Today was going to be my last day on the mountain.  I got a text from Ed to say that he was on 7th Heaven, Blackcomb.  So I headed up there and we met for lunch.  After lunch we headed on to 7th Heaven.  Ed wanted to borrow my GPS logger to see how fast he can go down the piste.  The conditions were not great but he did manage 98km/h.  As for me, I wasn't too far behind.  It was however the first time in two seasons that I have ever ridden the actual piste on 7th Heaven!  But of a shocker that, as normally I only ride it when there is powder and then you avoid the piste!

We headed on back up again and did the same run.  This time, I knew where to go and rode it a lot better.  We headed on up for a third time, however by now Ed was feeling the cold and had decided to call it a day.  So we took the run back to the top of the Jersey Cream chair and whilst Ed headed off, I headed for the Peak2Peak, as I had a call from Chris to say that he was heading up Whistler mountain, and he wanted to ride it before they close it after Sunday 26th!

Myself and Chris headed up the Peak chair and at the top stopped to take a couple pictures of the Black Tusk mountain.  We then headed on down the Saddle.  At the top of the Saddle it was extremely icy and there was very little grip.  After that however it livened and loosened up, but got quite choppy.  It was then a case of pointing the board straight down the mountain.  We charged straight past the bottom of the Peak chair and headed for Big Red.  On the way we hit every single jib and jump that we could find, and trust me there are absolutely loads on the way down to Big Red.

After getting back to the Roundhouse we stopped for a quick beer.  After all, it was my last day on the mountain!  We then headed on down Orange Peel and down to Fort Knox.  We were going to see if there were people there that we knew, but Chris met a couple girls that he knew just leaving and they said there was no beer left.  So we rode down with them back to the village.  We took Crabapple down and out, and again there were loads of jib's and jumps to be had on the way.  Near the bottom however the snow had melted away and there was a huge patch of dirt that I had to ride over.  I was so glad that I lent back a bit as when I hit the dirt it was really sticky and it really pushed me forward.  No damage done though and I was able to ride on through it.  The rest of the run was just pure slush.

Well, it has been an interesting season, and so very much different than my last season here.  Mostly the mountain and my riding was very different.  I also met a lot of really good people.  It was just a very poor year for snow and as such a lot of the extreme slopes just didn't appeal to me.  This year was all about speed and getting my self confidence back after damaging my shoulder.

I'm already looking forward to my next time on the snow!

Visibility: Bright sunshine
Snow: None
Piste Condition: Icy early, becoming very slushy
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +17 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light, to practically empty
Lift Lines: Extremely Light, to practically empty

One of my last days on the mountain.  Boo!  But all good things have to come to an end!

I headed up with Village gondola onto the Whistler mountain, and straight up the Peak chair.  I decided to head on over to see what the Symphony amphitheater would be like.  Today I wasn't disappointed, as it was fast and smooth.   I got up some good speed and enjoyed it.  As the Symphony chair has been closed for the season for a while now, I had to take Burnt Stew out and back to the Harmony chair.  Whilst heading up the chair I could see that the Harmony Piste looked really good so I decided to hit that next.  It too was fast and smooth, until you got near the bottom of the run, where there were loads of big and hard cookies.  This made it really difficult and caused huge vibrations when trying to ride at speed.

I headed back up the Harmony chair and it was then that I decided to do the Symphony again and then the Harmony again, then repeat.  I did this run a total of three times before heading down past Emerald and onto Olympic and headed for the mid station.  This too was fast and fun.  It's surprising what late season can bring.

I had decided on the way up that I was going to head on over to Blackcomb, as they were having the Snowboard Half-pipe competition, and wanted to see if it was any good.  Boy was it good.  It was an open competition with loads of things going off all at the same time.  Much more interesting than the Ski Half-pipe, where it was minutes between one rider and another.

It was at the Half-pipe I caught up with Sam, who was taking pictures of the competition.  After the competition we decided to put in a few runs.  I offered to take a few photos of Sam, so we headed into the blue park.  I got a few good photos of him.  So we did it again, and some more good photos were the result.  It was late so we headed on down to the village and watched the band that was on (at the Tellus Ski and Snowboard Festival).

Visibility: Bright sunshine
Snow: None
Piste Condition: Icy early, becoming more very slushy
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +12 at the base to -6 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light, to practically empty
Lift Lines: Extremely Light, to practically empty

Myself, Edd, Alex and Sally all headed out and took the Village Gondola up Whistler.  The very low temperature for this time of year meant that the piste was really icy.  We headed up the Peak and took the saddle.  The piste condition was so icy and bumpy that it made the riding challenging.  So much so that when we got to Big Red we all went in for lunch.

After lunch we took a line down through the old Whistler park (been taken down for a few weeks now) and onto Olympic.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the Olympic piste.  Whist not challenging in terms of steepness, it was riding really well and fast.  Speed is your friend!  We then took a hard left and headed down Crabapple and into the village.  It was here that we left Sally, as she had to go to work.  Edd and Alex had also decided that the conditions were not fun for them, so I headed back up the Village Gondola on my own.

I headed on back to the Peak chair and took the saddle down again.  This time however the snow had softened up just a little, even though there was loads of ice just there.  I rode back down to Big Red, and decided to try over in Harmony.  I took the easy route over to the Harmony chair and rode the piste.  This is my favorite run on the mountain, and today did not disappoint too much.  The lower part of the run was full of cookies and made it really difficult to keep any continual lines or speed.  I did the run a couple times before the lift closed.  I rode all the way to the Village gondola mid station, via Olympic.  Again Olympic didn't disappoint today.  There were a load of people across the slope and I had to put the brakes on, which was disappointing as I was getting a good head of steam on.

Heading back up the gondola I took my favourite run out back to the village.  That is Orange Peel, Tokum, and then Crabapple.  On the way down Crabapple I forgot that the snow had melted and there were patches of earth, so for about 5m I was riding (pretty fast) over the dirt.  Thankfully it was grassy.

Whilst the early part of the day didn't bode very well, I enjoyed everything from lunch onwards.

Visibility: Bright sunshine
Snow: 3cm
Piste Condition: Icy early, becoming more slushy
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +5 at the base to -13 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light, to practically empty
Lift Lines: Extremely Light, to practically empty

Really late start today.  So much so that when I got to the top of Blackcomb, I just headed into the Rendevous restaurant for lunch.  So after lunch I headed down springboard so as to get some speed under my legs.  After that I headed on into the Terrain Garden.  It was running quite well and I was hitting my front side and back side 180's.  So I kept running around the Terrain Garden for a few runs.  The lift line at Solarcoaster was always busy and was starting to annoy me with people cutting the line and not going up in groups of 4.  So I decided to head on over to Whistler reasonably early, that way if it was bad I could get back on over to Blackcomb.

After getting over onto Whistler mountain, I headed up the Peak chair, with the intention of heading down the Saddle.  However, I wasn't paying attention and ended up going on over into the Symphony Ampitheater.  That was a mistake, a big mistake.  The snow was so sticky that I had to unstrap a couple times just to get on over the humps.  Not fun at all.  I then headed up the Harmony chair and took a run down the Harmony piste.  Again this wasn't that much fun.  I headed back up again and took the Saddle down this time.  This was a bit more like it, but only because it was steeper and therefore the board didn't stick so much.  I passed the Peak chair and rode on down to Big Red.  I headed back up Big red and took the peak chair again, and onto the saddle once more.  Back around, this time at the top of Big Red I decided to take the run out to the village.  It wasn't possible to get on over onto Orange Peel as the snow was just too sticky.  I did however take Crabapple down and out to the village.  The snow here is running very bare and there are only a few lines with snow on to take through.  So you have to be a bit careful when charging down the hill.

Visibility: Bright sunshine, becoming cloudy late
Snow: None
Piste Condition: Wet, slushy and sticky
Wind: Strong
Temperature: +12 at the base to +4 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light, to practically empty
Lift Lines: Extremely light, except on the Solarcoaster chair

Ah!  That's better.  I headed up with snowboard in hand, and instantly felt so much better in myself.  As I headed up Whistler however it was clear that the conditions were terrible (really slushy and sticky), there were only 3 lifts open (Village Gondola, Emerald and Big Red), but there were hardly any people on the mountain.

As there were only a few lifts open this meant that there were little options for riding.  However I had a good time, especially as on every run there was virtually no one else on the piste.  I rode around on Whistler until it was near lunch time.  I was sick and tired of the food at the Round House, so decided to head on over the Peak2Peak, grab lunch ad the Rendevous and then ride Blackcomb.

I started off riding "Springboard" and a few other runs.  I headed up the Glacier Express and took the T-bar up and over into 7th Heaven.  The visibility was awful so I decided to head on back towards Jersey cream and into the Terrain Garden.  I wasn't really in the mood for park riding, but I had a good ride through.  I put in a couple front side 180's and some back-side 180's.  Made me feel good.  So I rode around the Terrain garden for quite a few times before the end of the day.

I headed down to the village, but took it easy.  It was extremely slushy so quite dangerous for catching some big edges.  A girl in front of me caught a nose edge and flipped quite a few times and landed quite badly.  I made sure she was OK, before heading off, making sure that I wasn't going to take a nose edge and flip it out.

Visibility: Cloudy, with light rain
Snow: Trace to 1cm
Piste Condition: Wet, slushy and sticky
Wind: Strong
Temperature: +4 at the base to +1 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light, to practically empty
Lift Lines: Extremely Light, to practically empty

Day two of the dark side...skiing!  I headed up the Whistler Village gondola and straight back to the family zone.  Initially the skiing was not that great.  My right knee was giving me real trouble and I was struggling with the left turn.  However as the day progressed things really improved.  I rode around the mountain a lot more today and generally tried to increase the steepness of the terrain and ramp up the difficulty.

I mainly stayed around the Emerald and Garbonzo chair for the morning.  I did however head on over into the Symphony amphitheater.  I mainly stuck to the Burnt Stew trail and really got some speed up on the way down.

After lunch however I headed up the Peak chair and tried out the saddle.  The top was really icy and fully of moguls.  As my technique was not great this did mean that I struggled.  Not far down from the top I managed to do a face plant and hurt my busted shoulder a little.  I struggled a little to get one of the ski's back on, but after that it all went really well.  As the day wore on towards a close the average speed and linking of turns had increased in speed and were really smothe.

The run back down to the village was not great fun, because it was just so slushy.

All in all a good experiment to see how the 'other half' of the mountain ride.  I'm not a convert, as I prefer the snowboarding experience better.  It should help with any back country however.

I had contemplated it for a while, and decided to try the Dark Side.  That is I thought that I would try Skiing for the first time ever.  I thought that I would see what the other side were 'moaning' about.  So I headed into the Village and headed to Summit to hire some ski's. After a short time I was all kitted out and headed up the Whistler Village gondola.

Clicking in for the first time, it felt as though I was standing on top of a couple blocks.  It felt like I was on stilts!  The weather was awful in the morning and the first run was so tiring, because I was trying so hard.  By the time I got to Pig alley I had relaxed a little and it started to get a little easier.  I did start out with the old snow-plow, and making sure that I could stop, but as I passed the Chick Pea restaurant for the first time I had moved on to parallel turns.  These just seamed easier to do, along with the hockey stop.  I headed up the Emerald chair for my first experience of getting onto and off a chair with Ski's.  It was very much easier getting on and off with ski's rather than with a snowboard.  You just have to made sure you get up and keep the poles out of the way.

The second run down was very much faster and easier.  I likened the experience of parallel turns to using the stair climber at the gym.  I did still however find my balance to be a little off still.  After the third or fourth run down it was getting much better.  I took a few different routes down the mountain and even took Orange Peel down to Big red, and also ended up in a small mogul field.  I could tell that my technique was not good enough to ride mogul's as I didn't have a very good time getting through these.

By now I had taken a couple tumbles (splits to face, and wayward ski to falling over to my side, etc.) and the weather had closed in to be a white out, so I headed on in for a quick lunch.

After lunch things went even better with the skiing.  My timing was very much better and the speed was getting better and more controlled.  I still didn't feel that I was getting my weight forward enough but the turns were much easier and flowed.  I managed to get a good few runs down to Emerald chair and a couple down to Garbonzo.  All too soon however it was lift closing time, so I headed on down from the roundhouse down pig alley, and past Emerald, onto Olympic and then Crabapple.  The snow conditions were really wet and sticky down here and I was struggling with my left turn as my left knee was giving me some pain and trouble.  I pushed through it and skied all the way down to the bottom of the village.

Visibility: Overcast, with periods of snow & white out's, clearing late to sunshine
Snow: 5cm
Piste Condition: Everything from fresh powder, hard pack, soft, lumpy, bumpy, slushy and very wet
Wind: Moderate and gusty
Temperature: +8 at the base to -4 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

Slow start to the day.  Headed up Whistler and over into Symphony.  The riding in here today was actually really good and fast. I did a few runs in here before going over to Harmony to see if that was good too.  I was left disapointed.  The Harmony piste was not groomed and was not in good condition.  I gave it a couple runs but it wasn't very enjoyable.  I headed for a little lunch.

Afted lunch I headed on up the Peak chair and onto the Saddle.  The Saddle was running good too, if a little lumpy.  I charged on straight down to Big Red and waited for Chris, Mark, John and DJ , at the Roundhouse.  The plan was again this Tuesday to have a BBQ at the fourt.  We headed on down to find that there was again a lot of people this week.

After a couple hours in the sun there were only a few of us left.  Myself, Chris, John, Mark and DR.  At about 19:00 we had drunk all the beer and eat all the food and decided to head on down.  There were a number of freshly groomed lines down the hill.  On the way down toward Big Red we came up to a pister who was drifting into the right.  DR and Chris got through on the right before the gap closed, and I had to emergency break andpass on the left.  Thankfully the others followed me.  We charged as fast as the conditions would allow down Crabapple and into the village.

Visibility: Mostly sunny with occasional cloudy periods
Snow: None
Piste Condition: Choppy but soft on top of hard pack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +4 at the base to -10 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

It's tough to be motivated at the moment.  The cough from the flu is still here and the conditions are not great.  Saying that there were 10cm last night.  By the time I got up Whistler all the fresh lines were already done.  There were still some good stashes to be had however.

I headed on over to Harmony first and put in a couple runs to the side of the piste.  Things were a bit choppy but still good.  I stayed on Harmony until I headed for lunch.

After lunch I headed up the Peak Chair and into Symphony.  I was hoping that there would be good conditions in the trees.  I wasn't totally disappointed, but it wasn't great.  I rode a few rimes down, and even tried the Rhapsody bowl.  Under here you could really feel the hard pack and it wasn't a good line.  I then headed on back to Harmony and took a run or two down the piste, but it was really quite choppy and difficult to get the speed up.

Getting towards the lift close I headed all the way down past Emerald, onto Olympic and onto the Garbonzo chair.  I timed it right as the clouds started to move in on the alpine.  I made a couple runs down Dave Murray and onto Tokum back to Garbonzo.  I had had enough for the day and rode down to Creekside.  It was really slushy and full of moguls, but loads of opportunities to get some hits and kicks out there.

Visibility: Dark and cloudy with occasional bright patches,snow and hail
Snow: 10cm
Piste Condition: Moderately heavy Powder, on top of hard pack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +2 at the base to -10 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Moderate to light

Didn't start to early again today as am still feeling unwell from the flu.  Headed on up Whistler with the view to just ride around the mountain, which I ended up doing all day.

The low cloud made riding in the lower part of the mountain a no-no, so I headed straight on over to Symphony via the Peak chair.  I wasn't really enjoying myself over here so headed to my favorite Harmony piste.  From here I rode Harmony Piste about a dozen times.  The piste was quite rough, and as I didn't have much strength I kept the speed down a little, but still managed 83Km/h.  Not too bad, and should be able to get into the 90's when I'm feeling better!  I stopped for lunch even though I wasn't too hungry, but headed back to Harmony after.  I eventually rode all the way down to Garbonzo for a last run down Orange Peel and Tokum, before riding down to the bottom of Creekside.  The run in was extremely slushy at the bottom, but still entertaining.

Visibility: Cloudy with occasional bright patches
Snow: Trace
Piste Condition: Hard and icy early, warming to a light slush layer later
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +5 at the base to -5 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

I took my time today and rode like it too.  I had been ill with the flu since last week and was just not feeling 100%.  I headed on up Whistler and just rode around trying to feel the 'mo jo'.  I tried a lot of the usual haunts and found that the Harmony Piste was by far the best piste of the day.  So I rode this a few times, before hitting the last Harmony lift.  I then headed on over to the Round House and waited for Chris to arrive after work.

Myself and Chris then headed off for a quick run down Orange Peel and Tokum.  On the way we dropped off his bags, before we headed on around again and re-collected them.  The plan was to the Fort Knocks as there was a huge number of people there drinking and having a BBQ.  Chris had brought a golf club and some golf balls.  These were hit by various people off the slope and into the trees.  At about 17:00 one of the piste patrol came along and told us to leave.  A small group of us simply headed down and around a little and out of sight.  Here we stayed for about another hour.

When it was time to go some of us dropped the cornice and rode on down, with the sun setting in the background.

Visibility: Bright sunshine
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: Hard and icy early, warming to slushy later
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +8 at the base to +5 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

Headed out with Edd, Jenny and Adam.  We parted early so that myself and Edd could ride a few lines before we met up again.  The plan was that we would take Adam and Jenny up the flute along with some of their friends.  After a few runs we all met up again and headed on over to the flute.  We took our time hiking up the flute, and eventually there were 10 of us in the group.

Rather than going down the shoulder, we headed on around the Flute North and dropped in where ever we liked.  One of the girls (Sarah) managed to drop her board and was very luck that it only shot down the slope a little before launching off and plunge into the snow.  Edd dropped a big cornice.  I dropped a much smaller one however.  Once we got into the North Flute the snow was fantastic.

When we all got to the bottom various people had to leave and go to work, such as Edd.  Adam and Jenny also wanted to go and ride to their own pace.  I headed off with the rest of the 'pack' for a couple runs before we headed for lunch.

I got a call from Chris to say that he was on his way up, so I met up with him and we did some runs around.  We headed on up Harmony and headed onto the "Head Wall".  From here the view was fantastic.  There was a drop off to the right back towards Harmony so whilst Chris was looking at it, I just rode up and stright off.  It wasn't too big but I managed to land inbetween a couple small trees. *phew*.

We decided that given the clear weather that we would hike the Flute again.  By the time we got on over there it was the last Symphony chair.  At the bottom of the hike we met a Ski Patrol guy, who said that we would have to hurry and would have to hike out.  We hit the hike reasonably fast and caught up with two skiers who were much further up the hike than us.  On the way along the ridge we could see that a couple people had dropped the big cornice on the main flute.  That was it, decision made.

By the time we were ready the Ski Patroll had caught up with us and was trying to make sure that we had full backcountry gear on.  I did, but Chris didn't at the time.  I dropped a little 12-15ft drop and Chris went for the big 22+ft drop.  We both landed and rode out into really nice lush powder.  Instead of heading out to the bottom of Symphony we headed straight accross the flut bowl and tried to meet up with the "Burnt Stew Trail".  It involved about another 20 minutes hike but was worth it.

We eventually just rode on out, tired but feeling good.

Visibility: Poor
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: Choppy soft pack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +2 at the base to -10 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

A very late start to the day, after last nights leaving drinks for Shiv.  I wasn't really feeling it either.    I decided to hit Blackcomb as I hadn't ridden there for a while.  I headed straight up to the glacier and rode that down.  The visibility was awful and I couldn't see a thing, so even though the snow was good it wasn't brilliant.  I wanted to go for lunch, but I got a call from Chris just before I went to get some so I decided to skip lunch.

Chris had dropped the back of his phone at the bottom of the Excelerator chair, so we headed up Jersey cream to head on over.  On the way however we went through the Blue park.  We both tried a couple of the jumps, but because the snow was quite sticky and slow running, despite straight lining we just hit the knuckles.  We also had a look at the pipe and decided to give it a go.  Not a bad ride and the pipe was in great condition.  I need to work on my pipe riding more!  We then made our way down under the chair and retrieved the back of his phone.

We enjoyed the pipe so decided to head on back up and ride the blue park and the pipe again.  I did a couple more of the jumps but no luck in getting enough speed.  No-one else were having any luck either.  The second run through the pipe was better, but I managed to 'tweak' my ankle again when I hit the transition on over toward the toe side wall.  We headed back up again, but took the boarder cross.  It was running fast, but icy.  There were a few sections where it got the heart racing.

We decided to head on over to Whistler and headed into the Round House for a coffee and a cookie.  On the way over we discussed doing the "Singing Trail" again.  So we headed on over to Harmony and dropped down Robertsons and into the Burnt Stew trail.  Before getting back onto the run in to Harmony, we dropped into the trees.  The snow in here was definitely the best snow on the mountain.  The trees here were also very well spaced and provided you made sure you didn't get into one of the feed valleys there was some good tree rides to be had.

All too soon however we hit the trail.  This time however, there was less trail to ride as we dropped in later on the trail, and we knew what the trail was like.  So we rode it quite fast.  We also managed to avoid all of the nasty bits, but still had to walk a couple times.  After we passed under the gondola, there is the big hole that Ed fell in the last time.  I warned and warned Chris and even shouted as he got close.  However he managed to not stop in time and slide right into the bottom of the creek.  I couldn't help but laugh

The rest of the ride down was really nice, fast and entertaining.  We got to the bottom of the village at about 16:10 and hoped that we could get the gondola back up, but were denied as it was already closed :-(  Oh well, for what started out as a really slow and poor riding day, it definitely picked up.

Visibility: Poor
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: Choppy soft pack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: -1 at the base to -12 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

Headed out on my own today, up Whistler.  It was quite busy on the Big Red chair so I headed on down to Garbonzo.  The visibility was not too good today however.  I headed up Garbonzo up Emerald and over into Harmony.  I was looking for some speed on the slopes again, but the visibility wasn't good.  I wasn't riding too good either as I just wasn't feeling it much.  So I then headed on over into Symphony, where I met up with Ed and Adam.  We decided to hike the flute as Adam had not done it yet.

Myself and Ed decided that we would take Adam over and down the Flute Shoulder.  The visibility was awful so we didn't get to show Adam the sights.  The top of the shoulder was not in that good a condition and was a bit rough and crusty.  Adam took a bit of a tumble right at the top but didn't let him phase him.  We traversed over into the bowl and found the snow to be in excellent condition as we headed down.  Typically the skies cleared a bit as we got to the bottom.  We then took Adam through the trees at the bottom of the flute and back to the symphony chair.

We then rode out to Harmony and did a line down before going back up and headed over towards the top of the t-bars.  We then took the "Headwall" over and back to the top of Big Red and over to the Round House for some lunch.  At this point both Ed and Adam left as they were feeling really tired, but I wanted to carry on.

I headed on up Peak and back over to Symphony.  I only had time to make a couple runs down Rhapsody bowl and then back out to Harmony.  I put in a couple runs down the Harmony Piste and then all the way down to Garbonzo.

The day so far was only 'average', but as soon as I really started to run down Orange Peel and Tokum and back to Garbonzo I really started to enjoy myself.  The conditions of the piste had changed quite considerably and with the falling snow, the piste was riding really well.  It was bumpy and rough but really still soft and you could hold a good edge.  I did this run time after time (5 times) until after 16:15.  There were loads of hits and jumps all over the place and I was really getting some good air and the occasional grab.  By now the day was well late and all the lifts had closed so I took the long fast run down to the village.

Slow start to the day but it really did pick up.

Visibility: Zero to none, with some bright patches
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: soft pack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

Visibility: Cloudy with some sunny patches
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: Hardpack
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

Myself and Ed headed out really early.  Initially we headed on down Orange Peel and Tokum.  The slopes were nicely groomed and untouched all around.  So it was a speed day.  I didn't start off too confident and took a while before I got up to speed.  We took Garbonzo up and took Raven into Phtarmegan.  It was running really well so we did it again.  The run was then being roped off for a race, but we sneaked under and did the run again.

We headed on over into Emerald in order to take the G.S. run over into Harmony.  We headed straight over into Symphony and down to the Symphony chair.  Our plan was to hike the Flute and ride the ridge, just inside the boundary.  The 30 minute hike was the usual, but me and Ed chatted all the way up.  We also got a call from Rich, as Ed had arranged to give Aleis(?) a ski lesson.   We rode down the ridge and hiked a little up the next ridge.  Once we rode over the last peak and onto the ridge the snow really improved.  It was silky soft, and 'bouncy' and had very few tracks in it other than some old lines.  We had a really good ride in there and ducked in and out of the trees a little.  It didn't last too long and we found our selves once again at the Symphony chair.

We took the chair back up and headed on to the harmony chair.  We met Rich and Aleis at the top of the lift and all headed down the Harmony Piste.  I do like that run.  We headed on back up and this time myself and Rich headed for the Horse Shoe #8.  Not sure what happened but we ended up at the top of the biggest cornice (instead of the smaller one) and took and easy way in.  We met up with Ed and Aleis on the Harmony Piste again.  We headed on up the harmony chair again and took Pikas Traverse to head to the Round House for lunch.

When at lunch we met up with Jemma and her friend Ella(?), whom Ed had been lined up to give a lesson also.  So after lunch Ed headed off with Jemma and Ella, and myself, Rich and Aleis headed up the Peak chair and back around into the Symphony amphitheater.  The visibility was quite poor at this stage and it did not make for a good start to the "Burnt Stew Trail".  We rode the Symphony chair and the lines down a few times as Aleis enjoyed it and the piste conditions were really good.  Myself and Rich were taking a lot of jibbs on the sides of the piste and some 180's.

The Symphony lift was closing all too soon so we headed back to the Harmony chair and took a couple runs down.  It was here that I managed the highest speed of the season so far (that I know of) of 93km/h.  We headed back up again and then took the Saddle down.  We charged all the way down the slopes and onto the ski-in.  The ski-in was not in that good a condition as it was quite sticky.  Aleis found it really difficult as it was pushing past her ability.  We eventually got down and out.

Visibility: Poor in places
Snow: Zero
Piste Condition: Hardpack
Wind: Light
Temperature: +2 at the base to -6 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

Headed out on my own today.  I headed on down the run next to the Emerald chair.  The ride was OK, but the powder was a bit bumpy and rough.  I then headed over onto Harmony and took a couple runs down the Harmony Piste.  The visibility was really bad and it was quite tough to even see where you were going.  I then headed on over to "Robertsons" to see if that was any better.  Even though there was 4cm of fresh powder on the slopes, the crud underneath made the riding really poor.  I got down but gave up on the idea of hitting that again.

After doing "Robertsons" I took a long run all the way down to the Garbonzo chair.  It was good to just have such a long run under my belt.  It was also so good to not have to wait in line for the lifts.  The lifts were empty today after the huge lines on Saturday.

I took a quick run down Orange Peel and back onto Big Red.  After a long lunch (it was tough in the high winds!), I headed on up Peak Chair and over into Symphony.  I could not see a thing until I made it into the trees near the bottom.  In conditions like these you have to rely on your core skills, and you can easily see when people are struggling with these core skills!

After blindly making my way down off the top of Symphony I headed on into the Rhapsody bowl.  Whilst the run was rough under foot there were still some good lines to be had.  I proceeded to hit this run time after time, taking a different line each time.  I was really enjoying it.  Even the liftie commented that there must be something out there that was really keeping my interest.

When I eventually left the Symphony amphitheater I headed on up Harmony for a run down all the way back to Garbonzo.  I really do prefer long runs, without interruption.  I intended to head on up for the last Peak chair, but I was feeling a bit tired.  Instead I took a ride down "Cross Roads" and into the Ski-in.  The ski-in was quite sticky at the top but as you got further down it got icy and fast.  There are a few patches that are getting a little worn down and lacking snow, so I don't think that there is much season left for the ski-in.

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 4cm
Piste Condition: Powder on top with crusty pack under
Wind: Moderate to strong
Temperature: 0 at the base to -6 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely Light

The lift lines were HUGE today.  It took a very long time just to get up the mountain, not happy, and not enthused about riding today.

I decided to head on over to Symphony and hike the flute.  My first line was off the shoulder and dropping over onto the north flute.  It was quite steep and narrow where I dropped in.  My line wasn't that good but enjoyable all the same as the powder was deep and lush.  When I got to the bottom of Symphony and found that the lift lines were again huge, I decided to hit the flute again.  This time I headed off the shoulder and into the bowl.  It looked quite icy at places from the lift but turned out to be really nice.  I laid down a sweet line and found loads of nice powder.  The hike was very much helped with my having my back-pack on.  It is SO much easier when you do not have to carry the board in your arms.

After the double hike I headed on up Harmony for a blast of speed down the Harmony piste.  I headed on back up and took the cat-track back towards the Roundhouse but carried on down past and all the way out to the bottom of Creekside.  All the way I passed three lifts, all of which had HUGE lift lines so I decided to call it a day.  I can't stand wasting my time in huge lines!  Oh well, better luck the next day.

What a rubbish day...

It was bucketing with rain all last night down in the valley.  That coupled together with quite warm temperatures up the mountain and strong winds closing all the alpine lifts, made for a warm, sticky, wet and frustrating day.

I decided to take out the big Palmer board (162cm) and I headed on up Whistler to find that the lines on big red were horrendous.  Instead I did the usual in this case and headed to Garbonzo.  This too had long lines, but I bared with it.  I headed on down Upper Dave Murry, to find that there was no real fresh powder lines and that the snow was quite heavy.  I already was not liking it.  I headed into the line for Big Red.  Long wait.

I was finding the Palmer quite strange to ride after the K2 Zero, which is so light and poppy in comparison.  I also felt that the bindings were too narrow, but the stance was the same as I have used previously on the Palmer.  Strange.  Will have to try it out tomorrow with an even wider stance.

As there were a lot of punters on the hill and all confined to the lower lifts I headed on off into Franz's Meadow and stayed high to get the lower part of the VD Chutes.  Been I while since I was last in here and it was entertaining.  I was riding the trees only to find myself in a deep tree well.  Took me 5 minutes to get out.  I later found a fallen log that was mostly covered in snow.  Without really meaning to, I ended up riding it in a full board slide and managed to pop off the end and ride out.  Pretty sweet.  At the bottom of the Chutes there is a river valley and I stacked it in the bottom.  Another hike out.

I had already had enough and decided that I was going to take the ski-in.  The snow was heavy and the piste was crowded so I decided that it was best that I go down before re-injuring my ankle.  I rode past the long lift lines at Big Red and took the "Cross Roads" line.  I tried to take the ski-in cat-track but the snow was so sticky that I was going nowhere, so managed to re-join main run back to the Creekside gondola.

Headed out on my own today and up Whistler mountain.  When I got up I found that the alpine chairs had not yet been opened due to high winds and loads of snow.  I bypassed Big Red and headed straight for Garbonzo.  Taking Upper Dave Murry I headed on down taking as much powder lines as I could.  It was already choppy but nice and fluffy.  As the lift lines were large I decided to take the run all the way down to the village.  This was a mistake as the line at the village gondola was big too.

After a very long 22 minutes on the Village gondola I was back on Whistler mountain.  By the time I got to the top the alpine lifts were open, so I headed straight on over to the peak chair.  Flipping a coin I decided that I was to head to the Symphony Amphitheater.  The winds were so strong and the visibility was so bad that it was quite difficult riding the car track to Symphony as there were a lot of snow drifts that could catch you out.

Symphony was however in excellent condition, and I rode a few different lines down there taking a few runs over into the trees over by flute.  Most lines were brilliant until I decided to head more into the flute valley.  Huge mistake.  I got to a point where it was flat and full of powder.  20 minutes later I managed to hike to a point where I could strap the board on again.  It wasn't a long hike, it was just that the snow was waist deep.  At the end of the hike I got a call from Rich to say that he Alex and Amy were at the Symphony chair where I met them a minute later.

At the top of the Symphony chair, the visibility was near zero.  It was here that we lost Amy as she said she could not keep up.  The lads then decided to his the Symphony cornice.  We knew roughly where it was as there were markers, but seeing the lip was impossible.  I eventually pushed forward and found that there was no lip where I was and it was a simple rid out.  Heading back towards the chair there were a number of mogule runs that I enjoyed as they were full of powder and I was hitting them with a good amount of aggression.  Nice riding if I do say so my self!

We decided to hit the cornice again, but this time higher up the line.  The sun just barley gave us enough light to see the edge with just as we got there.  Rich went first and decked it.  My line turned out be be a little easier and it was a simple drop and ride out.  We were going to go and hit some of the steeps over towards the Flute valley, but Alex dropped out so it was only myself and Rich that took these lines.  I managed to stack it on a jump, as it was a lot bigger than expected and I had straight legs on the landing.  Now wonder I stacked it then!  Rich then later stacked it trying to do a tail press!  Not a great idea in the powder.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we wanted to hit Harmony so we rode "Burnt Stew Trail" to the lift.  I persuaded Rich that we should do one of the Harmony Ridge horse shoes, #5.  The entrance was scraped and there were a number of exposed rocks.  Once you got past these the powder was excellent however.  We then rode hard left and took the jump between the trees.  I took a line slightly off to the right and stuck the landing.  Rich however took a more straight line and whilst he stuck the landing then proceeded to cartwheel rag doll for a while.  Thankfully he was OK.  I didn't see this, I saw him land and carried on.

The plan was then to go grab a quick chocolate and cookie in the round house but we decided instead to take the Saddle down and get the Peak Chair, for a run at the Ski-in.

We took the Bagel Bowl which was lush, and then on into "Ladies Love".  Unlike the last time we stayed in the valley and had a much better time of it.  Rich however was feeling the exhaustion and kept falling over...a lot.  The further down the valley you go, the fallen trees get really tricky.  This coupled together with some watter holes make for a very interesting run.  The ski in was good and fast and called for a lot of 'S' weaving.

All in all a good day.

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 11cm
Piste Condition: Fresh light powder
Wind: Strong
Temperature: +1 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Moderate

Visibility: Mostly sunny with occasional cloudy periods
Snow: None
Piste Condition: Slushy
Wind: Light to none
Temperature: +4 at the base to -3 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely Light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 12cm
Piste Condition: Fresh light powder on top of hard pack
Wind: Moderate to strong
Temperature: -2 at the base to -12 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Heavy

This is what I remember Whistler being like.  Snow, snow, snow and more snow.  Yet another super early day out onto the slopes.  First lift over in Blackcomb.  I headed straight on op to try and get an early Glacier chair.  However it was not open until nearly 10:00, so instead I settled for a few runs up the Jersey Cream chair and down the Jersey ridge.  The snow is now so deep that it is balls deep, and light and fluffy with it too!

