Day 56 | Train Man

After another four day weekend, it's back to work for Saturday Club.  All but one kid showed up.  The conditions are still Spring-like and no snow is in the forecast.  Our snowbase is currently 225cm.

We took the usual morning lap and then headed to the CLC for fruit and hot chocolate.  It was warm up top but there was a cloud hanging over 2/3 of the mountain making visibility next to none.  By the time you hit green chair, the snow turned into slush.  It was a typical Club day, nothing exciting to report.  Definitely no powder to brag about.

Day 55 | perfect park day

Whistler Kids is slow so I was called off.  No problem as I would like to ride with my nephew as much as possible.  Especially these days when the temps are warm and the sun is still shining!  We met up with Libby and Sean and headed to Creekside.  Jordan was already in Harmony shoveling around this rock he likes so we could jump off of it.  Kyle also ended up meeting us out there.

Si'Aire and Jordan took three different runs off the rock kicker.  Sean took one or two and I took one.  We captured everything on video and took some pics so Facebook will be showing off the footage soon.  After "Jordan's Rock" we headed to the park.  Took a couple runs through the green side and Pippa caught up with us.  We spent the rest of the afternoon in the park and finally parted ways around 3pm.  Si, Libby, Sean, and I rocked down to Creekside and headed home.  It was a very, very fun day!

Day 54 | ride more, text less

Another warm sunny day in Whistler.  I had my WESP kids and I thought it would be a great day to ride the park.  We started early, around 9am.  At that point, it was still pretty cold.  We took a groomer warm up ride from the top of the Excaliber gondola down.  From there we headed up Wizard and went through the terrain garden a couple of times.  We managed to fit in quite a few runs before we had lunch.

During lunch the two brothers in my class, who usually fight, got into it again so I sent them to the den for the day ... leaving me with four kids.  Four is super easy to handle so we headed to the Snowboard Cross track.  WOW!  That thing is huge!  We also did the GS race and another couple runs through the terrain garden.  The day went by remarkable fast.  The sun was shining and the snow was soft.  I'm looking forward to the next four days off and enjoying some riding with the boy.

Day 53 | snow bord rokes

I love my Sunday Club class.  They are so cute.  I was determined to get them turning properly today.  The only thing we did was play follow the leader.  I would take the lead and they had to follow in my tracks.  Of course we had some fighting on who was to go first and who was to go last so we had to keep taking turns and rotating the lineup.  Juliet's dad, JF Pelchat, also took a few runs with us.  We did quite a bit of snowboarding on greens and blues.  We even took one lap through the park where Ella and Caleb totally sent it!  I was hoping that if they followed in my tracks, they would get rid of some of their counter-rotation and their turns would start incorporating more inclination and angulation in their ankles .... almost getting them to start carving.  Low and behold, it actually worked!  By the end of the day, Ella's turning was completely different than when she started in the morning.  That made me happy.

The last couple of days have been warm as an inversion is in the atmosphere, leaving warmer temps up top and colder temps in the Village.  We haven't had any new snow for a few days and no precip is forecasted for the next week.  Yuck!

Day 52 | and then there was one

Weird day with Club Kids.  Only three in the pack of five showed up and one already had a shoulder injury from riding yesterday.  Our first run was from Roundhouse down to CLC for a fruit and hot chocolate break.  Next run:  Roundhouse to CLC to drop the girl with the injured shoulder to the den.  Third run:  Roundhouse to CLC for lunch.

After lunch I was left with two kids as my injured girl ended up going home.  First run after lunch: warm up from Roundhouse to CLC to drop off second kid at the den because he crashed into someone and hurt his back.  He also ended up going home early.  That left me with one!

The remaining runs of the afternoon consisted of two laps through the small park and final run from the top of Emerald Chair to the Village for sign out.  Weird day with Club Kids.

Day 51 | Spring-u-ary

Spring has arrived in Whistler!  (wait, it's suppose to be February)  Sunny skies and inversions are forecasted for the next five days.  It was around 40°F / 4°C in the Alpine today!!  The snow wasn't powder but the warm temps and views of this incredible place made for an amazing day.

Si and I met up with Sean and Libby around 10am.  I met them at the bus stop a few months ago.  They are fellow Americans from Chicago spending a season.  We ran out to Symphony and enjoyed the breathtaking views that Whistler rarely shares during the winter.  Kyle met up with us around noon.  We didn't get to spend much time out there as I needed to be in the Village by 1:30pm.

Day 50 | Johnson in da House

Guess who is back in town?  Si'Aire is in Whistler for three weeks and today was his first day out on the hill.  Mother Nature was amazingly gracious as it snowed 14cm overnight, the sun shined all day, and there was no wind.  It was a perfect day.

We unloaded the Creekside Gondola at 9:30 and took a warm up run down Expressway to mid-station.  The boy's boots weren't fitting well enough so we ran from the top of the Roundhouse down to the Village but not before shredding through the park in the trees finding a ton of fresh powder!  After we got the boots squared away, we headed over to Harmony - ran down Harmony Ridge and dropped down onto Kaleidoscope.  Every turn down Kaleidoscope was a face shot!  There was so much powder in there.  : )

Next we took the T-bar Run down to the Peak Chair.  By this time the boy was already getting tired (and hungry).  I was hoping his legs would last for a few more hours but by the time we dropped into West Bowl, the boy was toast!  We rode Highway 86 back to Creekside gondi and downloaded from there.  I think this was a record setting first day as Si'Aire lasted 3.5hrs - and to be fair, I did take him down mostly black runs and tree runs.  Hopefully tomorrow his legs will last a bit longer.  

