Day 23 - Ride Tribe shadow

I was told to report to work at Ride Tribe this morning.  Jose told me we had 16 snowboarders so I felt confident I would get a class even though I'm "low man on the totem pole" over there.  I was assigned to be a floater, in other words, the boss didn't assign me a class.  With so many teens, I was still pretty confident I'd get a class.  But once everything washed out, there was only one class for each level leaving me with nothing.

I didn't feel like going home right away so I asked if I could shadow Jose's level four class for the morning.  Tall Sean was cool with that (even giving me a lunch voucher) though I didn't get paid for my time.  I like following Jose as he's a great teacher and I was hoping to get some new ideas on exercises I could do when I teach my classes.

It was freezing in the morning.  I don't know the exact temperature but I was soooo cold and couldn't wait to go inside for lunch so I could warm up.  We haven't had much snow in the last week and conditions were medium packed.  Not soft but not quite hard or icy.  I took the tree line named Side Order on my ride out and there was nothing soft or fresh in there.  Hopefully we will get some snow soon.

Day 22 - an investigator

What do you call an alligator wearing a vest?  an in VEST a Gator!!!  get it?

Anyway, back to the grind today with twelve Riders including one Lil Ripper.  I was assigned Level One's and spent most of the day team teaching with Holly who had Level Two's.  Between us, we had eight.  With the exception of one, all of them were returns.

I spent my day on the Magic Carpet.  Two of the kids were turning before lunch so Holly took them over to the Olympic Chair for a bit in the afternoon.  All of the kids improved greatly by the end of the day with two of them turning down the steep end of the Carpet.

The rest of the Instructors came over late arvo and built a jump.  All the kids hit the ramp for about a half hour before it was time to go home.

Day 21 - Mt. Baker jackpot

Whistler didn't have much fresh snow for the last couple of days but Baker was tweeting 27 inches in the last 24 hrs with more to come for Friday.  Irish and I decided late Thursday night that we might as well give it a try.  After a 4:45 wake up call, we hit the road and landed in the lift line before 9am.  The snow report said 7 inches overnight but by the looks of things, there was a lot more snow than that.

We quickly headed to the one of the highest chairs and we were amazed at what we found.  Powder!  Waist deep, soft, fluffy, light, pillows everywhere!  Probably the best champagne snow I have ever seen and we couldn't believe how deep it was.

Mt. Baker ski area isn't that big, but the natural terrain is fun.  There are nice trees, natural half pipes and chutes, and big open bowls/fields.  We had to be careful not to ride on terrain that was too flat.  The snow was so deep that it was easy to get stuck in waist deep powder within seconds.  Irish found himself digging out a couple of times.

We broke for lunch around noon.  It snowed for most of the day, but by 2pm the winds had picked up substantially, making visibility impossible.  We decided to call it a day.  We both hit the jackpot with Baker on this trip.  We have been there twice before and both times, the snow and the weather was nothing to brag about.  But this time, it was GOLD!

Day 20 - noodling

Had a great day at work today.  We had seven kids in Snowboard School split between four of us.  I took my level four kid, Max.  We spent the morning hanging out with Darren and the level three kids.  They were practicing their turns on the Olympic Chair and since turning was easy for Max, he practiced riding switch.  When he rode switch, he was the same level as the other kids (even better).  When given the opportunity to go up top instead, he opted to practice switch.  I love that about this kid:  he had a great ambition to learn new things on his snowboard and never took the easy way out.

After lunch we split from the rest of the crew and headed off to find some powder in the trees.  Our first run we dropped off Whiskey Jack.  The next run I decided to see what Marmot Trees was like and headed there via Rat Fink.  Max didn't quite make the traverse to Rat Fink so we managed to get down through the trees before the trail.  It was fun, full of soft pow.  Max did great but it wasn't easy for him.  We came out right at the entrance to Marmot Trees.  It was "cut" but it wasn't the kids' run that was cut.  We ended up below the Peak 2 Peak tower.  By the time we got to that point, Max was exhausted and sweating.  Even though he did great, he did fall a few times and ended up walking out in snow up to his knees at one point.  We rode to the CLC to take a much needed break.

After a break, we took two of the level three kids back up to the Roundhouse for one last run.  We kept to the green runs since everyone was tired and it was the end of the day.  The boys worked hard at their turns and I kept it fun by finding some jumps along the way.

Day 19 - Peak Chair Opens

We had five snowboarders and one Lil Ripper in Snow School.  I took my level three boy from yesterday and had an amazing day.  The snow was super soft packed with powder on the sides on the runs.  We took a few runs in the morning on Whistler, greens and blues.