After a couple runs I met up with Jess and we headed on up Jersey Cream chair as the line for the Glacier chair was immense.  The runs were just so powder filled that it was difficult to keep a grin off my face .  We then hit the Glacier Express, which was a stroke of luck.  As we got there they opened the Horstman T-bar so we headed on over to 7th Heaven.  The 7th Heaven chair wasn't even open yet.

We traversed on over to Cloud-9 and found some completely un-tracked powder that was balls deep and fluffy.  It was such a brilliant ride that when we got to the bottom and the chair lift, and found that there was no-one waiting for the chair we just had to do it again.  We just hit so much powder and I managed to get quite a few jumps and kickers out there.  As we got to the bottom of the lift this time it was obvious that more people had noticed that 7th Heaven was open.  This time when we got to the top we decided to ride down through the trees.  I have to say it again, so much powder.  We had decided to head on down to Solarcoaster via Sunset Boulevard, and grab a coffee at the Rondezvous.

On the way up Solarcoaster we got a call from Rich to say that he was on the way up the Whistler gondola, so we decided to head on over the Peak2Peak and grab a coffee over at the round house instead.

After a short coffee we three headed up the peak and into the Bagel Bowl.  This too was back to why I remember it being like.  At the bottom of the Bagel Bowl we headed straight into the valley run called "Ladies Love".  We went a very long way down this tight valley with the trees and water holes.  We eventually got out the valley and onto the top of a steep cliff and tree run.  This is where it got a little tricky and was not as enjoyable as the earlier part of the run.  We eventually popped out on one of the cat tracks up by Kadenwood, which we took and eventually joined the Peak to Creak run.

Down in Creek side we got the gondola up and then took big red and then the Peak chair on over into Symphony.  The wind had picked up by now and the visibility was not good.  The symphony was still good riding however, especially when we made it into the trees.  We headed on back up however it was late in the day and Symphony was closing.  We also dropped the cornice on the left of the Symphony run and on over towards Burnt Stew Trail.  On the way there was a lot of hits to be had.  One particularly stood out as I hit it and took off much more than expected and landed quite a big jump.

As we rode the Burnt Stew Train cat-track we looked up into Robertsons and myself and Rich decided that that is where we were going next.  We headed along the Harmony ridge and pulled left on over to the top of Robertsons.  The run down was chock-a-block with powder, the trees were well spaced, the pitch was nice and steep, and I just hurtled down actually whooping like an American because it was so good.  At the bottom we decided to do it again, even though this was the last lift for Harmony.  This time down Robertsons it was good but not as good as it was the last time.

We had to take Sidewinder on over to Emerald chair where we decided to take another coffee at the Round House as it was after 15:30.  We then took a simple run down Orange Peel, past big red and onto the Ski in.  The ski in was difficult at the top as the snow made it really tough to keep your speed to make it past the flat sections.  However the tight steep sections were good and fast and you really had to bang in the turns extremely quick and tight.

Yet another brilliant day on the slopes.  Long may they continue!

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 22cm
Piste Condition: Fresh light powder on top of hard pack
Wind: Light to Moderate
Temperature: -2 at the base to -12 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

Yet another super early day up the mountain.  Myself and Seth headed on over to Blackcomb.  Thankfully we did, as apparently the line at Creekside was about an hour long!

We headed on straight up Excalibur, Excelerator and onto Solar Coaster as the alpine lifts where not open yet.  However when we got to the top of Solarcoaster the Glacier Chair was on standby.  We decided to risk it and head to the Glacier chair and wait for it to open.  We had to wait about 20 minutes.

We decided to head up Spanky's Ladder.  At the top I asked Seth where he wanted to go, and we headed along the ridge and over to the Ruby bowl.  I DID say to him that this was probably one of the hardest entrances, but we went anyway.  I headed on in first and found that the right side was completely barren and totally rocky.  As such I was in a bit of trouble.  I shouted up to Seth to go left, which he did.  Meanwhile I had to slowly and carefully shuffle on over to the left and away from the danger.

Once we were in the ruby bowl, it was SO worth it.  The sun was out, the powder was deep, light and un-touched, and we made some brilliant lines.  I also pointed out the easier way to get into the lower ruby bowl, so we will save that for the next time.  The run back to Excelerator was brilliant, as it was slick and fast and the first roller was much bigger than normal and you got some good air off it (if you wanted to not).

We got a call from Seth's girlfriend, Pearl, to say that she was over at Seventh Heaven.  We decided to head on there.  We had planned to take the Glacier chair and then the T-bar and meet her at the top, however the line was massive so we took Jersey Cream and the cat-track on to the bottom of the 7-th Heaven lift.  We caught up with Pearl at the top and proceeded to ride down 7th Heaven and through the gladed trees.  There was a big wind lip near the top of the run and I hit it a bit too far to the left and there was too much powder and I nearly stacked it.  I was disappointed as I wanted to get some air and possibly even try a 180. 

We headed on back up and basically did the same run again.  This time on the run in to the wind lip I was totally out of control and just couldn't get it under control before stacking it on the way UP the wind lip.  How embarrassing . By now, Seth had a call from Sam to say that we would meet up in the Glacier Creek restaurant.  We headed back up Seventh Heaven and dropped on over the other side and took the piste run down.

After a quick lunch all four of us (Myself, Seth, Pearl and Sam) headed back up Glacier Chair and headed to the left through the poor visibility.  We decided that we were all to follow Sam.  He made a lot of good runs, jumps, hits, tree runs and drops along the way.  A very good run indeed.  Heading up Jersey Cream we headed on the Jersey Cream run and into the trees again.  We were following Sam again.  This time however he limboed under this tree branch.  There was no way I was able to do it, as I am just not that flexible.  I also had my backpack on which contained my shovel and probe, and I was wearing my avalanche transceiver.

We made another run up the Glacier chair and ended up under the Crystal chair.  It was here that Sam and Seth said that they could get up the Glacier chair and to the Crystal hut, before myself and Pearl could get down to the Crystal chair and up.  The Crystal chair is just SO slow.  4 minutes after we arrived at the Crystal hut they arrived.  So, the Crystal chair is so slow, that you can get to the top of the Glacier Chair and rid down in the time the Crystal chair takes to get up!

We got the Jersey Cream and headed down the face of the ridge and back into the trees.  I managed to catch a tree branch and flip.  Thankfully no damage.  It was really late now so we headed back up Jersey Cream with the intention of having a quick beer at the roundhouse.  It was just too late, so we decided to ride through the terrain garden.  Learning from the other day when I completely over shot the landings, I took it much easier on the ride in.  Rather than heading over to Solarcoaster or taking Sunset Boulevard we decided to take the trees just after the bottom of the terrain garden.  These trees were just too close together and there were a lot of fallen trees, so it wasn't that good a ride.  Sam and Pearl had some real trouble and eventually had to hike onto the side of a piste.  Again, thankfully no damage done.  We then simply rode down to the village for an extremely well deserved apres beer!  Job donw.

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 12
Piste Condition: Fresh light powder on top of hard pack
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -4 at the base to -12 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Heavy

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: 16cm
Piste Condition: Fresh light powder on top a hard base
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -4 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy

Late start today due to lack of sleep (noisy in the house until after 03:00).  Decided to actually ride around Blackcomb for a change and get some miles in on the mountain.  I headed on straight to the glacier and through the rid out.  Was choppier than yesterday, and with the lack of visibility it made for a tough ride, until the ride out which was in great condition.

I headed on back up toward the glacier.  This time however I cam down the main slope, as it had been a very long time side I did this run.  Again there was little or no visibility, so I didn't ride it as good as I wanted to.  I too the cat-track on over towards Crystal as I already knew that the slope back to the Glacier chair was littered with fallen rocks from an exposed and deteriorating slope.  I just took which ever slope took my fancy and ended up at the crystal chair.  Taking the chair I again just followed my nose and went where the slopes took me.  I passed the Crystal chair and carried on down past the top of Excalibur and down to the "Wizard Express".  Again it has been a long time since I was here.

I met Jess and Cordelia and one of their friends at the bottom of Solarcoaster and took the chair up with them before leaving them to make my way down "Springboard".  I enjoyed that run so took Solarcoaster again and started to do it again when I spotted Adam.  I joined Adam, Emma and her boyfriend (can't remember his name) for a ride in the boarder-cross.  I left them just after as I wanted to continue my ride around.

I headed on back up the SolarCoaster and this time took the run just below the Terrain Garden, as this was where the last time I was here (2005/6 season) there was some extra jumps and rails.  Unfortunately the parkies have not bothered to put any thing in here.  I joined the bottom the Terrain Garden and took in a couple jumps and rails before heading back to wards Solarcoaster.  I had intended to ride on down to the village but forgot and took Solarcoaster up.

I was feeling peckish, but rather than stopping for lunch I decided to take the Peak2Peak and go ride some of Whistler.  I had a quick visit to the little boys room and headed down Orange Peel and Tokum to Garbonzo.  This was, and is, my current favorite ride.  After Garbonzo i wanted to get on over to Harmony/Symphony before the lifts closed.  So I simply headed to Emerald and took the "GS" run to Harmony.  The wind was really blowing at the top and was getting cold, so I headed on over to "Burnt Stew".  I couldn't see a thing so I relied on my wits and riding skills to get down in one piece.

Having been over in the Symphony amphitheater I decided to take Harmony and do the main Harmony run.  This is a good speed place but with todays lack of visibility and rough piste it wasn't as much fun as it normally is.  The Harmony lift had now closed but I managed to get a lift up.  I took the Saddle with the intention of heading up the Peak chair, but was too cold so simply headed on down and out to Creekside.  I knew that I should have put on that extra layer

Visibility: Poor to none
Snow: trace
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches, and very wind blown
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -2 at the base to -12 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

Today started off with me giving Amy and Sally a lesson.  Both of them had only ridden snowboards for about 3-7 hours in total, so this was going to be a beginner lesson.  They both improved and demonstrated that they have good balance, but need to improve their stance (more weight on the front leg).  They both also were also able to link their turns and improve their pivot and steering.  I left them to head on over to Blackcomb, with the intention that next time we would work on their pressure control as they were quite static.

I headed on over to the Blackcomb glacier as there was supposed to be a group of the house mates and friends having lunch up there at 13:00.  I was there early however so took a run into the glacier myself.  The conditions in the glacier were choppy but surprisingly soft.  It was just before 13:00 by the time I was on the T-bars again, so I SMS the guys only to find out that the plans had changed and it was 13:30 at the Glacial Express.  So I headed once again down the glacier and the lovely long run out (4.8km run out).

I still arrived early at the Glacial express and had to wait around for them.  Eventually Sam, Rich, Edd, Seth and Pearl all showed up and we headed up to the glacier.  I too the lead and hiked up to the top of the glacial ridge, where we all stopped for a little light lunch and to take in the views.  I persuaded everyone to hike on further up to the summit of the ridge and ride the "Ladies First" run.  The hike was reasonably easy if a little treacherous.  We stopped again at the top of the ridge to again take in the scenery and take some photos (I'll need to get a copy of them from Sam).

We then made our way over and into the glacier side of the ridge.  This is where it got really scary and nasty for the hike traverse.  There were a couple times when myself and Rich were hanging on by our finger tips on tiny little ledges, whist there was certain injury on the rocks awaiting below!  The others took a slightly easier way into "Ladies First", but not without incident.  Pearl slipped and was sliding down the slope head first.  Thankfully she was last in the group and Seth managed to grab her.  Thankfully she had the common sense to hold onto her board.  If she hadn't it would have been well gone.

Once we started to ride "Ladies First" the powder in there was the best on the mountain to be had.  Deep, clean, soft and very, very steep...only just too short.  We all headed on down through the glacier and to the run out.  A nice ride I do have to say.  Everyone was really stoked and in some cases a little relieved to get down in one piece.

We headed on back up Excelerator and then on over to Solarcoaster.  We decided to go ride the boardercross.  First however we hit a couple of the big jumps in the blue park.  The first jump, you have to take at a straight-line.  Normally I would easily make the transition but just at the base of the jump the snow was quite sticky and it slowed me down, so I had to ollie more off the lip and pull my knees up so as to not knuckle the landing.  In the boardercross, this time as I had ridden it before I was able to take it with a bit more speed and aggression.  I still rode well within myself so know that I can up the level even further.  Back up solarcoaster we decided to hit the terrain garden.  The first jump was good, however I hit the second jump with so much speed that I completely cleared the landing be a very long way and landed heavily on the flat before bouncing out and wiping out.  It didn't bruise my ego, but certainly bruised my backside!  I too the rest of the jumps a little more cautiously, but even so I still managed to overshoot most of them.  I think they really added some extra lip to them all.  I was hoping that the dragon box was still at the bottom of the park but it wasn't.  I was disappointed and had to make do with an up-box and a pop off the end.  Oh well.

Charged down "Sunset Boulevard" back over to solarcoaster.  On the way I hit my favorite front-side 180 spot with some real pop.  It was time to head on down to the village for some well earned drinks.  So we all charged it on down ("turning is for wimps"..."speed is your friend") into the village.  A good day all around.

Visibility: Bluebird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches
Wind: Light
Temperature: -2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

Got up and checked the live mountain weather reports.  It was reported at being -24 degrees with 24kmh wind.  I wanted to do some park riding today so I put on my armour suit and also another layer, so that made 5 layers!  All 5 layers were needed too!

I headed on out with Jenny and Adam and we walked to Creekside and got to gondola and big red up and then took the Peak2Peak over to Blackcomb.  I left Jenny and Adam there and headed off to the Terrain garden.  There were a lot more features there that the last time I was there.  All of the jumps were really nice and they rode really well.  I only took straight air over them all.  At the bottom of the garden it looked like there was a "rainbow-box", so I hit it.  Turns out that it wasn't a rainbow at all, but a whoop-de-do box.  Gave me a bit of a shock to see that come up as I rode over the top of the first rainbow section, and I bailed it!  Thankfully just a little bail.

On the ride back to solarcoaster, the cold was so biting that I had to stop and put a mask over to protect my face from frost bite.  At the end of the Sunset Boulevard there is a nice little side hit that I was getting my usual front-side 180's in.  All day I hit this well and was getting more style and amplitude as the day progressed.  Pity I cant say the same about my back-side 180's.  All day I tried them and they just were not happening.

I headed on straight back to the Terrain Garden and rode it a few times more.  It thankfully warmed up as the sun rose over the trees.  I also took a ride through the boarder cross, which was bigger than I thought it was going to be.  I eventually had to head in for some lunch as it was cold and I needed something to eat.  I met Adam and Jenny in the Redezvous restaurant and headed out with them back over the Peak2Peak and over to the Whistler mountain.

All three of us headed into the Nintendo Park and took the green line through the park.  Jenny hasn't ridden jumps much before so it was mostly for her benefit.  I hit the first jump at the top of the park, which is quite a bit jump.  Nice straight air over the big jump.  The next jump I came in switch and pulled a half-cap.  From there on I was trying some grabs, so as to practice getting my knees up rather than my chest down.  On the way to the Emerald chair and back around again for a repeat performance, I gave Jenny a couple tips to try and help her riding.

After a few runs through the park, Adam and Jenny decided to head off and I went to get the last Harmony chair.  I managed to get two rides down Harmony before the chair closed and got up to a nice 80km/h.  I KNOW that I can got much faster, and just need to stop wimping out on the rises and trust that there are no idiots hidden down just past the rise.

I then hit Orange Peel and Tokum for a couple runs before riding out to the Creekside base for the end of a very cold but ultimately rewarding day.

Visibility: Bluebird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches, and very wind blown
Wind: Light
Temperature: -14 at the base to -24 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

The GPS receiver was unfortunately full, so I got no GPS action today.  Really quite disappointing, as because of the conditions the slopes were extremely fast.

I headed on up Whistler, as this mountain has some of the better long and fast runs, and that coupled with the good light makes for fast riding.  I basically only just rode around the mountain looking for some fast action.  The weather however was really cold and windy.  It was really sore with the wind chill.

Visibility: Bluebird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches, and very wind blown
Wind: Strong to galeforce
Temperature: -10 at the base to -17 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

A really slow start to the day.  When I eventually got up the slopes I decided to just ride around for a while.  It was running quite fast and reasonably smothe, so I just hit it all up.  I initially headed on up the Peak and over into Symphony.  It was no where as near as good as yesterday, but still reasonable.  Not too long into riding I got a call from Jess.  She was still on Blackcomb but was coming on over to Whistler where I was riding.  I headed back up Symphony and over into Harmony.  I rode that a couple times before then heading down sidewinder and up Emerald chair. 

I waited just outside the Peak2Peak gondola waiting for Jess.  I eventually got a text from her to say that she was in Pikas.  After a quick coffee we headed on up the Peak chair.  I took Jess on over into the Bagel Bowl, where it was good, if hard packed and lumpy.  For Jess it was a new experience and she really enjoyed it.  We headed on back up Big Red and back up the peak Chair, but this time on over into Symphony.  i showed here were to go for a good wind-lip drop jump, so that she could give it a go when there is another good snow dump.

We rode the Symphony amphitheater a couple times, using the various hind blow lips as hit's and jumps. Eventually the lift closed and we headed on to harmony for a few runs.  We met Edd and his girlfriend at the chair and took the chair up with them.  We dropped off quite early as Jess wanted to ride some moguls.  They were quite steep but still had a lot of good grip in them.  We then dropped into McConkeys for some bigger moguls.  These were more challenging for jess but the trooper rode them well.

The harmony lift closed and we headed on over the Saddle and down past Big Red and into Garbonzo.  We did my favorite run or Orange Peel and Tokum back to Garbonzo, hitting a few jumps as I charged along.  It was getting late for Jess as she had work to go to later, so we decided to call this the last run.  We again hit Orange Peel and Tokum, past Garbonzo and charged it straight down into the village for a quick beer in the Dublin Inn.

Visibility: Sunny, with occasional light cloud
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches, and very wind blown
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

I was supposed to meet Chris at the Village Gondola at 09:30.  However he didn't make it so I headed up myself.  I headed straight up the peak chair and decided to do the face.  Because of the wind the upper parts of the mountains were completely scoured, and the wind also scoured your face.  The face was not that good as there was a lot of under lumps and bumps.  I headed out toward Big Red and on to Garbonzo, taking the Orange Peel.  I got a call from Chris to say that he was on his way.  He was about half an hour away so I did Orange Peel again and Patarmagan then back to Garbonzo.  I then headed on over to Big Red and got another call from Chirs to say that he was at the mid station and I had just got on Big Red.  We met up at the light board.

Myself and Chris headed on up the Peak chair and down into the Bagel bowl.  The wind was really scouring and actually hurt.  The drop into the bagel bowl wasn't that good either.  We traversed all the way over to the other side where the sun was hitting.  We dropped a couple rock drops and headed on out via Highway 89.  The rid out to big red was really fast and furious, as the run was quite hard packed and smooth.

Chris only had time to get another one run in, so we headed on down our favorite of Orange Peel and past Garbonzo and down onto the village.  I like following Chris on this run as he knows where all the hit's are and I can then hit them too.  On every roller and side hit I pop on over them all, each with speed.

I said goodbye to Chris and got on the Village Gondola for the second time today.  From here on in I had a really good time.  I headed up the Peak and into the Symphony amphitheater. Because of the wind there was virtually no-one there.  There were so many drifts of snow that on the way in the bowl there was so many places to hit and pop air.  It was really really good.  Over the last week or two I have kind of lost some of that 'good' feeling that the snowboarding brings, and the going home feeling was there.  Today has got that feeling back.  I hit symphony a few times.  Even when I got stuck on the Harmony chair for over 25 minutes, and in the howling wind, I still took the ride down Symphony.

When the lift closed I headed on over to Harmony for a couple rides.  Again because the piste was wind blown it was quite smothe and there wasn't anyone there. When Harmony closed I headed on down to Emerald and back to the old stomping grounds of Garbonzo.  By now Upper Dave Murray was open (there are a lot of races on and it always appears to be closed lately...well, for the last 2 weeks anyway) and I rode here instead of Orange Peel.  It was really good riding today, if a little bumpy when you hit the tracks of the racers.  I hit Garbonzo all the way until that lift too closed.  I then just took the "Crossroads" run out and back to Creekside.

Today turned out to be a really good day!  I am definitely a 'bad weather' rider (High winds, zero visibility, heavy snow...but not rain!).

Visibility: Sunny, with occasional light cloud
Snow: 1-6cm
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches, and very wind blown
Wind: Strong, to gale force - Also, very cold
Temperature: -5 at the base to -14 at the top.
Crowding: Extremely light
Lift Lines: Extremely light

Started off the day just getting around the mountain, after yesterdays 'cabin fever' day.  I was really lucky and timed it just right to get nearly the first chair up the Peak when it opened and charged straight around to Symphony.  The snow was deep but very heavy and sun-baked.  However, keeping to the right there was so much un-tracked stuff that it was blinking great and fast too.  I made first lines down into the bowl and all the way down to the ride out.  I was then rewarded with more luck as I was once again near the front when the Harmony chair opened, and didn't have to wait more than a minute or two.  Straight up harmony and back to Symphony.  Again there was so much un-tracked stuff that it was just too good.  By the time I made it around for a third time, everyone else had cottoned on and it got pretty tracked.  Passed this dude for about the third time and he said that the symphony chair was due to open in 10 minutes, so I dropped the cat track out and headed through the trees to the Symphony lift.  Unfortunately it was about 30 minutes before the lift opened.

As soon as I got to the top of Symphony I headed straight on over for the Flute hike.  So many other people were doing the same too.  At the start of the hike I was 10th, but by the top I was 2nd.  The guy who beat me up was using skins on his skis, and he headed on over to the Flute North.  I instead headed for the Flute Shoulder.  First lines down were amazing and so open.  I carved well into the bowl before heading straight down slashing as I went.  At the bottom I was really stoked, and there decided to hike it again.

On the chair back up Symphony I could see that the Flute Shoulder was already completely tracked out!  Gutted!  I persevered however and made the second hike.  I had a like at the Flute North but it too was already tracked out.  So I dropped in a little further down and carved over to the right before making my way down through the trees.  A good ride but nowhere as good as my first ride.

After hiking flute twice I needed a rest and some lunch, so I headed up Harmony and around the cat-track back to the round house.  Just as I was entering I got a call from Rich and he arrived when I was nearly finished.  After lunch we headed on the Peak chair and around into Symphony.  We went to hit the wind-lip drop.  The landings were a bit sketchy, so I opted for a smaller drop of only about 12ft, but Rich puckered up and went for the bigger 20ft.  Not happy with his first drop, as he bailed it, he went up again for another.  Hitting the same bomb hole he made on his first jump, he again bailed it!  After that we rode Symphony again before heading over to Harmony, as the Symphony amphitheater was done.

We did our usual runs of hitting Orange Peel and Patarmigan and the Garbonzo lift and runs.  All too soon however the day was nearly done and we decided to take the ski out.  On the way down, before we got to the first set of 'bumps' I bailed it and nearly slid out into the thick trees.  Didn't do my nerves much good, and then nearly bailed it again on the final stretch.  Glad the ski out was the end of the day

Visibility: Sunny
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches
Wind: Light
Temperature: -2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

Today really sucked.  The lift lines were horrendously long and seamed to take forever.  That coupled with the poor conditions of the snow and visibility made for an un-interesting day.  When I eventually made it up big red, I headed on over to Garbonzo and simply did a couple runs down again.  I then hit the Whistler gondola so as to avoid big red, and took lunch.

After lunch I headed on over to Ratfink and down to the Harmony chair.  Again, horrendous lift lines.  I headed on over into the Saddle and then onto the Peak chair.  I decided to take Kaiser and the tree runs down and avoid the Peak to Creak.  the top part of the run was really difficult as the snow was really variable and it was difficult to get any turns in with any confidence.  Further in however the snow conditions got better and it was much more entertaining making turns in the trees.  Eventually it all came to an end and I hit the ski-out.

Lets hope that tomorrow will be better.

Visibility: Overcast, with very occasional sunny patches
Snow: 2cm
Piste Condition: Hard pack with icy patches
Wind: Light
Temperature: -2 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Heavy
Lift Lines: VERY Heavy

Not an early start today, and I had even skipped breakfast!  I headed up Whistler and straight up the Peak lift.  I headed on around and gave Bagel Bowl a look.  It was chopped and awful.  Headed around Highway 89 and back to big red, disappointed.

I needed a little cheer up so I headed down Orange peel and on down to Garbonzo.  Speeding down cheered me up a little.  At the top of Garbonzo I headed under the lift and took Seppo's through the trees.  They were really nice and secluded with loads of powder in there, if a little tight (read, dangerous).

I decided to head on over to Harmony but ended up in Symphony.  Over here the sun was in full bloom and the piste was in great form, if a little bumpy.  I stayed here for a few runs and eventually got a call from Chris.  I headed straight over to Harmony and charged down at a good lick of pace.  At the bottom of Harmony I called Chris and we met at the top at the entrance to Burnt Stew trail.

Immediately we headed left onto Alligator ridge.  We had a look at a couple of the drops, but there was simply not enough snow and too many rocks.  So we simply looked for as many hits of deep powder as we could.  Back up harmony we came down the Saddle.  Well, we traversed hard left and looked for hits and powder.  We managed to catch the last Peak chair.  We headed off towards the Symphony but before we rounded the bend too much we dropped off into the back-country.  This was a new place to ride for me.  The camera came out and we took some scenery shots.  This would be an excellent place to ride if the sun hadn't got to the snow.

There was a little hike out to get us back onto Kaiser track, where we met piste patrol on clear up.  We had to take Highway 89 and nearly 20 minutes after the lift was supposed to close we were allowed on for another run.  We decided to hit the round house and let the grommits get down the mountain, and await ski patrol kicking us out.

On the way down he hit the 'circle', which is a hidden spot where you can relax and wait out before heading down.  We headed straight down into the trees here, and it was really gnarly and tight.  I must admit that I side slipped a lot of the way as it was really steep and tight with trees.  Once we were at Big Red we decided to hit the BMX track.  It was great and the final run into the village was fast and fun.

Visibility: Bluebird, with occasional cloud
Snow: 1cm
Piste Condition: Chopped powder
Wind: Light
Temperature: -8 at the base to -13 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Heavy

Today was a late start as I wasn't feeling to hot after last night's pool competition.  I headed on over to Blackcomb and took the Whistler gondola.  I cruzed around today, down Upper Dave Murry and the Garbonzo lift.  I only did a couple runs before Rich gave me a call to say that he was coming up Big Read and heading over to Blackcomb to meet Jess.  It was Jess's birthday today.

Over on Blackcomb we met up with Jess, Nick, Cordelia and a couple of their other friends.  We headed on up towards the glacier, but because of the weather the top T-bar was closed.  Instead we headed on over into Seventh Heaven.  There was just so much powder it was amazing, and a good hangover cure.  We did the run down through the trees near the chair lift again and again.  We didn't go very fast as there were lots of problems with things like lost skis, too small a board, general falling over etc.

At the last lift there was only myself, Jess, Rich and Cordelia left when we headed back over towards the glacier for the last run down.  We got the last Jersey cream chair over and took the Peak2Peak over to Whistler and into the Round house for a quick drink.  Piste patrol kicked us out very quickly and we had to ride out.  Myself and Rich just charged down.  Turning is for wimps, I think the philosophy was.  Job done and straight into the GLC for birthday drinks.

Visibility: Overcast, poor
Snow: 13cm
Piste Condition: Fresh deep snow
Wind: None, increasing to light later
Temperature: -6 at the base to -15 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Heavy

I headed on over to Blackcomb today for a bit of a different ride and to get some big powder riding in.  There was a fair bit of cloud today at more than a couple levels, so when I got up the top of Excalibur and saw that Crystal was clear I headed for that.

I headed on over to the right and found that the piste was well groomed and un-touched.  So I hit the thing a couple times.  It was a really nice flow.  I then decided to head on up to the glacier.  As I got to the top and looked down the "Blow Hole" and I really fancied giving it a go. So I did.  It was really cool but too much powder in the bottom of the hole so that you couldn't go all the way down.  I popped out the side, which was like a half-pipe and as there was virtually no visibility I have no idea how high I went, but it felt like a very long time before landing.  The run back to Excalibur was really nice too, no longer any ice patches (I'm sure they are still there, just not today) and it was fun keeping up the speed.

I decided that this was a really good run so headed back to the glacier.  This time I headed off to the far side of the glacier and made more fresh tracks.  It was so deep that it was really difficult to keep my board from torpedoing and having to keep all the weight on the back foot.  It was quite tiring.

Heading up Jersey Cream, I headed on over to Seventh Heaven.  It was really windy up the top, so I kept to the main trails.  Other than that it was really un-eventfull.

First gondola, last lift day.  As there was loads of fresh snow (25cm) today, I started early and it was defo a 'no friends' day.

Hopping onto one of the first gondolas at Whistler, I headed straight up and into Franz's Meadow.  The powder was knee deep, if a little heavy.  There was simply so much snow to be had, only trouble is that everyone else was after the snow.  Dave Murray was excellent and I made a few runs over to the Garbonzo lift, including some tree runs in "Unsanctioned" and "Bat 21".

I then headed on up the Peak chair and on around to Symphony.  The snow in Symphony was a little dryer and lighter than elsewhere and was real fun.  Only trouble was that the snow was so deep it was really hard to get to areas which hadn't already had someone else run it.  I floated around Symphony for a while, before heading back up Harmony and in to the Round House for a well deserved lunch.

After lunch I headed down some tree runs to Emerald and then headed back up the Peak chair and back over into Symphony.  I expected the place to be much more tracked out, but the disappointing thing was that the snow had started to get heavier.  A few more runs over there, and it was all to quickly the last Symphony lift.  So I headed up Harmony and rode the ridge over to the top of the T-Bars and down the side to the Peak Chair.  Again this was the last lift, so I decided to take the Peak to Creak run and the ski out.

I headed into the Bagel bowl, but it was already tracked out, but was still quite good.  After getting onto the Peak to Creak it got really mouguled and the snow had turned into summer sticky snow.  The ski out was also really sticky, but entertaining.

Long day, but good!

 

Visibility: Overcast, two cloud layers, poor
Snow: 25cm
Piste Condition: Fresh deep snow, but heavy and getting heavier
Wind: None, increasing to light later
Temperature: -1 at the base to -3 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Heavy

Wasn't in a very good mood today.  So plugged in the tunes, cranked up the volume and just rode!

Headed up Whistler and arrived at Big Red.  However the lines were horrendous so headed straight over to Garbonzo.  I managed to put in a few laps down Upper Dave Murry and on down back to Garbonzo. On about my third or fourth round I remembered what Rich said last night, in that despite the Harmony chair being closed, it is only a short hike after getting the Peak Chair in order to get over into Harmony.  So I headed on up Big Red, and found that the T-bars had just been opened.

Jumped on the T-bars and headed straight on over into Harmony piste.  There was no-one there!  I had the whole thing practically to myself.  I boomed it down the slope and charged down sidewinder towards Emerald.  Emerald chair was full loaded with people, so headed toward Garbonzo.  The Olympic run down to Garbonzo was icy and lumpy and not in a very good state.  Headed up Garbonzo, down Dave Murry and back to Big Red.

The loop seamed like a good one to me so I did it a few times.  Each time there was no-one on the Harmony slope and it made for some great riding.  Only on the last ride down was there even anyone on the slope.  One guy, going really slowly.  So passed him quickly.

After a few laps it was getting late, and I managed to catch one of the last Big Red chairs, and got down to Garbonzo as quick as I could for the last chair there too.  Once again I headed down Upper Dave Murry and on to Cross Roads for a rid down to Creek Side, and down to Rowlands to watch the Canucks game.

Visibility: Excellent - Blue Bird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack, with icy patches and ground showing through
Wind: Light
Temperature: +4 at the base to -4 at the top.
Crowding: Heavy
Lift Lines: Heavy

The Harmony chair has been closed due to a chair "falling off".

Another slow start to the day, but it soon picked up.  I initially just cruised up and down towards Garbonzo, that was until Rich gave me a call.  I hurtled it down to the Whistler village and met Rich at the Whistler Gondola. On the way up once of the Mountain Safety guys let us know why the Harmony chair had been closed.  Apparently one of the chairs fell off!  It hasn't been a good year for the Whistler mountain, what with all the mechanical failures and the HUGE number of deaths that have occurred.

Once we got up to the to we decided to head on up the Peak chair and over into Symphony.  The runs were actually really quite nice and ran well.  After a couple runs in the Symphony we decided it was done and headed back on over towards Emerald.  Finding the lift line to be huge we carried on down to Garbonzo.  From then on we did the Upper Dave Murry run and swung around back to Garbonzo.

We eventually had had enough and decided to head out via the ski out.  It was really icy and fast, but still a lot of fun.

Visibility: Excellent - Blue Bird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack, with icy patches and ground showing through
Wind: Light
Temperature: -1 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy

The Harmony chair has been closed due to a chair "falling off".

The day started off slowly.  I didn't want to push the ankle too much.  I headed up Whistler and generally just rode around the mountain.

I was starting to actually get a little bored, then Chris gave me a call and we met up at the Round House.  Chris had his camera with him, so we decided to take advantage of the sun and take some 'action' photos of us slashing the snow.  Ended up being quite a fun afternoon.

We then stopped at the Chick Pea for a last drink and allow all the 'plebs' to get off the mountain before we headed down.  The run out was pretty good and we rounded off the day with watching the Canucks in the Cinnamon Bear.

Visibility: Excellent - Blue Bird
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack, with icy patches and ground showing through
Wind: Light
Temperature: -1 at the base to -6 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy

The Harmony chair has been closed due to a chair "falling off".

My first day back on the snow after doing in my ankle.  I started off later in the morning than usual as didn't want to over stress my ankle.  Went up Whistler and decided to take it quite easy.  Good job too, as I was initially struggling.  Things did improve however and the ankle started to feel better and the speed crept up.  I rode around mostly to runs that took me down to the Garbonzo lift.

I eventually decided to head on over to Harmony.  On the way down I tweaked my ankle again so rested on the slope for a while.  I decided to carry on for a while and see how it felt.  From then on however I was struggling on my toe side edge and couldn't keep the edge.  I then decided to head to the Round House for a hot chocolate and a biscuit.  After that I then headed on around for a few more runs.  Heading up the Peak chair the weather was closing in and the visibility was getting worse.  I then decided to head on down before things got worse and before my ankle gave out.

