy.  Luckily the sun poked in and out during the afternoon so it wasn't as bad.  Snow is amazing for this time of year.  

I was nervous coming into today as I knew we would be working on carving and I didn't think I could carve.  We spent most of the day in 7th Heaven.  The basic agenda of the course goes like this:  instructor teaches us the 5 basic snowboarding skills for the turn we're working on ..... in today's case:  carving.  We break for lunch and in the afternoon the students practice teach the skills we were taught in the AM.  In between, our riding is evaluated throughout the day.  I did surprising well with my carving as I was given mostly high praise.  I'm hoping to continue that into tomorrow which is nothing but testing for the entire day.

Day 104 - did u say 15cm overnight??

Second day of my Level 2 course and everyone was pleasantly surprised to find 15cm of the fresh stuff, especially since we are almost into the month of May.  After yesterday's rain, we were all stoked to ride.  We took a warm up run and found some awesome fresh tracks through the terrain park off into some trees.  The conditions were great in the morning.  The sun even peaked out here and there for a bit.  We quickly had to start getting into the day's agenda which consisted of tactics for sliding turns.  Our instructor taught for the first part of the day and then we all taught a skill in the afternoon.  If we had to end the course today, I believe I would pass with no problems, however, we are going to get into carving tomorrow and my confidence is going to drop big time.  Who knows, maybe the instructor has some great carving tactics to show us and I can "fake" my way through the day......

Day 103 - on Course

First day of my CASI Level 2 certification.  I'm geared up for 4 full days of riding.... joy.  There are 6 people in my group, 4 of which (including myself) work for Whistler Kids.  We got a great instructor who also works for Whistler Kids.  It's nice having people around you that you know vs. talking and teaching to perfect strangers.

Conditions today were wet, cold, snowy, rainy, and wet.  It rained up to Jersey Chair then turned to snow about a third of the way up.  We spent the entire day taking runs down Wishbone practicing intermediate and advanced sliding turns.  The snow was slushy and slow.  My gear was cold and wet.   I felt my confidence go up as the day went on.  No teaching for us today, just riding evaluations with feedback.  Hoping to improve every day as the week goes on.  I pray the soft conditions don't turn to sheets of ice ..... 

Day 102 - not in the mood

I've been out of work for a week now, spring has sprung, and I am officially tired of snowboarding.  I do, however have my Level 2 course coming up so I figured I should get my butt back up to the snow and make sure my legs were still in shape.  

I made my way up the Blackcomb Gondola (the only thing running at this time of year) to take a warm up run down Honeycomb back to the Jersey Chair.  My friend Alex showed up with her roommate and we headed up Glacier.  A third of the way up, we ran into dense fog ... certainly not the type of weather I was hoping for.  Ran down the piste and back into the sunshine.   Conditions were pretty nice considering it's late April but ... it's late April and I'm just not in the mood.  Another couple runs down from Glacier and I was ready to head home.

Day 101 - last day of work

I reported to work late and groggy this AM as I had no motivation to spend my day in the unseasonably cold temperatures.  I was hoping to be sent home with a "thank you" for the season.  No such luck as the eight kids signed up for snowboard school made up 4 different classes.

Once again I had my Korean kid who was now a low level 4.  We headed straight to the top first thing in the morning.  I wouldn't have thought the 5cm of fresh snow overnight would have changed the cruddy/icy conditions of the week so I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot of fresh powder on the groomers (the pic is my fresh tracks by the Chic Pea on Lower Whiskey Jack).

After lunch we tagged along with my other favorite Korean kid in the level 5 class.  Took a few runs down to Red Chair, killed some time at the Tree Fort then called it a day.  It was snowing like crazy in the afternoon so conditions for Saturday might be fairly tolerable.  

It seemed like the season just started and it has now come to an end.  Well, the work season.... technically, Whistler is open until Sunday and Blackcomb is open through the end of July.  In the meantime, Whistler turns into a bike park/sightseeing mountain.  

 

Day 100 - woooo hoooooo!!!!!!!!!

Well, it looks like I did it.  Another 100 days.  The 6 month season of Whistler Kids is over (in one more day for me) and it feels like it just started.  But I'm tired of snow, tired of the cold weather, tired of snowboarding.  I'm still working and still riding for a couple more weeks so I'll still be counting some days.