After lunch we went over to Blackcomb because there are more Blue runs on that mountain.  We worked on level three and level four exercises.  It was a pleasure teaching Max because he was always doing what I told him to do, even when I didn't tell him.  Although it was pretty cold, the day went by fast.

Day 18 - 22cm overnight again

How I envisioned my day to go today was nothing like how it actually went.  It snowed another 22cm overnight and I knew I was teaching my returning level three girl.  I was looking forward to shredding a bit of pow, even if was only in the Family Zone area.

With the overnight snow came high winds.  Gusting over 100km/hr on both mountains.  The Village Gondola was only uploading to Midstation until 9:30am.  No chairs higher than Excelerator opened on Blackcomb until after 11am.  Meg and I stepped out of the gondola around 9:45am.

The snow was weird.  The high winds were blowing all over the mountain.  Not just at the top.  Normally the wind blows down the hill, but today it was blowing up, down, sideways, diagonal, every which way.  Normally on high wind days, the snow is a bit "crusty"- hard but soft.  It usually disappears once you drop down onto a run.  But today, that snow lasted all the way down to Emerald Chair.  Weird.

My student was a bit out of it today too.  Yesterday she finished as a strong level three turning down everything green.  This morning, she wasn't even trying to turn.  I told her numerous times I needed her to turn but she slowly zig zagged.  I was a bit annoyed.  She told me she wasn't feeling well so I gave her the option to go home after lunch and she took me up on it.

Jon had five level two kids and one was turning confidently.  So instead of leaving at noon, I ended up teaching him for the rest of the afternoon.  He was pretty good and by the afternoon, the snow was chopped up enough where it was soft packed.  We finished on the jump at the CLC.

Day 17 - another 22cm overnight

Another 22cm fell overnight bringing the snow total for the past seven days to 143cm or 56".

Snowboard School rocked out with four kids today.  Three never-ever's and my girl from yesterday - who was a high level two.  It was only Jon and I working and it worked out perfectly that the new kids had never ridden before.

We were told to teach on the Super Carpet because it was the first day of Valley Kinder, meaning there were about 130 of the little yellow munchkins running around the CLC area.  No problem as that's just where I wanted my girl to practice.  Unfortunately, the Lifties were a little late at getting the Carpet open.  Over an hour late to be exact.  By the time they got it moving, it was past 10am and almost time for lunch.

After lunch I felt Meg was ready for the Olympic Chair.  I figured she would zig zag most of the way but she started turning and turning confidently.  We did two laps on the chair when I decided to head to the Roundhouse.

The snow up top was amazing today (if you had to stay in the Family Zone).  Super soft packed and well groomed ... nice and smooth.  We took two laps down Ego Bowl, where Meghan was turning amazingly, considering she just started snowboarding yesterday!!  She finished the day as a strong level three and she will be returning tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to spending the day away from Mid-Station.

Day 16 - Morgan

After almost a week off (for lack of snowboarders taking lessons), I was back to work today even though we only had five kids.  There were a couple returning kids who were already spoken for so Morgan and I were set to fight over a level two class.  Luckily a girl rocked up who had never snowboarded before.  Perfect, now Morgan and I both had a class.  By lunchtime, my girl was pretty much the same level as Morgan's other kids, and although I could have gone home, we decided to team teach and headed to the Super Carpet after lunch.

Although we haven't had epic amounts of snow yet this season, the last 48 hours has produced 30 inches bringing our snow base to 66 inches.  Peak Chair has yet to open but Harmony Chair opened today.  You can imagine the lineup.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to enjoy any of the chaos or the fresh powder.

Day 15 - Blackcomb's where it's at!

Irish and I were awake at 7am but we didn't get to the Roundhouse until 11am.  It was raining in the Village but 17cm fell overnight.  Since Blackcomb was so great yesterday, we decided to head over there straight away.

First run was down to Jersey Chair as we wanted to hit some trees off 7th Heaven Ave.  Again, the traverse out there was kind of a pain but the rewards at the end were so amazing.  We both launched off the cat track into untouched knee deep pow.  Then down into two different sets of trees.  The snow was super light and fluffy.  We eventually made our way back over to the area again but not before hitting the snow all along the terrain park, the trees along the side of the park, Bark Sandwich, and the Castle Run.

When we returned to Whistler, we were surprised at how heavier and chunkier the snow was on that mountain compared to Blackcomb.  We definitely made the right decision going over there for the day.

It snowed all day and the freezing level is below Red Chair.  We've received 40cm in 24 hours and two feet in the last two days.  Forecast is calling for another front to hit us at the beginning of the work week.  The base right now is 152cm or 60in.