Not a great day, but just glad to get out and be on the snow.

Visibility: Good deteriorating to poor
Snow: none
Piste Condition: Hard pack, with icy patches and ground showing through
Wind: Light
Temperature: -1 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

Got up this morning to find that there was 11cm of fresh powder out there.  Myself and Edd headed on out to Whistler mountain.  We decided to hike up Pikas trail and over into the Harmony Bowl.  We hiked up to the avalanche marker and made fresh tracks into the gorgeous powder.  It was really great powder in there.  We headed on down towards the Harmony chair, but it wasn't open so headed straight to the Emerald chair and back to the hike.  We hit the fresh powder again, once again making fresh tracks.  Brilliant.

At the top of Emerald this time we decided to hit Ratfink and some tree runs.  We good but already tracked out. Around again, we headed further round and dropped into the trees above right of harmony.  Good, but still needs a lot more powder.  We decided to wait in the Harmony lift line and wait for it to open.  We lucked in and only had to wait for 2 minutes.

On the way up Harmony we decided to hit the Horseshoe 6.  As we got around to it there was two skiers scoping out the drop in.  Myself and Edd were really cheeky and did not wait.  We dropped straight in.  I hit a hard lump almost straight in and tweaked my bad ankle.  The run out however was great.  We headed over towards the Gun Barrels.  It was quite moguly here, and I tweaked my ankle even more here as I hit a big mogul before seeing it.

At the top of harmony we decided to head over into Symphony bowl.  I kept to the left and hit a rock head on and flipped.  Tweaking my ankle yet again.  Now my ankle was in real trouble.  As such we only made a couple runs down symphony before heading down the saddle and into the ski out.  Edd had work to go to and I just couldn't board any more.

Lets hope that my ankle is a bit better for tomorrow, as it is quite swollen at the moment.

Start Time: 09/02/2009 08:14:37
End Time: 09/02/2009 12:25:31
Duration: 04:10:54
Total Distance (approx): 53.8km

Visibility: Good
Snow: 11cm
Piste Condition: Powder with hard pack underneath
Wind: Moderate to heavy
Temperature: -4 at the base to -11 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Light

It just wasn't happening today.  I got up the mountain quite early, but it was really quite cold.  I couldn't get warm all day, despite it not being a very cold day.  I also forgot to start the GPS logger, and that really annoyed me too!

I headed up Blackcomb with the idea of hitting the Terrain garden and trying out the 180's again.  The piste condition was extremely solid, and didn't ease up at any time during the day either, that coupled with the very poor visibility made even seeing the lip of the jumps difficult.  I went around the Terrain garden at least 10 times during the day, and whilst enjoying the first jump, the second I just couldn't get right.  I was trying to get my line into the jump set-up and didn't do a very good job.

I had lunch at the Glacier Creek today before heading back up the Jersey Cream and back to the Terrain Garden.  It was very crowded and the conditions hadn't improved much.  So I only gave it another few trips around, and eventually called it a day at just after 14:30.

Snow is expected on Sunday night, so let's hope it's a lot and I get my 'mojo' back

Visibility: Poor
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Choppy powder with loads of icy patches
Wind: Heavy
Temperature: -4 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Heavy

After some excellent advice from Will (the landlord and Level 3 instructor and park instructor) I headed straight to the Blackcomb Terrain garden and practiced my lines again and again, and built my knowledge of the jumps.  I went around the park four times just getting my lines right and pulling some straight airs with grabs, in order to get to know the park.  On the run out back to the Solar coaster chair there is a hit at the side which allowed me to pull a Half Cab (front-side 180) which I was really starting to dial down.

After these four runs Rich met me up and we hit the terrain garden together for a couple runs.  This time however I was starting to pull switch 180's on the first kicker, but still pulled the straight airs on the second.  All the time hitting the rails, boxes and benches on the way down, and continuing to hit the Half Cab before the chair.

After this we decided to hit the "Blue Park".  Oh my god!  Even the medium jumps are HUGE, especially the landing and run outs which are extremely steep.  You also had to hit each of the jumps almost straight lined!  I did however manage to hit the landing on each of the jumps but one.  Even that one I hit the transition but wasn't lines up correctly, but still managed to ride it out (eventually).  We then rode into the super pipe.  The first ride in the pipe wasn't so good, but not too bad.  I tried to remember the advice my regular riding buddy from the UK gave me (MDO), and tried to keep my front leg a bit straighter.

We headed around the blue park again.  I had a much better run this time.  Also this time I had quite a good pipe ride.  I was much higher up the transition and felt much better in the transitions.

After a spot of lunch we hit the Terrain garden again for a re-warm-up.  This time we decided to throw more spins in this time.  Rich landed his first 360 and I managed to land a really nice and floaty switch 180.  So we then repeated the run out, and again I was managing to spin on the hit and land my Half Cab.

We again went into the Blue Park.  This time Rich tried to pull a 360 on the first big jump.  He didn't quite manage it but it was a really, really good try! For myself, I hit everyone of the jumps on the way down, hitting the transition really well (on one I was leaning a bit too forward and nose pressed the landing for about 3m, before getting it down!) and just scorched through the park.

On the way up again we got a call from Chris, who had headed up Whistler Gondola.  So myself and Rich jumped into the Peak2Peak and headed over.  There was only time to charge down to Garbonzo, hitting loads of hits and jumps over rollers, before we had to ride down.  Myself and Rich decided to ride the "Ski Out" to Bayshores where the house is.  I have to say that it was very interesting sketchy and extremely narrow in places.  I will have to be much more aggressive in riding it next time, now that I know the exact route.

What an awesome days in the park!  More to follow tomorrow...

Start Time: 06/02/2009 10:08:00
End Time: 06/02/2009 16:29:25
Duration: 06:21:25
Total Distance (approx): 90.9km

Visibility: Poor in the morning, increasing to excellent in the afternoon
Snow: 1-3cm
Piste Condition: Choppy powder with some icy patches
Wind: Moderate to heavy
Temperature: -2 at the base to -7 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

Today was a day for going fast.  Well, before the slopes got too chopped up!  I just simply charged around the mountain building my self confidence over the slopes at the higher average speeds.  Harmony was especially fast today.

I headed for lunch at about 11:30 and when I finished and left the roundhouse Rich gave me a call to say that he was on his way up.  I headed on up the Peak chair and over into the Bagel Bowl.  The bowl was extremely disappointing as it was fully crusty and hard packed.  I headed on past Big Red and onto Garbonzo, then down and over to Emerald.  Despite putting in three different lifts, I was still waiting at the 'light board' for Rich.

We simply then headed on around the mountain looking for some fun areas to ride, and ended up in Symphony for a couple runs.  It was just too choppy, so we headed on over to Harmony and hit the main run down a couple times as it was fast and fun.

We rode around for a while longer and planned to head down to Creekside to buy some sushi for dinner.  However, we were mucking around too much and riding switch and throwing in some 180's that we missed the last turn that would have allowed up to get to Creekside.  We tried hitting a couple tree runs to try and get over but it wasn't happening.  We did however see people getting the Garbonzo chair and chanced it, as it was after 15:40.  We were in luck, and this time headed straight down Dave Murry all of the way to the bottom...without stopping.  Good day.

Start Time: 05/02/2009 09:24:09
End Time: 05/02/2009 16:00:17
Duration: 06:36:08
Total Distance (approx): 99.3km

Visibility: Very good, with light cloud in the afternoon
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Choppy powder with some icy patches
Wind: None to light
Temperature: +4 at the base to -4 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Light

Another amazing day on the slopes.  Early start again and headed out to the slopes with Edd.  We headed up the Creekside Gondola and straight over to Garbonzo via the BMX track.  Much nicer today on the BMX track.  We hit a couple runs, waiting for the Harmony and Symphony runs to open up.  When Harmony opened up we headed down the Harmony ridge for a little and then hikes up a small ridge and dropped the steeps into Hidden Chute.  It's quite a steep slope and had already been tracked so it was a little difficult to get a rhythm going.  At the bottom, both myself and Edd hit some really hard avalanche debris.  I banged my left ankle, and Edd flipped!

We headed straight on up Symphony chair and decided to hike the Flute.  We had a look at the whole ridge and ended up heading down the Flute Shoulder.  Turns out to have been an excellent idea.  The turns we made were so powder filled and our tracks were the only tracks in there.  The lines were so blinking sweet, powder filled and fast.  Once we got back to the Symphony chair and after a very quick discussion, we were again hiking the Flute Bowl.  Again we hit the Flute Shoulder.  No-one had hit it in the mean time, so it was still only our tracks, and because there is a lot of terrain to hit we laid down yet more fresh tracks.

By now it was quite late and Edd had to head off to go to work, so that left me at the bottom of Symphony.  I headed on up and rode down and over to Harmony chair and around to the Round House as I really needed a drink and some lunch.

After lunch I headed on over to Blackcomb over the Peak2Peak.  My intention was to hit some runs and I then ended up in the Terrain Garden.  Today I was getting some good straight airs, but with a lot of grabs.  Managed that quite a few times before the last lift.  Headed on straight down the mountain and closed out the day.

Start Time: 03/02/2009 08:21:40
End Time: 03/02/2009 15:52:04
Duration: 07:30:24
Total Distance (approx): 97.9km

Visibility: Very good, with light cloud in the afternoon
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Choppy powder
Wind: None with light wind in the late day
Temperature: +3 at the base to +4 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Light

Today I finally took the plunge and bought some backcountry safety gear.  With all the off-piste riding, tree runs, hiking and general avalanche risks I thought it was time.  This is what I bought:

Ortovox D3 Avalanche Transceiver

Weight: 247g

The triple antenna system on this digital beacon allows precise, pin-point location of signals. Display uses three direction arrows, numerical distance LEDs and multiple burials indicator.

• Carrying system includes cover and elastic straps.
• Single button twists to change from transmit to receive.
• Earphone jack (earphones not included).
• Dimensions are 130 x 80 x 25mm.
• Nominal range is 40m.
• Normal battery life transmits for 300 hours, receives for 40 hours.
• Uses 2 AA batteries (included). Battery strength indicator.
• Meets European Standard EN 300 718.

G3 AviTech Shovel

Weight: 760g (Std)

This is a strongly-built shovel; the connector tube and blade have been heat-treated after welding to relieve residual stresses and produce a rugged shaft-to-blade interface.

• Blade is made from 6061 T6 aluminum.
• Silver anodized aluminum shaft.
• D-grip handle for easy grip; it features a unique ice axe loop attachment point.
• Handle and blade are red for easy location in the snow.
• Dry-stash compartment in handle.
• Multiple slots in the blade allow easy attachment to pack, rigging an emergency rescue sled with skis, or rigging as a deadman snow anchor.
• Available in two versions: ultralight short or longer telescoping handle.

Black Diamond Quick Draw 230cm Carbon Fiber Probe

Weight: 212g

Lightweight and easily packable, this ultra-rigid, large diameter carbon probe has speed bullets for rapid assembly. The velcro closure on the stuff sack pulls open quickly so you can deploy it in just seconds.

• Made of light, tough carbon fibre.
• Marked every 5cm under clearcoat.
• Ideal for professional use.
• Diameter is 1.3cm.
• Packed length is 44cm.
• Assembled length is 230cm.
• Includes stuff sack.

The day started early and proved to be a good idea.  I woke up to find that the forecast was wrong at saying 1-2cm, but instead was 14cm.  Great!  I headed on out with Edd and we headed on straight up Whistler and over to Franzs.  We tore up the powder and it was the best snow of the season for me so far!  At the bottom of the Franz chair, we dropped immediate left into the trees and had more deep powder, but in the trees.  It was quite a job in there as all of the turns and bumps meant you had to be really aggressive in order to get those turns in and not hit the trees or huge bumps.

After that I took Edd to the BMX track that Chris showed me the other day.  We were the first to hit the track and as such it was a bit difficult to keep your speed.  However we both loved it, and intend to go hit it again in the future.  I did intend to hit it as a late run in the day but that didn't happen.

We headed on up Garbonzo and then headed down upper Dave Murray.  It was quite good but a bit tracked already.  We then headed on over to the other BMX track that has a BIG drop at the end.  It was better than it was the other day and much easier to ride.  Near the bottom of it however, as I went into one of the burns, I clipped a rock and flipped.  No damage to me or the board, thankfully.

We headed back up Big Red and then headed over to the top of Emerald and hiked up the cat track until we met the avalanche signs (as Harmony wasn't open yet).  We then dropped some really sick powder lines down and past Harmony.  We rode past Emerald as the lines were huge.  So, back up Garbonzo.  We again headed on down Dave Murry but the lines were really tracked, but still some good powder to be had.

Once again we headed back up Big Red and then did the little hike up past Emerald again for more lines.  This time the avalanche signs were higher up the cat-track so it opened up some more terrain.  It didn't fail us, as we put down some really good lines in there again.  This time, we noticed that people were waiting at the Harmony chair and decided to give it a try.

We arrived at about 11:20, and unfortunately the lift just did not look to be opening up for Edd, so he had to head down as he had work to go to.  After the usual snowball fight, the chair eventually opened at 12:10...it was just SO worth it!  I immediately headed down Harmony Ridge and straight into the McCools Couloir and simply dropped straight into it, no messing...I must admit that the time I spent in the air I was a little surprised at just how long it was.  No idea of just how big the drop was, but bigger than my normal.  I put in a few turns, and I triggered a small slab avalanche.  Thankfully as I was one of the first on Harmony and there was no-one below me, there wasn't and problem.  So I maxed it down to Harmony again.

At the top of Harmony it turned out that the Symphony chair was open and so I headed down Burnt Stew trail (couldn't see a darned thing as it was quite wet and the snow was sticking and meting on the goggles...no matter how much you wiped, you were limited for visibility).  There were so many un-tracked ways to get down.  So I did it again, and again and again.

On the fourth time, I hit the line for the lift, but it had stopped/broken down.  For ages (and again the usual snowball fight) everyone waited, and waited.  However it just wasn't going to go.  So everyone who was there (about 300 people) had to take the hike out.  Not good.  I was knackered already, but to have to hike out really took it out of me.

Eventually got onto the Harmony chair and blindly made my way down the saddle, and straight down the mountain.  On getting close to the top of the Creekside gondola I contemplated taking the gondola down.  I just couldn't face myself if I did that so took the run down.  It was really knackering as the snow further down was really sticky and heavy.  Was glad to get down save and sound.

Start Time: 02/02/2009 09:04:37
End Time: 02/02/2009 15:33:16
Duration: 06:28:39
Total Distance (approx): 41.0km

Visibility: Overcast with low cloud patches, better light in the trees
Snow: 14cm
Piste Condition: Powder
Wind: Starting off moderate, easing to none
Temperature: +1 at the base to -4 at the top.
Crowding: Light
Lift Lines: Varied from light to heavy

Got of to a slower start than normal.  Myself and Rich headed out and we met his family who are here for a few days.  Myself, Rich, Nick and Chris (Rich's brothers) headed straight on up Peak chair.  We then headed down Whistler Bowl and onto the face.  There were patches of really nice powder, but there were also some really hard lumps of snow in there.  That coupled with poor visibility made it quite a difficult ride down.

We then headed on back up Peak Chair to do the other side, and headed down Peak to Creek.  IT was only now that I remembered to switch on the GPS. Taking the Khyber trail and then joining onto Highway 86, we dropped of at the base of the bagel bowl and into the little valley run that I liked the last time I was here.  It was really cool, but Rich's brothers struggled a little with the tight conditions and trees.  We popped out on to the Peak to Creek for real before heading down too far.  This was really painful as it was full of moguls and was quite icy.

At the bottom we headed back up the Creekside Gondola and when we were on Big Red the other Chris (pool at the Cinnamon Bear Bar) phoned and we all met up at the bottom of the Harmony Chair.  We headed down Burnt Stew trail and kept to the right as Chris knew this really nice wind lip drop that we just had to do.  There were a lot of different lines off the lip and we all had a few goes.  I personally didn't go too large, but do need to work my way up.

After that we decided to hike the Flute bowl as the conditions were actually quite good out of where it had all been previously tracked out.  To do this we headed on first down to the Symphony chair.  At the top Chis took a photo of Rich and his brothers and he headed on down to the bottom of the flute hike.  30 minutes later we were at the top and looking to drop into the Flute North.  Nice little drop in with loads of powder to be had.  There were areas of previous snow debris and if you ran them then the snow wasn't too good.

We got to the bottom of the Symphony chair to discover that the chair had closed already.  We either had to wait for Piste Patrol and be taken down with them in a group or hike out up to the Harmony Chair.  We chose the hike out as there was to be about an half hour wait for Piste patrol.  Was a shame we had to hike, as it took a little off of the experience.

We made the last Emerald chair and headed to the Round house for a quick drink.

For the last run out Chris took us down to some of the BMX tracks.  Really interesting but scary for the first time you do them.  We then boomed it down to the village and for a quick beer in Cinnamon Bear Bar.  Job done.

Start Time: 31/10/2009 11:09:22
End Time: 31/01/2009 16:28:40
Duration: 05:19:18
Total Distance (approx): 40.1km

Visibility: Overcast with low cloud patches, occasional bright periods
Snow: 1cm
Piste Condition: Light powder on top of hard groomed, with patches of ice
Wind: Moderate dropping to light
Temperature: -0 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Varied from moderate to heavy

Visibility: Overcast with low cloud patches
Snow: trace
Piste Condition: Heavy snow with icy patches
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -3 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Headed up and out on my own today with the intention of getting some runs in on Whistler mountain before heading over to Blackcomb for some park riding.  However, with all the best intentions it doesn't always happen that way.  I was just to physically tired today to do too much, and with the heavy going conditions and extremely limited visibility it was tough going that took a lot of energy.

I had wanted to head on over to Symphony to enjoy some tree runs, but it wasn't the best.  I just couldn't find any decent lines through the trees and decided to give up on that one.  Headed on over the saddle and down to big red and up for an early and long lunch.

I then flipped a coin and as it was heads I headed on over the Peak2Peak to at least give Blackcomb a go.  I headed for the Crystal chair.  Man I forgot that that chair is so slow!  I took the ridge runner route and wanted to try and find some tree runs here.  Again I was disapointed as it was all done and moguled.  So when I got down again I headed up the Glacier Explress and up on over the back.  Again the conditions were not so good, but better than the last time I was over there.  The run out was good though, enjoyed that.

Headed on up to the Terrain garden for a couple goes, however most of the jumps had not been made and all that there was there to hit were the rails.  So, still did it a couple times.  Got the urge to go shopping so decided to head back over the Peak2Peak and ride down there to the base of Creekside.

Not a good day for the conditions and not a good day for the motivation and energy levels.  There is always tomorrow

Start Time: 29/10/2009 10:04:01
End Time: 26/01/2009 15:14:52
Duration: 05:10:51
Total Distance (approx): 74.8km

Visibility: Overcast with low cloud patches
Snow: trace
Piste Condition: Heavy snow with icy patches
Wind: Moderate
Temperature: -4 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Visibility: Overcast, with extremely poor visibility
Snow: trace
Piste Condition: Heavy and chopped with patches of ice
Wind: Moderate to strong gusts
Temperature: -4 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Got up whistler this morning to some cold conditions, but not as cold as yesterday.  The weather however was the problem for the day.  There was loads of low cloud and terrible visibility around.  I started off just simply getting around the resort, trying to not get injured in the poor conditions.  I made a decision to head on over to Symphony and ride some tree runs.  However the conditions were so cold and wet with the falling snow that my goggles and helmet were freezing.  This made it near impossible to see anything, which then coupled with a white out made it so that I could only carefully and slowly make my way down "Burn Stew" trail and over to Symphony.  At the top there was another rider who also had the same tough conditions and he decided to follow me down.  Once I got to the trees they were really good riding to be had in there.

The guy who followed me also got on the chair with me and we got chatting.  His name was Neil and he was from Redding.  He told me that I looked like I knew what I was doing and where I was going so in these conditions he decided to follow me.  We spent the rest of the day riding together as in such poor conditions it is good policy to have someone watching your back and you watching their back.  We did symphony again, however this time we went too far right from the top and ended up in some difficult terrain that wasn't greatley enjoyable, but still better able to see what I'm doing!

We ended up the day heading up Harmony, down the Saddle, into Fitz's, down to big red, over towards Garbonzo and straight down into the village where we had a beer to end the day!

Start Time: 27/10/2009 09:50:36
End Time: 26/01/2009 15:08:20
Duration: 05:17:44
Total Distance (approx): 72.7km

Today was a 4 layer day, as it was damn cold this morning.  -17 to be exact, without wind chill...Ouch!  I plumped up to Whistler early this morning and proceeded to get around the mountain.  I immediately headed on up the Peak chair, with the hope of getting down the Peak to Creek.  Unfortunately it was closed so I headed on over to the Symphony bowl.  I then headed on up Harmony chair and hit in a few other runs and headed on down to Big Red.  At the top of big red I was really cold so headed on in to the Round House for a hot chocolate.

I met Edd and Adam in the round house, and after a coffee and also a hot chocolate, I headed on out with Adam.  I rode with Adam for most of the rest of the day, and at his request I gave him a few pointers on how to improve his riding.  We headed on over the Harmony ridge and did a few runs over there before heading back to Emerald and hitting a few runs down Dave Murry Downhill.

Adam had to head off to meet his fiancée who works in the roundhouse and I headed on back up the Peak chair.  This time the upper Peak to Creek run was open, so I headed on down that.  Not much of the Peak was open but it was a really good view as the sun was setting.  Headed on back up Big Red for another rid down before calling it a day.

Start Time: 26/10/2009 08:51:28
End Time: 26/01/2009 15:13:00
Duration: 06:21:32
Total Distance (approx): 84.2km

Visibility: Snowing, overcast
Snow: 3-7cm
Piste Condition: Light powder on top of hard pack
Wind: Moderate.
Temperature: -7 at the base to -13 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

Early up on the mountain once again today.  Headed on back up Whistler and was supposed to meet Chris (one of the guys fromm the Pool competition night at Cinnamon Bear).  Whilst I waited by the light board, I met Adam (another house mate) who volunteers on Saturdays and one of his colleagues and had a chat.  As Chris didn't show up at the allocated time I thought that I'd get a run down to Emerald in.  On the way back up I noticed that the Peak chair was open, for the first time in the season.  So scurried on over and joined the queue.

I managed to get on quite an early chair and had a good look at the slopes on the way up.  Looked like loads of powder, but not enough to cover the rocks.  At the top I decided to head down "the face" as it appeared to be the only way open.  After a couple steep drops I was on the open piste.  There was some nice powder there to be had, but after quite a few days being backed by the sun it was quite heavy.  On the way down, you could tell that people were going a bit nuts, as on the way I passed 4 skiiers who were receiving medical attention.  All within 1/2 hour of the lift being opened!

Decided to hit it again before it all got too tracked out, as it appeared that the entire mountain was here on the Peak chair.  On this run it was more of the same, more baked heavy powder and more skiiers being helped off the slopes.  Strange how it was all skiiers!  Once at the bottom the queue for the lift was too great and the slope conpletley trecked that I decided to leave it to everyone else and charged my way to red chair.

On the way to Big Red, I could tell that all the sun was really turning the slope into an ice field.  On one slope especially there was a huge section of blue ice.  Had to be careful when hitting this, and just straight lined it and put in a turn way down the slope when there was something for the board to grip.

Got to the top of Big Red and noticed that on the light board that Symphony Chair was open.  This is a new chair for me, as the last time I was here in 2005/6 it wasn't built.  It has opened up a lot of terrain and a lot of runs through the trees.  I only did one run through as I arranged with Chris as a back-up to meet at 12:00 by the light board.  Will have to head back here and really give it a good thrashing with the board.

Unfortunatley Chris didn't make it so I went for lunch and then headed on over to Blackcomb via the Peak2Peak.  I headed on over to the Glacier bowl to see how it was.  I was increadibly dissapointed at the conditions up there.  Compared to the last season I was here there is so little snow and vastly less terrain available to ride as a result.  It was also really choppy as it had been trecked by everyone.  However I really enjoyed the run-out as it was fast and fun.

Not wanting to go to the glacier again I decided to spend some time in the Terrain Garden.  Certainly getting the straight airs in there, along with the rails and boxes, but need to do more.  Just need to work on the confidence levels and put some real dedicated time into the park.  After a couple ride arounds and the out via Sunset Boulevard, I met Jess and Nicky.  They too were hitting the terrain garden so I rode with then for a couple 'go rounds'.  The lifts were closing so we did a final hike half way up and put in a last few jumps and rails.  The intention was to rid down to the base but I managed to lose them on the way (I charged off ahead!).

Day end.  Glad tomorrow is my day off as my knee really started to ache quite badly once I was off the slopes.  I guess the heavy conditions and me trying to be a bit more agressive in my riding took it's tole.  Still, no pain no gain...right?

Start Time: 24/10/2009 08:25:54
End Time: 24/01/2009 15:29:06
Duration: 07:03:12
Total Distance (approx): 87.4km

Late start to day.  There was too much apres last night.  Also took ages for Rich to get his finger out and get going.  Was a day of meeting a lot of different people, and also a day for just chilling. 

Didn't really do much today other than be quite lazy on the slope, and just ride.

Start Time: 23/10/2009 11:15:08
End Time: 23/01/2009 16:03:44
Duration: 04:48:36
Total Distance (approx): 54.3km

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy periods
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Groomed with large ice patches
Wind: Light.
Temperature: -4 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Headed on up the slopes just a little later today than normal, but was still up the slopes by 09:40.  I headed on out with Rich, another of the house mates and we hit the slopes.  Later we met up with Jess (English lass from Newcastle) and one of her friends Tyler (Canadian from Ottowa).  We just simply headed around the mountain hitting some jibbs and hitting some speed.  Nice cool and chilled day!

Start Time: 22/10/2009 10:22:28
End Time: 22/01/2009 16:09:51
Duration: 05:47:23
Total Distance (approx): 70.5km

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy periods
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Groomed with ice patches
Wind: Light.
Temperature: -1 at the base to +8 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy periods
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Groomed with ice patches
Wind: Light.
Temperature: +0 at the base to +7 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Early start once again.  Headed on up Whistler once more.  There was a bit of cloud cover today.  Hopefully that is a good sign and that the snow is a coming!

Today the snow was really good in the morning as everything was nicely groomed.  Thus the riding this morning was all about getting around as fast as possible, and just enjoying myself.  I again covered a lot of the mountain before heading in for an early lunch at 11:30.

After lunch I headed on out and decided to put in a lot more switch riding.  It's coming along but it's still not great.

See below for interactive GPS map:

Start Time: 20/10/2009 08:21:25
End Time: 20/01/2009 14:22:20
Duration: 06:00:55
Total Distance (approx): 85.3km

Visibility: Sunny with light cloud
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Groomed with ice patches
Wind: Light.
Temperature: +0 at the base to +7 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Early, early start again today.  Was close to getting the first gondola up Whistler mountain.  The weather is so warm at the moment, but the conditions of the groomed piste in the mornings is fantastic.  I decided that today was going to be a 'blow the cobwebs' out day, and also try and get back some of my confidence.  I think I achieved both today to some degree.

My mission today was to go everywhere and just enjoy myself.  I think I covered a lot of terrain today, and I'll find out when I get the GPS out.  I rode everything from Harmony, the Saddle, Big Red, Emerald, Garbonzo, and every run in-between.

I had lunch early as the piste was getting a bit busy and also as the temperature increased so did the choppy of the slopes. After a quick lunch I thought that I'd do more of the same.  Eventually got one of the last t-bars, harmony chairs, then one of the last Emerald chairs, and then flipped a coin to see which mountain base I would ride on down to.  Ended up at the bottom of Creekside after a long, but good, days riding.  Well happy with today.

See below for interactive GPS map:

On Whistler again today, and up the mountain really quite early on my own.  As it was a weekend I expected it to be quite busy and it was, especially as it is a US long weekend holiday.  Got the GPS out again (to upload later).  I started out with some switch riding to get back into the groove.  Headed on down towards the Garbonzo lift, which is a nice easy green/blue set of runs.  I need to work a lot more on my switch as it simply is not good enough.

After a few runs I noticed that the Harmony chair was running.  So after a run or two I headed on up the T-bars and on over to harmony.  Whilst in the lift line I met Edd and Will, so I rode with them from the top onwards.  It was Will's last day before having to head home.  So we wanted to explore and cruz around the mountain.  We went all over the mountain, and hit a few good trails.

Edd and Will left around about 2pm, which left me to run around on my own for a few runs.  Nothing too special about that.  See GPS map below:

I didn't go up the mountain today.  Being the 'old man' that I am, and with nursing a few long term injuries, I needed to rest up the ankle and knee.

With the weather being so warm up top with all the sunshine, it's an early start again today.  Headed on out with Edd and Will and we headed on up Whistler mountain.  Today was going to be a day in the park.  We laid down a few lines down towards Emerald befoer starting to hit the park.  The first medium kicker has a nide drop off and it felt quite comfortable straight away.  Furthr down there was a spine, which is not my favourite but I gave it a go anyway.  Not brilliant (not enough confidence) but still hitting it.  After that there are a nother couple of medium jumps.  The first one, after 3 tries and hitting the knuckle each time, I finally worked out my speed and for the rest of the day was landing good and sweek straight airs.  After that there is a jump that at the moment is too big for me as I havent got the confidence up there yet.  Instead I rode the up rail next to it.  Quite a nice rail.  After that there are only a couple more jumps/rails, all of which I either avoided or used them as little kickers.

All in all quite a good park day.  I also took out the GPS logger today. See below:

Today started early, especially as I was tired and went to be early.  I headed on out with a couple of guys from the house and one of their brothers who is here for the week.  So myself, Seth (who is my room mate), Edd and his brother Will headed on out to Creekside.  Seth and Edd are skiiers by the way, so it was 2*2 sticks and 2*1 plank!

We hit a few runs out an about.  I could tell that I was not in very good shape and was quite apprehensive.  Don't need another injury!  It was also the first time out with me new stick the K2 0 (zero).  So I wasn't sure if the set-up was good or not.  Ended up that the set-up was near spot on, and I only have to adjust the stance width a little.

A lot of both Whistler and Blackcomb mountains are not open due to the extremely high avalanche risks.  So it did feel a little cramped on the mountain.  I couldn't go to all my 'old haunts'.  The good thing is that the new "Peek 2 Peek" gondola is open.  This new gondola links Whistler and Blackcomb mountains in an 11 minute, and smooth ride.  I was quite impressed.  Especially at just how high you are from the ground at the half way!

So, we made our way over to Blackcomb mountain.  We were heading over to Seventh Heaven, when we stopped and had a go though the slalom timing gate.  I had a terrible run.  Just haven't got my 'snow legs' yet and slid out half way!  Oh well.  So we headed on over to Seventh Heaven.  As always, this area gets hit by the winds, and is very rocky.  There isn't actually that much snow around.  Loads of moguls.  Not a snowboarders choice.  Did have some interesting tree runs however.

After that we decided to head on down "Sunset Boulevard" and then go hit the terrain garden.  We did that a few times.  Was good to pop some air and hit a few rails and boxes.  I 'thing' I might have it correctly in my head and body this time that I should be brining my knees UP to my body, rather than my body DOWN to my knees.  Certainly was getting much more 'pop', especially for a first day, but that is probably also down to my new board.

After a few runs we had lunch in Rendevous.

After lunch we hit the terrain garden again a couple times before again heading over to Whistler mountain on the Peek2Peek.  From there he did the Olympic run, and I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable again, and has starting to feel like my 'old' snowboarder self.  I was however starting to get tired.  So on the next run we headed down to Creekside.  My right knee was killing me by then.  Wasn't helped by the variable snow conditions.  Dry at the top, then ice, then heavy, sticky and slushy near the bottom.  Was glad to finish the day without any further aches and pains.

Couple beers in Dusty's and then headed home.  All in all, a very good first day.  Little disappointed that it is obvious that I am not as fit as I couple be, and that most of the upper mountains are shut, but still a good day!

Visibility: Cloudy early, brightening up in the afternoon.  Periods of freezing cloud.
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Variable.
Wind: Light to moderate.
Temperature: +3 at the base to 0 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

On my first full day in Whistler, I had already decided that I wasn't going to go snowboarding.  Instead I wanted to get everything organised and have a good look around town.  So I switched the GPS on and took a wander.  Got my lift pass in Creekside, then popped to the HUB and got a 10 day bus pass (they did not have any month passes!) before heading over to Whistler village.

As I wandered around it was quite clear that very little if anything has changed!  See the GPS track here:

I got it!

I managed to get on the 17:00 bus to Whistler.  Sitting on the bus now, and amazingly still have a connection to the Internet!  All I want now is for the rest of the trip to be uneventful!

Thanks to John, he gave me a lift down to London on Friday night.  We stayed in the Premier Inn at London Heathrow.  Had breakfast this morning and that was the true start of the trip.

Things got off to a surprisingly good start.  I got through security at the airport in no time at all.  Result.  So I spent the time browsing a little and then watching movies on my phone.  Everything was very uneventful until I boarded the flight.  No longer were we ready to set off we were delayed by 1 hour due to freezing fog, the flight facilities were awful.  No private screen, but the really old style of a central screen at the front.  This was keyed wrong, the picture was too big for the screen and the colours were pale and awful.  Needless to say I broke out the mobile phone and watched more movies on it (all in Airplane mode, obviously!).

The flight was again uneventful, apart from there was some major turbulence until we got to Iceland. Then again as we got close to Vancouver.

Arrived in Vancouver to find it was raining, and the baggage carousel was taking for ever.  My original bus time was the 15:00, so with the hour delay in flight plus the delay in getting my baggage I missed the 16:00...or so I thought!

Turns out that the "Permieter Bus" has gone out of business   it went out of business some two months ago!  So, I'll have to claim that money back from the bank, as I paid by credit card.

I've managed to book by another company called SkyLynx, but it was apparently fully booked for the 17:00 bus.  Going to try my luck and ask the driver if there is room.  Otherwise it's the 19:00! *ugh*  So, I thought that I would get this blog entry in whilst I could on the free internet!

Myself, Chris and Koko had decided to go to Sanosaka today.  However, it also turned out that Wayne, Sandra and Mitch with Adrian also wanted to go, so we all got a lift and rode together for most of the day.  The powder and crowding over in Sanosaka was unbelievable.  It was also a cheap day for men on a Wednesday.  You have to take quite a few lifts and runs over and over to get through all of the three different mountain resorts.  The powder was really nice, deep and fresh.  We could have run all kinds of powder lines all day.