Quite chilly for a mid-April day.  I was given one level 3 kid.  I actually had him in Adventure Camp at the beginning of the season.   He must have been tired of a long winter too as he wasn't too stoked to ride today.  We took one run from the Roundhouse down to the CLC.  He wanted to spend his time on the Olympic Chair for some reason... who was I to argue?  After lunch we took a couple runs down to the village with the level 2 class (just because I wanted to hang out with the level 2 instructor) and my kid wasn't complaining so what the heck.  It was the second to the last day of the season.  We then headed over to the CLC and did jumps for the remainder of the day.  Well, the kids did jumps while Lauren and I took goofy photos.

Also had a fun time with a mini and his lion helmet cover.  He was too cute.  Check out his pic and his video.  ROAR!!!

Day 99 - last day of Adventure Camp

Only one of my Adventure Camp kids showed up today... the other is still limping from butt pain.  Anywho, we took the gondola up to the top first thing in the morning.  The green runs were groomed nicely with hard packed snow but the blue runs were almost sheer ice.  We took a long cruiser down the backside down to the village and then in for lunch.

The only thing my guy wanted to do today was continue with his 180 jumps that he finished with yesterday.  Fine by me as the conditions were crappy.  We built a jump by the Magic Carpet and we spent the next 3hrs doing 180s, grabs, etc.  We even got into a game of P-I-G.

  

Last day of Adventure Camp for the 2007/2008 season.  As usual, it seems like it just got started.  We had a lot of fun times and the snowboard crew this season was awesome.  I took a lot of pics to help remember the good times.  Oh, and the video is Tim trying to do a backflip off a very small jump.

Day 98 - aren't we suppose to be snowboarding???

I started the day with a Level 2 star kid and a Level 3 star kid.  The difference between the two is fairly significant .... one can turn easily down green runs and with confidence, one has a hard time turning and usually falls a lot.  I had the level 2 kid yesterday but he fell so much that he quit after lunch.  He's been in lessons for the last 6 days and some other instructor told him he was a level 3 (no way he was) ..... but I felt bad putting him back down to a lower class so I kept him. Boy was that a mistake.

Half way down Whiskey Jack, he started crying and saying he was bored with s-turns and wanted to go home.  I calmed him down and told him he could pendulum the rest of the way and once we got back to the CLC we would ride the box.  He was okay with that until his legs practically gave out at the bottom of Olympic Run.  In order to make it the rest of the way down, we both took off our snowboards and walked about a half mile.

During lunch I put him with a lower class but I believe my Supervisor ended up calling his parents to pick him up.  I wonder if he is going to return tomorrow for the last day of Adventure Camp.

In the meantime, I picked up a kid from another class who was turning confidently.  We took about three runs down the family zone before he fell on his butt super hard and again.... I was walking a kid down another run.  

Day 97 - crud

Apparently the weather was "spring like" on Saturday ..... warming up and melting all the great pow I left behind last week.  Then the temperatures dropped back down below freezing Sunday night, leaving nothing but a frozen crud for my return on Monday.  How depressing.

It's the last week of snowboard school for the 2007/2008 season.  I have one level 3 kid in Adventure Camp so I will be working for the next three days.  Can't say I had fun today as the snow conditions were horrid and my kid didn't say three words all day.  

The Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival is going on:  http://whistler.mtv.ca/

"the biggest annual celebration of music, arts, sports & culture on the planet. For 10 days and 10 nights, Whistler turns up the volume with 50 live concerts, major pro ski and snowboard comps, legendary arts events, endless nightlife and the best spring skiing & riding in the world."

Here are a few pics of the machines tearing down the jump for the Big Air contest.  It's a great way to celebrate the end of a fantastic season.

Day 96 - snow in the village

Another day with my AC class.  A few cm of fresh snow overnight made for some good conditions above the Emerald Chair.  I wasn't up for much "teaching" today so we snowboarded all around Whistler hitting jumps and drops and finding powder.  I guess we would call that "freeriding".   I call that Day 96 in the books. 

Day 95 - The Home Stretch

Things are winding down for the end of the season but snowboard school was surprisingly busy with over 50 riders.  I continued my work week with an Adventure Camp class of Level 3's.  Only four in the group and their speeds and abilities are all comparable so its a good class.

We started the morning from the Roundhouse where the snow was fresh packed powder.  Good conditions for this time of year as I'm not expecting much more in the way of snow storms anymore.  As the day rolled on, my kids all improved their turning skills.  We hit some hard blues, the Marmot trees, and even found a bit of fresh pow.  Overall it was a good start to a short work week.