    

Day 49 | tootatoot

I had a full class for WESP and we went to the top first thing in the morning.  Not much for new snow in the last couple of days and the freezing level has been hovering around the 1000 meter range.  It was a perfect day to get some mileage on the groomers.  They weren't in the best shape but they weren't bad.  They definitely weren't icy.  The problem was the huge fog cloud that lingered over Solar Coaster all day.  Visibility was next to nothing.

In the afternoon I decided to give the Jersey Creme chair a try.  There was no cloud hovering near there and the sun was kind of shining for a minute or two.  We headed down Jersey Road and I thought the kids would like to give the Pontiac Race Course a try.  One kid stacked it pretty hard on the first run down ... luckily a call to Patrol was not warranted.  We ran the course twice then headed down for sign out.

Day 48 | fat fuzzy finger

Sunday Club was beginning to get a bit messy with the levels.  Some kids were excelling quickly, some were not, kids were showing up for the first time three weeks into the program.  Bottom line:  we needed to have a run-off between levels one to level four in order to sort things out.

It rained from the Village to mid-station and by the time we got to the Roundhouse for our first run, we were all drenched.  The snow was nice about Emerald Chair and then conditions went from powder to Spring slush.

By the afternoon, things (including us) had dried out and the levels were all sorted, leaving me with my original two girls and one boy the same age.  There is now a high level three class (with me) and a low level three class (with Myles).  Each class of kids are all the same level and no one has a split.  Sundays should be fun for the rest of the season!

Day 47 | board with our boards cause we're bored

Two kids were missing from Club this week, leaving me with the same Class I had last season.  None of them were too motivated to ride so we didn't do much.  I think we took a full run on Whistler before lunch and after lunch we took a full run on Blackcomb.  That's about it.  It snowed lightly all day and the conditions were soft packed.  Lots of pow forecasted for this evening.  

Day 46 | level fives

Today was my scheduled day off but I was asked to work since it's the day after Australia Day and most Aussies are usually too hung over to come to work.  I didn't mind since I have a few extra days off next week.  Much to my surprise, I was assigned Level Fives (first time this season).  I thought about giving them up and doing Lil Rippers with Morgan, but then I came to my senses and realized it would be much more fun to actually snowboard for the day instead of take care of 5 year olds for the day.

It took us an hour to get from the queue at the Village Gondola to the Roundhouse this AM.  That didn't leave us much time to shred before lunch.  We weren't allowed to go through the trees today so we took our warm up run down Green Acres.  The snow on the groomers wasn't that great but if you ran the more difficult runs, there was still good snow to be found on the side of the runs.  The three boys were fast!  We managed to get in three runs before the 11:15am lunch, and one of those runs was from Garbanzo Chair.

After lunch we opted to snowboard on Blackcomb.  Flaik reported we ran 18.5 miles when the day was said and done.  I was tired by the end and I was happy I didn't go with the Lil Rippers instead.

Day 45 | iShred POW! finallly

I've been telling myself all week that I was going to ride today since it was my day off.  I knew the snow was going to be good and I wanted to get out there and enjoy some powder for a change.  It snowed 14cm overnight and Kyle was asking what time we were meeting at the gondola.  I hate to admit it but he kind of had to persuade me to get up there ......

We met up at 10am in Creekside.  The Red Chair had a bit of a queue so we rode down to Garbanzo.  The Alpine hadn't opened yet so we lapped Garbo for about three runs before heading in to warm up and have some lunch.

After lunch we met up with Georgie and Yannick and headed to Symphony via Sun Bowl off Harmony.  We traversed under the cliff to the right and then dropped down into soft fresh snow.  We managed to fit in four runs through Symphony before the chair closed.  The snow out there was amazing and deep through the trees.  It was so much fun!  I think it was my best day free riding so far!  And to think Kyle had to talk me into going up in the first place ....

Day 44 | half day "Friday"

It's my Friday and I showed up to Ride Tribe feeling comfortable I would get a class.  I was assigned level threes and three of them showed up.  Once again, Laurie and I decided to take a run together.  She had three level fours.

Conditions had changed drastically overnight.  It was a sheet of ice from the bottom of Red Chair to the Village.  Although there was still lots of snow above that, it was very wind blown and not soft anymore.  Once again winds were gusting up to 100k's.  Patrol managed to get the Alpine open but it had zero visibility and I can't imagine what it was like in the wind.  The wind was bad enough from Roundhouse to Emerald Chair.

We took a run down Ego Bowl and after the first run, all six kids seemed to be the same level.  Next run was down some bumps in Green Acres.  We figured a steeper run would weed out the level threes from the level fours.  Nope.  By the end of two runs, all the kids were basically the same level.  We went in for lunch around 11am.  I signed out my class card, giving my kids to Laurie, grabbed a nice lunch and then went home.

Day 43 | Ride Tribe to Whistler Kids

I was scheduled for Ride Tribe on this wonderful snowy / powder day but didn't get a class.  Normally I would have jumped on the opportunity to go home but for some reason, I wanted to work.  So I ran over to the Kids side and asked if anyone wanted to go home.  Of course, everyone was all too willing to go home so I ended up team teaching with Lili and we had eight level twos.

It snowed about eight inches in the last 24 hours and the snow was light.  I elected to run the eight kids down to the Village for our first (and only) run before lunch.  I think that took over an hour as we had one girl who was painfully slow.  We ended up being about 10 minutes late for lunch but that was no big deal.