Day 14 - Karaoke Chairlifts

pow! pow! pow!
Met up with Tim, Conor, & Ruth first thing in the morning at Creekside.  Only 8cm of fresh snow fell overnight but over 20cm fell in the last 24hrs.  It was snowing like crazy when we got to the top of Red Chair.  We spent the morning on Whistler.  The snow was pretty amazing almost to Emerald Chair and then it got a bit heavy and choppy.

We stopped for lunch around 11:30am and then took the Peak 2 Peak gondola over to Blackcomb for the afternoon.  Irish took us towards 7th Heaven and we dropped into some trees.  It was a bit of a mission to get out there on the 7th Heaven cat track but it was well worth the effort.  Light fluffy knee deep snow all the way down the trees.  It was so fun.

We spent the rest of the day on Blackcomb as there was plenty of fresh deep snow to be found around the Solar Coaster Chair.  Again, it got a bit heavy and choppy almost at the bottom of the chair.  No biggee.  Around 3pm, we said our goodbyes to everyone and headed back down to Red Chair to download via the Creekside gondi.  It snowed most of the day and it's forecasted to continue through the weekend.  Patrol is hoping to open Harmony and Peak Chairs tomorrow.

Day 13 - Izayah again and Irish peeps

It was raining in the Village all morning, but snowing up top.  Izayah and I hit the gondola around 11am and met up with Conor and Ruth (and Conor's brother) at the Roundhouse.  It was like a blizzard atop the Emerald Chair and the snow was light and fluffy with plenty of fresh powder to be found anywhere in the Family Zone.

Conor's brother and sister-in-law were visiting from Ireland and even though this was only their second day snowboarding, they did amazing.  Izayah and I took a couple of laps with them before they headed in for lunch.  After that we headed towards Marmot Trees but ducked the rope on the cat track to get to the tower quicker.  By the time we finished that run, Ruth and Conor were done with lunch.  They ditched the brother and took one more lap with Izayah and I.  I took them through the powder in the terrain park.  Izayah got stuck big time and that lap wiped him out.  We headed back to the Roundhouse for some food and to call it a day.  Ruth and Conor did a few laps I'm sure.

A system has parked itself over the area for the next couple of day, bringing with it lots of snow and high winds.  Unfortunately, the freezing level is going to hover around the Chic Pea level so it won't be great for too far (unless they open the Alpine).  I will keep you posted on that.

Day 12 - CJ

Yesterday I went riding with Izayah.  Today, I had his little four year old brother, Christopher Jr. (CJ) in the Lil Ripper program at work.  Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone leaving only two kids in Snowboard School today:  CJ and another girl named Anna.

I knew CJ was going to be a good snowboarder because he did great on skis last season.  We spent the morning on the Magic Carpet where I pushed him around and let him straight line down the hill.  He could ride the length of the carpet without falling at all.

After lunch I decided to take him to the Super Carpet so he could get a much longer run.  He was very good at making sure he fell instead of running into the many adults around.  By the time we finished the day, I managed to get him sideslipping and using his "brakes".  Uncle and Grandma were very pleased to hear his report at the end of the day.

Day 11 - Izayah

It's that time of year again when my Hawaiian friends come up for the timeshare week.  Izayah doesn't take lessons anymore with Whistler Kids, I take him out riding on my days off.  Today was his first day back on the board since last Spring.

It was super sunny with an amazing blue sky.  The snow was soft packed and they was still a bit of powder to be found off piste.  I knew Izayah wasn't going to be able to do too many runs as he mostly plays video games in his spare time.  We got his board/boot situation straightened out and headed up the gondola around 11am.

We did a warm up run on Whiskey Jack.  I then decided to check out the Marmot Tree situation.  It had yet to be tracked out but the last bit of it was good.  Unfortunately, there was no grooming on the run that Marmot Trees dumps out of so Izayah had a hard time getting through the powder.  By the time he made it to Jolly Green Giant, he was exhausted.

We took one more run, broke for lunch then rode from the Roundhouse down to mid-station before calling it a day.

Day 10 - Silas

When asked how to spell your name, four year old Silas said,  "S, .... line with a dot, ...... line, ..... circle with a puppy tail, ..... S"  Get it?

Took three level one/two boys.  Two of them were seven years old and one was the older brother.  I think he was nine.  We spent the day on the Super Carpet where I told the younger boys to stick together and to be a team.  So they went down the carpet together, and came up together.  By the end of the day, the weaker one was able to sideslip and control his speed.  Meghan has seven level twos and we ended up team teaching on the Super Carpet in the afternoon.  The sun was shining but it was cold.  

Day 9 - My weiner is shrinking

Another fairly busy day at Whistler Kids. Once again I was assigned Lil Rippers and today I had five of them! (yes we are only suppose to have four to a class but we were short staffed). Ellen had Ransome and she was kind enough to help me out when he was taking breaks.