Mitch took us up and into a tree run that was just off a closed piste run (apparently this run has been closed for about 20 years, because of an accident all those years ago!).  The tree runs were so full of powder and you could choose your lines through, as long as you have loads of confidence.  Must admit that my confidence wasn't as high as it has been through the trees but is was all good.

The last run of the day was the best.  It was a really long ride down to the bottom and practically straight.  We all just pointed our boards down the slope and just went for it.  Really fast, if a little bumpy.  I'd recommend for people who come to Hakuba to go to Sanosaka often, as it was empty and had loads of powder runs to take.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy spells
Snow: 12cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder.
Wind: Light to moderate
Temperature: -4 to -12
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

This morning myslef, Koko and Chris had decided to hir out some Snowscoot "bikes".  It was amazing how cheap they were to hire.  Only 1000 Yen for two hours!  However, trust me, after two hours you are physically drained, so that is more than enough.

We all three headed up top with Stephen (who was skiing) and gave our first go down the slope.  I will say that I took to it virtually straight away, and was very quickly going down the slopes at speed.  Chris and Koko took a while longer but were really getting into it near the end of the two hours.  We did a few easy runs then hit a really steep part of a red run, and it was quickly obvious that none of us had ever ridden these things before!  By the end of the two hours I was looking for hit's, jumps and any kind of varied terrain and was really enjoying it.  The only thing I would say about the bikes is that it really gives you an upper body work out.

After lunch we got back on our boards and did some runs.  The weather was a really bad Wiches V**ina (= Cold, Wet and Nasty).  So we didn't do too many runs.  The powder was really deep and fluffy however, but quite wet.  I also wanted to take Koko and Chris down the off-piste run that I did yesterday.  However, when we got to the top of the run, I went first and immediately hit a drift up to my abdomen.  On trying to hike out, it was obvious that the conditions were quite dangerous so we decided to not hit the back country and instead head on down and catch the bus.

All in all a very entertaining day.

Visibility: Heavy clouds with extremely poor visibility
Snow: 22cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder, and snowing heavy all day
Wind: Strong to gale force
Temperature: -6 to -14
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today started off a bit lazy and I just couldn't get going.  I headed straight to the top of Goryu and decided to see if the kicker we built was still in place.  The snow and wind had completely obliterated any signs of the kicker and also the igloo.

I headed on down through the 'alpinaglade' and discovered that the wind had caused a top level of icy conditions.  However there were still areas where the powder was nice and light.  I headed straight on down the slope and down the double black mogul run.  Wasn't that exciting and I just couldn't get motivated.

I headed all the way back to the top again, and this time I was some people I recognised go off into the back country, an area where I had wanted to go.  The only reason why I haven't hit this back-country is that I have no idea where it leads out.  So I headed down as normal, down the piste and when I arrived at the gondola I say some of the people who did the back country.  Hmmm.  This encouraged me to go up and give it a go as I knew that there had to be an easy ride out.

I hit the top of the back country and it was so worth the ride.  There was just so much light powder, the trees were nicely spaced, the terrain was challenging with loads of drops, hits, jumps and amazing carve lines to take me down the slope.  The bottom run out was actually quite scary.  There were loads of trees that you had to duck under, avoid, and all on a very narrow track with a big drop off to the side.

I met Stephen at the top a couple times as he had decided to dig out his Igloo as I did the run again and again and again.  Good riding, just a pity that there was no-one else to enjoy it with me.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy patches
Snow: 2cm
Piste Condition: Light powder on top, some wind swepped and icy conditions
Wind: None to light
Temperature: -3 to -7
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Headed out for a ride on Saturday as the snow had been falling all night, and I also had a forced day off in the week.  I decided to head on out over to Happo One as I hadn't been there for a while.

The weather was atrocious with full blizzard and white out conditions.  I got all the way to the top and couldn't see a thing.  I knew where I wanted to head and gingerly made my way over to "Sky Line".  At the top of Sky Line I headed to the very right and found what I was looking for.  On the very far right there are some brilliant tree runs.  With the threes there it also provides better visibility as there is a contrast between the snow and trees.  My confidence in my riding made for the tree runs to be much faster and a lot more scary .  I basically hit the same run again and again taking different lines through the trees.  I did actually clip a few trees on the way and cause a few snow slides (but in a very safe and controlled area!).

The weather and my now well worn jacket conspired to me calling it quite an early end to the day.  After 13:30 I was soaked through.  I headed on down the mountain and stayed in the Happo One Ski School to dry off a little.  By the time I dried off I was just simply too tired so called it a day.

Visibility: Complete white out.
Snow: 20-40cm
Piste Condition: Loads of powder with icy conditions underneath
Wind: High to gale force
Temperature: -4 to -14
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

Today was a back country kicker building day!  The night before we bought a few large Chu-Hi (Highly alcoholic fruit drink - like a Alco-Pop) and also made dinner.  So the back-pack was loaded and myself and Chris and Koko headed on to Iimori.  We rode on over to the gondola and then to the lift at the top.  At this point Chris and Koko found Stephen, so he teamed up with us.

We headed on up around the top of the mountain to where we had previously had chosen to build the kicker.  I started up the hill and started to build the kicker, with Chris joining me very quickly.  Koko headed off for a couple runs, as she was still recovering from yesterdays crash.  It took myself and Chris about two hours to build the kicker before we were ready to hit it.  It had a short but very steep run in, with a huge run out.  We then broke for lunch to let the sun hit the kicker and melt/solidify.

When we got down to the base spot, we found that Stephen had dug out a huge wind breaker/igloo (without a roof).  Through the day it got deeper and we had an area where Chris and Koko could prepare their dinner, and also dug in 'egg chairs'.  Real good job!

After lunch we then decided to hit it.  Chris went first and it threw him up in the air.  He did say there was too much of a lip, but I thought I'd go anyway.  As such, I made the biggest splash of the day.  The think just threw me and I splashed way down the slope on my back.  The landing was however so soft it didn't hurt.  Through the day we hit it again and again.  Chris had a few spills that cartwheeled him a couple times, and for what ever reason didn't manage to land any, including his 180 attempt.  For what ever reason the kicker just simply wasn't a kicker to spin off (YET...what about tomorrow  ).  I only managed to land the thing three times, each time simple but big and long straight airs, all other attempts resulted in a splash out.

After we had drunk all the Chu-Hi, Koko decided to head on down and Chris decided to go on a Chu-Hi run.  There was a problem here in that Chris had left his jacket, and his lift pass was in it.  It was about an hour before myself and Stephen had worked out that they weren't coming back.  In the mean time we decided to try rolling down the hill whilst videoing it.

The day was getting late and thre was a nice wind lip near where we had built the kicker.  I decided it was time that I hit the wind lip.  The first attempt I got up some speed and went for it.  The landing was a lot harder than I thought but then went real soft.  As such I stacked my first hit.  The second hit, this time again I hit it with speed and I thought that I was going to stick the landing, but on the rid out it got real soft and the nose went in and I flipped.

We were too tired by now and we decided to head on down.  I gathered up Chris's jacket and gloves that he left, all the empty cans, and me and Stephen headed down.  I stopped in at "The Pod" on the way down to wait for Stephen and had a cheeky vodka red-bull.  Myself and Stephen then headed on over to Iimori for the bus.

What a good day.  We hit the Onsen to chill.  I've really caught the sun today and the tip of my nose is burned...OOops.  Sun block on that all day tomorrow me thinks!  Still it can't detract from all the good kicker riding.

Visibility: Blue-bird.
Snow: Dusting
Piste Condition: Bullet proof and icy, with sun crust on top of any powder
Wind: Moderate, decreasing to none.
Temperature: 3 to -1
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

With the weather staying warm once again, todays riding wasn't that great.

In the morning the conditions were at their best, but very quickly turned into slushy conditions with all the blue-bird and sunshine.  We headed to the top of the Iimori lift and hit the trees straight away (myself, Koko and Chris).  We all had a lot more confidence in riding the trees today.  We were just crashing through and brushing the branches away.  Confidence was much better.

We then wanted to head on up to the top as we wanted to ride on over to 47.  Unfortunately it was closed at the top so we had to settle with riding from the top of the Goryu gondola.  Heading down we grabbed every drop and powder that we could find.  The conditions at this time were still great, so we headed down the 38 degrees mogul slope.  Everything was filled with powder so it made for an interesting run.  Hit the deep powder, hit a mogule, get out of control and repeat   Near the top however, Chris and Koko got a good video of Chris and flying powder through the trees.  At the bottom, there was the good dip and real nice powder to crash on through.

We then hit the Iimori park a few times.  Again, for what ever reason the confidence was up and I was hitting the jumps, rails and pipe-rails much faster and better.  This however went a bit wrong for one of us.  Koko hit the up-along-down box and unfortunately took a big tumble and landed hard on her knees.  This forced a coffee stop, while we checked out the damage.  Thankfully with some hot and cold treatment it wasn't too bad.

After that and some positive encouragement given to Koko we headed on up over to the gondola to the top.  This time the runs over to 47 was open, so we headed on over to the new 'breaking the rules' tree run.  Koko was taking it easy and was doing some videos and mostly followed the cat-track.  The run through the trees was great for me and Chris.  As the sun had been beating down on the slopes the conditions of the slopes had really deteriorated.  So when we hit the top of the 47 gondola we decided to call it a day and run all the way to the bottom.  Again, Koko was videoing so we decided to take the cat-track.  Man it was so slow!

Visibility: Blue-bird with occasional patchy clouds.
Snow: Dusting
Piste Condition: Variable, from hard pack softening to spring slush
Wind: None to light.
Temperature: 2 to -3
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today I didn't go riding.  My increasingly dodgy ankle is suffering.  So instead I walked down to Hakuba village with Stephen.  Went to the post office and posted a postcard to my Mum (*awww*).  Had pizza at the place next to the train station.  Headed back up to Echoland and then straight to the Onsen.

Hike in the morning.  Myself, Chris, Koko and AJ went straight on over to Goryu and straight to the top of the mountain.  We had decided to hike to the top of the Goryu mountain, which we proceeded to do.  It was a very, very hot day today to do a hike and it was a tougher hike than the last time.  The view from the top however on a blue-bird day made up for that fact.  I headed off first, followed by AJ, Koko and Chris followed up the rear.  The ride down this time was more fun, as I pushed it a little more than the last time.  Everyone had a good ride however, and AJ said that his heart was really beating through the exilaration (he hadn't done anything like this before!).

We headed straight on down to the Escal plaza by going the straight route down the mountain.  It was nearly lunch time and we had only technically managed one run .

After lunch we put some runs through the Iimori park.  I was getting more confident on the first jump and was getting to the point of not scrubbing any speed off.  My rail, pipe-rail, and other jumps were all riding well and I was even tempted to try the 'drum tap' jump, but chickened out and jumpy popped the air instead.

After that we headed on over to Hakuba 47.  Whilst on the hike I had noticed that there was an extra out of bounds, through the trees run that we could take that leads onto the green cat trail.  So we headed on over into it and experienced some absolutely great 'silk like' powder through the trees.  There were now some big drops back down onto the cat trail, so they were a bit knarly to undertake but still great.

We then took some runs around Hakuba 47 and also through the park.  The park has been completely re-shaped from the last time I went through and the jumps had gone from a good decent size up to massive.  Had my first big crash on the first jump.  Came in switch and had planned to do a front side 180.  Just didn't spin enough and landed a 90 and ended up going face first down the transition "scorpion" style.  Still, no damage done.

We then headed on back up to the top of the mountain so Chris and Koko could pick up their backpack.  We were all feeling pretty beat so we headed right to the top and walked around the cat-walk to our favorite powder field.  We all just straight lined it all the way to the bottom without stopping once.  Really exhilarating, especially given the speed we were getting. Speed is your friend!

Then end of a tiring but great day. 

Visibility: Very Good.  Blue-bird with occasional patchy clouds.
Snow: None.
Piste Condition: Hard pack.
Wind: None to light.
Temperature: 2 to -5
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Visibility: Very Good.  Blue-bird morning, clouding over in the mid afternoon.
Snow: <2cm.
Piste Condition: Soft dry powder, but packed down in most places.
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: 2 to -4
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today got of to a real slow start.  Let's just say that yesterdays "couple of beers" turned into some 10 hours of drinking!  *ugh*  I did however get up and dragged AJ on over to Iwatake on the 09:30 bus.  First time for either of us over at Iwatake.  What I can say is that whilst the runs are not very long, they are very wide and open, and there is a load of jibbing to be had all over the place.  Also because of the Japanese mentality of following the rules rigidly, there was loads of powder to be had for us less rully   It's also a perfect resort for those beginner and novice riders with its wide open terrain.

The day started off with is simply cruzing down the slopes looking for hits and powder stashes.  Ideal hangover riding.  We then proceeded to take runs all over the place and I believe that we managed to ride the complete mountain.

We also hit the park in Iwatake.  I do however have to say that given the level of the average rider over there at the time the park was way to big in it's hits.  The very first jump has a very long table on it, and no matter what I did, and riding straight lined from the top, I couldn't get past the knuckle.  The spine however was in great conditions and I made some good hit's from it, along with the bench and rails.  Unfortunately AJ did manage to fall off the rail and bang his head, nothing serious though thank goodness.  We went around again, but it had effected his confidence a little so we decided to hit some more runs.

We simply made our way around the mountain looking for interesting features to hit and powder to ride.  There was just so much to be had!  We even took a ride in switch all the way down one of the upper slopes and practiced our 180's.

Eventually however, the hangover and tiredness caught up and we caught the 16:20 bus out of there.  I might have to go back to Iwatake later, especially when there is another big powder dump, as there is just so much that has not been touched (but we would be breaking the rules!").

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 5-20cm with light snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Soft but wind swepped in places.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: -2 to -7
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

After yesterdays great powder, we all thought today would be a really good day.  Unfortunately we were massively disappointed, and I forgot to GPS track todays riding!  The winds, even at the bottom runs was really strong and whipped up the powder.  As such, there were no lifts or gondolas up the mountain, so we had to settle for the lifts at Iimori and Goryu.

As we thought it would be a good day, we all headed out for the first bus and I took out the big Palmer to take advantage of the powder.  Myself, Koko, Chris, Dan and AJ.  Even though the wind was high the conditions of the slopes were in surprisingly good condition.  We rode everything we could, but had to make it work unlike yesterday.  The runs were super fast and to the sides just in the trees the powder was in good condition.

We all rode as hard as we could and also sessioned the Iimori park for a while.  The Palmer is not great in the park, but we were all hitting the jumps, rails, boxes, and everything else.  I decided to try out the big rail, the up-along-down box and also some spins on the rail-pipe.  The big rail and the up-along-down box are really intimidating, but once you have hit it a couple times you gain the confidence and start to try and hit it faster.  My attempts at spins on the rail-pipe weren't up to much but I didn't stack any.

After lunch we only hit the park and some runs a few times before we decided that the terrible weather conditions had taken their toll and decided to call it an early day.

Let's hope tomorrow the snow continues to fall and that the wind drops away.  Now off to the Onsen for a hot spring bathe and and relax!

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 1-2cm with light snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Wind swepped with some nice powder and some nasty ice patches.
Wind: Gale force.
Temperature: -6
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Powder, powder, powder!

There was a huge dump over night.  Some 20-30cm, and as I was up and early I had the best of it.  Myself, Chris, Koko, Dan and Louka all got the bus over to Iimori.  We arrived so early that the lift wasn't even open!  We shortly got up on the lift however, and the powder was just so deep and sweet.  We made lines through the trees, piste and just everywhere.

The Goryu gondola wasn't running to begin with, but that was no problem as we made the most of the Iimori side, until we saw the gondola start to move.  As such we headed on over and caught the line quick enough so that we were only a few gondolas from being first.

Up top however, it was obvious that there was a load of gusty wind and the top lifts weren't really running.  Again, this did not really matter as we just hit everything we could.  There was a really good double drop pillow hit near the top of the gondola that I managed to hit with good confidence and speed. Magic!  We did as much of the top as we could, riding is some bottom-less powder.  Even the mogul runs down to the base were great and you could really hit the bottom bowl with a lot of speed and just crash through the snow (with loads of weight on the back foot to counter the deep, deep snow).

After lunch the winds were really getting up and the guys had all decided to call it a day, as the good stuff had been tracked out.  I decided to give the gondola another go on my own, and was glad to see that the run over to Hakuba 47 was open, so I took it.  A mistake!

Hakuba 47 at the top gets the wind really bad.  On the way down the double black diamond the wind was so strong, and whipping up the snow so bad that I was getting battered and couldn't even see the board on my feet!  I had to stop there for a bit, as I really could not see a thing, and in the moguls and near the trees it's not a good thing.  I also stopped because a woman had lost here ski in the deep snow and was there on here own.  I stayed until she found her ski and then carried on.

I spend the rest of the day just going up and around all of Hakuba 47 and also the park.  I am really starting to like the park in 47.  The snow in parts was so deep, but wind swepped that you could be in waist deep powder on second and then on scoured ice the next.  After a few hours of taking a battering with the wind, I decided to call it a day...but what a day

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 20-30cm with snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Loads of fresh light powder.
Wind: Moderate increasing to gale force.
Temperature: -7 to -10
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Today started off a little slow and did not get much better.  Myself, Alex, Chris and Koko headed on over to Hakuba 47.  We headed on up and took a couple runs on-board before heading into the Hakuba 47 park.  I went through the pipe and didn't do too bad and got some really good and high push off the walls.  It was then straight into the jumps and rails.  I pulled a switch 180, small but still felt good.  I then switched over to the box and just did a 50-50.  Over to the bigger jump, and because of the conditions I hit it very much harder than I expected and because I couldn't see the landing it turned out to be a very much bigger jump than I expected.  I then hit the last couple jumps and again I hit it much larger than expected.

We then headed back up the lift to hit the pipe again.  It turns out that Chris hasn't actually ridden a pipe before, so myself and Alex had to persuade him to give it a go.  Alex had borrowed a new board and he had massive toe over-hang.  So for him the pipe just wasn't going to happen.

We then headed up to the top, as we were supposed to meet everyone over at the "Pod" at 11:00.  As there was some nice powder around today with all the snowfall, we hit a few powder drops and a huge load of jibbing spots.  We did however decided to head straight down and through the mogul field.  Even with the new load of fresh powder it was a hell of a lot of hard work.

When we arrived at the Pod there was a very large number of Snowbeds residents in there.  We had a drink and found that one of the guy's had cut his leg badly (clash with his friends earlier up the slope), and after we took a couple photos he headed off to get it seen to. Ended up he needed six stitches.

After the Pod pit-stop we headed on over to the Iimori park.  The wet snow was giving trouble in getting enough speed for the jumps and they were not good.  The rails and boxes were good however.  By now however we were really starting to feel the effects of the effort made (so I was quite sweaty) and the very wet snow conditions.   So we simply got up the lift and rode on over to the Goryu plaza and got the 13:30 bus back.

Visibility: Cloudy.
Snow: 3-8cm with wet snow through the day.
Piste Condition: Light powder with hard packed ice underneath.
Wind: None.
Temperature: 0 to +2
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

The plan this morning was to get the 08:00 bus over to Goryu.  The second part of the plan was to do some hiking at the top of Goryu.  However, by the time the others got their fingers out we ended up getting the 09:30 bus to Iimori.

Myself, Chris, Koko and Alex headed on up the chair lift at Iimori and took the cat track on over to the gondola.  After the gondola we got the lift to the top of Goryu.  This is where the hike started.  We rounded the mountain and were disappointed to see that the other lift was now in operation, and that the powder field that we had nearly to our selves on Friday had been completely tracked out.  This wasn't the objective first thing however.  Instead we carried on round and then started the hike on to the top of the resort.

Koko decided not to join us in the hike so it was left to us boys.  After a good 45-60 minute hike, and a number of times of putting the pressure on Chris to go higher...("I didn't want to die!" - Chris) we ended up quite near the top.  On the way however we met this 72 year old man who was snow shoeing and was on his way down from the top.  Hope for an old b'stard like me

Near the top, I took the opportunity to let the guys know that I have experienced a few avalanches.  As such, it was insisted that I went first  I popped on over the snow shoe track and into some sweet, sweet powder!!!  I kept pretty much to the ridge as the avalanche risk really was quite high today, and the guys followed my lines quite close (still making their won and getting some sick powder).

Koko at the bottom got some video of us coming along the ridge and then coming down through the trees.  Should be uploaded shortly!  High five!

After such a hike we decided to ride to the bottom and grab a drink.  The piste was really quite packed and as the sun was out in force today the conditions were not ideal.  After grabbing a drink, we decided to hit the park a little.  Was a bit more confident in the park today, despite the ankle still being a problem, even after having a couple days off.

We then took the lift up to take the race track run.  It was really quite icy but you could pick up some good speed.  We then headed on over to the gondola again and up to the top again.  It was here that we then had lunch at Alps360.

We did a few more runs, and made some really good powder drops and jumps.

Visibility: Blue bird.
Snow: None.
Piste Condition: Hard packed with some patches of ice
Wind: None.
Temperature: +4
Crowding: Heavy.
Lift Lines: Heavy decreasing to none.

It was a long weekend here in Japan and today was the bank holiday Monday.

This morning started off with 11 of us from Snowbeds heading off to Hakuba 47/Goryu together.  We all set off up the mountain together where Chris was going to show us some new lines.  The group quickly whittled down to 8 as the lest experienced riders decided to go off on their own.  We headed up the lift at Imori and took the run down the cat track and over to the gondola.  Taking the gondola to the top, a short ride down to the next lift, this is when Chris's experience on the mountain told.  He showed us some really nice and easily accessible drops down onto some really nice powder.  The group was gradually dwindling down to 5.

We then headed on over to the Imori park.  Unfortunately on the very first jump I managed to really tweak my already dodgey ankle.

We rode around experiencing a number of different powder stashes around the whole place.  It was then that Chris showed us the real 'stash'.  Taking the lift to the very top of Goryu, you then had to take a little hike on over to where one of the lifts was not in operation.  This is where there was a really nice powder fields that was completely un-touched.  It was what can only be described as 'bottom less powder'.  On the way down everyone got bogged down in the snow and had to dig their selves out.  Thankfully for me I managed to keep my speed and got through the powder with little effort.

We then headed on down the slope to meet up with Mark and Henna at the "Pod" bar.  We didn't meet up with them unfortunately, and it was then that we lock Chris and Koko.  So the group was down to three.  Myself, Alex and Jamie stayed at the Pod and had a vodka redbull and an Australian pie.  We also met Geremie, another Snowbeds patron.

After lunch, we three then decided to head on up and hit the power stash again.  This time however, the visibility was better and I could see that there was a good jump spot.  I rode down first and hit it real big style.  Jamie who was behind said that I really hit it, the snow exploded and I got a really big jump (good to have a witness!).  As it was so good.

Doing the powder stash the second time, I pointed out the jump to the Alex, who missed it the last time.  This time however Jamie had his camera ready and caught me on the jump.  Wasn't as big as the first time bit was still good.  Alex for some reason didn't see the jump, Ollied early and bailed the jump.  Got it on camera too The powder was too good to miss, so we decided to go for it a third time.  This time I took the video camera and filmed Jamie and Alex.

By now on the way down, my ankle was really giving me trouble.  Really could not manage to hold a toe edge turn.  So, thankfully on this last run we decided to call it a day.

For the up coming weekend, it's a long weekend holiday in Japan.  Apparently every bed in the resort(s) are fully booked.  So it's going to be a very busy weekend on the slopes, so it's time to start drinking...

Once again today I started off really early.  I woke up however with a really sore back, and it took me quite a while to work it loose and become more responsive.  I headed on over to Hakuba 47 with a few from Snowbeds.  Mark, Hanni, Ivan and Calum.  Myself, Hanni and Ivan headed on straight up the lifts at Iimori and took advantage of the lovely soft groomed runs for a few runs.

We then wanted to head on up to the top of the mountain, however the winds were high so the lifts were closed, so we could only go as high as the gondola would take us.  So we took the Route 1 run a few times.  There was an area between some cat tracks where there was some great powder and in there there was this one pillow of snow.  I hit this and took a huge air, and managed to no stack the landing in the deep powder.  Was disappointed that somehow on the next two runs I managed to not find it again?  On the way back down to the gondola there are a couple of small jumps.  We were hitting these jumps and I was managing to get some really good air.

The confidence in my riding over the last couple of days has really come back and I am feeling really good about it given my injury last year.

After Mark and Hanni left at lunch time, I headed on up to the top of the mountain.  It was a complete white out and could not see much further past the front of my board.  This didn't stop me however, as I'm a sicko and actually like these conditions.  I completely sessioned the top lift and a run that takes in powder riding, a natural jump, small tree run, and a long wide piste run (but very choppy).  I hit it about 15 times, and each time I hit the jump I was really getting some long distance.

It was getting really cold at the top, and I was getting tired so I took the run all the way to the gondola again.  Was really in a good jibbing mood too and was trying to hit everything I could find.  On the way down I met up again with Ivan and Calum and rode the green run with them a couple times.  Calum then headed off for the bus and me and Ivan did some switch riding runs for a while.  I gave Ivan some riding tips, switch riding tips (he keeps lowering his head and looking at his feet!), and then how to do some simple ollies.  Did that for a couple runs, and since time was getting on a bit we headed on up top.

It was still extremely poor visibility at the top, but I showed Ivan my little favorite run and we did it a couple times.  We then headed down at full pelt (as fast as we could, what with no visibility, tired legs and choppy conditions, and grommits all over the place).

Another long (near 9 hours), but really good day!

Visibility: Good visibility in the morning, clouding over and near zero visibility at the top.
Snow: About 5cm.
Piste Condition: Groumed, light and fluffy and wind sweped at the top
Wind: None, increasing to strong.  Decreasing in the afternoon to light.
Temperature: -2 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

After yesterdays marathon days riding, I was a little surprised that I made it up early this morning to get the 08:00 bus on over to Hakuba 47.  I actually got a lift with one of the guests from Snowbeds over just before the bus arrived, so that was good.  We then decided to head on up and ride together.  We both headed on up to the top of Hakuba 47, which was a really good idea.

After the last few days snow and cloudy conditions this morning was relatively clear and bright.  As such the piste had been well groomed and was very light and soft.  So when we took the first lines down they were absolutely fantastic.  It took virtually no effort to ride all the way from the very top of Hakuba 47/Goryu all the way down "route 1" to the bottom and very high speed.  So we did that again!  Absolutely fantastic!

We also decided to give the park a bit of a go and also the pipe.  The pipe is your typical affair.  One side is sun hit the other ice frozen.  However the pipe was in really good condition.  I must admit that my pipe riding was up to it's usual 'wimpy' standards.  However, my park riding was getting more confident.  Managed to get in some really big airs and also some prober holding on grabs, not just snatches.

As you can see from the GPS tracking, we rode the park a few times and did a few runs from top to bottom.

For lunch we headed on down to the gondola station of Hakuba 47, where I had a vegetable Udon.  Me...vegetables!  Trust me however, it was fantastic.

For the rest of the afternoon I was left to my own devices.  I actually on put in a couple long rides down to the bottom, before reaching Goryu base and frankly I was really tired, especially after yesterday.  So, I called it an early-ish end to the day and headed on over back to Snowbeds.

Visibility: Good visibility, with hazy sunshine.
Snow: About 1cm.
Piste Condition: Soft corduroy early, getting sticky and a bit choppy later
Wind: None.
Temperature: -1 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

  Early start, late finish and only 20 minutes lunch break.  A total of about 9 hours riding!  As such, I am really tired and will keep this one short(ish).

Was up early today and headed on over to Hakuba 47 today.  Was out the door before 08:00 in the morning.  Went out with Mark and Hanna, a couple who are also staying at Snowbeds.  We spent most of the morning riding around looking for powder and also hitting the park.  The park isn't huge, but was good for me to get warmed up in.  We started off with a small jump, swung over to the left and hit the medium jump, swing over to the right and hit the box, then on to the second medium jump.  Was all going quite well today, just need to attack them with more speed.  Managed a few 'quick' grabs, and a rather poor switch 180.  But what the hell, it was a 180 and the first in about two years!

While Mark and Hanna headed off for lunch I decided to skip lunch and go for it.  I headed on up and had a run then decided to do the "Adventure Run" which is a double black diamond.  Big mistake as it was one massive mogul field, and a very long run to boot!  Will not be doing that again until it either gets groomed or a big dump of snow happens.

I then decided to have a drink, and bought from a vending machine a hot canned Latte! Blinking excelent!  I them met Thomas, another Snowbeds guest and skier.  We then proceeded to rip up Hakuba 47 and Goryu.  I didn't know until I arrived in the morning that Hakuba 47 and Goryu are fully joined together as one resort!  The conditions made it really hard riding in the afternoon.  The clouds rolled in and you really couldn't see very far in front of you.

We ended up riding right to the end of the day.  Man, am I tired...

I did however find that when I got home that I had accidentally switched off the GP tracker at some point in the day.  Will have to get some tape and stop if from being switched off!  Hence why the GPS tracking for today is limited.

Visibility: Poor, cloudy and patchy.  Better in the morning.
Snow: About 9cm, and snowing all day.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: -1 to -8
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Again took my time this morning in getting out.  I met up with a group of the guys who have just arrived at Snowbeds and ended up riding today with a guy called Christian.  We headed on straight to the top of the mountain and proceeded to ride all the way down to the bottom.  We then proceeded to just ride around the place, and I gave Christian some guidance on his riding.  I basically covered nearly the same ground as I did yesterday, but today I started to put in some jibbing.  I haven't quite plucked up the courage to try out the 180's quite yet, but hope to give them a go soon.

After lunch, myself and Chrisian headed back up "Skyline" and took a run down.  It was becoming clear that Christian was struggling, and was extremely tired and that his legs were in that burning trouble.  So thankfully when we were on the way up, the weather closed in and gave us a good excuse to head on over and take a last run down.  However by now Christian was really struggling and only managing 20-30m before having to stop.  We have all been there, and will probably all go there again!

I stayed with him, to make sure that in this tired state that he didn't hurt him self.  To push myself I decided to put some switch riding in, and proceeded to ride the rest of the way down in switch.  It didn't really start out that good, but the switch riding soon started to pick up.  Still a long way to go.

Visibility: Bright Sunshine until after lunch, then snow filled clouds rolled in and reduced visibility to near zero.
Snow: About 3cm, and snowing in the afternoon.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: 2 to -4
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

Woke up this morning with a might headache.  Probably through dehydration.  I had drunk about 4 liters of water yesterday but probably still not enough, given the altitude and all the exersise.  Unfortunately it stayed with me all day.

Got up this morning and discovered that there was loads of fresh snow on the ground.  So obviously made an effort to try and get out there earlier.  Didn't quite succeed, and again got the 09:30 bus.

The new snow fall was really nice light powder.  The bad news was that it had fallen onto yesterdays choppy runs, and as such it was very, very quickly quite hard going.  It was also snowing all through the day, and currently at 21:00 here is still snowing, if some what rather pitifully now.  Let's hope it's snowing better up the mountain.

Like on any powder day, you can't stop for anyone and you have to try and find those lines quickly.  As there is very little off piste allowed here in Happo One, nearly all the fresh tracks were taken really quite early.  However as the snow was falling all day, things soon filled back up again, only to be ridden again.

I spent most of my day looking for areas where there wasn't the multitude of the weekend warriors.  And also on the look out for more terrain.  I also made a considerable effort to make sure that my technique was good today.  Earlier in the day it' didn't start off great, but those snow legs soon came into their own.  I was soon riding the chop better than I have ever done.  My angulation and inclanation was nearly always spot on.  This made for some really successful riding, as I charged through the chop and powder with less effort and more style than previous.

I must admit that I spent most of the day riding to be what I have found to be the best run in Happo.  I took a couple runs over one side above the ridge and in the trees, but it was hugely tracked out and really quite icy in places.  The other side was quite moguled.  It is something I do have to say about happo, is that there are a lot of moguls around the place.

I ended up going down this really nice cat track and ended up at the far right (looking at the piste map) of the resort where I had lunch.  With my iPod video, I find that whilst eating lunch, I can also watch part of a movie.  Todays movie was the start of Pirates of the Carribean. 

After lunch I just headed back up to my favorite run (need to remember the name of the thing and update this blog entry!).  Did that for a while, headed to the top of the resort, did a few runs there and was heading down the left most run when I decided that my legs had had enough for the day.  So I continued down to wait for the bus.  Unfortunately I had missed the bus by a couple minutes and had to wait a while for the next one.  Thankfully there are heated cabins that you can wait in.

Visibility: Poor.  Low snow filled cloud.
Snow: 15-20cm, and snowing all day.
Piste Condition: Choppy, but with loads of powder
Wind: Light to moderate.
Temperature: -4 to -6
Crowding: Moderate decreasing to light.
Lift Lines: Moderate to light.

Visibility: Bright but hazy, deteriorating to bright but very flat light.
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Choppy
Wind: Light to none.
Temperature: -4 to -6
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

My first day of riding in Japan didn't get off to a quick start.  I was rushing around trying to get ready, and just wasn't quite switched on to snowboarding mode and didn't quite get everything together as quickly as a should have.  As such I missed the 08:45 bus and the next one was at 09:30.  No worries, as I do have a lot of time here in the area to go for it.

The bus ride was a short hop over to the resort, where I got some advice from Phil, one of the guest as Snowbeds, on where to ride on Happo One.  I bought a three day pass, and you get this little device with an LCD screen on it, that is your electronic pass.  Cool.

I headed straight on up to the highest point I could get to on the mountain.  The first thing that struck me is how old the ski lift system is here, and how slow it all is.  The second thing that got me is that very few of the chair lifts actually have safety bars, and the ones that do the Japanese don't appear to like to have it down!  It's no wonder that when it's windy they stop the lifts.  Let's hope they get some better and newer lifts in soon.

This is the first real time I've snowboarded since my accident last year in Davos (see earlier blog entries).  So I must admit that I was quite apprehensive.  It told in my riding, as I just wasn't very confident, stable, or fluid.  However this can also be attributed to this also being my first days riding, so the snow legs were not there.  This did however change through the day, and my riding got more and more confident.  Still not back to what it was but definitely getting there.