For the afternoon I let Lili deal with the lesson and the kids.  The kids decided they wanted to go on Olympic Chair.  I stayed behind, pulled up the rear and basically road the sides of the runs where there was about six inches of nice untouched pow.  It snowed like crazy all day.  The Alpine never opened due to very gusty high winds.  We are currently sitting on a 244cm base.  I've been reassured if I want a class in Ride Tribe tomorrow that I will get a class.  Since it's still snowing right now, I'm hoping for level three or above.

Day 42 | Snuffalofaguess

The snow has been falling for a few days now and today was the first good pow day we've had in a long time.  I was looking forward to shredding some gnar with my WESP kids.  By 9am, only four out of the seven showed up so we hit the Blackcomb gondi and headed up to the top of Excelerator Chair.  Once we were there, it was blue runs to Solar Coaster.

The kids had a bit of a tough time on the powdery blue runs but they made it safely to Solar where we were able to ride down Easy Out.  There was a lot of snow on the ground and it was super soft.  It was fun.  I was hitting fresh tracks on the sides of the runs.  We also cut in and out of some trees.  Winds were whipping up top so I decided we wouldn't take another chair ride.

I was smart enough to get us to lunch early in order to ride Whistler for the afternoon.  I wanted to hit Marmot Trees since trees weren't restricted today.  The powder in Marmot Trees was deep.  In fact, the usual lines weren't cut out and the lines that were cut out dumped us into the trees below the tower.  No matter, the kids still had fun (even though they had a tougher time with it).

We were a bit chilly so we ran down to the CLC and grabbed a hot chocolate.  After the break, we rode down the green to the village riding all the side hits.  We had enough time to take one last run from the top of the Excalibur gondola before signing out with Mom and Dad.  The day was super fun and the conditions were amazing.  And I didn't even get to ride the "good stuff" ......

Day 41 | broken binding means snowmobile ride

Two new girls showed up for Club today as level fours.  Lauren added them to her class card.  Once again we all took a run together first thing in the morning.  Jose said the conditions up top were really windy but the groomers below mid-station were awesome.  So we decided to lap mid-station til lunch.  It didn't take us long to realize the new girls are NOT level fours (surprise, surprise) but they are actually high level twos.

It snowed all day today and the snow was amazing ... even with the gusting winds up top.  We decided to ride up the Garbanzo Chair before lunch.  When we all reached the top, Ella noticed her binding was broken and the strap that holds her foot down was missing.  There was no way she could snowboard down with one binding so I called Patrol to give her a snowmobile ride.  Lauren took the rest of my class and headed back to the CLC for lunch.  Ella and I waited for Patrol in the lifty's hut.  Once Patrol arrived, we were able to ride his snowmobile up to the Roundhouse where we downloaded to the CLC, ate some lunch, and fixed her binding with a spare part off a rental.  

Everything was back to normal by the afternoon and we spent the rest of our day shredding the gnar.  I'm going to try and move the two new girls into a lower level class next weekend.  I'm not sure how it will work out but I'm guessing I will end with them in my class and I will have to deal with the split for the rest of the season.  Fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

Day 40 | late for work

I stayed at Irish's house last night (after the trip to Baker) which meant I had to make a morning commute up to Whistler this AM.  I gave myself plenty of time for the drive, taking into account the snowy/icy road conditions.  When I reached the turn just south of Function Junction, a two car accident had already happened.  Traffic was still moving in both directions before the authorities came.  I was about 7 cars in line when the police and fire trucks showed up, closing the road in both directions.  There I sat for an hour, making me late for work.

Lauren was kind enough to bib and flaik my team.  I met up with them at the CLC around 9:30am.  They were ready to snowboard when I showed up so we hit the gondola and headed up to the Roundhouse.  The snow was amazing today.  20cm of fresh powder fell overnight and the conditions were soft packed with powder on the side of the runs.  The Alpine never opened causing the lift lines to overflow out the fences.  I didn't mind since I was teaching.

I have to admit I didn't do much for "teaching" today.  I was too excited to ride the great conditions.  The kids followed me around as I just rode and rode.  They didn't mind as they were riding fresh powder also. Before I knew it, the quitting time alarm went off and it was time to head to the village to sign out.  I'm hoping tomorrow is just as nice.

Day 39 | Return of the Shred-i

Irish and I packed up the truck early Friday morning and headed down to Mt Baker.  They received 3 feet of new snow over the last couple of days and another 9-13 inches was forecasted to fall throughout the day Friday.  We were super excited since Whistler hasn't been receiving much snow this season.

We reached the bottom of the Forest Road around 8:00am and things were looking good.  The road was plowed perfectly, the snow was falling, the temperature hovered just under freezing.  Suddenly, something weird happened.  As we drove higher, it started getting warmer.  The snow changed to rain.  I reassured Irish that we had a long way to go before we hit the ski area and it was going to get colder as we kept driving.  Nope!  No such luck.  When we pulled into the parking lot, it was raining.

Rain or snow, we weren't going to turn around and go back to Canada so we bundled up, bought our cheap (compared to Whistler prices) lift tickets and headed up the chair.  The highest chair at Mt. Baker is just over the 5,000 foot level.  It was snowing at that level but it was raining not too far below it.  For a rainy day, the snow was nice.  It wasn't too heavy and there was a lot of fresh tracks to be found.  We worked our way around the entire park for the next three hours.  By noon I was soaked ... and needed to change my gloves and eat some lunch.  Once I was able to dry off and warm up, I wasn't up to going back outside and getting wet again.  We called it a day and headed back to Canada.  We're hoping to get down there a couple more times this season depending on what the snow does.