Day 94 - Spanky's Ladder

Spanky's Ladder is a 15 meter bootpack that you must hike to access the Blackcomb Glacier Valley, home of the Gemstone Bowls of Garnet, Ruby, Diamond, and Sapphire (all single to triple black diamond runs on Blackcomb).  I've read and heard about the amazing powder in the glacier but I had yet to venture that way until now.  I was taking another level 2 prep course and, after lunch, my instructor decided to hit Spanky's Ladder to Ruby Bowl and Playland (my first double black diamond chute). 

As I stood on top of the chute, my heart was pounding and my hands were shaking.  I could have easily zig-zagged my way down but I was in a training class with my peers..... zig-zagging was not an option.  So I took the advice of the instructor, listened to her instruction and away I went.  Turning heelside was easy, it was the turning onto toeside that played with my mind.  This chute was steep.  In fact, it was the steepest run I have ever been on.  I took the chute one turn at a time, each time completing the toe side and saying to myself: "that was actually pretty easy."   Only to find myself scared to death once again when the next turn came along.

It was the perfect situation to be in having never been to this area of the mountain before:  guided through with an instructor who knew where to go and had the trust and confidence in me to push me past my comfort zone.  If you've never been there, words can't quite describe the terrain, steepness, snow conditions..... let's just say it was amazing and super scary at the same time. 

Day 93 - hard packed crud

I was suppose to get my review today so I was given a class of Level 3's.  For reviews, my Supervisor follows me around all afternoon and makes sure I'm actually teaching the kids something and not just snowboarding around all day.  But when lunch came, my Supervisor was busy so she rescheduled for tomorrow... 

Spent the day with four kids on the top of the mountain.  They were low level 3's so I spent most of the time fine tuning their turning skills.  The conditions this week are hard packed.  Even the Marmot trees were icy and cruddy.  Hopefully we'll get more snow before the season ends.  

Day 92 - fun in the sun

Well it was another day of level ones.  Nothing exciting to report except for the fact that I had almost all of them turning on the Super Carpet by the end of the day.  For most of my day  I stood around in the sun ..... and worked on my goggle tan.  It was gorgeous and soooooo warm (I even took my  jackets off).  Oh, and baked potatoes were the special for lunch.  yum    yum

Day 91 - boring

I've been sick for the past four days so I didn't get an Adventure Camp class this week.  Therefore, I was stuck with the daily "leftovers"... which means, level one kids who never snowboarded before and are only in snowboard school for the day (not three days).  There were 5 level ones today,  those kids could have made up one class but I got lucky and was able to sneak two of them for my very own.  Basically it means:  I was able to work today.  JOY!  I spent the entire day on the Magic Carpet with two kids who are basically sideslipping on their heels and toes by the end.  It was a long day, but the sun was shining so I was able to work on my goggle tan.  BONUS!  I'm sure there is more of the same in store for me tomorrow.  BUGGER!  I mean: JOY!

Day 90 - cold and snowy

It was a cold and snowy morning.  I was packing toe warmers and hand warmers just to be on the safe/warm side.  My class was a group of Level 4 riders (5 boys and 2 girls).  On the first run, one girl was suffering from bad blisters so she went home early.  At lunch, the Level 3 instructor had 4 kids who were riding really slow and 3 kids who were riding really fast (we call this a split).  I offered to take the three fast kids (two of them were from my Adventure Camp class from earlier in the week).  I knew they could keep up with the new kids I had today.   But by the time lunch was finished, we only had time for one long run.  I took them through the trees and pow by the side of the Roundhouse.  Over to Pony Trail, through some fresh pow and down Jimmy's Joker (a black diamond).  Who knew that going down a black diamond was so exciting for kids.  It was the first thing they told their parents when their parents asked them what they did for the day.  Three of them are returning on Friday and have requested me as their instructor so Friday should be another fun day.  Hopefully it will be a bit warmer though.

Day 89 - work day fresh tracks and hip hop

Started the day off with another fresh tracks breakfast with seven of my co-workers. All of us had Adventure Camp classes which means we didn't need to report to duty until 9am. 2cm was called as the overnight measurement, but once again, some runs had much more pow on them than that.

Picked up my boys at 9:15am and headed to the Roundhouse. It was cold and snowing. Unfortunately, one kid slammed his head and we needed to call patrol. Spent the rest of the day with six kids who are all turning by now. Someone built a jump outside the CLC and the boys were all too happy to catch some air before and after lunch.