I think we had the smallest four year olds to date. One was super keen to ride and one was super keen to not ride. I managed to keep a couple of them on their boards while the others played in the snow.  By the end of the day, I was exhausted.  I heard conditions up top were amazing with periods of sun.

Day 8 - I wanna be a chicken

Another 25cm of snow fell overnight, only this time I had to clean it off my car.  I was pretty confident I would have Ransome again today at work so I knew I'd get to enjoy a bit of the fresh pow under my board.  I was pleasantly surprised when a second high level Lil Ripper rocked up because that would mean that Ransome would want to snowboard more.

We exited the gondola around 9:30am and proceeded to shred the pow!  The boys had a blast, especially Sam as he was a much stronger rider and could go through the powder like nothing.  He was jumping and going crazy.  Surprisingly, he was able to stay in it and go through it.  It was fun watching him.

I managed to keep them out there all morning.  After lunch we built a jump at the CLC, hit that for a couple laps, then went back up top for more shredding.  It didn't take too long for the day to come to an end.  We finished off with more jumps at the CLC then downloaded.  I'm willing to bet those two six year olds are going to be asleep tonight by 8'o clock.  Who am I kidding .... I will be asleep by 8pm!

Day 7 - Whistler Kids

First day of work for the 2012-13 Season.  Time does fly.  It was nice to see the familiar faces.  We were all steezed in our new orange uniforms!!  Thirteen kids were signed up for snowboard lessons including one Lil Ripper.  I was assigned the Lil Ripper and I was a bit concerned about what I would do with a Ripper considering there wasn't much snow at the CLC.  To my surprise, WKids most infamous Lil Ripper, Ransome, rocked up.  Sweet.  That meant I was actually going to snowboard for the day since he is a level 3/4.

Ransome and I headed straight to the Roundhouse once everyone was signed in.  It took him most of the day to get back to speed with his turns.  He has a new larger board this season.  The snow was still amazing.  Super soft packed.  Temps were cold (-9°C) with light winds.  I was freezing.  Luckily Ransome didn't want to ride too much so we spent a fair amount of time at the CLC, building jumps and drinking hot cocoa.  Before I knew it, the day was over.  Not a bad first day.

Day 6 - super soft snow

In the last week, we've received 50 inches of new snow.  Our base is now 100cm/39inches.  Roby and I decided to take a few more laps today and we headed up around noon.  Boy was I surprised when I hit the snow, not only had Whistler opened up more runs, but the snow was amazing.  Super soft packed and still some pow stashes here and there.

The weather was a mixed bag of everything:  clouds, sun and even some light snow.  It was a bit more crowded than yesterday.  Probably because of the 17cm of snow that fell overnight.  We didn't do much, I think we only did five runs before Roby's knee was giving her trouble.  It was enough to get out and get off the couch.  I had fun and I can finally admit, I'm stoked for the winter season.

Day 5 - more groomers

I still have a few more days left of unemployment and even though the snow is lacking in coverage, it's better to board and be bored than to sit on the couch with my thumb up my butt.  Roby was cool with spending a bit of time on the groomers so we met up at Creekside around 11am.

The groomers were nice.  Soft packed, a bit choppy but nothing crazy.  Because it's a weekday, the lift lines were next to nothing.  Of course, the runs did feel a bit crowded since there are only so many places people can go.

Roby and I took about five to seven laps, alternating between Emerald Chair and Red Chair.  It was nice to get out with Roby since she and I never skied/rode together.  Last winter she was in Big White for the season.  We have plans to do the same thing tomorrow.

Day 4 - at least it snowed

Whistler Blackcomb reported 22cm of fresh snow fell overnight.  The freezing levels had dropped to about 1000 metres and the rain had stopped.  After a long good night's rest, we woke up feeling refreshed and made it to the Creekside gondola around 11am.  The snow line had made it's way down to Village level and there noticeably way more snow coverage on the trails.

Unfortunately for me, every trail was roped off except for EgoBowl, Upper Whiskey Jack to Pig Alley, and Orange Peel to Red Chair.  Needless to say, after three runs, I was pretty bored.  The good news is another 34cm (13inches) is forecasted to fall between now and Thursday.  Hopefully that will allow Ski Patrol to take down some ropes .... 

Day 3 - WB Opening Day ... not so epic

Whistler opened today with a 12inch (30cm) snowbase.  It was pouring rain in the Village when we arrived at Creekside around 9:30am and there was no one waiting in line to upload.   People were also downloading at this time (not a good sign).  At Red Chair I noticed how wet everyone was.  Winds were gusting up to 100km.  Combine that with the rain and it made for the longest chair ride.