Day 38 | It's never been this cold!

When I awoke this morning, it was -2F in the village (-19C) and the wind was blowing 30-50kph.  I was scheduled for Ride Tribe so I was happy that working with the teenagers meant working a slightly shorter day.  Needless to say I was hoping to not work but deep down I knew I'd be getting a class.  We had 38 Riders and I was assigned Level 3 with another Instructor.

Laurie and I ended up with ten kids.  We threw them onto two class cards and decided to split them at the Roundhouse.  Five of them were in lessons yesterday and they were true level threes.  The other five of them who hadn't been in lessons recently were NOT level threes.  Once we strapped in and headed towards Whiskey Jack, it became very apparent we should have split the class at mid-station and not at the top of the mountain.  Four kids had the toughest time getting to the first roller on Whiskey.  One girl walked most of the way to our first stop area and I ended up calling Patrol to snowmobile her back to the Roundhouse.  Once we got her squared away, Laurie took the true level threes and I took the four level twos and slowly made my way down to the Emerald Chair.  By the time we reached the chair, three of the four kids were turning.  They weren't turning confidently but they were turning.  One kid was still having a tough time and zig zagged most of the way.

We made it to the top of Emerald around 10:30am and quickly went inside to warm up.  We found the rest of the classes in there already trying to get warm.  We ended up taking a super long lunch, staying inside until 11:45am.  I wasn't complaining as it took me about 45 minutes to warm up.  It was -25C (-13F) outside and as you can imagine, that was freaking freezing!!!!!  

After lunch, Laurie and I hooked up with Jose and we split up six kids between the three of us.  I took the one guy who was definitely a low level two and managed to get him turning in one run to Emerald.  Lucky for me we ran into Jose's class on the second run so we ended up following him.  To my surprise, my kid now fit into Jose's level two class ... and I was able to go home!  I was so cold that I downloaded in the gondola and clocked out around 1:30pm.

Day 37 | Arctic Outflow Warning

I was late for Ride Tribe this morning thanks to my bus not showing up.  It was a high of -15C today so I was kind of hoping my tardiness would result in not getting a class.  No such luck.  I was handed a level two card and ended up with four teenagers from Australia.

It was Blackcomb day so we headed up the gondola and over to the Magic Chair area.  To my surprise the kids were already turning and just needed more confidence.  My plan was to spend the morning in this area, eat lunch at Wizard Grill and then take gondola laps.  We took a hot chocolate break at Blackcomb Kids midway through the morning.  After lunch I decided to give Wizard Chair a try.  Three of the kids did great turning down the green and blue runs back to the gondola and one boy had a hard time linking his turns.  His toes were hanging off the edge of his snowboard because his feet were so big.  He was using a cheap rental board and got really discouraged.  He elected to sign himself out and go back to his hotel.

With the slowest kid no longer holding the rest of the kids back, I decided to head to the top.  We rocked over to Solar Coaster and hit Easy Out.  The day went by so slow.  I was cold and the teens weren't very excitable.  They didn't say much and didn't seem excited to be snowboarding.  We finished a run around 2:30 and instead of taking a half run from the gondola, the kids decided to call it quits.  Fine by me!  We rode down to the village and had an end of day chat in the Carlton Lodge.  Back to Ride Tribe tomorrow with no break in the Arctic temperatures.  JOY!

Day 36 | Base II WESP

Another season, another eight weeks of WESP (Whistler Elementary Schools Program).  I had to miss week one because of my avalanche course but I was lucky enough to catch a level three class of seven kids who split from other classes.  Most of them were level two kids who ended up turning by the end of the day in the first week.

It was freezing today!  (-15C / 5F)
The last thing I wanted to do was spend the day on chairlifts.  Luckily I was able to make the day fun for my kids by just lapping the Excalibur Gondola.  We ended up having to take lots of breaks, including a hour and a half for lunch.  I managed to keep the class fun by going over the natural jumps on the sides of the runs.

I'm looking forward to shredding with these kids for the next six weeks.  They are super keen to ride and they have a good time doing so.

Day 35 | Super Squirts

Sunday's are slowing turning into my favorite work day of the week.  Two female Instructors and four female riders.  This week my older girl decided to pick up her speed and her riding was night and day from last week.  It was good enough to move her into the level four class with Lauren and Hailey.

It was a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies.  Lauren and I team taught in the morning.  In the afternoon we took a run through Marmot Trees then split up for the remaining time.  My little girls wanted to go to the Tree Fort so that's what we did.  The girls are fun and so cute.  The form on their boards needs some work but they can rip!  It's so great to see.

Day 34 | Saturday Shredding

Another Saturday Club day and we're still filtering through the class and figuring exactly how it's going to stand.  One of my regular girls was absent today along with a new boy who hasn't come to Club yet.  A second new boy did show up and although his Privates Instructor told him last week that he was a "solid level four" - in reality, he's a solid level three.

The snow has come back to Whistler and though we didn't get heaps of fresh pow but we got enough to make the sliding fun!  The winds at the top of the Roundhouse were blustery.  In fact, sometimes the wind were so strong, it knocked poor little Jaden over a few times.  It was freezing when the wind was ripping but we managed to make it through the day .... only taking the gondola back up to the Roundhouse (of course).

Day 33 | tired

It's sunny and it's cold.  Colder in the village than at the Roundhouse ... gotta love inversions.  I slept great but woke up tired from the AST course.  I went to working hoping to not get a class.  Today is Wednesday and it's the last day of Adventure Camp.  What that means to me is that I will be getting a low level class (even more reason to go home).  We only had about 20 kids in Snow School and most of them were AC kids.  No Lil Rippers were signed up today.