Wednesday is Adventure Camp apres day. Snowboarding ends at 3pm, ice cream and cookies break out around 3:15pm, and at 3:30pm an acitivity starts. The theme for this week was: HIP HOP so we had a "dance off". Five teams competed. My team renamed themselves the ICE COLD CHILI PEPPERZ, and instead of dancing a routine to a song off the iPod like the other four teams, they wrote their own song, sang it and had a couple of the kids breakdancing. It was pretty entertaining.

Day 88 - Snowboard Shredders

Second day of the week with my same group of Adventure Camp boys.  Because I have a full class of eight, once everyone checked in, we were able to go and do our thing without having to pick up any one day lesson stragglers.  So we hit the gondola and took it right to the Roundhouse.

Conditions were packed powder as a few centimeters fell overnight.  It was much better than the ice below mid-station.  I got most of the boys turning down easy green runs but when I tell them they can freeride, they just zigzig very fast.  I have to sit them down and make them turn.

The boys came up with a team name for our group so we are now called the "Snowboard Shredders".  Every time we stopped and I did a quick lesson, when we all stood back up they would all yell "SNOWBOARD SHREDDERS YEA!"  It was very entertaining.  Every kid in this class is stoked to be snowboarding and they are so enthusiastic.  They make for a very fun group of kids. 

Day 87 - busy busy busy

This is the most busy week of the season and today was the most busy day of the year for snowboard school.  85 kids were looking to take some lessons and we had about 14 instructors willing to teach.

I was offered the Level 3 class and for some unknown reason, I volunteered to take the Level 2 AC class.  So instead of heading up top to where the snow was pristine, I stayed below midstation with eight boys who can't turn.  No biggee as the boys had fun, they were all well-behaved and it's challenging to teach kids how to turn.  Besides, eight is considered a full class so I don't have to worry about picking up any other kids over the next two days and trying to figure out if they will work with my AC kids.  This way I can pick up my kids in the morning and just go riding. 

Day 86- the best EVER out of 187 days!!!

Easter Sunday/March 23, 2008

A few months back, I was given some Fresh Tracks tickets from work.  Fresh Tracks is an early morning upload with breakfast buffet.  I woke the family up at 6am because I wanted to beat the crowd and get the best possible fresh runs.  Our college kid wasn't too happy with this idea (see pic below).

WB said 14cm fell overnight, no biggee.  When we got to the Roundhouse, conditions outside looked cold and miserable.  It was snowing so visibility was horrible, the wind was whipping so the idea of chairlifts seemed numbing.  I was excited to ride but even I didn't think I'd be able to bear the briskness of the chairlifts for too long today.  If I felt this way, you could imagine how Alli felt having to get up this early.  She still wasn't sold on the idea, even with the free breakfast.
When the bell rang signaling the open runs, we all had a change of heart.  We took our first run down Whiskey Jack (an easy green run) and there was fresh untracked snow up to our knees!  And this snow continued all the way down to the Emerald Chair.  Not to mention, we were the only people making tracks down this run.   Jolly Green Giant was next.  With wind drifts, some of the snow was close to waist high and again, we were making freshies all the way back to Emerald Chair.  Third time down we hit Ego Bowl and there were STILL fresh tracks to be made!! (normally by now, all the fresh snow has been hit)

Kevin had to head back to the village and he said he freshed all the way down Crabapple.  Alli and I stayed around Emerald Chair and literally made fresh tracks until 10am.... not to mention, there was no lift line to wait in.  We had the most incredible deep fresh snow I have ever experienced.  There was almost too much snow for the people who have never experienced fresh powder before.

Finally by 11am, the crowd had started to pour in and the snow was starting to get tracked.  As Alli and I were standing in the queue, it started to dump freezing rain on us.  But by the time we made it up the chair, the sun had come out and it was sunny for the rest of the day!!!

Peak Chair never opened, Symphony Chair never opened, and Harmony Chair didn't open until after noon.  We couldn't wait to hit more freshies over in Harmony so as soon as the lightboard signaled green for Harmony, we headed that way.  Seems everyone else had the same idea as we waited in line for about 40min.  The queue was insane!  By the time we got to the top, Alli was beat so she headed back to the village and I hit some of the pow (not as fresh as earlier) down Harmony.  I didn't much feel like waiting in the crazy line again so I headed back to Emerald Chair and took a run through the Mom and Pop trees.  By now it was after 2pm and I was toast.  The only downer about the day was that I didn't bring my powder board.  The best, most incredible, indescribable, powder day of all time and I didn't bring my pow board.  Go figure.