There is no snow at the top of Creekside Gondola.  There isn't much snow coverage up to the Roundhouse to be honest.  Whatever snow that is up there is mostly man made snow.  Visibility was terrible and most of the snow had been blown off the trails.  We took one run back down to the Creek gondi, downloaded, and drove home.  Not the normal epic opening day we have been spoiled with for the past six seasons.  I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come for the entire season.

    

Day 2 - Cypress

Cypress Mountain on the North Shore opened on Wednesday so what better way to get in form for Whistler than by spending a couple hours at Cypress....  Irish and I needed to be in the city anyhow so we decided to take a few laps.  There wasn't much open, just one run to be exact.   I think we lapped that run about five or six times in a half hour.  We got our money's worth though, spending about two hours up there, working out the kinks.  Whistler opens tomorrow so it's guaranteed to be a less boring day!

Whistler Early Opening Announced

Whistler Blackcomb announced today it will open early, Saturday November 17th, five days earlier than the scheduled Nov 22nd.  woot! woot!  Complete with Opening Day festivities:

This year, Whistler Blackcomb has set the bar high for opening day festivities. Along with a surprise musical act for guests waiting in line at the Whistler Village Gondola, the first 1500 people to upload either gondola will receive a gift. Tokens will range from hot chocolates to big ticket items like EDGE Cards, Snow School lessons, retail and rental gifts and surprises from partners including, Scandinave Spa Whistler, The Adventure Group Whistler, Extremely Canadian, Canadian Snowmobile, Coast Mountain Photography, CAN-SKI, Showcase, Powerade and Milk2Go.

Day 1 - Red Heather hike

A bit of snow fell in Squamish yesterday so Irish decided we should take a hike up to Red Heather to see if we could get a little bit of snowboarding in.  We packed our gear in the car and made it to the parking lot around 11:30am.

The trail to the warming hut at Red Heather meadows is about 5km through the forest along a gentle road.  It's not a steep climb but it is a long walk when you're carrying a snowboard and wearing a pack.  Luckily for me, Irish was kind enough to carry my board so the hike wasn't as strenuous.  Even without having to carry my board, I was still soaked from sweat by the time we reached the top about and an hour and a half later.

We went inside the warming hut and peeled off some layers.  Irish brought some tea, coffee, and peanut butter biscuits.  It wasn't too busy with people, about ten of us were out enjoying the mostly dry weather with the occasional sunny blue sky break.  After a nice half hour break, we strapped on our snowboards and headed back down the trail we originally ascended.

There wasn't much snow, I'd say about six inches on average, give or take a few inches depending on the tree cover.  It wasn't enough to cover all the rocks that lay on the trail.  There were a few spots where we had to walk.  I never even strapped in my back foot.  I rode the entire trail with only one foot in the binding.  We fell a few times as rocks tend to stop you quickly when you're on a board.  I don't think we were moving much faster on the boards than when we were walking.  That didn't matter.  We were snowboarding for the first time in seven months and we were having a blast.  I think it took us about an hour to get back to the parking lot where we high-fived and called it a great first day of the 2012/2013 snow season.

Day 114 | Birthday Trifecta

Happy Birthday to me.  Today was the perfect day to experience the Whistler Trifecta:  snowboarding, frisbee golf, and biking ... all in the same day!

Georgi and I met up with Jordan, Sean and Libby around 10:30am at Wizard Chair.  We spent a couple of hours hitting the park and riding the groomers.  The sun was shining, the snow was slushy, and the temperatures were warm.  You couldn't have asked for a better day for spring riding!

After a nice lunch at Gone Bakery, we hit the frisbee golf course and played 18 holes.  Cabo and Jack enjoyed chasing the frisbees all around the woods.

In the evening, a bunch of us met up at the Lost Lake trails and rocked our mountain bikes for a couple of hours.  TRIFECTA Baby!  TRIFECTA

Day 113 | Whistler Kids is now expired

It was the last day of Whistler Kids for the 2011/2012 season.  Once again the time just flew by.  I was scheduled to work and was assigned level fours.  We had less than 15 kids signed up for lessons.  Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, none of the kids were level fours.  Apparently I didn't seem to mind not getting a class as I didn't put up a fuss to try and get one.  Most of the Instructors who did get a class were first year rookies so I'm sure it would have been easy to get my Supervisor to tell one of them to go home.  But everyone who seemed keen to work, worked ... and both Gillian and I were cool with not working.  She and I rode from the CLC to the Village around 10am, just after the rain had stopped pouring.  I cleaned out my locker and turned in my uniform.  I'm sure this is not the last day I will ride this season, it was just the last day of work.