I managed to weasel my way out of class.  I took the gondola up with Morgan and Kat.  They had level fours and fives and were team teaching.  I wanted to check the conditions up top so joined them for a couple turns on some green groomers.  The snow was as expected: hard packed.  And lots of snow guns firing.  I lasted half way down Ego Bowl before I said my goodbyes to my co-workers and ripped down to the village.

Day 32 | A.S.T. complete!

I woke up this AM dreading going to the final day of my Avalanche course.  Yesterday's hike was torture for me and I couldn't get motivated to put myself through a second day of it.  I was happier when I read sun in the forecast and that all lifts were on stand-by.  If Harmony and Symphony were running, I knew that meant less hiking.

The day started off with some transceiver and rescue work by the reservoir in Harmony.  The temperature was -12°C but it didn't feel as cold because the sun was shining bright.  There was not a cloud in the sky all day.  After our rescue practice, we took Harmony Chair up and looked at the snow off Burnt Stew heading into Symphony where we eventually ended up at the bottom of Flute Bowl.

I knew the day was scheduled to end earlier because a guy in the class had to be at work for 2:30pm.  Around 11:30am we strapped on our hiking gear and started heading up Flute.  To my surprise, today's hike was super easy compared to what we hiked yesterday and it got me more excited about backcountry riding.  Not to mention, there was going to be fresh lines heading all the way down to Symphony Chair.  Sweet!

Once we reached our destination, we dug a huge pit and looked at the snow conditions.  We did some compression tests, a rutschblock, and a saw/shovel shear.  By 1:30pm we strapped on our boards and rode the fresh snow.  It was a bit crunchy in spots but overall it was nice.  Not great but not bad.  We ran all the way down to the village where we finished at The Cabin for a debriefing.  As much as I was dreading the day in the morning, it ended up being an awesome day.  Such is my life.

Day 31 | Avalanche Skills Training Course

I signed up for an Avalanche Skills Training Course.  It's a two and half day course designed to increase knowledge of winter backcountry travel.  I don't plan on doing much backcountry riding but I do plan on going snowmobiling in the backcountry so it's a good idea to be prepared.  A raise in my pay scale is an added benefit as well.

We started the day in Harmony working with transceivers..... searching for people and/or hidden transceivers.  We stopped at a weather station and learned how they predict the weather and gather information about recent snowpack and snowfall.  From Harmony Chair, we hiked up to the cat track and made our way into Symphony.  At the bottom of the Symphony Chair, we dug some holes and learned about the different snow layers and how to gauge the snowpack activity with compression tests.  From there we snowshoed up to Lil Flute.  That was the worst part of the day.  It took me over an hour and half to hike up and I hated every minute of it.

Once we determined the avalanche situation was at a safe level, we ripped some fresh tracks down Flute and landed ourselves in Adagio.  From there we had to hike back to Burnt Stew Trail and started making our way back down to the village.  It was a long day but I learned a lot.  I'm hoping the hike tomorrow isn't as grueling because I can't feel my legs as I'm typing this.

Day 30 | Sunday Club

Yes, I have a group of Club kids on Sunday this season as well as on Saturday.  That is exciting news because Club kids are fun.  And I know what to expect for classes two days out of a five day work week. Sunday's class is level three with three girls .... two seven year olds (who can rip) and one older girl.  We spent the morning hanging with Lauren and her one level four girl.  It's nice that Sunday is going to be an all girls Club day.

We did the usual stuff:  runs on green groomers, Marmot Trees, Tree Fort.  The lil ones get tired pretty quickly so I have to be careful with that.  The snow was good, mostly soft packed.  Marmot Trees was nice.  It rained from CLC down to the village.  The day went by pretty fast.

Day 29 | Saturday Club

It's here again:  Saturday Club.  My favorite little shredder requested to have me as his Instructor this year so I came into the meeting knowing I'd be getting a Level Four class.  Three of my kids from last year showed up and three new kids.  Well two new kids didn't show up for the first week but they will be there next week.  The third kid I moved up to level 5 by lunch so it looks like I might have five kids for Saturday Club.  But for today, I only had the same three kids I had last year.

The snow was good today with soft packed conditions.  It was pretty crowded being a Saturday. I told my kids that since they're in level four now, the lessons are going to involve much more riding, pushing our riding to a new level ... meaning we're going to be riding faster, and we're going to be riding more blue and black runs hitting Harmony and Peak Chair.  I'm looking forward to pushing the kids this season and getting their riding to improve.

The day went by pretty fast as Club starts at 9am and ends by 3pm.  I'm hoping to get a second Club class on Sundays.
  

Day 28 | someone please speak

Assigned level three's and I was proactive by getting them to turn down the Magic Carpet before heading up to the Alpine.  All five of them turned down the Carpet with no problems so we headed up to the Roundhouse.  Once we got going down Whiskey Jack, I quickly realized I had a three-way split.  One kid needed to be moved up, one girl was a true level three, and three kids were still twos.  Needless to say it was a long way back down to the CLC.

Luckily we had early lunch and I was able to make some changes with other Instructors.  After it was all said and done, I ended up with three kids who were high level twos/low level threes.  Since they were petrified of turning in the Alpine, we headed to the Olympic Chair.  By the end of the second run, and with some hands-on help on some toe turns, they were turning down the bunny hill with no problems so we continued down to the village.  By the end of the day, the three kids had built up their confidence and their turning definitely improved.