The conditions on the slopes were quite good, and there were only a few spots of ice that I found near the top of the mountain, but nothing too much.  I do however have to say that you can ride all of the piste rides in Happo One in about half a day if you put your mind to it.  I am sure that more riding will open up when more snow comes, and my confidence levels increase.

I woke up early this morning as I didn't sleep that well.  So, got up and checked out todays travel itinerary.  Get to Tokyo station, buy tickets to the Shinkansen (Tokyo - Nagano Bullet train), get on the train arrive Nagano, get bus tickets, get on Bus, arrive Hakuba (Happo station stop) and get taxi to Snowbeds.  Hmm.  Sounds complicated but it wasn't really.

I checked out of the hotel at about 09:30 and walked to the Tokyo station.  It isn't that easy with a big board bag and another holdall bag, but it wasn't too bad as I am used to it.  As I had checked out the way to the station and what entry to the station to take it was quite easy.  It's best to enter from the South East entrance, as this is exactly where platform 22 is, for trains to Nagano.  The ticket office is there too.  It cost about 7,500 Yen to buy the ticket and have a reserved seat.  Once on the platform there are signs to tell you where each carriage is going to stop, and outlined on the platform where you are to stand to board at a specific entrance.

The train arrived and the passengers got off.  A little bemusing to myself was that no passengers attempted to get on.  Instead a cleaner for each and every carriage got on and proceeded to clean and dust every single part of the carriage.  Try getting service like that in the UK?  We were eventually allowed to get on.  Thankfully at my end of the carriage there was somewhere to safely stack my board bag and put my holdall, which was nicely out of the way.  I then went and took my seat.  Man, these bullet trains are wide and spacious.  The seats are in rows of two and three, each seat having ample elbow and massive leg room.  So much so, that my feet were barely able to touch the seat in front.  Only trouble was that my seat was an aisle seat and I didn't have much opportunity to look out of the window.  Booo!  I do think however, that on the left I got to see Mt Fuji, but couldn't be sure.

A measly 1½ hours later, and about 170Km, I arrived at Nagano.  This is where the first bit of confusion occurred.  There are two exits from the station, each of which are signed as having bus stops.  The exit you want is the east exit.  The other exit goes down some stairs into an open area, and this is not the way.  Once you are on street level, there is a souvenir shop and this is where you buy the ticket for the bus.  Once you have the ticket make your way all the way to the end of the bus stop lane, stop number 6, and this is where the Hakuba bus can be found.  It wasn't long before my bus arrived and I climbed on board.

If you have ever taken a bus to a ski resort before, you'll know that there isn't really that much to look at.  Lots of mountain passes, little villages and usually a river or two.  Unfortunately this was mostly the same, interspersed with massive concreting of the mountain sides to stop the hillside coming down onto the road.  After a couple stops I arrived at the Happo buss terminal.  I took my bags to the information center and got them to call me a taxi which duly arrived.  I loaded my bags and was shortly outside Snowbeds.

When I entered Snowbeds I must admit that I was a little shocked at just how many people were there.  Apparently the place can handle up to about 30 at a time!  Mind you, I'm not exactly sure what I actually thought the place was going to be like!

I've had a very brief show around the place and paid my 28 days accommodation fees.  I've also had a chance to meet some of the people whom are residing here at the moment.  Every one of them seam like good people, and are from all over the place.  New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Wales, America, to name but five.  A real cosmo crowd.  The place is nice too.  Lot's of space and it's very tidy.  Probably one of the benefits of the owners residing here too

All I need to do now, is work out where the bus arrives tomorrow and what bus to take.  Then get a lift pass organised.  Shouldn't take me long to get settled though.

Despite getting up rather early today, I still didn't get out of the hotel until about 09:00.  It took me a while to get ready, and to write yesterdays blog entry.  It was quite a long one

My first goal today was to scope out the route from my hotel to the Tokyo main station, from where I will get the train to Nagano on Friday.  So I headed straight along side the train line, then headed straight up into Marunouchi district and headed into Tokyo station from the west.  After spending a little time figuring out the map, and wandering on over, I can tell that it's from platform 23 I need to depart and it is easier if I enter from the south east entrance.

That done, I headed on up the east side onto the 'Eitai-dori' and over into the Imperial Palace East Garden.  I have to say that it really is a nice place to wander around, and it would be much more appealing in the spring or summer.  I'd recommend it.  I've got some great photos and will be adding these soon.

I exited up by Takebashi, and headed for my second goal of the day.  Gadgets!

I passed through the 'Bookshop Neighborhood' and found some of the stores fascinating. I then discovered that there was a 'Sporting Good Neighborhood' and had a quick look in at a Solomon shop.  But really wanted to push on to the Electronics Neighborhood.

The stores here are amazing.  So many of them, and every single one of them is huge and packed.  What a place.  Makes everywhere else I've been look absolutely pathetic (thinking Totenham Court Road in London).

It was getting later into the afternoon, and I decided to have lunch.  Yum!  My favorite, Japanese noodle soup!  It is a little strange wandering along and seeing plastic models of all the meals that you can get!  I wonder how some 'slop' in the UK would look in a plastic model

After lunch, I wandered around the electric stores a little more.  But I was getting tired now, after all I had walked everywhere.  So I decided to head back, but via the sporting goods neighborhood to see what I could see.  Some of the stores I went in to were packed floor to ceiling with snowboarding/skiing equipment and gear.  It's no wonder the Japanese are mad for the sport when they can get all this in one small area.  Again, it knocks the socks of every other place I have ever been to!

I headed back down towards the Imperial gardens and headed down the Uchidor-dori and back towards Shimbashi where the hotel is.  I visited a couple convenience stores to buy some drinks and snacks for tomorrow.  Then back to the hotel.

Getting on the Hotel Internet

Man, the Internet connection here might be free but it's a right pain in the arse to get on!  You have to submit to a full anti-virus scan, which is done via a Web page and a few Active-X controls.  The firs trouble is that it's all in Japanese, so I didn't have a clue what to click on.  I then noticed that in the URL it does state that the "Language=jp", so I changed it to "en", and that did the trick.  However, it has to do a deep scan, and analyses all of the files on your HD.  Since I have a hell of a lot on my machine this took about an hour!  Yes, an hour!  So that was a right pain in the butt. Eventually I managed to get on though.

Plans for later

When I got back to the hotel it was only about 17:00.  The plan is to get the blogs and GPS tracking entries updated, and then head out for some beers.  My plan is to get some well earned rest and then about 21:00 head on over to Roppongi for some drinks and possibly a quick look at a club!  Looking forward to blogging about that.

  To view the GPS track interactively, go to http://wai.internetwideworld.com/GPSWebService/

Birmingham to London Heathrow

Birmingham to Euston

I decided to get the earlier train of 06:40, rather than the 07:15. Partly because I prefer to be early rather than rushing and also because I know what traveling through London is like, having lived there.

So I set three different alarm clocks to go at 05:45. When they went off I got up straight away and started to get ready, and was out the door by 06:15

The night before I trussed up my board bag and holdall into one, so that all I had to do was roll the snowboard bag. Quite a good arrangement. Despite this, the weight eventually tells, when you have to pull it all the way to the train station.

As is becoming usual when traveling on Virgin trains, the seat booking system was not working, and even the carriage lettering wasn't working. So my attempt to book a seat near where there was a bicycle storage facility was thwarted. There simply wasn't enough time to fin the correct carriage and get on the train! So I simply separated the two bags, put the holdall in the regular bag rack, and stacked my board bag in the train door areas.

Other than feeling the compulsion to check on my snowboard bag every 10 minutes the trip to Euston was very uneventful.

I did notice that coming into London there was a lot of fog around. I was a little concerned that this could cause some flight delays.

Euston to Heathrow

Once I unloaded at Euston I headed straight to the underground. I arrived at the station escalator to find a guard roping it off, which would have left me having to hump the bags, in rush hour, down the stairs. Thankfully I got his attention and he let me use the escalator. Probably much to the annoyance of others

I needed to take either the Northern or Victoria line to connect with the Piccadilly line. I plumped for the Victoria line and to change at Green Park. This didn't prove too successful. The platform was absolutely packed. I eventually made my way to the end of the platform where I hoped for a better chance to get onto the train. After about 5 trains, each of which were packed to bursting, I eventually managed to squeeze on with a little help from a kind Australian woman.

After that it was pretty smooth sailing once again.

I got out at Green Park and dragged the bags to the Piccadilly Line. Not a pleasant 'drag' as there was a lot of people.

Once again I headed to the end of the platform to try and get on the last carriage. Once again I let a couple trains go as they were packed. I then managed to get on, to an Rayners Park train, which wasn't the branch I wanted, but I thought that I could change somewhere further along the line and therefore find it easier to get on. This I did at Barrons Court. Only had to wait a few seconds before a Heathrow train, and practically empty at that.

Sat on the train and read a few news papers that were left behind.

Heathrow to Check-In

Once you arrive at Heathrow, there is quite a trek from the tube station to the terminal. Thankfully at that point I could pick up a trolley and put the bags on it.

I scooted my way to the terminal in my usual quick passed fashion and was there in no time.

For my Virgin-Atlantic flight it was in zone A, and to my pleasant surprise it was very quiet.

Check-In

They have this "Three Part Check-In" system, that to me didn't make a single bit of difference. Firstly you have to weigh your own bags. Then you have to scan your passport/booking in a machine and confirm all your details. It them prints you a ticket of kinds.

You then have to go to the normal check-in desks. Having done the other two steps, they then again had to weight the bags and produce new tickets. So to me, it begs the question of why bother? Seams like beurocrasy to me. The check-in took as long as usual and in my view there was no difference.

As is typical, I had to take my snowboard bag on over to the 'over sized' trolley, and with that I was on my way.

Boarding

Security

I quickly progressed through security, as once again there were very little in the way of queues. Probably a benefit of traveling during the week and not the weekend, and of going to a more exotic location.

For a change I didn't have to take my computer out of the bag, which made it easy as I have a plethora of gadgets. After all I am a gadget geek!

There was a second security scanning section in that it was dedicated to scanning your shoes! Many recent travelers will have experienced this, but this is the first time that for me it's been done at a different machine.

I was then on in to the lounge. I had a quick scope around to see what was there and grabbed a quick sandwich for breakfast and a drink. Ahhh! Needed that!

Did the usual mooch around the electrical shops but nothing took my fancy.

Gate Call

I say the boarding gate notification change and made my way to boarding gate 5. I sat down near the entrance door and took advantage of a free newspaper. I only had to wait a few minutes before they started boarding. I could tell that the flight wasn't busy and the boarding call basically allowed everyone to go at the same time.

I settled into seat 59K.

Flight to Narita (Tokyo) Airport

The flight was ready before time, as the flight wasn't fully booked. Looking outside it also looked like the fog had mostly lifted.

As appears to be a common theme, and long may it continue, the flight was very uneventful. Some small minor turbulence points but nothing to bat an eyelid at.

I usually can not sleep when flying. This trip I did actually manage about an hour to an hour and a half, which was great, if completely uncomfortable.

The entertainment systems on board were excellent and the best I have experienced. The screen was large and the system allowed me as an individual to choose what I wanted to watch and fully control the experience. There were about 30 films available, and I could start, stop, fast forward and rewind at will! Now, this is the way that these systems should be like.

I watched three movies, but can't remember what they were at this time.

We arrived early, and I could tell that there were a lot of low clouds and rain. The runway was very wet but it didn't appear to have made any difference to the landing.

Arrival in Narita

As is usual, after disembarking I made my way to passport control, and after a very short line I was in and through. You have to submit to providing a copy of your finger prints of your index fingers and also for them to take a picture. No problem.

I picked up my luggage very quickly, mainly because there were not very many people on the flight, and partly because of the typical efficiency of the Japanese.

Through customs and I headed to the 'Airport Limousine' desk, where I booked my bus to the hotel.

I sat down for a coffee while waiting for the bus, and thought I'd check the GPS tracking. DISASTER! It had only recorded some 27 points! I was sure I checked the settings and that it was recording, but apparently not. So, I reset and set it up for the bus to the hotel. The battery wasn't in good shape either, I just hoped that it had enough to get to the hotel.

Bus to the Hotel Dai Ichi Anex

The weather was drizzly when we set off and I was starting to feel the jet-lag, but this didn't detract me from watching the scenery go past.

I was actually quite disappointed, as there wasn't much of interest to see until we got into the city, and even that was limited. So I only took a few photos on the way.

The bus goes to the Hotel Dai Ichi, where I was dropped off. The Dai Ich Anex is literally only a few meters away and the concierge helped me with my bags. The Japanese people really are so pleasant and helpful. After a short check in I was up to my room. I wasn't sure if I should tip or not, so left it.

Jet-lag and the hotel room

When I got into my room, a few things struck me. Firstly the room was quite small, but to be honest was a good size. There was a large TV and a really good view. There was also a massage chair and foot massage stool, which I proceeded to try out as soon as possible. Man, I'd be tempted to buy one of these! Was so good!

The room had virtually everything automated. The lights, drapes and lace window cover were all controlled from the bed side panel.

I decided that I was going to chill out for a bit and watch a movie on my iPod. Which I did, and was really feeling tired. So went to bed.

I woke up at about 9PM, and whilst I was hungry, I decided that I was still tired and simply went back to sleep, to get ready for the next full day in Tokyo.

Visibility: Sunny with cloudy periods
Snow: 0cm
Piste Condition: Groomed with large ice patches
Wind: Moderate.
Temperature: -4 at the base to -13 at the top.
Crowding: Moderate
Lift Lines: Moderate

I earlier posted that I was planning to go snowboarding for Winter 2008 in Hakuba, Japan.  Well, it's all booked!

My current work contract finishes on Friday 25th January.  So, on the Friday night I plan to go out on the piss with friends.  To fly to Japan takes 12 hours and you arrive the next day due to the time difference.  So, rather than flying on a Saturday and arriving on a Sunday, or traveling to London on a Sunday I thought that I would leave departing the UK until the Monday 28th.  I fly out with Virgin Atlantic on the Monday 28th to Tokyo-Narita airport and arrive the next day.

I've always, since I was a kid wanted to visit Tokyo.  This is the perfect opportunity to do so.  So, I've planned for a couple nights stay in Tokyo at a hotel near Shimbashi station.  I plan to do some of the usual touristy things, and more specifically since I am a geek who likes to drink I'll be going to Shinjuku for the gadgets and Roppongi for the nightlife.

Then on Friday 1st February I'll be heading to Hakuba where I'll be staying with Mitch who runs a backpacker hotel called www.snowbedstravel.com for 28 days.  Man are they cheap, and they come extremely highly recommended from "Rodo" a friend of mine.

You should check out the snow reports for the resort.  Oh my dizzy aunt, there is so much snow.  In the last 3 days there has been some 300cm of snow!

Then when the sad day comes on Thursday 28th February, I'll start heading back to old blighty.  It would be too much trouble getting from Hakuba easily and making the flight, so I decided to stay in a hotel near Narita airport for the night then fly the next day, the Friday 29th February.

Again, because of the time zone difference I'll arrive back in the UK, still mid-day on the Friday 29th February, just in time to go out on the piss with friends again

Let me know where you are going for this winter, or if you are heading over to Japan around the same time, let me know as I'm always willing to meet up.

The following is a letter I received from the Doctors at the "Spital Davos", who treated me after my injury.  It was mostly in English but there were some typical translation errors!

===========

Davos, 29.01.2007

Sehr geehrter Herr Kollege

Nachfolgen berichten wir ihnen uber die ambulante Behandlung vom 29.01.2007

Dignosis:	AC Joint dislocation Rockwood ii-lll left side
Amanesis:	The patient fell while snowboarding
Findings:	Swelling and pinpoint tenderness over the AC joint. High riding clavicle.  Piano key test positive. Painful hyper-adduction test. Neurovascular status intact.
X-Ray:	AC joint ap: no bony lesion Bilateral weighted panoramic X-ray: Dislocation in the AC joint of more than clavicle width.
Therapy:	Rest Mefanamin acid 3*500mg per day for analgesia
Procedure:	Rest for one week For further clinical controll the patient will report to your medical practice.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen

Dr. Barbara Inauen Ärztin Notfall / Gynäkologie

Dr. Thomas Perren Co-Chefarzt Chir./Ortho.

======

This is the X-Ray.  You can see on the right the difference between it and the other shoulder (which is my left).  The lump is also extremely prominent on my shoulder even now, almost two weeks later!

I didn't get up as early as I wanted to, as I didn't set the alarm on my phone quite right. Still, I was up and after breakfast I headed on down to buy my lift pass all by 09:20.

I bought my lift pass and joined the bustle on the Jakobshornbahn cable car to the mid station and changed over to the other car to the top. I switched on the GPS tracking and watched it track my progress up the cable car.

At the top I got the camera out and took some photos, as it was a lovely clear day. Then strapping on the board I headed down the cat track to the top of the Stadlersee. Seeing that everyone went off to the right, and feeling good I ignored the pack and headed off to the left in to some off piste that looked good.

OK, so it probably wasn't the best idea, as I found that the snow was very crusty and that my board set-up wasn't quite right. The piste went off to the right, and I generally followed the tracks. They all started to converge and ended up that there was only really 1 way out. I took a quick photo and eventually made my way around to the Jatz Quattro lift.

On the way up the lift I noticed that the park was just to the left and decided to give it a go. First up was a little kicker. It wasn't actually a very good jump, yes the takeoff was nice but the table was about 3m and the landing had zero real transition. So you either had to hit it perfect, hit the knuckle, or miss the transition and land on the flat. First time, I was too cautious and landed on the table.

After that was the 'monster pipe'. Not really a monster but a mid sized pipe really. As is typical, one side of the pipe was ice and the other soft and slushy. Can't say I rode it very well but was a good warm up. So went around again, with virtually the same results.

I decided to ride more of the mountain, and generally rode every piste that was available, without having to take the big long Brämabüel T-bar.

Along the way I tried a few 180's. The front side were OK, but nothing special, but at least the were there. Only tried 1 back side, which really wasn't that good. I also took the opportunity to get some switch riding in on some of the icy black runs. The switch held up really well, even if it was only sliding turns. Will have to try and work on the carve switch turns!

I eventually headed down to the Jschalp for some lunch about 12:00 and chilled for a bit. I also checked the GPS, and liked the results. (More on the GPS to follow).

At about 13:00 I headed back up and started to cruise around again. I headed off piste again down under the main cable car. The snow was OK here but it was quite heavy going so decided that it really wasn't a good time to go off piste yet.

So headed on over to the park for another few rides through. This time however I attacked the small kicker more and made a great smooth landing. Again the pipe riding wasn't good, but it was first day after all. Around again I completely overshot the landing on the small kicker. Not good for the knees! Rather than risking the knees I decided to put in some more runs.

On the way down to go and get the cable car back up again, it happened...

 

I was cruising along on the piste, not particularly fast (later, according to my GPS tracking, 77kmh) or trying to do anything special, but the nose of the board dug in and it slammed me hard into the ground! I flipped in the air a couple times before crashing to the ground and sliding for a bit before stopping. I knew instantly that I was really hurt! There was massive pain in my left shoulder and it clicked at the slightest movement. I was sure that I had broke my collar bone. I must admit that I was shaking, a little dizzy, nauseous, and my entire body was tingling. I started to check myself out. Everything was moving OK, including my left lower arm and fingers, but anything on the shoulder was agony. I could feel that there was a lump there that should not be there, and that I was in trouble.

As there was no one around I picked myself up and rode down to, the cable car. I had a quick look around and could not see any first aid facilities, so took the cable car to the base.

At the base I asked the ticket booth for where the hospital was. I was told that it was a street up and about 1km along the road. I headed off and was soon in the hospital A&E department.

After filling in the form, I showed them my European Health Insurance Card and my Travel Insurance, and there were no problems.

After waiting for a while I was shown into a cubicle and waited. A junior doctor called Bill saw me first. He talked to me and assessed my situation to make sure that it was only my shoulder that was the problem. It was at this stage that I could see the alarmingly large lump on my left shoulder. He gave a quick examination and put me down for an Xray.

After another while I was taken to Xray, and returned to my cubicle. After another wait a different junior doctor called Barbara (shift changed) checked me out, and sent me for another closer Xray. This one was difficult as I had to hold weights which was extremely painful.

Later when she came back she informed me that the ligament has detached from my AC joint, but there was no break. To get it fixed I could either live with it or have surgery, but wanted the main doctor to have a look and talk to me about my options.

Left alone for a while a lot of different thoughts went through my head, before the top doc came and talked to me. After reviewing the Xray and giving me a check, he confirmed what Dr Barbera told me, that it was either surgery or see how it heals. He told me that he advises that we go cautiously and see how it heals for a week before deciding if surgery is needed. After a few questions I had, and firm assurances that surgery is still an option later, I decided to take his advice and let the natural healing process have a go.

I was given a letter for my doctor, some pain killers, a CD with my X-rays on it (Ill post them on-line when I get a chance), and helped into a sling and sent on my way.

I asked about the bill, and the nurse said she didn't know of any and said to ask at the A&E reception if there were any. The reception was closed, so I went to the main reception and they said they did not know of any bill. So I could only assume there wasn't any. So I left the hospital and headed back to my apartment.

I immediately ran a deep hot bath and called my insurance company. After a couple minutes of handing over my details we were all done (need to FAX my paperwork to them - Who still uses FAX???), and I sank into the bath.

That night was not an easy sleep, despite taking a couple pain killers. Not only was my shoulder killing me, but the whiplash was also starting to make its self felt.

My travel to Davos (Switzerland) didn't get off to as good a start as I hoped.  Firstly, the bus didn't come.  Then I found that the train station was not open!  So I hopped into the first cab I could get and hot footed it to the airport.

Once at the airpirt, everything went extremely smoothly.  Check-in was almost instant, along with getting through security.  So I managed to have an early morning coffee and chilled before the boarding call.

Getting onboard the flight was also super quick and easy.  There were hardly any people on the flight, and we were ready to go way before our departure time.  Because of this we actually had to wait for our slot.

The flight was uneventfull and smooth.  As usual I waited until we were as near to Paris as possible, before going to the toilet

Getting off in Zurich and getting my luggage was a breeze.  It was so quick and easy, that I was able to get my bag and a ticket for the early train, and still wait for it to arrive!

The train ride to Davos is really easy, even if it does involve three trains.  I used the Swiss Rail Web site to give me the full itinary, which included all of the stations on the way, departure times per station, and also the platform for each connection.  Typical Swiss rail efficiency, noting like the very poor service we get in the UK.

It was at this point that I switched on the GPS tracking, to give it a burst in a foreign land.  There will be a lot more to follow on the GPS stuff soon!

Once I arrived at Davos Platz, I got out the Google map I printed and dragged my bag up to the appartment.  It was a reasonably comfortable climb.

I was greeted at the appartment complex by the manager/owner.  Unfortunatley for me he didn't know any Englis and I know no Swiss, so the paperword was alittle laborious.  He then showed me up to the appartment and arrund the various facilities.  To say that I was happy with the appartment would be an understatement.  It easily has to be one of the best I have stayed at in europe when snowboarding.  It has everything inluded.  For those who have gone to France, they will appreciate this.  It had all kinds of clean freshly laundered towels, linin, soap, dish cloths, toilet paper, bin bags, storage for boards including drip trays, a radio cassette player, direct dial telephone, TV with about 40 channels (ony 1 English speaking), and the list goes on and on.

So I unpacked and settled in, before going down into the town and having a look around Davos Platz.  I forgot it was a Sunday, so had to rely on the "Coop Express" to get the essentials, like water, and then called it an early night.

I came across this news article today (BBC: World Economic Forum 2007) that goes some way to explain why Davos is very popular at the moment, and made me getting my booking that much harder.  Apparently the World Economic Forum have a meeting at the end of January in Davos every year.  Doesn't sound very economic to me!  How much does it cost for all of the delegate to travel and stay there?  Not very green either!  All that travel of the attendants, but also, what about all that extra food transport costs?  Surely it must make more economic sense to have the forum in a more eco/economic location!

Today I got the address details of where I'll be staying whilst in Davos snowboarding.  You can see where I'll be by going to Google Maps, here. Sunny position. In the house: bar, lounge, sauna (extra) solarium (extra) table-tennis. Lift. Shop, ski bus stop 300 m. Mountain lift 500 m. Apartments on and above the 4th floor have wonderful mountain views. 1-room apartment 33 m2, partly renovated in 2002: living/dining room with 2 sleeping possibilities, TV and radio. Kitchenette. Bath/WC. Balcony. Please note: only 1 dog accepted. Apartment is situated towards the back of the building.

So looking forward to it!

Me and MDO, have finally got our winter snowboarding on the move.  MDO is going to stay with a friend of his in Davos, and I've managed to get myself an apartment sorted.  MDO spent last winter in Davos, so head on over to his blog for some information about his experiences.

Getting it all organised wasn't without its trouble though.  I tried searching on line for a very, very long time to find a company that provides accommodation in Davos from the UK.  All of the bit tour operators have Davos available in their resort list, but do they actually have any availability, nope (tried their on-line systems and didn't find a single week where they even offered any! - so what's the point in having it available - stinking advertising steelers!).

Accommodation

Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be staying in a 1-room apartment which was partly renovated in 2002.  It's called the Apartment house "Parkareal",  has a living/dining room with 2 sleeping possibilities, TV, radio, Kitchenette, Bath/WC and a balcony. Unfortunately for me the apartment is situated toward the back of the building. However, that should mean that it is nice and quiet, and it should make the maintenance of my stick (snowboard) easy.

Does anyone know where this "Parkareal" is actually located in Davos? Please let me know if you do!

I eventually managed to book it with a company call Iglu Ski, who have deals with InterHome.  I honestly checked every single on-line travel agency I could find on the Internet (find via search engines/portals), Teletext and also a number of high street travel agents too.  Companies like Thompson simply didn't have a thing, or if they did, they were trying to charge £1,900+.  That much for a two week holiday, for 1 person is daylight robbery.

Flights

I've arranged a flight with Swiss Air to depart from Birmingham International on Sunday 28 the January and I fly to Zürich.  From there I need to take a train to get to Davos.  Three changes, doesn't make it an easy one, but i have personally found that the Swiss rail system is usually fantastic.

Train

After arriving at the airport, you need to take a train to the resort.  Davos is one of a few rare resorts that you can actually take a train to.  Normally you have to take a bus, which is not all that pleasant.  Especially as you have to go up wyndy roads (usually at quite a high speed) and since I get travel sick, it's a killer.  Always makes me feel ill for the rest of the day, and most of the next day.

You can get your rail travel information from this Web site: http://www.sbb.ch/en

Station/Stop	Date	Time		Platform
Zürich Flughafen	28.01.07	dep	12:13	3
Zürich HB		arr	12:23	17
Zürich HB		dep	12:37	11
Sargans		dep	13:33
Landquart		arr	13:41	2ABC
Landquart		dep	13:47	5BC
Grüsch		dep	13:54
Schiers		dep	14:00
Küblis		dep	14:11
Klosters		dep	14:28
Davos Dorf		dep	14:50
Davos Platz		arr	14:55

Insurance

Last year, as I did a very long term trip (4 months in Whistler - See my blog from December 2005-April 2006) and took out a special insurance policy.  This year I have gone back to Snowcard.  I've found them to be quick, reliable, and reasonably priced.  Also, as MDO had a bit of an accident last year and claimed insurance, I know that they actually pay, unlike some unscrupulous/cheap insurance companies!  Did my usual, bought more insurance than I actually need, after all you can't have enough.  This was especially brought home to me, given the experiences of Tim (Day 11 - Whistler, 8th January 2006 - A bad day. A REAL bad day.) that I was with in Whistler.

Equipment

Today I started to look at all my snowboarding equipment.  I bought a new pear of boots recently, and haven't had a chance to use them on the slopes yet.  So, all of next week, I intend to wear them in the evenings to try and ease the break in period.  I have also been looking at getting a new stick (snowboard).  This is because my K2 Zeppelin 157 has a cracked rail.  I think that it will hold on for another couple weeks, but will take another one of my boards just in case .

Man am I looking forward to the trip.  It's been such a long time.  My only real worry, is that I have had an ankle injury since May, that has refused to go away.  Then a couple Thursdays ago when playing football, I really hurt my knee.  Still limping around, and it's very tender.  Let's hope that It'll be better by the time I get on to the snow.

Let me know where you are going this winter, I really am interested.  Especially as I intend to get at least another week later in the season, so may see you there.  So, leave a comment...

I thought that I would spend a little time and piece together some hints and tips, good and bad, that I experienced snowboarding in Whistler, BC, Canada. It is important to note that these are based on my personal experience and are my own personal opinions.

The good	The Bad
Vancouver Airport is a nice place to arrive	Vancouver airport has pittiful poor duty free, especially electronics (i.e. none)
The easiest way to get to and from the airport with the least of fuss is the Perimiter	The Perimiter is more expensive than the Grayhound
Get a WAVE travel card for the Whistler bus as soon as you arrive. The ticket locations are detailed on the bus map	The bus can often be very crowded
You can buy a week day only seasons pass	Weekends are immencley busy, somtimes resulting in lift lines that can take an hour.
Become a volunteer. You can get a free seasons pass, for only 22 days work	You don't get much of an option as to when to do your volunteer time.
Whistler Village has a lot to offer	Without having some local knowledge, it's difficult to get the best out of the village in a short period of time
There are a number of supermarkets around town. Get a village map and scope them out	The Grocery Store in the village square is the most expensive. The marketplace is just around the corner, go there!
The nightlife in Whistler is great. The number of girls to guy's is also very healthy	It is so easy to overspend very quickly. If you are there for a season, make sure that you budget, as there are a number of excelent nights to be had.
Get the Pique every Thursday. It is a good read and has the weeks events schedule	The guide is not very comprehensive. Get to know the nights that each club/bar is happening, it will improve your social life.
The Blackcomb parks are excellent. The black park is scary though	Do not expect the Whistler park to be in as good a state.
The half pipes on Blackcomb are excellent. There is a night pipe on Thursday, Friday and Saturday	Do not expect the Whistler pipe to even be built until almost May!
The terrain garden is excellent for beginners	All the parks and pipes, with the exception of the Terrain Garden are really for Intermediate to Advanced riders.
You get a lot of powder in Whistler	It's too easy to think 'there is always tomorrow'. Grab every chance given.
Buy the Ski & Snowboard guide as soon as you arrive	Without the guide book, you can miss out on a hell of a lot of great riding.
Nesters Market provide an on	line shopping service. Order your groceries to be delivered shortly after you arrive. - The delivery costs $25 CAN
Fresh Tracks provides a great breakfast and is very cost effective. Especially if you buy your 2-4-1 tickets before the end of February.	On powder days you have to get to the gondola early, as there is a maximum limit of people allowed to take Fresh Tracks.
All of the bars, club's and restarants are no smoking	You have to carry ID everywhere, no matter how old you actually are. You will get carded!
You can take your Snowboard Instructor courses in Whistler at all times of the year.	Try and get qualified as soon as possible. That way, if you want to get a further qualification you will have the time to get on the course. Some courses get extremely busy.
The lifts are run smoothley and with the utmost service	The uplift is extremely poor for such a big resort, which can result in very long lift lines.

I am sure that I can think of leads more, but it's getting late and I'm tired. I'll add more if/when I think of them.

Today was my last day on the slopes of Whistler, as I head back to real life and the UK tomorrow.  I could tell that it wasn't going to be a good day, as it was raining heavily in the village.  I arrived at the top of the mountain and it was snowing really heavily.  The snow was extremely wet and very shortly I was soaked.  Not good when you have a long day on the slopes yet to go, and a need to pack the gear later in the night.

I wanted to go back on over to my self made kicker and again try some more backside 180's.  I headed on over and could tell that it wasn't going to be that good as the snow was super sticky, and it was actually troublesome getting on over to the kicker.  I got on over to the kicker and gave it a straight air jump.  It was really sticky and it was actually difficult to get some air.  I rode it a couple times but could tell that it was not going to worth the effort.  So I gave up on my kicker and said farewell to the location of where I made some nice air's.

I decided to head on over to the pipe and park.  Thankfully, the weekends means that the Harmony Express is open, and so I don't have to take 'Sidewinder'.  I headed on up the Harmony Express, but by now I was totally soaked.  So much so, that I decided to head on over to the Roundhouse and get some lunch.  Gave me the chance to dry off a little.

After lunch I headed on out, and the weather and snow was even worse.  I really couldn't be bothered with these conditions, and decided to call it a day.  I simply got onto the gondola and headed on down.

A disappointing end to the season on the slopes, but all in all a good time.

I was in a bit of a lazy mood today.  I headed yet again over to my self made kicker, over by the Flute hike out.  My mission once again was to put more mileage into my backside 180's.

I started off with a natural warm up and put in some frontside 180's and switch frontside 180's.  The conditions of the kicker was a little poorer today, and it needed a little work to put it into good order.  Thankfully the ride out was in decent condition.  I then got to work again on the backside 180's.  I decided to mix it up and change it around between a regular backside air then a switch backside air.  They really have come on a good way since I started working on them.  Since I've been working on them for a while, I decided to call it on the kicker quite early and headed on up to ride the park.

Surprise...surprise!  We finally have a pipe on Whistler mountain!  It's taken them all season, but it's finally been built and is rideable.  It's at the top of the Emerald Express chair, and in a perfect position to ride then go and hit the park.  So, that's what I did!  The pipe was really busy, and didn't have a great drop in, and was also extremely soft, but at least it was a pipe.  I got some nice good airs off both walls.  I then proceeded on down to the park.  All of the kickers were rather soft and easy to ride into, they were also quite easy to overshoot.  I wanted to try some spins on the big jumps, but to be honest I chickened out as I was feeling really quite lazy.

I rode around the pipe and park a few times.  On one occasion though, I went to drop into the pipe, and the visibility was poor.  I managed to hit a big lip on the drop in and took an embarrassing tumble down to the bottom of the pipe.  No damage though   I called it a day when the visibility due to heavy cloud cover got quite poor.

I headed on back to my self made kicker yet again today.  The conditions today meant that the snow had softened up nicely, so went for it.  I started off hitting it with just straight airs.  With the new sticky snow that fell yesterday/last night, the run it was initially a little slow.  So hit it again with some straight airs to get it going.

Once the run in had warmed up and wasn't sticky any more, I started off with some warm up frontside 180's.  These feel very much more natural nowadays, which is bloody fantastic.  I then went to work on the backside 180's, both regular and switch.  Almost straight away they were coming together, and they were feeling so much more natural and effortless.  I guess it all comes down to putting in the effort into mileage!