Day 112 | carpet sunning

The sun was shining today and it was warm.  I was assigned level ones and ended up teaching a 1star, a never-ever, and two level twos.  We spent the morning on the Magic Carpet where I got the kid who had never snowboarded before sideslipping on his edges.  He was a high level skier so he picked up the technique quite quickly.  The other three were practicing s-turns.  The snow was quite icy before the warm sun softened it so we didn't spend too much time out on the ice.  After lunch I took the kids over to the Super Carpet  then ventured to the Olympic for a couple of laps before it was time to download and end the day.

Irish was riding with his buddy this afternoon so once my work day ended, I ran up the gondola and met up with him for a last run down to the valley.  It felt good to have a couple of days off and then get back on the board, especially when the sun is shining and the snow is soft.

Day 111 | Adventure Camp season finale

Last day of the work week and last day of Adventure Camp for the season.  I picked up the boys by 9am and we took a lap from the Roundhouse down to the CLC for drinks and snacks.  It was the usual day riding .... I think we did the exact same thing every day for the past three days (runs wise).  The weather today was a mixed bag of everything.  It was cloudy, sunny, cold, foggy, snow, hail, etc.  But mostly it was snowy!  At one point it was sunny, foggy, and snowing at the same time.  The snow was hard packed in the morning and pretty sticky in the afternoon.

Day 110 | "Smart people don't do that ... "

It was cold today.  Minus ten at the Roundhouse in the morning.  It was cloudy for most of the day and it snowed a little bit.  The runs were hard packed and didn't get soft until the top of Olympic Chair.  The Rippers and I took about four runs (top to bottom) during the entire day.  This included a stop at the Tree Fort and a walk through DK Trees in order to retrieve a runaway snowboard.

Day 109 | Rippers who rip

It was raining in the morning so I was all too happy to be assigned Lil Rippers today.  My plan was to spend the most amount of time coloring and keeping dry.  Boy was I surprised when the only two Rippers signed up for lessons were both level 4's!!!  At least they are signed in for Adventure Camp so I'm guaranteed to work at least through Wednesday.

Ransom, an infamous Lil Ripper who has been coming to Whistler Kids frequently since last season, is my first student and the second is a Whistler first timer named Kobin.  We were at the Roundhouse by 9:15am and although Kobin had a little bit of a hard time turning at the start of Whiskey Jack, by the time he rode half way down, he was a turning machine!  It took us 45 minutes to reach the CLC (not too shabby for little guys) where we took a fruit and hot chocolate break.

It never quite rained all day but the snow every where was wet and sticky.  Ransom wanted to go to the Tree Fort and the cat track was so slow that the boys literally had to walk the entire way.  They didn't mind.  By the time the day was finished, they were both pretty tired ..... to be honest, so was I!

Day 108 | Demo Days

Today was my day off and the only reason why I went up the hill was to demo some snowboards during demo days at the Telus Fest.  I also had tentative plans to ride with Juliette and her mom.  I was at the Roundhouse before 11am and tried a couple of boards, including another Endeavor.  By 1pm, the Pelchat family was yet to be seen so I decided I would head home.  Of course, half way to mid-station, I got the text that they were at the Roundhouse.  I told them to take a run and I would meet them at the NOW tent.

Kristi, Juliette, Amalia and I rode down to the Emerald Chair via Ego Bowl.  Juliette's sister, Amalia, is only four years old and she is turning on her board.  She is so tiny that she attracts a lot of attention from the rest of the skiing public.  After one run we headed into the Roundhouse for some food.  We were back out on the slopes for our last run down after 3pm.  Amalia made it all the way to mid-station where she and Mom downloaded while Juliette and I ran to the Village to finish the day.

Day 107 | Telus Fest

We are winding down the Whistler Kids season and lessons are getting slower and slower every day.  Today we had 15 in snowboard lessons and I had level threes.  Jon, Devon, and I took a mid-station lap with levels three through five to sort out classes.  Devon ended up with one level five and I ended up with two level threes.

We rode greens in the morning until lunch.  One girl was really good stance and balance wise and one boy needed a lot of work but he was turning.  Luckily he was signed out at lunch in order to spend the rest of the day with his family.  I was left with one girl who ended up being a slow level four.  We rode on a couple of blue runs, took a lap through Marmot Trees and even hit up Dave Murray to Tokum.

The Telus Fest kicked off strong yesterday bringing lots of low level skiers to the Family Zone.  Boy it was crowded today.  The lift lines were crazy but there were plenty of people yard sale-ing, people hiking back up hill, and the crazy ones who go through the slow zones really really fast.  The sun shined for the day and conditions on the snow varied from hard pack ice to soft packed slush.  It's definitely Spring.