Day 27 | Thank you Betty!

I was assigned Lil Rippers at the morning meeting and my fellow Instructor, Betty, could tell from the look on my face that I did not want to take the class.  She offered to switch with me and even though she was assigned Level Ones, I still made the switch.

We had 7 Lil Rippers in Snow School and they joined 45 other Riders.  We were short a couple of Instructors so the sign-in process was a little mixed up.  Once it was all organized, I ended up with two level three's and I couldn't have been happier.

We spent the morning doing what we always do:  taking a run and then moving kids into different classes.  Once it was sorted, we were able to squeeze in one run from the Alpine before our early lunch.  Conditions from mid-station down were hard packed snow, in the form of mostly ice.  The conditions from the Roundhouse down to Emerald Chair were soft packed snow with slight moguls on the green groomers.

My kids worked hard at correcting their counter-rotation so I treated them to a run through Marmot Trees. Because the wind was whipping and it was freezing on the Emerald Chair, we ran down to the CLC for a break then back up to the Alpine for one last run through Marmot Trees again.  The day went by fast and the kids were fun.

Day 26 | Hiked Flute

Went riding with Irish and we hiked Flute.  That was the plan.  Well, the plan was to hike it twice but we only hiked it once.  We uploaded on the Creekside gondi around 10am and headed straight to Symphony.  The weather was cloudy with very flat light.  The mountain itself was very busy.  Last day of the holidays.

We got to the bottom of the Flute hike around 11:30am and it probably took me about a half hour to hike up (and that includes stopping to take pics).  We dropped down into Flute Bowl and the snow was wind blown and chunky.  We traversed across to North Flute Bowl and dropped down into some trees.  We managed to find some untouched powder in the trees that was soft but it was a short run.  The snow conditions didn't warrant a second hike up so we spent the next couple hours in Symphony.  Around 2:30pm we made our way to the Roundhouse via Pika's Traverse and headed in for lunch.  We finished the day with a ride back down to Creekside.   

Day 25 | Seventeen Lil Rippers

Morgan, Melissa, Kat, and Gillian shared a record settings/capped Lil Rippers day with 17!  Needless to say, all four Instructors were exhausted by day's end.  I had the luxury of having an actual level three class today ... that is after I put the two level twos who signed up as threes back into their appropriate classes.  I hate when Instructors move kids up a level when they aren't the higher level.  It's very very frustrating.

Anyway, because of the mess up, my level three's and I only had time to run from mid-station to village.  I think we managed to squeeze in three runs before lunch.  Not bad!  I had two repeat boys from yesterday and two kids who were moved down from level four (yes, because an Instructor put them up to 4 when they were really 3's).

We spent most of the day working on counter-rotation.  After lunch we had enough time to ride down to the village then up to the Alpine (my first time in the Alpine since Dec 5th!).  The snow was soft packed and it felt great to be riding terrain that didn't require me to stop every ten feet.  The green runs were crowded but not crazy.  My day ended with a $20 tip - : )

Day 24 | I can see my hotel from here

This was it!  I was finally assigned level three's and I put myself in prime position to sign up the first class of level threes that showed up.  After talking with the first three kids who said they moved up to level three yesterday, I quickly realized that my three class was actually going to be a two class because the Instructor they had yesterday moved them up when they haven't even left the Magic Carpet yet.  Needless to day I wasn't too thrilled with that, but also I didn't want the kids to spend another day at the CLC so I took a class of four level twos and we hit the Olympic Chair immediately.

It was really cold today with no new snow overnight.  Conditions under the Olympic Chair weren't too bad.  Hard packed snow but not icy.  The kids did their best turning but clearly needed a couple runs on the Super Carpet to figure out which way to turn.  We snuck in two laps on the Carpet then I decided to take them down to the village.

We had a late lunch today which was nice.  We managed to squeeze in a lot of snowboarding in the AM. I lost one girl to Patrol who hurt her wrist and spent most of the day with only three kids.  By the time the day finished, the two kids who had been here all week finally got their turning confident and they ended as true level threes by the end of the day.

I am definitely not in snowboarding shape at all.  My feet, knees and legs were hurting by the end of the day.  I hope I'm able to keep getting classes who can ride.  One kid from today is coming back tomorrow and Mom is suppose to request me so hopefully I'll be able to go into the Alpine tomorrow.

Day 23 | You're fired because .....

I was assigned level fours today and I was super excited at the thought of getting to strap on my snowboard today.  There were another 75 kids signed up for lessons (7 Lil Rippers).  Devon took the first class of level fours that showed up and Kat had a level four AC class.  By 9:10am, it was looking like I wasn't going to get a class so I offered to help Morgan with six Lil Rippers.  We rocked over to the gondola around 9:15am.  Winds were whipping in the Alpine and the village gondi was running slow and stopping constantly.  The line up was insane!  (We got on the gondola at 10:10am!!!!)  About 15 minutes after Morgan and I got in line, Dave showed up behind us with a level four kid and he ended up teaching the two level fours that I should have taught if I hadn't volunteered to teach Lil Rippers.  Argh!  Such is my life.