I worked on changing the spin every time.  Going switch backside 180, then backside 180, then back again, and generally mixing it all up.  I think this really helped get my mind to concentrate onto the trick that I was going to do.  It was great practise.

After a few hours of this I decided to head on over to the Whistler park.  I rode through here a couple times, but the heavy fog really made it difficult.  You couldn't even see the jump when you were riding to it.  Thankfully the parkies had put some blue dye on the lip to make the spotting of the jump easier.

I rode around the park for a while and then decided to call it a day, and rode down to the gondola and took the down load.  The end to a very satisfying day.

I didn't sleep to well last night.  My ankle was giving me a lot of jip, but it felt better this morning so I thought that I would go up the slopes anyway.  The weather really has changed since yesterday!  It was much colder, heavy cloud, and actually snowing!  The only trouble with the drop in temperature was that with all the snow melt yesterday, everything had turned into hard packed and icy.

I decided however, to go on over to the kicker that I built yesterday and give it a go.  It was obvious from my first jump that the whole thing was really icy and hard packed.  I gave it a go though.  I started off doing a couple straight airs, and whilst the landing wasn't pleasant it wasn't too bad either.  I then started to on the spins.  I started off and did some frontside airs.  These came off to be honest...mediocre.  I then also put in a backside 180.  Not a good landing!  I only managed to get around 90 degrees.  Guess the fear of falling/crashing in the icy conditions played on my mind.  I then did a switch backside 180.  This went better, but I decided to leave it for today, before I do actually hurt my self.  After all I only have a few day's left.

I then decided to hit the Whistler park instead.  I headed on straight over, hit the rail, then the step-up-flat-drop box, and then the quarter pipe.  Then I headed onto the first big kicker.  The run in was a little rutted, but the jump was flowing really quite well, and it was quite easy to hit the transition comfortably.  I them moved onto the two smaller jumps and did a frontside 180 and a switch frontside 180 on them.  Then the up rail, which has quite a drop off the end of it.  Then was the three big jumps in a row.  The first was OK, but the run out was extremely rutted and a little dangerous.  The second and third though, were in great condition.  So much so, that on the last jump I kept overshooting.  Every time around the park, I tried to control the speed more and not pop so much, but kept on overshooting.  Needless to say, this was not great for the ankle.

I kicked around the park for a few trips, as it wasn't too busy.  But my ankle was really starting to niggle and throb, so I decided to call it a day.  It was niggling so much, that I couldn't ride all the way to the bottom, instead I got the Whistler Village Gondola at the mid station and down loaded!

I wanted to head straight on over to the kicker that I made yesterday and did so.  However, I must have entered the Flute area higher up in the trees, as I missed the area.  By the time I was over to the area, I was way too far down.  So decided to go to the Flute Bowl hike out and go around again.  On the way though, I noticed this really nice slope with a roller at the bottom, just off the hike out.  So I gave it a look.

I hiked up a reasonable distance and rode down and hit it.  It was really surprising as it had a good up kick to it.  It also had two other good points.  Firstly, the point where I was dropping in was shaded by the trees, and in this heat it was well worth it.  Secondly, the roller hid the kicker that I built behind it so well, that when other people were doing the hike out, I bet that they thought that there was nothing to it!  Perfect!

I started off hitting the kicker and just warmed up by doing some straight airs.  I could really pump some big air off this thing and really travel quite a distance!  I then started some warm ups on the frontside 180's.  The landing on this kicker was way much better, and it really allowed for me to get the spins in there.  I then got into working on the backside 180's.  They didn't start off too great, but then they really started to come together.  They were starting to feel much more natural.  I do think that the better kicker and the much better landing made it easier.  I carried on doing these for a while, all the time popping more and more air on the jumps.

I then started to work on the switch backside 180's.  A couple of day's ago, these were riding really quite well.  However, today, they took a bit longer to come together.  It didn't help too much with the direction that I was coming off of the kicker.  It kicked me off toward some trees, and the ride out was into a bit of a dip and a tree well.  It all came together after some time though.

I had to make sure that I didn't stay too long at the kicker today, as I didn't want to get stuck with the run out and no chair lift back to the roundhouse.  So had to make sure that I left the kicker before 15:30 to catch the last lift.

For my last few jumps off of the kicker, I decided to drop in and do all four 180's!  I started off with a switch backside 180 and a switch frontside 180.  Then moved onto the backside 180 and frontside 180.  I landed them all quite well.  I then wanted to take one big straight air off the kicker.  So hiked up.  All day though, I had been hitting the kicker without my helmet on and left it by the kicker.  On the hike up I forgot to pick up my helmet, so just had to hit the kicker and then go for another one.  The first straight air wasn't too big.  Good thing that I just had to hit it again   This time though I picked up my helmet and hiked further up the piste.  I really went for it this time, and really flexed those legs and popped some sweet air.

After the hike out, I rode around to the Emerald Chair and took the same route down as I did yesterday.  Today though, the wind wasn't warm and was a lot cooler.  Let's hope that the cloud cover will cool things down, and hopefully we'll get some new snow before I leave!

I headed straight on over toward the Flute bowl this morning, as I knew that everywhere else was going to be packed and the park was going to be full!  Instead of going through the main Flute control gate (gate 2) I headed on down to Gate 3 and looked for a nice place for to build a kicker.  I very quickly found this really nice slope with nice pitch and rode down it and popped some air, to locate the best point to build the kicker.

I spent about 1/2 an hour building the kicker and got a nice shape to it.  I took a couple straight air's off of it to see how it felt, and it felt OK.  I proceeded to spend the next few hours working on my backside airs.  However it was simply not very good conditions today.  It was extremely hot which made the snow wet, sticky and very, very heavy!  Thus, every landing was hugely difficult, and I only made a couple of the landings all day.  Today felt like it wasn't a step forward for my backside airs, but a stationary one.  I got sick and tired of bombing the landing, even though I was making some good rotations, that I gave up and decided to go give the pack a little look.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll go back and try and make some cheeks 360's   Especially as the landing is so soft!

So, I headed on over to the Emerald chair via Sidewinder.  It was not a good ride as the snow was so wet and sticky that it was really hard work.

I could see from the chair that the park was quite busy, but I decided to give it a go anyway.  The first big kicker was in very surprisingly good condition.  The only thing about this jump I don't like is the run in.  It just doesn't feel right!  I threw a couple front-side 180's in on the two small kickers and then rode the up rail.  Then comes the three big kickers in a row.  The first was good, but the run out was all rutted and not nice.  The second two kickers were sweet, but it was all too easy to get too much speed on them and come close to overshooting the landing.

I rode through the park a couple more times.  Nothing too exciting to report apart from overshooting the landing a couple times.  This really aggravated my now long standing ankle injuries and I just had to call it a day.  I rode on down 'Pony Trail', into 'Jimmy's Joker' and on to 'Highway 86'.  I was going to take the Creekside Gondola download, but forgot that it was closed.  So, I decided to continue on down and ride 'Cross Roads' and 'Lower Franz's'.  This run was actually quite fun and interesting, despite the very bad conditions (loads of bare patches and rocks).  It was really soft and mogully, but this made for a really fast mogul run.

All in all, not a great day on the slopes, but the suntan got a good working out

Yesterday was the last day of the season for Blackcomb mountain.  It has been closed to save operation costs, even though there is some 300cm of snow base on the mountain.  What a shame!

Everyone now has to go on over to Whistler mountain!  However, the operation cost cutting hasn't stopped there!  The Harmony Express chair is now only open Weekends, the Creekside Gondola, Garbonzo, Fitzsimmons and Franz's chairs are all closed (which join the Orange chair which was decommissioned early in the season).  The only lifts open on the mountain are Whistler Village Gondola, Big Red Express, The Peak Chair, Emerald Express and the T-Bars!  So, not only have we lost an entire mountain, it feels like we have lost over half of Whistler mountain too!

Given the very high price of season tickets, I have only one thing to say...Cheapskates!

Tonight was the last big day for the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival.  Myself and Will headed on down to meet Yugi (one of Will's friends) and buy some beers.  We didn't get there all too early, but we hiked up around the back of the Whistler Village Gondola and up the slope a little to get a good view.  No sooner had Will and Yugi cracked open a beer, the police were there and made them dispose of it.  No drinking in public I think!  Thankfully for me, I had all my beer in my pockets still

We caught the Ski and Snowboard finals.  It consisted of the remaining three riders having to pull 540, 720 and 960 airs, any way they wanted, off a 60ft table!  Nice!  Those guy's threw some sick smooth air!  When it was done, we headed on down into the Village Plaza to get close to the stage to hear the band Blackalicious, and watch the award presentations.

We gradually worked our way to the front of the stage.  I do have to say that Blackalicious were actually really quite good, and we had a really good time.  It did turn into a bit of a mosh pit up front, and it got bumpy, but it was all good.

After that we all headed on over to Citas and had some more beers there.  After that, I must admit that it got a bit messy as we had all had a lot of beers and had a really good time.  A good night was had by all.

Got on over to Blackcomb at a reasonable time this morning.  I knew that it was going to be a warm day today as the sun was out and there were no clouds in the sky.  The live temperature fees did say -10 at the top, so I knew that it wouldn't start out too warm though.

Getting on the Excalibur Gondola I met Dave, who took his CASI Level 2 with me, and some of his friends.  Chatted to them on the way up and got the Excelerator chair with them.  The line here was massive, and shortly after we got on the chair it stopped for over 5 minutes.  At the top they all headed on over to Jersey Cream chair, but I decided to head on over to the Solarcoaster chair.  Glad I did too, as there was no lift lines here at all!

I headed on straight over to 'Easy Out' and into the lower Terrain Garden entrance.  The mission today was to concentrate on the backside 180's!

I put in a good warm up front-side 180 on the medium kicker.  Then took the board straight off and hiked back up to hit the kicker again.  I did this literally all day on the mountain.  A hit on the jump then hike back up!  I tell you, it got really hot, really quick.  I had to take my fleece off and put it to the side of the kicker!

To start with I started to work on the backside 180 (regular into switch).  Initially I wasn't using my upper body to initiate the spin, and then tried to get that sorted.  I wasn't getting my head around and looking in the right direction, so worked on that.  I just wasn't pumping any air off the jump.  Then got to work on that.  I just kept on going around and around and must have made dozens of jumps.  I did this for almost three hours, until I started to get a sharp pain in my left calf.  So at this point I decided to go for some lunch.

A quick lasagna and a lot of liquid refreshments later to re-hydrate I headed on back out.

This afternoon, I went straight to work on the switch backside 180 (switch to regular).  All the work this morning didn't take long to pay off.  After a few poor attempts where I got no air what so ever and simply just spun on the snow, they really started to come together.  In what only seemed about 1/2 an hour, I was really popping some nice air and getting great rotations.  So much so what I was practically behaving like and American...Whooping!

I kept putting in the mileage on the switch backside 180's until I looked at my watch.  16:30!  Wow!  The mountains closes at 16:00.  So, since I was having such a great time on these airs, I decided to put another one in.  I then hiked up to collect my fleece and then put in another one.  Both were really good.  I then rode down and out of the Terrain Garden.  I did want to put in the backside's on the four kickers at the bottom, but decided that it was probably better to end the day's backsides on a good note.  So, instead I put in some big front-side 180's.

A quick run down to the base and onto the bus.  Man what a good day.  I really left the mountain on a high.  Tonight is the Telus Big Air competition (Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival), so I'm going to go out to watch that tonight.  Expect a write up later or tomorrow!

Myself and Andy set off this morning and headed straight to the Flute Bowl on Whistler for our first run of the day.  To get there though, we had to ride down 'G.S.'.  This is where we met Bridget, one of the other house guests.  She is also a skier.  We managed to persuade her to join us and hike the Flute with us.  I set off at a very fast pace, which slackened near the top, but I really wanted to get in front of this big group of Japanese skiers.  Thankfully I did.  I suggested that we go on over and hit 'Flute North Bowl'.  This is a cornice drop that I have done before and can recommend it.

We got up the hike and I waited at the top for the other two and scoped out the 'Flute North Bowl'.  The drop was only about 6-8ft and the snow at the top looked nice.  There was a rather large lump just below the drop, but I felt that it would be soft and give way easily.  Once the other two arrived and had a look, I got ready and set off.  I rode down the slope a little and then launched off the cornice.  On the drop I actually hit the lump, and unfortunately it wasn't soft at all.  In fact it was a big ice lump.  Fortunately it didn't cause me too much problems and I landed it clean and rode out straight into some nice carved turns.  The snow wasn't actually in that great shape, but it was good all the same.  I rode on over to the top of the trees between 'Flute Low Roll' and 'Lesser Flute Bowl' and waited for the others to drop in.  By the time I got there though, Andy had already dropped in and he wasn't having a great time when I turned around, however he recovered and rode it nice and sweet.  Next up to drop in was Bridget.  Bridget hasn't really done this thing before and was quite nervous.  However, she edged in and lowered her self down, and after the drop put in some nice controlled turns.

The tree's down to the hike out had really great powder on them.  I was hitting the turns so well that I was practically bouncing out of the snow between turns.  Lush!  We all took the hike out together.

At the top of the hike out, Andy said that he noticed a little run down through the trees a short was down the cat track.  So, my and him went to hit it.  The snow here was much more crusty, but when we hit the trees it really softened up and rode well.  The only trouble with this run was that it was very short, and involved yet another hike up and out.  We lost Bridget here as she didn't do this run.

After we got to the top of the Harmony Express, we decided to go for an early lunch.  To get back to the Roundhouse we rode down 'Little Whistler' which was quite mogulled, and on to 'Pika's Traverse' and let the board ride straight down the track as fast as we could.

Once we had a large lunch over with, we took a look through the park.  Well, actually we hit most of the top rails and hits before scoping out all of the lower jumps.  The lunch was sitting heavy on us so we decided to go and hit the cornice at 'Low Roll' which is on the Harmony Ridge.  On the way up the lift, provided the conditions are good, you can give the drop/landing a scope out.  It looked OK and the cornice wasn't too big.  We rode on down and gave it a look.  Where we were there was a carved line a meter or two below us, in where skiiers had simply cut a way in.  I rode on into the drop and really had to pop the jump and pull my knees up to get over the skiier cut in, so as to avoid a hard landing.  Thankfully I made the landing really good and for the second time today, rode out the drop in, and put in some really nice carves.  The snow here was actually much nicer than the drop in on the Flut Bowl.  Andy followed just after me and also made a good pop and drop over the skiier cut in.  The run down to the Harmony Express once again was not all that nice as there was loads of nasty mogulls, and only occasional nice powder.

At the top of the Harmony we wanted to head on over to the park, but to do this we had to get on over to the Emerald chair.  This isn't really achievable without doing Pika's Traverse, and we didn't want to do it two times in one day.  So we headed on all the way down the Harmony Ridge and kept our speed on the lower section and I just made it onto 'Sidewinder' with is a cat track that leads to the Emerald chair.

The park was in fantastic condition today.  For me all of the rails were working, all of the boxes were working, the quarter pipe ally oop was working and the big jumps were really working too.  At the top there was a long thin rail, then onto a down kink box, straight into a quarter pipe.  Then down onto the first big jump.  The first time I hit it, I had a lot more speed than I expected and my arms were all over the place, but I still landed it nice.  The two smaller jumps after that were not good though.  They may have been smaller, but the drop on the other side was big.  The first (and only as I swapped to the rails after that) time I hit it I threw in some front side 180's.  The drop did actually mean that on the first hit I over rotated by a long way and hit a 300.  The second jump I tamed it back but still over rotated.  After these were three really nice big jumps.  They were in some fantastic condition, and the run in was good that you could really launch yourself off them.

The second and third, fourth, fith...etc...time in the park, instead of hitting the two small jumps I hit the rails to the left.  The first was a kinked thin rail and was really good.  After that there was an up rail with a big drop off the end.  The first time I hit this rail I didn't have enough speed and actually stopped at the top of the rail and had to jump off the side   The other times after that I made sure that I had enough speed and really rode off the end.  In the set of three big jumps I was getting some great air and making some really nice indie and method grabs.

We had done the park enough for the day and we were getting really tired.  So we headed on down trough 'Franz's Meadow' and down into  'Lower Franz's' for the final run out of the day.  The conditions here were so slushy and heavy that it was really hard work.  You really have to put a lot of effort into this run in order to get down to the base.  The conditions of the slopes down here are also extremely bad.  So my advice is that you don't do the run, instead you take the download on the gondola.

This morning myself and Andy headed out and over to Blackcomb mountain.  We warmed up with a run through the Terrain Garden.  After that we headed on over to 7th Heaven and on up to the very top of the mountain.  We had a look at 'False Face', which Andy hadn't done yet and decided against it as it was quite a bit sketchy.  Instead we dropped into the 'Couloir Extreme'.  It was a little mogully, but there was quite a lot of nice power in there.  To avoid the avalanche debris at the bottom, we headed on over to the right and into the 'Feather Tree', which is a light tree run.  We then headed on down 'Blowdown' and trough some trees.

Since we had a good time here, we then decided to go back up and hit the 'Secret Bowl'.  So, we headed on up the Glacier Chair and down to take the 'Horstman T-Bar'.  This T-Bar is very steep and is actually advertised as a double black diamond T-Bar!  At the top here we rode on over into the top of 'Secret Bowl'.  The powder in here, whilst very tracked was still in superb condition.  We rode around and over to 'Cougar Chutes' and upon my suggestion we headed into 'Purple Haze'.  The initial start of this is quite narrow and had a big snow ridge in the middle, but wasn't too much trouble for us today.  This run opens up into a nice piece of piste before joining 'Staircase' or 'The Bite'.  We rode down and on through the middle and took the opportunity to hit as many jumps as we could in here.

At the bottom I suggested that we go and hit 'Ladies First', which is a run at the extreme top of the Blackcomb Glacier and involves quite a hike.  Andy agreed and we headed on up.  The hike up from the 'Wind Lip' to the top of the ridge is a bit of a killer, and it took us both some time to recover.  We then had to traverse on over the ridge before hitting the real booktpack hike around the back and in the rocks.  I do have to say that the hike around the back and though the rocks is quite scary.  You have to continue along the rock ridge - past the notch, over the top, and in near the Permanent Closure fence that is placed there for keeping skiers out of 'Upper Lakeside Bowl'.  Both me and Andy were concerned about falling.  However when we got to the top it was well worth it.  So well worth it!  I headed off first and cut around into the main 'Ladies First' slope.  There was only tracks of two other people in the whole area, and they obviously had done it a few day's ago.  The powder was so clean, untouched, deep, fresh, and fluffy.  Brilliant!  Andy headed on off over to the left (as you look down) and I headed on over to the right, as far as i could go.  There was so much powder, and it was so steep, that there were some little 'sluff slides' when I was going down.  Nothing to be overly concerned about though.  We kept on over to the far side of the 'Blackcomb Glacier' and enjoyed some really sweet powder.  What a run!

By now it was well after 14:00 so we popped into the 'Glacier Creek' restaurant.  You can tell that they are really starting to shut everything down, as one of the restaurants was closed, and there was very little food options available in the remaining restaurant.

We decided to head on over to the Terrain Garden after lunch for another warm up.  I tried to throw a backside 180 on the jump and nearly pulled it off, but I'm still not happy with it.  The rest of the garden was really nice and all of the front side 180's were down pat!

On the way back up Solarcoaster, we decided to hit the Blue Park.  I'm still having trouble with the spines.  I really need to eliminate that mental block!  However, the big jumps further down were really nice and I popped every one with little effort.  On the way down though, one of the run outs on one of the jumps is really nasty and has loads of rut's in it, causing a lot of people to bail the landing.

At the bottom of the blue park is the Super Pipe and we decided to give it a go.  It was excellent.  The right hand wall was soft, but thankfully not too soft.  The left was, as is typical, a lot more icy.  Needless to say, my toe side was (right) was much better than my heal side wall.  There were a few 'natural' hits on the way down to the Solarcoaster and we tried to take advantage of as many as we could.

For the last run of the day, we decided to again go through the blue park.  I hit the spines better this time.  The jumps were again going fine.  However, this time on the jump with the rut's on the run out, I hit the jump to the left which had a much better run out.  Again, at the bottom of the park we hit the Super Pipe.  This time though my ride wasn't as good.  I simply didn't have the energy and only did well on the first half, before really going bad on the second half.

It was time to call it a day, so we both carried on down to the base.  At every single opportunity and every single cat track we tried to hit and make as many jumps as we could.  Andy took an innocuous fall and managed to give him self a bit of a dead arm for a while.  Thankfully he was OK though.

I started off the morning looking forward to the powder riding, and headed straight on over to Blackcomb and up 'Spanky's Ladder'.  I ran on down through the 'Garnet Bowl', into the 'Diamond Bowl' and down and out of the 'Mid-Bowl Gully'.  The snow in here whilst prety much tracked out, was so light and fluffy that it didn't matter.  After having a good time up Spanky'spretty I though that I would go back again, so did.

This time I headed on over 'Spanky's Shoulder', through 'Skid Lips' and into 'Ruby Bowl'.  Rather than riding all of the way down, I traversed all the way over and high up into the trees.  This was not a good idea.  I followed some tracks and started to get a little concerned, when all but one of the tracks had hiked back out.  But, the idiot that I am when I go riding on my own, I decided to carry on and rode down a little.  I got into a situation where I was in some real trouble.  I was at the top of some cliff's with loads of trees around.  I rode down some of the way until I really got into a truly bad situation.  I was at the top of a rather large cliff, and the only way down was surrounded by loads of trees.  It was so steep that I actually had to take my board off and lower my self down by holding onto the tree roots and branches, and digging my boot's into the snow to get a grip.  Thankfully that was the worst of this area.  Further down there was a couple drops that I did.  Thanks to some riding with Rich, I've really got the confidence to do a drop jump of anything up to 10ft without any hesitation [as long as I can see the landing ].

Having gotten away with the last run, I thought that I would head back up to Spanky's again, and finish off the three main bowls down.  So I headed on over toward the 'Sapphire Bowl'.  Having remembered the lower entrance was very poor the last time, I headed for the top chute entrance.  I rode over and dropped in and stopped immediately!  The chute was super tight, only about 2ft wide, with rocks all the way through, and it was quite long and steep.  I really did not feel confident about this so wanted to get out.  The get out was only about 10ft up, but it was sheer and icy.  I gingerly took my board off and barley managed to not slide down the chute.  I had to use my board to dig foot holds, and really struggled to get up and out.  Even though it was only about 10ft up, it took me about 20 minutes.

My trouble was not over yet though.  I still had to get down into the bowl.  I headed over to the lower entrance.  It was in awful condition, but it was my only real way to go, so I had to do it.  One the way down, I had to jump/hop over some rocks to get down.  Nearing the bottom I caught something and lost control a little and went on over the edge and only just managed to hold on.  If I hadn't I would have definitely fallen over some serious rocks.  Thankfully my heal cup on one side managed to catch a rock, with the other side was in some snow.  I tried to pull myself back up, but there was no way that this was going to happen.  So carefully unstrapped the foot that was caught on the rock and quickly dug it into the snow to stop my self.  This gave me enough leverage to push my self back up the slope a little, get another good foot and thumb (dug my thumbs into the snow to make sure I had a good hold!) grip.  After a couple of those I was back in safer territory and managed to ride out.

The rest of the 'Sapphire Bowl' was good though.  Instead of going down the 'Sapphire Chutes' I decided to go over 'Zut Zut'.  The snow in here was really deep and there were a few good windlips that I pumped some air off.    Yet again though, I thought that I'd make my life difficult and rode a little too close to cliff edge.  Thankfully I was far enough away and flopped down and safely negotiated myself back up into the run, before carrying on.

OK, so I have had enough of trying to injure myself, so on the way up the 'Jersey Cream Express' I decided to have lunch to let my heartbeat slowdown.

After lunch I decided to head on over to '7th Heaven'.  At the top I decided to give 'Chainsaw Ridge' a go.  I headed on up to the peak of 7th Heaven as I would have done if I was going to ride 'False Face'.  The ridge was a little nerve racking to say the least.  The ridge was not very wide, with big drop's off to the right, and loads of rock's to the left.  It was also mogulled to hell, and they were all very large.

I rode down the ridge a little way, down to 'Hawaii 5.0'.  There was a little drop in to this of a few feet, but the landing was so soft and fluffy.  I do have to say that this run is described in the guide book as "Skiing for the ultra-hardcore.  Don't Fall.".  I have to agree with this description too.  It was super steep and really tight.  Well worth it though.

Since it was a day for going back to the same area and really giving myself some big scares, I thought that I may as well carry it on again.  So I headed on back up to 'Chainsaw Ridge'.  This time I decided that I was going to go further down the ridge and hit 'Bushrat'.  Again there was a cornice drop, but this was small at a couple feet.  I can't believe that it's taken me so long to do this run.  I did want to give 'Bushrat Shoulder' a go, but thought that 'Bushrat' was good enough.

Once I got back up to the top again, I rode even further down the ridge until I came to 'Regulator'.  There was some rather large cornice's here, some about 30ft+.  There was no way I was going to give these a go, so instead I settled for a small (relative to the big cornice) 12ft drop.  I got up some speed and rode over the lip and dropped down into some really nice powder, and rode straight into some sweet carves.

One thing I do have to say about all of the runs off 'Chainsaw Ridge' is that there is lots of very large avalanche debris.  So, you have to be very careful in this area, especially if the visibility is poor.

After that it was getting late, and of late my energy has been dipping a little [perhaps I need a vacation ], so I decided to call it a day.  However, not before having an end of day run through the Terrain Garden.  The rails all worked excellently for me.  However on the first kicker, I was in two minds as to what jump I would do.  Backside or front side 180?  Needless to say that I ended up doing neither.  Duh!  Further down the terrain garden, I managed to get myself sorted out and managed some sweet front side 180's on the four jumps in a row.

A rather ugly (due to conditions) run down to the village ensued, and I was expecting a concert to be happening, but it looked like there was nothing on, so I pitched it to the bus and on home.  A good extreme day, if I do say so.

The weather today wasn't good, not good at all.  It was extremely foggy, it was snowing all day and it was really quite cold too.

I headed again over to Blackcomb to get on over to the park again.  I really want to work on those backside 180's.  So I started off in the old favourite, the Terrain Garden.  The front side 180's were going really really well today, however, the backside just wasn't happening.  I tried the backside for a couple hours and only managed a couple of backside spins in all that time.

The weather was so bad at stages, but it was also snowing hard, that I decided to give myself a break and decided to put some speed lines down 'Ross's Gold (Gandy Dancer)'.  This wasn't too easy given the visibility.

I then headed back to the Terrain Garden once again.  I must admit that I really wasn't having a good day, do I called it quits early in the afternoon.

I headed on over to Blackcomb mountain this morning.  I really wanted to work on my 180's today.  However, as soon as I got onto the mountain the weather really kicked in.  There was strong gusts of wind and a really heavy snow shower, so on the lift up to the top I really got battered.  Even while ruining down 'Easy Out' to get to the Terrain Garden I was getting battered.  My face was really getting wind burn, but thankfully the trees around the garden gave some shelter.

In the second entrance to the Terrain Garden, after the first box is a single medium sized jump.  I gave a backside 180 a throw but really didn't do a good job of it.  So, I took off the board and gave it another go.  OK, let's give it another, and another, and another, and another go.  Hmmm!  Not working well today.  So, after the umpteenth time of not getting all the way around, I decided to go and try and loosen up.  So carried on down the park.  The front side 180's were not going too well either, but they were working.  My problem today is that I simply was not getting enough pop in my jumps.

I headed on back around the garden again, again with the intention of throwing the backside 180's in there.  The first on went OK, but wasn't great.  With the 4 jumps further down the garden, I gave it a go on each and on each I failed miserably on all but one.  I went around and around the terrain garden all day giving it a go, but it simply just wasn't a day where it was going to work.

When the weather again got worse and I was getting really wet, I thought that I would call it a day.  I rode all of the way down really quite fast, given the conditions (especially the cleaning the goggles every 5 seconds) and was glad to get the bus.

I started out the day wanting to ride 'Exhilaration' and 'Excitation' on Whistler mountain, so started off with some warm-up runs.  I starred off riding switch down Ego Bowl a couple times, and then headed on over to the Harmony Chair, all again in switch.  I rode down the Harmony ridge for another warm up, and headed on back up the chair again, this time for a look at the runs.

As you get off the Harmony Express chair, you need to hike up to the right of the chair.  It's a short 10 minute hike up before you are there.  I went over to the lip of 'Exhilaration' for a look.  Man!  That thing was steep and extremely knarly, with a wicked cornice.  If I dropped in, it would have been about a 6-8ft drop, with a very short ledge and then another 6-8ft drop!  So, wisely I decided to pass this up and went to have a look at 'Excitation'.  This looked even worse, with a much larger drop in.  I took the only wise option and decided to back out.  Instead I rode around the 'Saddle' and under the two runs for a look.  Everything looks much smaller when you are way below it, but I'm still glad that I didn't do it.

The 'Saddle' and the Glacier Bowl was actually in very good condition, given the time of year.  I then headed on up the Peak chair, and rode down Highway 89, to do something different.  Haven't done that run for a while.  Nothing spectacular, apart from the appalling visibility in places.  I headed on back up Big Red and mozied on over to the Harmony Express chair again.  This time I rode along the harmony ridge and spotted the entrance to 'Hidden Chute', so I went to hit it.  The snow was not in great condition and was extremely hard and crunchy, but good all the same.

I rode around the 'Burnt Stew Trail' and 'Crescendo' for a while, riding switch in a number of different varied terrains.  This was good practise and does help the switch riding.

After doing that for a while I decided to call it a day.  So when I headed up the Harmony chair again, I decided to ride all the way home in switch.  This was no mean feat, I can tell you.  I stared off on the 'Saddle' and then took the Peak chair up.  I then rode all the way down 'Highway 89' to the bottom of Big Red.  I had to take a bit of a rest here, as riding switch does take it out of you.  I then rode down part of 'Expressway' and then into 'Lower Dave Murry' and over into 'Lower Franz's'.  The conditions of the slopes further down was extremely heavy going and fully of lumps, bumps and moguls, which was really hard going but well worth it in the end.

After yesterday's foray into getting my ankle back into normal riding, I thought that I would try the ankle back at giving the 180's a go.  So, I headed on over to Blackcomb and headed on up the Solar coaster chair to get to the park.

I headed on straight over to the Terrain garden to warm up.  The snow by this time hadn't warmed up though.  It was rock solid, and my warm up run wasn't that warm.  I headed on back around and on the way down tried loads of on snow spins and also tried to do my back side 180's on the flat.  These weren't going too well to begin with, but as the day progressed it was getting better and better.  I think that it really was to do with me getting more and more flexible as the day wore on, which allowed me to 'pop' the spin.

As for the Terrain Garden, it was actually in pretty good condition.  Today, I decided to give my backside airs a go on the medium sized jumps.  They did not start off too well.  I just wasn't getting around far enough.  I was experiencing a bit of a mental block to be honest.  I'm a very cognitive rider, and as such need to work out the mechanics in my head before being able to translate it to my riding.    As the day wore on, they were getting better, but just weren't really there yet.

My rail riding wasn't that good today either.  I guess I was concerned that my edges were a bit too sharp from my Instructor exam.  As such I caught a couple stupid edges on the box, that probably not have happened if my edges were a little more dull.

To give myself a bit of a perk, I went back to doing some front side 180's for a couple runs.  Again, these did not start off too well, but then really got better.  Popping off the lip and then making the spin is working really well for me now.  I suppose putting in the mileage really has helped.

I had a quick pit stop for lunch and had a nice salad, before heading back out.  I wanted to give the half pipe a go, so rode down the park and had a look.  Man that thing was hugely busy, so much so that I decided to give it a miss and hit the quarter pipe at the bottom of the park.

I then headed on over to the terrain garden again.  The conditions were getting really bad.  The snow was falling really hard and it was really wet and sticky.  Every 30 seconds or so, I had to wipe clean my goggles which made it really hard to see, and it was incredibly wet.  My gloves were soaked within a few minutes.  So I decided that this was going to be the last run of the day.  And what a last run it was too.  My best run through the terrain garden all day.  Hit every rail sweet, every jump had loads of pop off the lip and every spin 180 was almost spot on.  So, it was a really good time to call it a day.  The ankle managed to hold up really quite well, but it is aching a lot right now!

I got up really early this morning to take advantage of the last Fresh Tracks morning of the season, and was joined by Andy.  When we arrived at the Whistler Village Gondola, we could see that a hell of a lot of other people thought the same thing.  They actually had to turn people away, as there is a fixed limit number.  The breakfast is as always well worth the trip.

Andy was actually on ski's today!  He hired them the day before and had his first outing in them yesterday.  He didn't arrange any lessons, but was looking OK on the slopes.  So, I took a photo on his camera for him.

As for me, I started the day or quite easy.  My ankle is still really giving me trouble, so did not want to aggravate it.  Did lots of switch riding around the mountain.  Started out on Ego bowl, then headed on over to the peak chair.  It was my intention to try and ride the "Bonsai" tree run.  I headed around the Peak and shot up into 'West Cirque'.  This run should have told me that the conditions were not going to be that good.  Although it wasn't too bad, it wasn't all that good either.  I then hit the traverse to Sneaky Pete and rode along the ridge, and headed on into 'Bonsai'.  Big mistake.  It was so hard and crusty, that I can not tick it off my list, as I only managed to get down.  So, it's still on the list to get ticked off.

I rode back along the Highway and back up Big Red.  This wasn't all that easy, given that the fog was all around and very thick.  I then decided to head on over to the Harmony chair, via 'G.S.'.  I decided to head on down the ridge as I hadn't really done it all the way yet.  I veered off and into 'Gun Barrels'.  Not in great condition, but nice and tight.  I headed on straight back up the Harmony Chair and this time did all of the ridge down.  I headed on round again, and this time headed on out over to Burnt Stew Trail.  I rode as much as I could on this sloped in switch.  In fact I did this run about two or three times.

After doing this for a couple times, I headed on over 'The Saddle', which was in really nice condition, and rode down and took the Peak chair again.  This time, I decided to take the 'Whistler Cornice'.  I rode on over onto the 'Upper V.D. Chutes' and found this brilliant run through the trees.  I wish that I had done this ride earlier in the season.  The upper rides into the Lower chutes.  These were really so nice.  Not perfect conditions but good.

I rode round to the Big Red and took lunch.