Day 106 | Peak to Cheek

Back to work today and I was lucky enough to teach three of my returning AC kids.  Once again the forecast called for rain but it was sunny with cloudy periods for most of the day.  We took a mid-station lap with Myles and five other level fours to sort out the split.  After that we managed to squeeze in a couple of runs on Whistler before heading in for 11am lunch.

We went to Blackcomb in the afternoon.  We raced at the GMC Race Center twice and ran through the Terrain Garden three times.  The day went by super fast as the kids were really fun to hang around with.  By noon the temps had really heated up, warming up the snow and making it soft and slushy.  On our last run down the kids did penguin slides.  This group of kids are all leaving tomorrow but hopefully they will be back next season.  I think only one is old enough for Ride Tribe next year.

Day 105 | last day for Aimee

Met up with Aimee and the Percy kids for their last day of riding in Whistler.  It was forecasted to rain but we were pleased to see the sun shining for most of the day with some cloudy spells.  We spent the morning doing laps in the Medium park where the boys (Oscar and Lochey) worked on their half pipe skills.  We met up with Carly then took the Peak 2 Peak over to Whistler for lunch.

Jordan found us in the Roundhouse and we spent the rest of the afternoon running through the Small Park (though they took out the second set of small jumps) and then through the Medium Park.  We took a lot of photos of each other, including Aimee and Jordan going off the jumps together.  We also did spins off the hits on the sides of the runs.  Around 3pm everyone needed to head home so we peaced down to the Village and met up with the rest of the Percy family (and Pippa) at The Lift Coffee Co.  It was a great last day for Aimee and we will all miss her.

Day 104 | GoPro is the new Punch Buggy

It was the last day of Adventure Camp.  All the kids showed up by 8:30am and we were on our first run by 9am.  My plan was to go to Peak to Creek before our 11am lunch since it was the run of the day.  After a quick photo shoot at the Chic Pea, we headed to Emerald Chair.  At the bottom of the chair, one kid fell and hit his head pretty hard.  I ended up calling Patrol who cleared him to continue and although he was able to snowboard from the chair to the CLC, he opted to rest for an hour before lunch.  In the meantime, the rest of my team built a jump on the Lil Rippers course and opted to hang out there until lunchtime.

In the arvo, we headed to Blackcomb and ripped through the Terrain Garden for two runs.  Then we ran through Bark Sandwich into the Castle Run and down to the Village.  Back up to the CLC for ice cream apres, more jumping and finally down to end the day and the week.

Day 103 | copy shark

I love my Adventure Camp kids (Stinkler, Hobbs, Finn, Elijah, Arielle, Ben) - They are so much fun and are having a great time in Snowboard School.  Lunch was early today so we spent the morning on Whistler.  I forced them to ride switch and then made them go down Jimmy's Joker (a mogul black diamond) when the snow was crap.  None of them complained.

After lunch we went over to Blackcomb and raced on the BorderX track.  We also took a lap to the Castle.  It was super warm today with high cloud cover.  By 11am, the snow was soft and very very thick and sticky.  UGH!  It was hard to ride in.  We hit a lot of the side jumps and then did penguin slides.  Not to mention we had a couple of snowball fights.  The day went by fast and I'm going to miss the team after our last day tomorrow.  

Day 102 | last day of fresh tracks

It was the last day for Fresh Tracks and since Irish had two tickets left, we woke up early and made it for breakfast.  We both had to work so we only had time for one run but it was a nice run.  Corduroy all the way from the Roundhouse to the Village and no one else on the runs.

When I showed up at work, I was assigned level fours and it didn't take too long before I had a full class of six.  We took one run from the top of Whistler down to the bottom then went up Blackcomb and spent the morning on Blackcomb.  When it was time for lunch, we took the P2P across where we were separated from one kid at the split between Whiskey Jack and Old Crow.  To make it worse, his Flaik was dead and we couldn't "see" where he was.  I ended up riding down to the CLC with the rest of my class, got them squared away with lunch and within 15 minutes we found the lost kid.  He was at the Roundhouse with a Max4 group.  I grabbed my gear and headed up to meet him while Morgan took care of the rest of my kids at the CLC until they finished their lunch and met us at the Roundhouse.

Morgan and I stuck together for most of the afternoon, heading back to Blackcomb where we did the BorderX track and the terrain garden.  We split up for the last run down where I took an easy cruising blue.  I have a bit of a split in my class.  One guy should probably be with the level threes but since he spent the entire day with us in fours, I hate to put him down now.

It was definite Spring conditions.  Super warm all the way to the top.  The snow was nice in the morning but by mid-afternoon it was soft.  Not slushy soft but soft where it was chunky and it just threw you around.