Day 85 - Run of the Day

We are spending Easter weekend in Whistler (Kevin, Alli, and myself) - Saturday we headed up the gondola around 9:30am and immediately hit the run of the day (Peak to Creek).  The sun was shining through the very high cloud level and visibility was perfect for Kevin.  Peak to Creek was soft packed powder and the views were amazing.  We headed down HWY 86 back to Red Chair for another run.  This time we made it all the way to Creekside.  After a small water/bathroom break, it was back up for another run.  We hit Orange Peel and Tokum.  By the end of Tokum, Kevin and Alli were toast so they headed to the village for apres.  I made my way up to Harmony and took a cruiser down the piste back to the Roundhouse where I downloaded back to the village with hopes of catching a bit of apres for myself.

Day 84 - TGIF! not

Finished up my week with a continuation of the Level 4 class.  This time I had three boys from England.  The kid I had all week, one kid I had yesterday, and one new kid.  It was another great day of shredding the gnar and looking for pow.  Once again we got two quick runs in before lunch.  After lunch, I wanted to go over to Symphony but the clouds had come in and the visibility was less than perfect.  Instead we found plenty pow pow through Marmot trees, on Tokum, and through some hidden green areas that many of tourists don't know about.  I hate for this week to end as I had such a great time snowboarding with these kids.  Oh yea, I almost forgot.... I get paid for this.  Sweet!

Day 83 - ka-POW!!!

Weather report said 10cm of snow overnight, but when my level 4 kids and I  started down the ungroomed section of the Ego Bowl, there was sooo much more than 10cm of the fresh stuff going over our boards. It was close to our knees in some spots. We pushed a fast run so we could lap another before lunch and before everyone else tracked out all the good snow.

We spent much of the day searching for the pow and stayed off as many groomed runs as possible. It wasn't all fun and games as we had a few mishaps: Connor headed into a hidden tree stump and nearly launched himself into a full body cast, Kaitlyn got lost for about 20min, Connor almost fell off the Red Chair, and Brandon dropped his glove from the top of the lift. It was a full day of snowboarding and so much fun with another Level 4 class who could shred the gnar like there was no tomorrow. It's also so nice to have the powder back.

Day 82 - hotdog!

What a super fun day! My Adventure Camp kids and I ran up and down Whistler like crazy. Because there are so many kids in ski school this week, we were assigned "first lunch" at 11am, which means we don't have much time to ride between sign in and lunch. We made the most of it taking a warm up run down Ego Bowl then back up for a quick run through the terrain park.

After lunch, the snow was falling like crazy so we headed over to Orange Peel and Tokum. Found so much powder on Tokum that we had to do it again. Naturally we took our usual run through Marmot trees. We snowboarded non-stop for three hours! Finally it was time to head back to the CLC for apres. These kids were a lot of fun, very polite, loved snowboarding and they all hated the thought of Adventure Camp coming to an end. As did I.

For some reason today, every time we did something cool my kids kept yelling, "hot dog!".  As there were going down the cat track to Emerald Chair, I could hear them all the way down the run yelling hot dog.   

Day 81 - sick and awesome!!

Second day of Adventure Camp and I picked up two more "campers" so my class was 7.  With 63 snowboarders and over 200 skiers registered for Whistler Kids, it makes for a long morning when you are trying to determine which kid fits into which class.  After about an hour an half of shuffling and sorting kids, we were ready to go.  I took my group up the gondola for their warm up run/only run we had time for before lunch.

Yesterday I promised we would go through the terrain park so we did that around noon when it was quiet.  I have a couple of rippers in my class and they were riding up the sides of the runs, hitting drops and jumps all day.  Every time this one kid would go off a jump or go through the trees, he would come out yelling, "That was sick and awesome!!!". (of course with the neck warmer over his mouth, I thought he kept yelling: "that was fricken' awesome!  It took me a few times to understand what he was really saying.)  He is pretty amusing as he's only about 4ft tall so he's cute with being so small.  He launches himself into the air and usually lands whatever he is trying.   Check out the pics of my guys ripping off a kicker off next to the Emerald Chair.