After lunch I decided to ride through the park.  They had made some real changes in the park.  This is in preparation for an upcoming event in the resort.  Took the easy route though the park.  Only took the big jump, the two small jumps (180 then switch 180).  Took a look at the new jump, but didn't ride it.  Then took the two last jumps.  I wanted to ride through the park again, but the foggy conditions didn't make it easy.  So instead headed on over to the Harmony Ridge and rode the Burnt Stew Trail a couple more times, again in switch.  It seemed a little less foggy this side.

After that I rode 'The Saddle' again, and then up the Peak Chair.  The conditions of the snow now was really bad and sticky, so I decided to call it a day.  So decided to ride down 'Peak to Creak'.  I actually ended up riding 'Big Timber' and was on the look out for any opportunity for some place to possibly build a kicker later.  There was loads of moguls, but the condition of the snow down here was not nice.  Loads of un-marked obstacles and big holes in the snow.  There was a few 'safe' places to hit a mogul and do some spin air though.  I tried one backside 180, and mucked it up so bad that I landed straight on my ass and slid about 30ft!  Still, it was really soft.  Think I'll go back tomorrow and really try and make a kicker out there, and get those backside airs working, on my own, in in peace!

Today's the day...Examination day!

The day started off really quick.  There was no warm-up run, as there was 7 in our group.  Dave joined us as a coaching re-test.  This meant that there was a lot of people to get through.

The format of the day was to get everyone to coach the morning on Carved Turns, then in the afternoon on Sliding Turns.

For me the mornings coaching was on Pressure Control for Intermediate Carved Turns.  I started off by giving an explanation of what, why, where, when and how we were to use Pressure Control in our Carved turns.  I then introduced an exercise called "Ollies and Nollies on Edge".  This was to emphasise the use of pressure on Varied terrain for carved turns.  While the slope was not too great, using the 'on edge' was the way to promote using edging for the carve.  On reflexion I didn't think that this was a great exercise to use, but it worked OK.  I then gave each individual some analysis and some Improvement suggestions for them to try.  We then put what we had practised into our riding again, and I summarised up at the end and gave them something to take away.

All in all, I thought that this coaching sessions went well.  Everyone else's lesson went really well too.

After lunch, we got straight back into the coaching again.  This time, I ended up having to go first, and my lesson was on Advanced Sliding Turns and working on the 'Edging' skill.  I started off with the static exercise and described what, why, where, when and how we were going to use the edging skill in our riding.  We then went for a little ride, before I introduced the exercises 'Drinks on the Shoulders' to the group.  This exercise was to promote Inclination and more importantly Angulation into their body position.  The exercises is designed to try and stop the students from inclining too much and get them to angulate the body more, by making them think that they have a couple jug's of beer on their shoulders, and getting them to not spill the beer.  This keeps the shoulders up and aligned along the edge of the board.  This went really well, and as everyones riding has improved so much, it really made giving the analysis and improvement difficult.  This is an area on this lesson where I wasn't as clear as I wanted or could have been, but it was OK.  Again, as should happen.  We put this back into our riding, and after that I summarised what we had just done, and lest them with something to think about.

So, I was done really quick and early in the afternoon and could relax more.  The afternoon seemed to take a really long time.  Everyone's lessons went really well, I thought.  At about 15:30 we were finished and Jeff left us to go and fill in the paperwork.  We had about an hour before he was going to be ready for us, so we all took a ride through the terrain garden.  You could see in everyones riding that we were all so relieved that we were done.  We rode down to the Marriot In hotel, where the instructors were doing the marking.

The waiting in the hotel was more nerve wracking than the actual teaching.  When it came time to give out the results, we went into the ream one by one.  First was Lisa, and when she came out and announced that she had passed the nerves were even more on edge.  Then was Michael then Patric, and then my self.

I had passed!  Whoo Hoo!  I am now a CASI level 2 snowboard Instructor!  Fantastic!

After me went Clair, who also passed, then Dave.  Unfortunately Dave did not pass his teaching re-test.  Sorry dude.  Next up was Roger, who also passed.  Not bad, everyone who was in the group passed, all except Dave who joined us later.

We all headed on down to Merlin's to celebrate and drink some beer, along with all of the other groups of students taking the course.

I have met a lot of good people on this course, and hope to keep in contact with them all.

Todays course focused on Intermediate and Advanced Sliding Turns.  I do have to say that my ankle was a lot better today too.  That was until near lunch time, when we were riding down, and I pushed it a bit too hard and re-hurt my ankle again.  Only this afternoon and tomorrow to go, so pushed through it.

The Tactics for Sliding Turns were:

• Stance & Balance
• Switch Riding
• Motorboat Turns
• Sliding Toe-to-Toe (front Side) / Sliding Heel-to-Heel (backside)
• Pivot / Steering
• Static Steering / Twist the Disks
• Narrow Corridor (Intermediate = 5 board lengths, Advanced = 3 board lengths)
• Edging
• Static Edging
• Clock Face Analogy
• Spray the Crowd
• Pressure Control
• Static Air
• Ollies and Nollies
• Riding Varied Terrain
• Small Straight Airs
• Timing & Coordination
• Tornado Turns
• Top Gun
• Figure of 8

The day went along in the same way as yesterday.  Coaching in the morning, and in the afternoon we had to do the coaching to the rest of the group.  Today I had Stance and Balance.  So, I got everyone to ride down a 'dark blue' slope in switch.  I gave analysis and improvement tips, and then went into Motorboat Turns.  I made a mistake here though!  I got them to do this exercise in switch.  I should not combine two exercises together.  Still, I did learn from this mistake.  Again the group was a fantastic help.  We all really do look out for each other and help as much as we can!

Today was a much better day on the course for me.  After yesterdays disappointing riding from my self, today I decided to ride through the problem with my ankle and really try and get that flexing working better.  It was working better too!

The day consisted of tactics for carved turns.  In the morning it was a presentation of all tactics, emphasising skill development for intermediate and advanced snowboarders.  The lessons were on Basic Carved Turns, and Intermediate Carved Turns.

• Stance & Balance
  • Carved Traverse
  • "Hockey-Stop-Hop"
  • Hop Between Turns
• Pivot / Steering
  • Static Steering Exercise / Twist the Disks
  • Headlight on Knee
  • Sidecut Turns
• Edging
  • Static Edging Exercise
  • Sponsor Turns
  • Pour Water from Boots
• Pressure Control
  • Varied Terrain (gentle terrain)
  • Cowboy Knees
  • Pump Turns
• Timing & Coordination
  • Shape, Size, Slope (Tornado Turns)
  • Top Gun
  • Counting

In the afternoon, it was our turn to provide instruction to the rest of the group on one of the skills listed above for either Basic or Intermediate carved turns.  I was given Edging for Advanced sliding turns.  I thought that my lesson went really quite well.  I started off with the Static Edging Exercise, got the group to ride for a bit (Whole), then moved on to using a exercise called "Sponsor Turns" (Part).  I watched each of the group ride down, and gave them analysis and improvement tips.  We all then put this back into our regular riding (Whole).  This is where the Whole-Part-Whole comes into play.  I then also had to provide a summary at the end and leave them with something to take forward.

I do have to say, that the whole group made the whole day so much easier.  We all got on really so well, and helped each other out as much as we could.  We had such a dynamic and fun group, I couldn't ask for getter.

I knew this morning first thing that my riding wasn't going to be as good as I know it can be.  My ankle was worse this morning, and I was also really quite stiff too.

I ended up in a group headed by Jeff, which contained Claire (French), Roger (Spanish), Patrick (English), Michael (English) and Lisa (Canadian).

The day consisted of doing skills riding. Intermediate Sliding Turns, Advanced Sliding turns, Basic Carving Turns and Intermediate Carving Turns.  For each of these we did a number of exercises concentrating on each of the 5 skills (Stance & Balance, Pivot/Steering, Edging, Pressure Control, Timing and Coordination).  So it basically resulted in 20 different exercises!

My ankle and lack of flexing and extension was common throughout the day, and was a constant area where I was given advice on to improve my riding.  I even made a real effort this morning to ensure that I was warmed up before starting.  Let's hope that tomorrow I'll be more flexible and that the ankle will hold up!

For the 20 exercises we had to analyse each individuals riding, letting them know what they were doing good, and areas where they could improve.  For each improvement that we suggested we had to give them an exercises that they could try so as to improve.  This is an area of the day that I am good at, so this really made up for my poor performance in riding.

After the riding in the day, we headed back to the Marriott Hotel for the video review, Analysis & Improvement lecture and to perform the day's evaluation and review.

Tonight I have to make sure that I read all of the Analysis information in the Instructor Reference guide, and most of the Progression section.  I also do some homework.  I also need to come up with lesson plans for each of the riding skills and fundamental skills.  Basically I need to come up with an Exercise Workbook, or 'Toolbox'.

Decided to take a day off today for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, my ankle, that I hurt a few days ago, is really giving me some trouble.  Secondly, I have my CASI Level 2 course starting tomorrow.  So, with both of these reasons, I thought that I would stay at the house and rest the ankle and study the course manual!

I met up with Rich early morning and we headed on up the Whistler Village Gondola, to ride Whistler mountain.  Today is one of the last day's that Rich is going to be in Whistler this season, and we wanted to get in some more of the extreme slopes that we wanted to.

The day started off with us having a quick coffee at the Roundhouse, and for us to plan out attack on the mountain.  We started off and headed on over to the Harmony Ridge.  The first 'drop' of the day was the 'KC Roll'.  As we arrived, the visibility was extremely poor.  In fact, the visibility stayed extremely poor all day.  Anyway, we had a look at the drop as best we could and found it really difficult to even see the edge, never mind how big the drop was.  Rich went first, off to the left and dropped in.  Turned out to be about 4ft for him, and the good news was that the landing was powder filled.  With him being below, game me enough definition to see my drop better.  My drop ended up being about 9ft.  Not the most elegant drop I've ever done, but it was OK none the less.

After feeling that drop, we decided to go back and give it another go.  The visibility was actually worse this time, and we struggled to even find where we dropped in.  It was my turn to drop in first this time.  Basically I did almost exactly the same drop, with the same results.  Rich this time, after a bit of a delay, dropped in too.

Next up was Horseshoe 5.  Now, according to the guide, this is described as the "tightest and scariest of the horseshoes"!  I was way disappointed, as to me it was neither and really quite easy to ride.  I suppose that the cornice's on all of the other horseshoes make them seam that much more scary.  I bet with less snow cover it would be more scary.  We then rode around Pitkas Traverse and had an early lunch at the Roundhouse.

After lunch we had a warm up run through the park.  It has been a while since I have been through the Whistler mountain park, and I do have to say that they have really put in some work and made it so much better.

 headed on up the Peak Chair.  Next on the list was 'The Cirque'.  It had an ugly rocky ramp entry and was really quite steep.  However, it really was a nice run down.  Probably the best run of the day.  Next up was 'The Coulouir'.  The entry into this was an extremely narrow and bumpy traverse.  Rich went in first...and lost it!  He hit a bump and fell over backwards.  He tumbled for quite a while, and I must admit that I was actually getting woried.  Thankfully he managed to stop him self, and was OK.  Phew!  Needless to say that I made my entry into the Couloirbackwardworried a lot more gingerly and safely.  Again, the ride down this slope was really quite nice, if choppy.  Rich wasn't about to let this be his run down the CouloirCouloir, so we went back and did it again.  Thankfully, this time his entry was much safer and we both rode that slope.

Next on the list was 'West Cirque'.  There is a short run down Highway 89, and a hike for a couple minutes.  The entry into this couloir was much easier that the others that we had ridden today.  It was a good run, and we headed on off to the left to catch the traverse to 'Sneaky Pete' and 'West Bowl'.  When we got onto 'West Ridge', we rode along for a bit and decided to take 'Everglades'.  This run is described as some of the best tree runs on either mountain.  On a day where I could actually see it, it may have been.  It was really nice none the less.  The trees are only small and short and make for some easy tree runs.

After th run all the way down to the Big Red chair, we headed on back up the Peak chair for the last time today.  This time we headed on to 'Stefan's Chute'.  The entrance into this was really knarly.  I had to jump over a line of rocks.  A nice little jump it was too, if I do say so my self   Rich came down after me and we rode as much of the powder don as we could.

After again heading up the Big Red express, we decided to have a quick coffee at the roundhouse, and also dry our gloves, which were soaked by now.  It was actually too late in the day to really get a coffee, so we only dried our gloves a little and headed straight out.  We rode straight over 'G.S.' and headed back to the Harmony ridge.  There are only 2 of the Horseshoes that I have not ridden yet, number 6 and 7.  We rode over to the edge of Horseshoe 7 and had a look.  Whoo!  It was huge!  About a 35ft drop.  There was no way that we were going to do that!  Instead we rode around and had a look at Horseshoe 6, which looked much smaller.  Rich rode off first, very quickly followed by my self.  Man!  That drop was much bigger than I expected.  Rich said that he didn't want to tell me how big it was before I rode off.  Cheeky bugger   It was about 12-15ft, but with a nice landing.  I must admit that we both had a really good laugh about this drop, as it was so unexpected, yet so...fun!

The Harmony Express by now was closed, so we headed on over to the Emerald chair, for another run through the park.  I took a video of Rich hitting this tap jump.  I then went and hit the jump up double box with drop.  I managed to get the board around and do a board slide, I even managed to board slide the drop onto the second box.  This actually shocked me a little (that I didn't crash!) and put a massive grin on my face, so much so that I couldn't stop grinning/laughing that I didn't jump off the end, but just dropped.

I then went on to follow Rich onto the large jumps.  However, on the run in to the jump I hit some real chop and tweaked my already damaged right ankle.  Not good for one of the last runs of the day.  I rode a lot more reserved down to the bottom of the mountain for the last run of the day.

All in all, another adrenalin filled day!  Excellent!

As has happened the last week or so on the mountain, the conditions in the morning were very icy, hard under foot, and generally ugly.

As my CASI Level 2 course gets closer and closer, I thought that I would continue to work on my carving, switch riding, switch carving, and also for my self my 180's.  So, needless to say, I headed off to the Terrain Garden on Blackcomb.

The day's riding did not start off to well at all.  A crash that I had yesterday (forgot to mention in yesterdays blog) was really hurting today.  My right ankle was in a lot of pain.  Not too much that I couldn't ride though, and to be honest, as the day progressed I started to forget about it.  The carving is going really well.

The intermediate sliding turns, switch, basic carved turns, intermediate carved turns, advanced sliding turns, terrain adaptation and intermediate mogul riding were going really well.  All of these are what a level 2 Instructor is required to teach (along with the level 1 stuff).  This along with the front-side and back-side 180's they were going really good.

On the way down through Sunset Boulevard I was getting set up for a switch back-side 180 when I looked back up the slope and caught a huge fat front edge.  I went flying and landed really badly on my chest and left shoulder.  It knocked the wind right out of me, so much so that I had to sit at the side of the slope for a good ten minutes before setting off again.

It took a couple runs for me to get back into the groove again.  I even had a run through the blue park and the pipe.  These didn't go so well, but when I went back to the Terrain Garden, I was back in form again.  Landing some really high popped 180's that really felt like they floated.  The board is coming around easily, so much easier than it did when beginning.  You really do have to put in the mileage.

 

Again today, I didn't start off to early.  Thank goodness too. On the way down to the Solar coaster chair, where the piste hadn't been bashed, the conditions of the piste was extremely icy, fully of cookies, and generally very ugly to ride.

As my CASI Level 2 is coming up, I don't' really want to push things too much and injure my self.  So I decided to keep my practising going.  Carving down to the Terrain Garden and out again.  The second entrance really is the way to go as it is just so quiet compared to the main entrance.  Today however, I did think that I would try board sliding the box.  Did it for a while, and then moved on.  It wasn't working too great.  The 180's were going fantastic today though.  They really, really were popping off the lip today.  Also, after a shaky start, the backside 180 to switch was coming together.

The only 180 spin not yet 'in the bag' is the switch backside 180.  However, today I threw and landed my first!  Brilliant.  tried it another couple of times, and whilst these were not quite so stylish I did land them.

Later on in the day, I decided to take some runs through the Blue board park.  I don't know what it is, but some spines really intimidate me!  It's a mental block, but I'll get it.  Through the blue park, the big jumps were running really good.  The first jump wasn't going too well for me, but the next three were.  The speed into the jumps was really nice and it wasn't too difficult to reach the transition.

I then went on to the pipe.  The left hand wall was quite icy and the right hand wall was quite slushy.  I rode in and dropped in from the left.  The first couple turns went quite well.  Then it happened.  I rode off the left wall (heal side for me) and up the right wall (toe side) and it happened.  I got completely out of the pipe!  I even caught a little of my toe side edge on the lip, but it was only a small catch and rode it out.  This is the first time in a really big pipe that I've managed to get completely out of the vert! *Whoo Hoo*

Obviously, I had to go back through the park.  Hit the jumps with more speed, but this time I didn't ride them all.  I stopped down near the bottom, as I wanted to ride the big long box.  It had a gap jump up onto the box, but with the way my other box riding has gone today, I was going to give it a try.  OK, so the gap jump was a little bigger than I expected, but I still made it OK and 50-50'd the whole way down and ollied off the end.  Going to have to give this box more attention, and also try boardslide's.  I went through the pipe again, but didn't do so well.  The light at this time of the day had really deteriorated as the clouds had moved in.  It wasn't too easy to see the pipe in this light.

I didn't start on the mountain too early this morning.  I knew that the weather lately made the conditions of the slopes really icy in the morning.

So, all I really did, in summary was ride loads of switch and ride through the Terrain Garden.  Well, that wasn't really all there was to it.

I rode a number of different carve turns through Easy Out, until I got to Countdown and the second entrance to the Terrain Garden.  As I got to the start of the garden, I found that they really raised up the first box.  So much so, that later in the day I was hitting it so fast that I was jumping onto the box, and having to literally jump off it again.  Then after that there was the jump.  Today I was really pumping off the lip and getting some great air when doing my 180 spin into switch.  They were really working today.  After that there are three rails, a straight rail, a kinked box and a kinked rail.

As always, this then joins into the bottom of the main Terrain Garden, and straight into the rainbow.  Starting to get more speed on the rainbow, and really working the piston legs.  Right after that there is the 4 jumps.  Again, really managing to pump the lip and get the spins in there.  180 into switch, 180 into regular, 180 into switch and 180 into regular.  Occasionally I managed to carve over into the box.  Still not really getting the board slides working though.  Struggling with that.

Then it's down into Sunset Boulevard.  The ally oop on the first part of the cat track wasn't really there as there was a lip on the piste where the piste basher put it in.  However, further down and past the 180 turn, there are a couple jumps.  The first one is fantastic.  You really get some air when you pump it.

Today, me and Rich headed off to do Spanky's today.  There are three main way's down Spanky's and we did all three.

First of all, we rode down 'Garnet Bowl' and into the 'Sapphire Bowl' via the low chute.  This chute was not a good way into the chute.  It was extremely rocky and extremely narrow, resulting in us having to shimmy down rather than ride.  Once we were into the chutes they were really nice and tight, fluffy and narrow.  This really makes you bank in those turns quickly.

Next time around, we did the run that I did yesterday.  Through the Garnet Bowl and down into the 'Diamond Bowl' and out through the 'Mid-Bowl Roll'.  The last time through we went high along the ridge to the left and entered via 'Spanky's Chute'.  Oh my dear god!  The condition it was in was so steep and dangerous that we both contemplated backing out.  The chute was only about a board and a half wide and steep as hell.  It took a lot of courage buy Rich headed off first and wasn't able to even put in a single turn until way down.  So, I had to follow.  I rode on in and on my very first turn I almost lost it.  The back end of the board dug into the snow and almost flipped me over backward.  Thankfully I managed to just catch it and chicken out of the turn.  After breathing a very big sigh I rode on and started to bang in those turns.  Once in to the Ruby bowl it really is a nice ride.  We rode on over to 'Midway Rock' and down the bowl.  I hung over to the left and rode through the trees at the bottom under the cliffs.  Man what a joy ride!

We then headed on over to the Secret Bowl with the intention of looking at 'Teetering'.  We rode on over and it hadn't been touched, so we decided to give it a miss.  Instead we decided to hit 'Pakalolo's Pillow'.  I rode in first, but to be honest it wasn't up to much as at the bottom it was full of moguls.  I tried to get some video of Rich coming down, but he didn't manage to get much either.

We then went on over to the Crystal Chair.  We decided to hit 'Fraggle Rock'.  The rock was actually really quite nice and very interesting.  However, after the rock we headed into some trees for a bit of a tree run.  Not 100% sure of where, but where ever it was I wish we didn't.  We got separated in an area that was not good.  I ended up having to ride down into this area that ended up at the top of all round cliff's.  The cliff's weren't too tall, only about 20-25ft, but at the bottom of every possible way down there were trees very, very close by.  I managed to pick a way down and slid it on my ass.  Only trouble was, that there was another set of cliff's, virtually the same again.  Well, I was already in there and just went for it.  Almost made the landing and ride out, but flopped down as I leaned back too much (better that that speeding into a tree!).  I had a shout for Rich and a quick check.  It did take me a long time and I thought that it would be best if I headed on down to the Excelerator Chair to see if he was there (we previously decided to head here anyway).  When I arrived I found a very relieved Rich, in the process of writing an urgent message on the notice board for me.  As I said he was very relieved, as if I was in trouble it would have taken a good 40-50 minutes to get back around to roughly where I was.

We ended the day on a more subdued note.  Some Terrain Garden to close out the day

I called Rich last night to see if he wanted to go out riding.  His back was giving him trouble so we decided to meet up at lunch time.

I headed on straight over to Blackcomb and decided to tick some more rides in the book off my list.  I headed straight up the Glacier Chair and rode on over to Spanky Ladder.  After a short traverse and a steep but short hike I was up at the top of the Spanky's Ladder Bootpack.  I had a look down and decided to ride over what looked like an easy way down the piste, especially as I haven't rode in this area before.

I rode down the 'Garnet Bowl' and into the 'Diamond Bowl' and then down the 'Mid-Bowl Gully'.  These runs were really steep but so full of powder that they were fantastic.  This then leads into the run out on the Blackcomb Glacier run out.  I had such a good time that I decided to give it another go.

This time I rode into the 'Garnet Bowl', over 'Spanky's Shoulder' and into the Ruby Bowl.  Again, the snow was in fantastic condition.  So deep and fluffy.

It was now about lunchtime and I met Rich in the 'Rendezvous'.  We decided to hit the park for a while.  On the way down 'Countdown' we discovered this great big tree root that had loads of snow on it.  After a little work it was ready to ride.  I must admit that it was too much for me, and let Rich have it while I volunteered to be camera man.  I got this fantastic photo, and need to upload it.

We spent most of the afternoon going around the park and riding a lot of carved lines.

Sorry.  I simply just haven't had any time over the last three/four days to post any real Whistler blog and snowboarding information.  I've really been going at the riding and partying hard over this period.  I hope to catch up with all of the blog information soon.

Today is Angela and Steff's last day in Whistler.  They were not going out riding today, but they were planning to do a Zip-Trek later in the day.

As I headed out, I received the text message that we needed to be at the Deer Lodge at 13:45.  So, that did not leave me too much time on the mountain if I wanted to go home and get changed.  The conditions of the mountain was not very good.  The snow was extremely heavy and choppy, and my knee wasn't feeling to great.  So I rode around for a while, practising ollies and nollies.  I also rode around the terrain garden for a while.

All too soon however, it was time to go down the slopes.  I tried to inject some speed, however the conditions just were not letting me.

I just received today, that my CASI Level 2 snowboard instructor course has been confirmed.  Whoo Hoo!  This is brilliant news, and I'm so happy to get on the course!

This notice is to confirm your registration for the LEVEL II course being held at WHISTLER from 3/4/2006.

Registration will be on the first day of the course at whistler village resort at 8:30:00.  The course will start immediately following the registration, so be prepared to go on snow.

Please go to the following link to review the course outline and description.  http://www.casi-acms.com/english/courses/course_descriptions_instruct.html

***Please note that helmets are now mandatory on all Level Instructor 2, 3 and 4 Instructor courses and all Coaching courses***

Please note the following if you have solely registered for a RETEST:

LEVEL 2 INSTRUCTOR:

• Level 2 RIDING reevaluations are held on the first day of any given level 2 course.
• Level 2 TEACHING reevaluations are held on the last day of any given level 2 course.

After last night, I was feeling quite hung over this morning.  Also, arranged to meet Angela and Steff early.  Ugh!  Thankfully, it was their last day and I was video man for a day.

The day started off with a quick coffee at the Roundhouse on Whistler.  Boy, did I need that.  It then got under way.  I spent most of the day videoing both Angela and Steff.  With the hangover it did take me until close to lunch to feel better and start to give them some guidance on their riding.

The weather wasn't great today, and it really played on their riding.  However, it did manage to persuade them to give the jumps in the park a go, and also to persuade Steff to give the box a go.

His first attempt and second, didn't get him onto the box.  However, with some perseverance he got it, and rode the whole thing and rode off the end.  Excellent!

Next up was the small jumps in the Whistler Board park.  First time around, I got them to just go over the jump and not get any air.  Then after that they were ready for the jump.  They both hiked up repeatedly until they got some air.  I managed to get some good photos showing them both getting air.  Excellent!

The end of the day, we went to the Amsterdam bar and played cards for a few hours!

Tonight, Pete Tong is in Whistler, at Garfinkles.  I got my ticket a few day's ago along with Rich and was really looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, when Angela and Steff tried to get tickets they were sold out.  There was a chance that they could get some later that night though, but there was only 40 available.

We arranged to meet up at Tappleys at 20:30 for some food and beer.  I also called Rich and arranged for him to join. We got some foor and started the beer.  At just after 21:00 Steff wen't to try and get tickets, but there was apparently a huge line all waiting to try and get tickets.  This was a shame, as it would have been good if we could have all gone.

So, it came to 22:45 and me and Rich had to make a move and leave poor Angela and Steff at Tappleys.  They however went on off to the GLC for cocktails, while me and Rich headed to Pete Tong.

When we arrived there was still a large line of people trying to get tickets.  As we already had ours we got straight in.  As soon as we arrived it was easy to see that it really was sold out.  It was packed in there.  So, we hit the bar and had a wander around.  Lot's of nice ladies around, and I did get chatting to one or two.

Pete Tong came on stage about 23:30, and immediatley the music took a step up and was much better.  All night he really played somke good tunes and it all went down really well.  It turned out that Rich is a little bit of a light-weight when it comes to drinking, for about 00:40, he was quite trashed and had to appologise and leave as he was too drunk.  I didn't stay much past 02:10, as I had to get the bus back to Creekside.

I do have to say that it really was a good night!  Pity my blog (and time) can't do justice.

Once again I arranged to meet Angela and Steff early at the bottom of the Excalibur gondola.  Today however, I wanted to take them over to Whistler, and we took the 'Whistler Village Gondola', with the intention of getting breakfast at the Roundhouse.  It was such a blue bird day, we had coffee on the decking and soaked up the sun before starting out.

Most of today, I took them down around 'Ego Bowl', 'Enchanted Forest', 'Upper Olympic' and 'It Happens'.  Today I worked on improving Steff's body position and him completing his turns.  For Angela we progressed onto Basic Carved turns.  Even more progress was achieved today, which made everyone feel really good.  I used a lot of the toolbox extras to help them both work on areas where they needed improvement.  We even played some games such as 'Top Gun', which they really liked.

After lunch, we warmed up on the same runs again and then headed on over to the Harmony Express.  My intention was to expose them to a lot more of the mountain, and get them to try some of the blue runs.  After this, I wanted to take them on over to the Peak chair too.  The seeing more of the mountain appealed to them both.

The only trouble with the Harmony ridge is that the run into the easy blues, is that the only real easy way is down 'Pika's Traverse'.  This was really busy today, and with it being narrow, it really intimidated Angela.  Also, as a beginner, traversing around a trail on one edge really takes it out of you.  So, once we got onto 'Harmony Piste' they were both quite tired.  So, instead of taking the lift back up again and over to the Peak Chair, we decided to take 'Sidewinder' out.

We took 'Sidewinder' down and past the Emerald Chair and onto 'Upper Olympic'.  We decided to take the run all of the way down to the Village, and took 'Upper Fantastic' and 'Lower Fantastic'.  Steff was making some really good progress this afternoon.  He was directly linking turns together and completing the turns.  He also really started to get sorted his balance and not bend in the waste, and instead in the knees.  Angela was also really getting the carves working well.

We closed off the day with hitting the GLC and having a couple beers, and a couple snacks.

I got a message last night, that Angela, a friend from Birmingham was in Whistler with her boyfriend (Steff).  I managed to arrange that we would meet up this morning at 08:30 at the Excalibur Gondola in Whistler Blackcomb.

We all arrived at the same time and I got introduced to Steff and caught up with Angela.  It turned out that both Angela and Steff had only done a little snowboarding.  They also hadn't had breakfast.  So I took them around to the boloungerie, for Pain au Chocolate and coffee.

After breakfast we headed on up the gondola, up Excelerator and onto Jersey Cream.  This was a great opportunity for me to put into practise my Level 1 Instructor training, and get ready for my Level 2!

Both Angela and Steff initially had trouble linking turns together and achieving the correct balanced body position, but after a short time it was all looking good.  The morning was quite difficult for Angela as the boots she had were giving her a lot of trouble.  So, at lunch time we headed on down to the shop and got her, and also Steff a new pair of boots.  These seemed to work a hell of a lot better, as in the afternoon they both really made a lot of good progress.

We spent most of the day going down 'Easy Out', 'Buzz Cut', and 'Honeycomb'.  I even took them through the bottom part of the Terrain Garden at the end of the day, and out via 'Sunset Boulevard'.  This run out wasn't a good idea as it was tight and quite intimidating.  By now also, the bad boots from this morning had done their damage and Angela was particularly suffering.  So both Angela and Steff took the 'Wizard Express' download while I cruised down to the bottom.

At the bottom we went into Merlin's and had some beer and a little food.

I started off heading over to Blackcomb this morning, with the intention of doing some of the runs detailed in the Ski & Snowboard guide to Whistler Blackcomb.  However, on the way up 'Jersey Cream', it was obvious that all of the steeps had already been tracked out and mogulled.  So, instead I decided to go hit the Terrain Garden.

My first, second and third run into the terrain garden produced some great 180's.  Easily some of the best that I have done so far.  I really managed to pop off the lip, and really get the legs to spin the board.  They were so smooth and effortless.  Fantastic.  On the run out of the park, there was a tree that you could use as a rail.  However, it had been taken out.  Which is a hell of a shame.  So, instead of taking Sunset Boulevard, I simply use the run down to Solar Coaster to really put in some high speed carving.  It's been a while since I really let the speed go, so it was a nice refreshing change.

After doing the terrain garden for a while, I thought that I would go over to the Flute Bowl and give that a go as the weather was nice and bright.  So, at about lunch time, I rocketed down to the Blackcomb base and took the Whistler Village Gondola over into Whistler mountain.

To get over to harmony from the gondola, isn't a direct route.  So, I headed on down through the trees between 'Ratfink' and 'Green Acres'.  Man were they sweet.  They were so fast and easy to ride.  I then took the Emerald chair and headed on over the 'G.S.' down to Harmony Express.  Straight off the express I rode down 'Burnt Stew', and into the 'Flute Hike'.

Half an hour later of some serious hiking I was at the top of the 'Flute North Bowl'.  Looking over the cornice was quite daunting.  It was quite a drop, some 10-12ft, however the landing did look soft.  I put my board on and rode into the drop with some speed.  The landing was indeed soft, and I stuck the landing really, really well and rode it straight out into some big sweet powder carves.  The run down to the hike out was also really great.  Loads of light tracked powder.

After sticking such a landing so well, I just had to go back and give it another go.  After all, it was a great landing and ride out.  I did contemplate going for some lunch, but decided not to and skip lunch.

After yet another half hour hike I was again at the drop in point.  This time I didn't wait around and really went for it.  I was actually really, really disappointed that I didn't make the landing so well this time.  I also didn't do so well on the run to the hike out either.  I was tired.  Looking back, it was a bad idea to skip lunch, as it was more that I was tired that I didn't do so well.  My own fault.

It was now really late, and I managed to get a Harmony Express chair at 15:49.  Well after normal closing time of 15:30.  I headed on over to the 'Saddle' and rode that down.  By now though, my left knee was really starting to feel the strain.  So the speed was not all that great.  At least, not to start with   I simply charged all the way down the mountain as fast as my knee would allow.

These great days simple just keep coming!

Rich pointed me in the direction of something that I wish I had when I arrived at Whistler.  The Ski and Snowboard Guide to Whistler Blackcomb: Advanced/Expert Edition (Paperback) book.  It's basically a pocket photo book guide to the entire area that details over 120+ runs that are not included on the trail map.

I've ridden a very large percentage of both mountains, and a lot of the trails mentioned in the book.  However, there is still some that I haven't ridden yet.  Best of all, it will allow me to not only find and ride these trails, but make my blog reporting so much more accurate.  For example, all of this time I haven't been riding the Bagel Bowl, I have instead been riding on the following runs: 'Monday's', 'Cockalorum' and 'Stefan's Chute'.  Well, I never!  Also, the second entrance into the 'Big Easy Terrain Garden' is called 'Countdown'!

The only small niggle that I have about the book, but it is fully understandable, is that it only details runs that are within the ski boundary area.  I know of quite a lot of great off piste runs.

I arranged with Rich the last time we rode together, that we would meet up and go riding on Friday (today).  He called me last night to confirm, so I got ready.

Getting up at 06:00 is quite a struggle when you are on an extended vacation   However I made it, and also Andy made it up too.  Myself and Andy took the bus over to Blackcomb and the Whistler Village Gondola, where we met Rich.  The breakfast at the roundhouse really is worth it.  We got off to reasonably early start and rode the lovely groomed runs down the 'Ego Bowl'.  That was until they opened up the Harmony chair, which opened quite early.

Myself and Rich did loads today, too much to mention it all.  So, I've only really blogged the highlights.

Andy has been having trouble with his ankle so declined to join myself and Rich, when we suggested that we were going to do a wind-lip drop on the Harmony Ridge.  Me and Rich rode the ridge and turned into what is known as 'Horseshoe 4'.  Oh my god!  The wind-lip drop was huge.  It was about 12ft.  I must admit that I seriously gave thought to saying no and chickening out.  Thankfully I didn't though.  I took Rich's camera and tried to video his drop in which was bigger than mine.  Must admit that I didn't do a good job as the camera confounded me a little.  Still got a good photo and some good video.