I'm not complaining as working with Morgan equals working an easier day.  He's great with the younger kids as he keeps them highly entertained and he is always motivated.  By the time we reached the CLC in the morning, it was almost 10:30am so there wasn't much time for snowboarding before lunch.  All six kids were very well behaved and a few of them were pretty good riders.  We spent most of the afternoon outside playing and riding in the snow.  The day went by pretty fast.  The weather in the Alpine was super windy with white outs and a full on blizzard at one point ... so I guess I didn't fair too bad teaching the Lil Rippers today. 



base - 178cm / 70"

Day 22 | jet-lagged & red-eyed

I returned to Vancouver yesterday evening and immediately got back to the grind of snowboard instructing.  We had 76 riders today including 6 Lil Rippers.  I was assigned level ones and ended up with a nice class of six kids.  They were all very polite, calm, and well behaved.  They also all progressed at about the same level.

The day went by pretty fast even though we were on the Magic Carpet.  The Carpet was crowded as there were two other level one classes, a couple Rippers classes, and a couple of level two classes all in the same area.  Most of my kids managed to make their way to level two.  I'm hoping I can get a higher level class and actually put my snowboard on.  It's been snowing a lot around here lately and I'd really like to get some shredding in.

Day 21 | All a board

It finally snowed .... 13 centimeters!!  Not much but every little bit helps.  I was hoping to finally get a class that could go up to the Alpine but I quickly found out I had a shadow and the bosses want you teaching lower level (CLC) classes when you have a shadow.  Do Darren (from Scotland) and I grabbed three kids in level one.

It was an easy day as splitting three kids between two people isn't too difficult.  We started the kids on their toe edge and worked on that until lunch.  In the afternoon, we turned them around and got them on their heels.  The Mini's were kind of taking over the Magic Carpet so we decided to hike to the Super Carpet.  That went over well as the kids improved quite a bit over there.  After working with Privates, I realize a level one class can learn just as well on the adult Carpet as they can on the kids' carpet.  In fact, it's better because the Super Carpet is so much longer.

The day went by faster than I expected.  Darren was a great shadow and he'll do just fine as an Instructor. The kids had a great time with him as he was very hands on.  Today was my last day of work for awhile. I'm heading home to celebrate the holidays with my family back in the States.  I'm going to miss out on 14 days of shredding.  Hopefully I will still make it to 100 ..... Merry Christmas and I'll be back soon.

Day 20 | Private Kids

My schedule was changed to work Privates today.  I hate working Privates because I never get work.  When I checked my schedule at 8:45am, I was still unassigned ... meaning I wasn't booked for a lesson.  A regular Privates Instructor was booked for three kids, never-evers.  He apparently couldn't be bothered taking the class as he offered it up to me and I was more than happy to take the kids for the full day lesson.  It was easier than having a full class of six in Kids.

The three kids were from Hawaii.  Two nine year old boys and one seven year old girl, a friend and a brother and sister.  We started off learning how to skate and crab walk under the Super Carpet.  One kid strapped on his board and could basically turn right away.  He was amazing.  The other two (the brother and sister) were also pretty good.  They all had good balance.

We spent the morning on the Super Carpet where it snowed all day.  We haven't had snow in over two weeks so it was a welcomed and much needed surprise.  Moms and Dads showed up on the Carpet just before lunch - lucky for me since none of the kids had money for lunch and I had to ask the parents for money for them.  I took the kids to the Roundhouse around noon and we had something to eat.

By the time we finished lunch and downloaded back to mid-station, there was only about an hour left to the lesson.  Of course I was hoping for a nice tip ($$) since these kids were in a Private lesson, but nothing!  Very disappointing ... but I had a good day, the kids were well behaved,  and I was able to work so it was all fine.  

Day 19 | redder than blood

Today was my day off but I was asked to work Ride Tribe.  Since I didn't get a class yesterday, I said yes.  I was assigned level 2's and ended up with one kid from Singapore.  He was tired and sore from his lesson yesterday as a never-ever.  I was told he fell quite a bit from catching an edge.  Once we were on the gondola, he told me he didn't want to come to lessons today because he was so sore but his dad made him go.

We started at the Super Carpet to help get his feet back under him.  He was able to turn on the Carpet so we hit the Olympic Chair.  This area proved to be a bit more difficult but he gave it a go for a few runs before he needed a break.  He was tired and we were early for lunch so we decided to take a round trip on the Peak 2 Peak as a time killer. 

Afterwards, we worked on some edging and gave the Olympic Chair another go.  He managed to do the Olympic run twice and finally I told him we were going to go to the CLC for a hot chocolate break.  Once we were inside, he said he couldn't continue.  By now it was close to 2pm.  Instead of leaving early, we hung out with the crazy kids at the CLC until our lesson time was up.  

  

Day 18 | me and my big mouth

Another slow day in Snowboard School with a total of 11 kids, including one Lil Ripper.  I volunteered to go home if there wasn't enough classes for all the Instructors.  I'm not sure why because I did want to work.  I was assigned level two's, but before I could grab the class and get started, I was called over to do Ride Tribe.  I was half way up the gondola when my scheduler called.  I rode down from mid-station and by the time I reached the GLC, Jose took off with the class that may have a possible split.  I ran up the Blackcomb gondola and took the green line down to Base II.  I knew when I didn't see the class on the run, there wasn't going to be a split.  Once I reached Jose, my assumption was confirmed.  I grabbed my board and rode down from Base II to the village.  I regretted opening my big mouth so early in the day.  I would have liked to spend the day working.  Live and learn.

Day 17 | Jesus isn't Asian

I was excited after the morning meeting when I was assigned levels 4, 5, & 6.  I was quickly dejected when I realized there was no class higher than a level three.  We had a total of fourteen kids in Snowboard School (including two Lil Rippers) and two Instructors were sent home.  Luckily for me the level one class was more than six kids so that class ended up being two classes and I was able to work.