Day 80 - Happy St. Patrick's Day

The next couple of weeks are going to be busy at work (Easter holiday and spring breaks). We had over 50 kids in snowboard school today. I got a great class of Adventure Campers who are level 3's. It took quite a bit of time to get all 50 kids sorted into the appropriate groups. I believe we have over twenty kids who have NEVER snowboarded before today.

Josh, Jen, Alex, and myself took 16 kids (levels 3-5) up Garbanzo chair to figure out what level everyone was in. When all was said and done, I ended up with six kids in my class and all of them are at the same level and speed so the week should be fun. A few more centimeters of snow fell overnight and conditions were packed powder with lots of icy spots on the smaller high traffic runs. Naturally, we spent most of our afternoon going through the Marmot Trees.

It is St. Patrick's Day and although I saw a few green costumes on the slopes, I don't believe I ran over any vomited green beer so that was a plus. : )

Day 79 - just me and the boy

It's Si'Aire's last day in Canada and we decided to spend the day snowboarding.  We got to the top of Crystal Chair on Blackcomb around 11am and took our warm up run down Ridge Runner.  There was 2cm of snow that fell overnight but none of it left by the time we got up.  Conditions were hard packed and icey in some spots.  We headed over to the Terrain Garden so Si could work on his jumps and board slides.  We spent another hour or two on Blackcomb then headed over to Whistler to see what was happening on that mountain.

The visibility was a lot better on Whistler but the chairlift lines were much longer.  I now remember why I like teaching so much:   getting to cut in the long lift que!  Anyway, we spent our time riding the terrain park taking videos and pics.  We also spent a lot of time working on our 180s and riding switch.  

Day 78 - carpets

Another day with no new snow overnight. I was the lucky chosen instructor to teach level ones today. I had a big class (for this time of year): five guys. Naturally we spent the morning on the Magic Carpet. All of them were former skiers, and I say former as they took a vote at lunch and they all agreed to never ski again. YES! A job well done. In the afternoon I decided to take them to the Supercarpet. They excelled to different levels: two kids turning fairly well, one kid kinda turning, one kid learned how to brake, and the last kid finally got his toeside zig zag. They all said they had fun. I was bored but what the heck... it was my Friday.

Day 77 - run after run after run

No new snow overnight and the freezing temps made most of the snow we had turn to ice.  I took my one kid up top to find nice packed powder toward the Harmony side and crusty ice on the Creekside.  Weird.

Anyway, the sun was shining most of the day so it softened up most of the snow.  We did a few runs through Marmot trees, up Harmony, over to Creekside.  We went all over actually.  This was the first time in three days it was clear and I think my student was amazed at how big these mountains really are.

I was able to bail early from the Adventure Camp apres party as my nephew (the most handsome Si'Aire) was taking lessons in the teenagers section of town (Ride Tribe) and I wanted to be finished with work when he was finished.  We had planned to take an extra run at the end of the day together, but the kid was too tired and cancelled on me.

Day 76 - Super Hero week

Day 2 of Adventure Camp and it was just me and my one AC kid today. Yesterday's rain turned into 11cm of snow overnight. Great for "freshies" and not bad once everything was tracked out. Not much in precipitation for today / a few flurries in the afternoon.

We took blue runs in the morning trying to find as much fresh snow as possible. In the afternoon we tried Marmot Trees and ran them about 4 times. By 2pm, my kid was spent! (and I wasn't too far behind him) It was a good day of constant runs.

Day 75 - back in the saddle

During my week off in Montreal, I caught a cold and it blessed me on the day I was suppose to return to work. In addition, I also caught a case of what I thought was pink eye... turns out it was only iritus: an inflamation of the eye with symptoms that present like pink eye. Anyhow, this gave me an additional unscheduled week off and I returned to the rainy, washed out mountain today.

My class was two Level 3 guys who didn't have much to say. The conditions today were as horrible as horrible could be. Rain in the village, rain at mid-station, and rain at the top. The snow is soft and wet, like it gets in April or May. Not to mention the visibility was awful. The rain soaked my jacket, pants, gloves and boots. By mid afternoon, my kids just wanted to hang around the CLC and do the box and the jump.

Since the snow was super soft and my kids were hanging on the Magic Carpet anyhow, I decided to get back to practicing my 180s. Practice makes perfect as I landed ten in a row!! Sweet. That gives me the confidence to try more on the runs. All in all the day was a wet one but it felt great to be back at work and back on the snow.