Day 101 | last day of Club

I woke up yesterday still fighting a bladder infection.  Gillian took my kids riding whilst I went to the clinic for more medication.  I met up with them at the CLC for chocolate cake and signed them out with Mom and Dad.  I felt much better today and I was looking forward to spending the last day with Juliette and Ella.  Juliette's dad (JF Pelchat), brought a YES board set up with his new NOW bindings for me to demo.

We spent most of the day riding with Lauren and Morgan.  We managed to squeeze in four runs before lunch.  After lunch we didn't have much time as chocolate cake was at 2pm.  Once the kids had their cake, we rode down to the village where we all bought our kids an ice cream cone from Rocky Mountain Chocolate.  We ended the day with lots of hugs, well wishes, and goodbyes.

Hard to believe the year is quickly coming to an end.  Now that the weather has warmed up and the sun has started shining, I'm looking forward to riding the park in the Spring.

Day 100 | What's so good about Good Friday?

What's so good about Good Friday? It's day 100 on the snow! Another season, another one hundred days (and counting). Since its a holiday, Irish had the day off. Our plan was to do fresh tracks for the last time this season but we never rocked up to ride until well after 9am. We loaded from Base II and it was crowded. It was even more crowded at Excelerator Chair. We met up with Aimee and the Percy kids and headed up Jersey Creme. From there we met up with Kyle and after doing a few spines in the medium park, we rolled into the Bordercross track.

Aimee and the kids took off after that run. They had a lunch date at the Crystal Hut for waffles. Irish and Kyle and I took a couple laps through the terrain garden before heading back to the car. We rode down an empty perfectly groomed run. It was nice. The sun was shining but the clouds were rolling in. It was a good groomer/park day. No idea how the snow was higher up but it was definitely all chopped up. Irish and I headed down to Squamish and rode our bikes. Snowboarding and biking in the same day. Spring is here and we live in the best place on earth!

Day 99 | Gabby Gabby

Today was the most amazing glorious day!  The sun was shining, the snow conditions were super soft packed and my Adventure Camp kids were fun.  We started the day working on our S-turns.  The boys really wanted to move up from level three to level four and in order to do that, they needed to correct their horrible stance and balance.  Surprisingly enough, they worked really hard and did every exercise I asked them to do.

After lunch my plan was to go over to Blackcomb and hit the terrain garden.  Darren's class of level four's were also going over so we joined his class.  Ten of us piled into the Peak 2 Peak and we headed to the park.  The park was groomed perfectly and there was no one in there.  I couldn't believe it.  Normally it's packed with stupid park rats cutting in on the kids' lines.  We ended up taking a couple runs with Darren's class before breaking off and heading back over to the CLC.  The day went by super fast and the boy's finished their week as level fours.

Day 98 | 24 inches 24 hours

It's April 3rd and Whistler Blackcomb has just passed the 400cm mark for its base of snow.  That means there is 409 centimeters (or 13 feet) of snow on the top of the mountain .... which is crazy for April!  Twenty four inches fell in the last 24 hours.

I picked up my two Adventure Campers and one Destination kid around 9am and rocked up to the Roundhouse.  The gondola was running slow as winds were gusting.  The visibility was bad as it was also snowing like crazy.  The Alpine never opened.

Since my kids were only level three, I wanted them to enjoy the powder but I didn't want them to get so stuck in the powder that they hated it.  We dropped off Whiskey Jack and they managed to get through that powder fairly easily.  We then ran into Ego Bowl where the snow was up to my knees in some parts.  We spent the day running mostly blue runs and the snow was everywhere.  It was so deep.  I couldn't believe how much snow was up there for April.  My kids were really fun and even though they had to dig themselves out of some powder a couple times, they still had a blast.

I exhausted the boys by 2pm so we took a break at the CLC before heading down to the Village to end the day.   I took a video of me on Ego Bowl to give an idea of how much snow we have.  Today was one of those days where I can say I love my job.  My kids were great, there was only three of them, and the conditions were amazing.  I love my job.

    

Day 97 | S.Tinkler

Busiest Whistler Kids day of the season today.  The CLC served 800 lunches today.  There was a waiting list to get into Adventure Camp for skiing.  They had over 400 kids booked in.  We had over 60 snowboarders between AC and Destination.  I was assigned level threes Adventure Camp and had a full class of six (only two AC'ers).

We started the day by going straight to the top where the wind was blowing and the snow was falling.  The conditions on the trails were soft packed and they were very crowded.  We managed to squeeze in one run before our early 11am lunch.

The afternoon went by fast even though we only ran on Ego Bowl and Whiskey Jack.  We had a couple of technical malfunctions, including a broken binding and one kid taking the wrong snowboard after lunch.  Other than the very rude Mexican kid (who has been kicked out of Snow School in the past), my kids were very nice and interactive.  I'm hoping most of them return tomorrow.