Melissa and I split eight level ones.  It was a typical Magic Carpet day, nothing exciting!  During the course of the day, we lost one kid to Patrol (dislocated shoulder) and one kid to Level 2 (he was turning right away).  By 2pm that left us with six kids ... and no need for two Instructors so I rode down to the village from mid-station and went home an hour early.  Not complaining.  I was tired from being on my feet all day.  I hope I start getting classes with kids who can snowboard soon.

Day 16 | Walker & Texas Ranger

 Six kids were in Snowboard School today which equalled three classes and I took two Lil Rippers, who were brothers, and both were ginger.  They reminded us of the kids in Talledega Nights named Walker and Texas Ranger.  They were from Canada and they were both super polite (not like the kids in the movie) and both were a delight to teach.

The sun was shining once again with a super immersion .... temps in the Alpine reached +6 while temps in the valley were -6!!  Our snow base is diminishing day by day (131cm).  No mentionable snow accumulations in the forecast.  

It was a long day on the carpet with the two Rippers as there were no other level one classes at the CLC to hang with.  The boys did well.  One was 6 years and he was able to heel edge on his own by the end of the day.  The 4 year old never quite grasped the edging thing but he enjoyed riding his snowboard down the bunny hill like a toboggan.  The seemed really excited about their day when mom came to pick them up so that made me feel good.  I think I've had Lil Rippers every day I've worked so far this season.  Weird.

Day 15 | Ride Tribe

I was asked to work Ride Tribe (teenagers).  Whistler Kids has been so slow that I didn't mind having a change of pace.  I was betting we wouldn't have many kids in Ride Tribe but it turned out we had more teenagers (six) than we had kids-kids (four).  

My class was a girl from Singapore and she was a never-ever.  She didn't talk much but she could snowboard.  In the morning, we worked on the basics: stance and balance, skating, and zig zagging.  She was side slipping on both sides by the time lunch rolled around.

One of the perks in working Ride Tribe is being able to eat a lunch at one of the restaurants on top of the mountain.  We took the gondola up to the Round House for food.  It's also a great time killer.  After lunch, we worked on turning.  Before 2pm she was able to turn all the way down the Super Carpet so we took one run down from Olympic Chair.  That didn't go as well but overall she progressed very quickly for a kid who had never snowboarded before.  

   

Day 14 | training for a level one

Emma, a coworker from Ziptrek, is taking her Level One Instructor course tomorrow and she wanted me to help her with her riding so she could be ready for the class.  We met up around 11am and headed up the village gondola.  The sun was shining once again and still no new snow to report - (We've almost had more sunny in December than we've had all summer) - ??

Anyway, we ran some warmup laps on Whistler before meeting up with Georgie.  In addition to making sure Emma's riding was up to par, I gave her some information on what to expect during the course and gave her some examples of how lessons would be taught.  Her riding was definitely on the same standard for what is expected for level one riding.  I found it a bit difficult to show examples of level one riding as I now ride at a higher level consistently.

After a few runs on Whistler, we took the Peak 2 Peak over to Blackcomb since that is where she will be riding for the next three days.  As usual, some of the runs on Blackcomb were icy... particularly the run at the top of Solar Coaster.

We finished up around 2:30pm and Emma was kind enough to buy me a hot chocolate as a thank you.  I feel confident she will pass the Level testing with no problem.

Day 13 | abracadabra

"Help with my binding!" - four year old Ripper
"Excuse me?  What's the magic word?" - Me
"Abracadabra!" - four year old Ripper

Not much to report.  Thirteen kids in Snowboard School including two repeat Lil Rippers.  Sun was shining and still no snow.  Another inversion, cold in the village - warm in the Alpine.  I took the Rippers.

Day 12 | Hip Hop Pose

Back to the grind after not working for a week because we are so slow (about one to two snowboarders a day).  I volunteered to take the three Lil Rippers since we haven't had any new snow for awhile.  The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day to be outside, though with the inversion, it was warmer up top than it was in the village.

As far as Rippers go, the kids were amazingly easy to handle and easy deal with.  There were two six year olds and one four year old.  They could all put their bindings on and take their bindings off.  They all grasped the concept of edging on their heels and toes.  Morgan and Kat both had level ones so there were quite a few kids in the Magic Carpet area.  We had about 14 kids all together in Snowboard School.  

Naturally we built a jump at the end of the day.  A few of my Rippers showed off their hip hop pose for my camera.  Pics attached of course.

Day 11 | Ziptrek'ers

I was scheduled to do an RST with Whistler Kids at 10am but when I arrived at the CLC (15 min late), I was told it was cancelled.  Not cool.  I wasn't too upset as my plans were to meet up with Anna and Georgie from Ziptrek at the Super Carpet for noon.

I hung around the CLC for about a half hour then decided to head up top for one run before grabbing my free lunch back at work.  It was cloudy for most of the afternoon.  No new snow overnight.  The runs are starting to get hard packed.  Having no snow will eventually do that.  I ran down Whiskey Jack to Olympic and then back to the CLC for some salad.

Georgie and Anna met me around noon.  Georgie is an avid boarder while Anna has never been on snow in her life (silly Australian).  She picked up a cheap used board, bought some new boots and bindings and was excited to give the sport a try.  We spent two hours on the Super Carpet and Anna was amazing.  She could zig zag on both her edges by the time we finished.  I gave her some tips and skills to practice for the next time she heads up.  We finished up with a drink at the Dubhlin Gate where we ran into Petr and Mark from Ziptrek.