My drop into 'Horseshoe 4' really was scary.  I rode forward and did the drop!  Eek!  It was a hell of a fall, and I did chicken it a bit and landed practically on a 90 degree stop.  Thankfully the landing was full of powder.  I bounced straight up from the landing and put in some huge powder turns.  Rich was waiting further down the slope, and I just had to do it.  I gave him a huge powder dusting

We ran down the Harmony Piste and got the lift again.  We decided to give it another go.  After all, the adrenalin of the last few day's has really been pumping so why not take advantage of it?

As we got there and I got ready to take better footage this time, other people joined us.  These guys were a pain to be honest.  They simply put their board over the edge and slid on their arse over the edge and side slipped down the slope!  What the hell is that about!  Geeze!  After a bit of a wimpy moment from Rich, who wasn't confident about this jump.  He was kacking him self a bit...even he doesn't know why, as he'd already done the drop.  The weather was a big factor though.  The cloud had moved in and it was very difficult if not impossible to see the landing.  He did it anyway, and stuck the landing and rode it out.  Not without hitting a large hidden rock on the way.  He thought that he had really f'd his board but it was nothing.

My second drop in didn't go too well.  The visibility was really bad when I rode into the drop and I couldn't see a thing and panicked a little.  I made the stupid mistake of trying to grab the wind lip, but I was already going way fast over the lip and on my way.  Needless to say, my drop in was not pretty, and I had to bounce up from the landing again, put in some more huge powder turns and make my way down the slopes.

With the visibility so bad we headed on over to the Emerald chair area to do some tree runs.  We hit the trees between 'Ratfink' and 'Green Acres'.  The runs in here were great.  So powder filled and open.

We headed on back over to the Harmony chair, with the hope that the visibility would improve.  To get there from the top of Emerald, we took the 'G.S.' run, and turned left onto the cat track, which I think is called 'Lower Ratfink'?  There is a great drop off this cat track into some nice powder.  So, this was too good an opportunity to miss.  So what did we do.  Well, I ollied off and got some huge long air and pulled a 'mute' grab.  Rich on the other hand pulled out a front-side 360.  He did over rotate and bailed the landing, but it was good.

We wanted to get some coffee/hot chocolate and headed on up to the Harmony Tea Hut.  However they didn't do coffee, and Rich really wanted a coffee.  So, we headed on over the 'Saddle', down past the Peak chair and into 'Franz's Meadow'.  I took Rich over and up high in the meadow, with the intention of having a loop at 'Goats Trail'.  We were too low however.  Instead we took the tree runs down through this area under the cliffs and joined 'Highway 89'.  This is actually another great tree run.  We went down and had lunch at the 'Ravens Nest'.

After lunch we headed on back up and back into the tree runs between 'Ratfink' and 'Green Acres'.    I got some great follow camera footage of Rich in here.  He was really pleased with it, and so was I.

Once again we headed on over to the Harmony Chair.  Again we took the 'Lower Ratfink' cat track and jumped off.  I again pulled a mute grab, but not as big as the first one.  I did land it, but then took a big wobble and crashed into a huge plume of powder.  This stopped Rich for a bit before he rode into the jump.  Rich again did the 360, again over rotated, but this time stuck the landing.  We was out of control on the decent into the bowl and the rise up the other side and crashed out.

We headed on back over to the Harmony Ridge, with the intention of doing McConkeys (a.k.a 'Horseshoe 3').  We rode over and had a look.  It was a bigger drop than Horseshoe 4, but we thought that we would give it a go.  Rich went first, this time not taking him time.  I videoed the whole thing and caught the good landing he had.  The only trouble was that the landing was massively hard, and there was no powder in the landing.  So, I decided not to give it a go.  Instead I went down the easier side drop of only a little drop.

By now, my left knee was really starting to hurt.  It isn't getting any better, if anything a little worse.  Also, Rich's knees were also really hurting him, so we decided to call it a day.  We rode down 'Sidewinder' onto 'Upper Olympic', into 'Lower Fantastic' and back to Blackcomb base.  On the way however, I really put in some great carving turns.  The snow up on Upper Olympic was really quite hard, but the further down you went, it really got soft and slushy.  It also made it easy, despite my knee, to hold the carves at really high speed.  A great end to a great day.

I got up early today and headed on over to Blackcomb with the intention of doing more park riding in the terrain garden.  The weather report said 9cm of new snow, but I didn't believe them until I had made it to the top of 'Jersey Cream'.  From what I could see of the lines and the other riders, I could see that there was indeed plenty of new powder.  So, I decided that it was the right time to go a little extreme.

I headed on over to 7'th Heaven, and hung a left at the top of the lift.  It was my intention to give 'Big Bang' a look.  The last time I looked at it, it was a complete mogul mess.  Thankfully today it was really great.

I dropped in, and was actually surprised by just how steep it was.  Among some of the steepest terrain that I've ridden for a long time.  I put in a few turns, and traversed over into 'Couloir Extreme' to have a look.  It didn't look that bad.  Man the powder here was so deep and in great condition.  You could feel under neath and on the occasional mogul that it was still very icy under foot.  The turns I put in were huge and fantastic.  Huge spray, so much so, that on my heal side turn, the snow kicked up so much that I couldn't see into making the toes side turn, but I just did it anyway.  I recommend that anyone who is up to the extreme steeps, give this run a go.  I carried on over onto 'Quasar', and it was still so powder filled.  I went on over and dropped down the 'Staircase'.  Again, really full of powder and really nice.  It did get quite mogully near the bottom was was worth every turn.

I got the Jersey Cream Express again, with the intention of doing the same run again.  This time however I dropped in right at the top, the 'Couloir Extreme'.  This entrance was way more knarly, but just as worth it as the first run.  This time I put in a few 'lush' turns and traversed over as high as I could into the 'Jersey Cream Bowl' area.  This part of the mountain had very few tracks in it, and no under powder moguls.  So, needless to say, once again I made some huge carved powder turns and really stormed the piste.  This time, I came down and through 'The  Bite'.  This was quite tight but again still really full of powder.

You'll never guess what, I went to do it again.  However, I was feeling much more adventurous.  Since I started on the 'Big Bang' and moved left to the 'Couloir Extreme', I decided to head on further to the left.  So, I carried on down the ridge for a bit, which by the way is super dangerous.  I dropped in about 15m further down the ridge.  Where I dropped in was apparently called 'Hawaii-5-O', well according to some guys on the lift.  Now, this drop is was very, very much more hazardous than the others.  I recommend you have a strong belief in your riding to do this drop-in.  After a few turns, I made my way over into the 'Couloir Extreme' and traversed along just as my last run.  This run wasn't quite as good this time.  By now, these runs had been ridden a lot and was really quite choppy.  The same run out ensued.

Since this area was all trekked out, I decided to go back to my original plan and hit the terrain garden.  Same runs as yesterday.  Today, everything was going well on the jumps and rails.  Once again I was getting faster and faster on the rails, and I was really starting to 'pop' the 180's.  It's so much easier when you pop some air (Ollie) off to the top of the jump and then initiate the rotation.  The difference today compared to yesterday, was that there was a tree rail just off 'Sunset Boulevard'.  It was a tree sticking out 90 degrees from the slop about 2m, with a drop of about 1m.  Today, I managed to ride the whole thing a couple of times and stuck the landings each time.  Well worth it.

So, I did the terrain garden run about 3 times before charging down the mountain to the Whistler base just after 12:00.  My intention was to get the 'Whistler Village Gondola' over to Whistler mountain and ride back to Creekside.  However, just before I got to the front of the line, one of the gondolas came off the rails at the bottom and the lift was stopped.  I waited about 10 minutes, but there was no sign of it going to start and the lifties said they needed an engineer to have a look.  So didn't bother to wait, and got the bus back home.

So, why the early end to the day you ask?  Well, this afternoon, myself and about 4 other of the house guests are going to go Bungee jumping.  I'll let you know how that goes later.

I thought that I would head on over to Blackcomb again today, and hit the terrain garden.  I was really glad that I did too.  It again was in excellent condition and really quite empty.  The second entry to the park with the separate rails and jumps is definite the way to go.

The day didn't start off too good.  For what ever reason, when I woke up this morning I had a really painful muscle twitch in my right side.  Still sore now, but have some 'deep heat' on it now.  It's didn't make the start of the day go so well, however I did manage to forget it through the day.

It all starts off for me by riding switch all of the way down to the turn off to the second entrance.  Really getting quite confident in switch and getting faster too.  Before getting on into the second entrance, there is a really nice cat track that you can jump off.  If you ollie the take off you really get some great air time.  Once into the second entrance, it all starts off with a box rail.  First thing in the morning I decided to hike this box for a bit.  Why you ask?  Well, I wanted to try and learn how to board-slide the box, instead of doing it 50-50.  After a second attempt I managed to get on and ride the box board-slide.  However, it did take me a few attempts to get off the box properly, instead of landing at the end at 90 degrees.  Still, I have now managed to add another 'trick' to my snowboarding arsenal.

After that there is a nice medium sized kicker.  Every time through the garden I managed to do a 180 into switch.  Some OK, others were actually really good.  After that there is a thin rail, a kinked box and a kinked rail.  Each and every run through this section, I managed to go faster and faster off these.  Getting better at riding rails too!  It makes me feel good!

After that I join the regular terrain garden.  It starts off with a rainbow box, which is actually not that easy to ride, as the entrance and exit to the rail was quite poor.

Then it is on to my favourite part of the garden.  The four medium sized jumps in a row.  Start off in regular, do a front-side 180, switch into the second and a switch front-side 180 into regular, and repeat over the next two jumps.  Really enjoying landing these jumps, and I'm starting to land them perfectly (well, as close as!).

On the way out of the garden, I hang an immediate left turn into 'Sunset Boulevard'.  It's a narrow cat track that does a 180 turn and eventually ends up at the 'Solar Coaster'.  On the way down for the first part of this run, on the left there are many opportunities to do some ally-oop's.  By the end of the day, I was hitting the whole run faster and faster, and as such really hitting the ally-oop.  I think that on average I managed to hit about 7-8 ally-oops on this section.  Some good, some not so good, some really good   The remainder of this cat track, I rode in switch.  It's really tight and windy, with some difficult areas.  Really good for the switch riding.

So, in all, apart from the really bad weather, it's been another good day.

I did 'eeny-meany-miney-moe' and ended up on Blackcomb today.  I decided that I wanted to give the pipe some goes today.  Unfortunately the weather was not great.  The run down to the pipe does mean that I could also ride through the park.  Three spines in a go, two left and one right.  Then a set of 4 big jumps, of which all are bigger than those in the Whistler park.  You really get booted over these jumps quite high.  The only trouble was that today the visibility in the morning was really bad.  So, I couldn't really see the run in, the lip or the landing very well.  So, needless to say I failed to land about 1/5 of each of the jumps.

When I got to the pipe, the visibility was so bad that I couldn't even see the other side of the pipe when riding it!!!  The first run through the pipe was OK.  It's really quite icy, especially the first hit on the right.  A first for me was that I actually did a moving drop in to the pipe.  Really went at it with speed and each time through I tried to drop it higher and higher.  The second run through was terrible, however each time through I really got better and better. 

After lunch I went through the park and pipe again and was in the lift line for Solar Coaster when I met Rich.  Rich is a friend of April's that I have met a couple times in the pub.  So we teamed up and went riding together.  Rich knew this second entry into the Terrain Garden so we went down to that.  Wow!  It is a much better way into the Terrain Garden, as it's empty, has not crowding, had some really nice rails and a couple jumps.  You then join the bottom of the terrain garden.  It's been a while since I've been through the terrain garden, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 4 rollers at the bottom have been turned into jumps.  The first time I went through with Rich I straight aired them, only to really find that each one had a very short transition.  So I overshot each and every one!

We went through the place again, this time we resolved to do some spins.  Rich was practising his 360's and I went to practise my 180's.  Man, these jumps in the terrain garden are so perfect for 180's.  I landed each and every one, really speedily.  Going to go back.  Actually, we did, a couple more times

We then headed on over to the Crystal chair, and down 'Ridge Runner' as there was loads of jibbing opportunities that Rich knew about.

By now it was getting late on, so we headed on over and got an extremely late 'Glacier Express'.  The list is supposed to close at 15:30, but we managed to get on it at 15:47.  Cool.  We headed on over to the left and rode down to the Crystal Lodge.  We were very lucky here too, and the people in the Crystal Lodge allowed us to get a very late coffee and hot chocolate.  It was so late that everything was all packed up and they were mopping the floor!  We rode down 'Ridge Runner' again, and took as many jibbing opportunities as we could.  We then simple just went straight down the slopes to the base, doing as much switch as we could.

Another good day!

Got some bad news yesterday.  The CASI Level 2 course that I registered for the other day, is full :-(  There is also a long waiting list.  So, the possibilities of me getting onto the course is rather poor.

I must admit that I am really quite disappointed.  Would have liked to try it out!  There is a slim possibility, but unlikely.

This morning myself, Pete and April headed out, and we were later joined by Steve and went to ride in the park.  This was April's last day on the slopes so we wanted to make sure that she tried some things that she hadn't done yet.

It was basically the same run through the park as I have been doing for a couple days.  Ride switch down to the park, thin rail, kinked box, quarter pipe, big jump, two small jumps, three big jumps, spine, ride through the trees and then switch down to the lift again.

For my self, I really am getting more confident on the thin rails, and the kinked box.  Going to have to push my self and try some kinked thin rails.  There is also a double box with a drop in the middle in the park that I am going to have to try!  On the quarter pipe, I have managed to make myself not look down when doing the ally-oop.  The big kickers were also running really good today.  So much so, that I over shot the landing a couple times.  Luckily this didn't cause too many problems, but it did aggravate my left knee and ankle problems.  Also managed to pull almost all of the simple grabs.  Doing the tail grab isn't too easy as you really have to bone the front leg.  The 180's were also doing really well today too.  Both the front side 180's were going really well.

All through the day we took April through the park and I finally managed to persuade her to try the little jumps.  She did give them a go after a little persuasion and did really well.  It took her a couple of goes, but she did actually land the think.  Good on girl!  After a couple more runs through the park, we managed to persuade her to try the big jumps.  Again, full credit she gave them a go.  Unfortunately she didn't manage to land one, but I'm sure that if she gives it some more goes that she will land them.  Another time through the I even managed to persuade her to give the easy box a go.  The first time, she didn't make the box.  After all it is very intimidating the first time you give it a go.  So, next time through she gave it another go.  This time she made the box...only trouble was that it was obvious that she tried to put an edge in and you can't do that on the box.  So, she fell on the box.  Landed on the box with her arse, with the board off the edge.  She slid along the box and off the end in this fashion   Still, very much kudos to you April!

We ended the day with taking April to do a wind-lip drop.  I had spied this newly formed wind-lip a couple days before, that is between 'Pony Trail' and 'Bear Paw' and knew that it would be good and soft, perfect for April to give it a try.  The drop was between 4-8ft, depending on where you did the drop.  I went off first, but didn't stick the landing.  The landing was so soft that I simply sank and bailed the landing.  Next up was Pete who did the drop with a bit of style and stuck the landing.  Next up was Steve who spooned spread the landing.  It was now April's turn.  Again, she really gave it a go.  By now I had managed to hike back up, and gave it another go.  Once again I didn't stick the landing...Damn!  Steve and Pete also gave it another go.  I hiked up for a third go and spoon spread the landing again.  *Arg*

Our run down to the bottom of the gondola was really good and fast.  The conditions of the piste was really nice.  Did the last kilometre without putting in any unnecessary turns, and really flew down the slope.  Nice.

After my sucess with my CASI Level 1, I've decided to go for my level 2 Snowboard Instructor certification.

I've registered to take the course on April 3 - April 6.  Wish me luck!

The day for me was practically the same as yesterday.  Except it was bigger and better.

I headed on over to Harmony straight away, but didn't really enjoy it too much.  I rode the usual 'Little Whistler' on to 'Back Bowl' over the drop jump that I found and back to the Harmony chair via the 'G.S.'.  However, the drop jump had now filled in so much with snow, that it was no longer a jump!  Boo!  How disappointing.  It was also very, very choppy and full of moguls.

So instead, I rode over into the 'Glacier Bowl' and on down onto the Peak chair.  I didn't want to go all the way down to the bottom of the mountain today, so I simply rode the choppy bagel bowl, and down 'Highway 86' to Big Red again.

I decided to ride the park again today.  The rail, the kinked box, the quarter pipe with tap up, the big jump, the two little jumps, the three big jumps and the spine at the bottom.  The first run through was great. Had a fantastic front-side 180 into switch and switch front-side 180 into regular on the little jumps.  Looks like the practise is starting to really pay off.  Then on the three big jumps, really flew over them, pulled a different grab on each and stomped the landings!  One of the best runs I've had through the park.  It was only bettered as the day went on.

I bailed the 180 into switch only a couple times, but it really was starting to get it dialled.  It was a shame that half way through my day, that they closed off the kinked box.

I just kept going round and round the park, time after time.  Riding switch down to the park and out of the bottom to the lift.  Early in the day the switch riding was very much easier as there wasn't much chop or moguls around.  So I compensated by just going faster and faster.  Later in the afternoon, it really did get choppy, but I tried to keep the speed up and keep it going.

Going to keep this good form going for a while longer, a few days or so, to really get this front-side 180 thing solid.  Then, I need to start work on getting the backside 180's working.

After all of the powder and all the effort I put in yesterday, I thought that I would start a little later than usual.  So, I got up an hour later!

As soon as I got to the top of 'Big Red', I decided to head for the Peak chair as it was open.  There was quite a large line waiting for the lift, and it took about 20 minutes to get onto the chair.  I was worth it though.  I headed on straight down 'Upper Peak to Creek', and pulled off to the left as usual and did a drop jump (nothing big, only about 6-8 ft) into the Bagel Bowl.  There was some avalanche debris but it was soft and easily ridden.  Man that bowl gets loads of powder, and yet people just don't really ride it that much!

As usual I crossed straight over the 'Upper Peak to Creek' cat track and into my favourite Gladded Gully.  It was so full of snow and so fast, it was brilliant.  I'm glad that only a small few number of people either know about it or ride it!  As usual I got out of the gully before it got too knarly.  Took a bit of a hike as there simply was loads of snow.  I rode down the rest of peak to creek, and it was quite difficult as it was really choppy.

Got back up to the top again via the gondola and big red.  Even though it was just before 11:00 and after yesterday's run through the park and starting to enjoy it, I thought that I would give it another go.  Ended up that I sessioned the park for the rest of the day, all the way until 16:00!

I was really getting into it too.  I started off by riding switch down to the park through the chop and moguls.  Then hit a thin 2m rail and a kinked box.  Getting the hang of the kinked box, so may step it up and try more of these!  After that there is a quarter pipe with a tap-up bar.  Got some really good alley-oop's going and even on occasion managed to tap the bar both with the nose and tail of the board.  Did have some trouble a couple of times, where I found that I was looking down and also bending at the waist.  Worked on that and got it sorted.

After that there was a nice big jump.  Yesterday, when i couldn't see it, the run in was difficult.  Today, with the poor light it was just as bad.  It was also quite choppy.  More times than not I made the transition, along with making a simple grab.

Right after that is a set of two small jumps.  On each run, I rode straight from one into the next.  On this I started off with a front side 180 into switch.  I must admit that this didn't go too well, and struggled with it a fair bit.  I did manage some sweet rotations though.  Carrying on in switch to the second jump, I did half cap's (switch front side 180 into regular).  These are really starting to come along.  All I need to do now with this is increase the speed and the size of the jump.

Following this was three large jumps in a row.  The first jump really surprised me, or more that I really surprised myself.  On the first time I really hit it with speed, even though I haven't done this jump for a very long time.  Hence I went much larger than I expected and landed way down the transition, and the transition was not in a very good state.  All other times after that I took a small speed check and hit the transition really well.  Only managed to do a couple straight grabs on this jump.  The next jump, after yesterday, I knew how to take.  I took a number of different grabs on this and the next jump all day.  Both front and back hand middle of toe edge and heal edge.  I even managed a couple nose and tail grabs.  Something new that I thought I would try, as I was feeling comfortable, was a 'tweak' with some 'bone'.  These were much easier to do when doing nose and tail grabs.  Slammed on time when trying to do a stale fish.  So will save that for another time.

At the bottom of the park, after the three jumps is a spine.  It's difficult to get a lot of speed for it, but on occasion I was getting right to the top and stomping the landing.

Getting out of the park, I cut off to the left and through the trees to get on over to the 'Jolly Green Giant' run.  From here to the lift, I rode switch again in the heavy chop and larger moguls.  For me at the moment it is still quite difficult to ride switch in these conditions.

All day I've been really trying to push it a bit, and as such I took quite a few slams.  Mostly trying to ride switch in the moguls, and trying to do the 180's.  As such I've managed to tweak a few 'niggles.  My left ankle, left knee and upper left arm join the list along with my neck (which has been ongoing for quite some time).  During the day I could feel that they were a little strained, but by the end of the day, and this evening they are really starting to ache.  Don't think that its going to stop me riding, I think that it's just the fatigue and loads of mogul riding that I've been doing lately.

I decided to start off a little late this morning, and didn't get up the mountain until just after 09:30.  As soon as I got up, it was obvious that the conditions were not all that nice.  The wind was really strong and it was a complete white out.

As soon as I got up to the top, I noticed that the Harmony chair was open.  Given that the conditions and visibility was bad, I thought that I would go back to my previous haunts of the 'Little Whistler' on to 'Back Bowl' over the drop jump that I found and back to the Harmony chair via the 'G.S.'.

I was really having a good time on this, and really pushing the riding in zero visibility and in mogul fields.  I had one really big crash though.  I managed to miss time the riding around a mogul and caught a big heal edge.  I did a big crash on my neck, and could hear it crunch, and flipped over another time before stopping.  Thankfully it didn't hurt too much, and I got straight up, shook off the excess snow and carried on.  Did this run for a couple more times, before *gasp* they closed the Harmony chair (and also the Peak Chair) due to the really high winds.

So, I headed on over to the Emerald chair and sessioned loads of the runs over there.  I did about half of the runs in switch, which was quite a challenge given how choppy and powdery it was.  For the first time since getting back to Whistler I actually stopped for lunch.  I was really hungry so just had to.  Must be all of the energy I've been burning lately.

The weather was getting worse and worse as the wind picked up.  The upside of this was that not only was the piste getting quieter and quieter, but also the conditions of the slope was getting better and better with all the powder!  I really must admit that I thrive on such conditions and would prefer these to a long period of sun!

Near the end of the day I thought about heading on back down the slopes.  However, on the way up Emerald chair I spied the park and decided to give it a go.  I did this about 5-6 times.  The first thing was a quarter pipe with a tap up.  Was really getting that ally-oop working on that.  After that was a jump.  However, it was really difficult to see the run in, and I did crash out once.  However I was getting better and bigger at it.  After that were two small kickers, on which I eventually managed to get a 180 to switch and a switch 180 on the two kickers working.  It did take a couple runs to get them working, but it did happen.  Cool.

It really was late in the day now, so I headed on down the piste.  I took the different run out today, as I too the off piste run down under the gondola.  Very challenging and interesting.  I did loose it and hit a tree at speed.  However, it was small and bent over when I hit it.  No damage done...to me anyway.

Was suffering a bit from yesterdays runs.  So, what I did was loads of mogul runs?!?!  Even threw a few in switch when they weren't too big.  I rode the peak, down into the gladded gully, twice.  Did more of the Harmony run.  Except this time on the drop jump there was a wind lip not far after the landing, so it added an extra level of difficulty.  Bailed the first try, but every one after that was great, and felt better and better.  Even threw in a grab or two!

After the big travel to Whistler, and the two straight days of fresh-tracks, I was really quite tired.  So, today I took it easy and tried to get some sleep.  Must admit, that I was so tired that I managed to get more sleep than I normally do.  Normally I can lie in bed for 12 hours and get about 6 hours sleep.  However, today I was in bed for 12 hours and managed to sleep about 10 hours.  Great!

I rode around the mountain for a while today, all over the place.  There was a lot of powder around but it was really mogully and choppy.  I found a new gladded run called 'unsanctioned' which proved to be a bit dangerous.  It's down near the Garbonzo chair.  There was a lot of big holes in the snow, and one of them really caught me out and I slammed onto the other side of the thing!  No damage though.

I eventually ended up over on the Harmony chair.  From there I found this really nice and varied run down, that also included a cool drop jump.  Only about a board and two thirds (so about 250cm) of a drop, but challenging for someone like me.  The run was straight down 'Little Whistler', over 'Pika's Traverse and on to 'Back Bowl' and 'Die hard' ending up on the 'G.S.'. basically, keep to the left of the chair on the way down.  I did this run for practically all of the afternoon.

For the last run, I headed on down over the 'Saddle' and managed to get one of the last chairs on the Peak chair.  I rode on over through the 'bagel bowl' and down through my favourite 'gladded gulley'.  Managed to get out of the gullygully before it gets too knarly, and made it over onto the 'Peak to Creek'.  It was quite mogulled but worth the effort.

I arranged with Emma and Calvin that again today we were going to make the most of the snow and do another Fresh Tracks.  It was their last day on the snow too, before heading back to the UK.  So once again I had to get up at before 06:00 in the morning.  *ugh*

We got up to the roundhouse and had breakfast.  However, this time we also took some biscuits and muffins to eat later before heading out.

Today our plans were to do some riding on Whistler mountain before heading on over to Blackcomb.  I showed them the Bagel Bowl, with a drop in at the bottom into a fantastic gladded 'gully', which is like an amazing boarder cross track.  However it has a few holes that you have to watch out for, as some of them are huge.  I also showed them a nice tree run down from the top of Emerald which takes you down to Harmony chair.

After that we took Olympic run down to go to Blackcomb mountain.  We headed on straight up to the Glacier Bowl, where we hiked to the top of the ridge.  The ridge looks down over to 7'th heaven and into the bowl.  Calvin took a good line down and got some nice air off the wind lip.

After that we headed on around and actually did 7'th heaven.  Calvin managed to find some sweet lines which involved a few good jumps and drops. We went back up 7'th heaven and this time, I showed them how to get on over to the 'Secret Bowl'.  There was still a lot of powder in here, but it was a bit tracked out.  From here we headed on down Pakalolo.  This wasn't a great idea, as it was complete and utterly mogulled out.  Still we did our best, and headed on over to the left and down some more trees and jumps.

We stopped in the Crystal lodge and had a chick drink and eat our cakes from breakfast this morning.

After that, the only real chair that we haven't done yet was the Crystal Chair.  We headed on up this, and rode switch practically all the way down.  We rode all the way down to the mid station.

We wanted to do the tubing.  It didn't look all that much to be honest.  They didn't look like they were going fast or spinning much.  How wrong I was.  You went so fast that you did catch air, and I spun so fast that I couldn't hold my legs in!  We did that for the full hour, before heading down and heading to the Garibaldi Lift Company for a beer!

An old friend, Emma was in Whistler this week with her boyfriend Calvin.  Last night on my long and exhausting travel back to Whistler, I managed to arrange that we would all meet up in the morning and do the Fresh-Tracks option.  I didn't get to bed until after 01:00 and had to get up at 05:40 in order to get ready for the Fresh-Tracks and meet up with Emma and Calvin.  I got the right bus and Emma and Calvin got on the same bus.

We got chatting and catching up on everything since the last time we met up (which was Morzine last winter).  They got their fast tracks tickets, but I already had mine as i bought a load when they were 2-4-1!

The all you can eat breakfast at the roundhouse is really good value, and we all made sure that we had our fill.  Once they opened up the runs, we all headed off and started off with taking some runs down to the Emerald chair.  The conditions of the piste was fantastic and really good.  You could really speed down the slopes and stay in perfect control.

Once the Harmony chair opened up, I took the Emma and Calvin on over to the Flute bowl.  The hike was well worth it as there was so much powder available in the bowl.  After that we did some more runs over the Harmony ridge.  We didn't do lunch, but we did stop at the tea house at the top of the Harmony ridge for a hot chocolate.  This was a really good hot chocolate and I recommend that people give it a try!

Emma and Calvin had to call it an early day as they had a Zip-Trek event to do at 15:15.  So, we headed on down into the village and had another hot chocolate, and I also had a Pan Au Chocolate!

The trip back to Whistler got off to a good start.  My good friend MDO and his partner Sally let me stay over in their house in London.  Therefore it should be a relatively easy task to get to Heathrow airport.

Myself and MDO started the morning off really lazy like.  We went and had some breakfast just down the road, before setting off.  The tube ride was fine and I arrived at the airport with plenty of time to go.  When I arrived they weren't even calling my flight in for check-in.  So I bummed around in the airport for a while.

Eventually they opened up check-in.  Man their was a huge line to get in there.  After an age I managed to get checked in, and went to go through security.  Hmm.  Another huge line.  That was stage one security, there was another huge line to actually go through security.  I got the full treatment by security.  As I was carrying a laptop, I had to prove that it worked.  I had to take off my shoes and my belt.  My bag was given a swab!

I got through that I thought that I had packed up everything and retrieved it all.  I was wrong however.  I somehow didn't pick up my belt, but I didn't even notice that until I was actually on the flight!  Oh well.

I had a mooch around the duty-free, as I wanted to have a look into getting a slimline camera.  None took my fancy so I didn't buy one.  All I did buy was a big bottle of Vodka.

I got onto the flight with BA really easy.  However there was a delay in taking off, so we started off with being about 30 minutes late.  Flight was uneventful, apart from there was lots of turbulence.  I really like turbulence, and yet I do not travel well on road based transport.  Funny that!

As we arrived at Vancouver we went in to the approach and had to abort close to the runway as the aircraft in front had a small 'incident' which meant that the runway needed to be checked for debris.  That added another 40 minutes to the already delayed flight.

When we got off the flight, there was another huge line and delay getting through passport control.  Given that I was tired at this stage it took a real long time to get through.  I really hate lines and wasting my time waiting!

Needless to say, I missed my bus transfer.  However the company, Perimeter is very good about it and put me (and everyone else who were delayed) on the next bus.  I was supposed to get the 19:30 bus, but ended up having to get the 21:00!  The bus was as always uneventful, apart from yet another delay by roadworks.  I didn't manage to get back to the house in Whistler until midnight!  *Ugh*  Should have arrived at 22:30!  All I did was have a quick shower and get my stuff together for the Fresh Tracks tomorrow morning!

As you know I am currently in Birmingham, UK.  I will be heading back to Whistler on Wednesday 1st March 2006.  Looking forward to getting back and putting my new found skills into practise, and also my CASI Level 1 Snowboard Instructor certification.

What I intend to do with my Level 1 is, try and get some part time instructor job on the mountain.  Perhaps the weekends only.  Us this as an experience builder, and then go for my level 2. Will be asking around for some advice on how best to prepare for this and on how to get the part time job (working visa - how?).

Today I travel back to the UK for a 1 week quick trip.  Why you ask?  Well, I am one of these people who doesn't trust anyone.  As such, what with being away from my home in Birmingham, UK, I felt that I needed to go back half way through my trip to make sure things are all OK.  It also allows me to pick up my mail, ensure that everything in the house is OK, and that I have no unexpected bills!

Anyway,  the trip back started off with a bus trip from Whistler to the airport.  It felt like it took ages to get to the airport, what with setting off late and embarking on a tour of the city dropping people off at their hotels.  Once we arrived at the airport, I did my usual of getting checked-in quickly and through security, which I managed in double quick time.

I wanted to get something to eat and surf around the duty-free shops.  Vancouver airport, whilst a nice place sucks big style for duty-free and general shopping.  All of the decent places to eat are before security!  Also, the duty-free is extremely limited, and basically only perfume, chockolate, cigarettes and alcahol.  There was virtually no electrical goods at all, apparet from a couple watches!

So, my advice is that you do not plan to do any duty-free shopping in Vancouver airport!!!

The flight was OK, apparet from some whyney little kid who threw a massive tantrum for over 40 minutes before falling asleep.  The movies were poor though, so poor that I can't even remember what they were!

Got the tube from the airport and met up with MDO for a quick catch up, which was good.  After that got the train fron London Euston back to Birmingham.  Managed to snag 1/2 hours sleep at this point.  Was some 24 hours without any sleep!

For those who remember, I was in Scotland at the folks for Christmas.  Where I managed to leave my house keys!  It was a mission to get back into the house before flying out to Canada.  Thankfully that got resolved.  Anyway, I got my Mum to post the keys to my house, and the good news is that they were there waiting for me when I arrived.  So, thanks Mum!

Today is the day that we get our assessment for the CASI Snowboard Instructor course.  The day started off with us all just doing some riding, whilst the piste condition was good.  Really starting to feel that the carving skills are progressing nicely, thanks to the instructional tips from Greg.  Also, I was doing a lot of jibbing here and there and am really enjoying that too.

So the actual assessment got off under way through the morning.  Thankfully I wasn't the first to go, but I got selected to do the "Side Slipping" exercises.  When I started off I really tried to get the group motivated and in the mood.  I then started off with the "What" are we doing, "Why" we are doing it, and then onto the "How".  I started off with giving the 'Crab Walk' instruction for my students.  It was going well, and I then moved my students on to Assisted side slipping.  It again went well and I ended the class off really quite well.  In all, my feeling's on how well this went wasn't top notch, but acceptable.  I know that I can do better!

After lunch, we started off the lessons again.  I do have to say that Andy was doing really well too, and I knew that he would pas the course.  My lesson in the afternoon was to do the "Pendulum".  Again, I tried to motivate my students and get them enthused.  This lesson went better that this morning, but again I felt that I could have done better.  I suppose that this comes with more experience.

The end of the day came and we headed back to the hotel to await the results.  Greg gave us our results 1-2-1.  Not surprisingly, we all passed!  Hurrah!  I received an "Above Expectations" for my riding skills, and also an "Above Expectations" for my teaching.  Top results...excelent.

So, I am now a qualified snowboard instructor.  If you want to know more, have a look here: http://www.casi-bc.com/default.aspx

To objective of today was for us all in the group (see yesterdays blog) to put into practise what we leaned, and actually take lessons.  The lessons we had to teach were each a random selection of one of the core requirements from the 7, each assigned to us randomly by Greg.

We started the day off with some riding as the conditions of the slopes were just perfect.  Greg is very good at setting us riding 'tasks' for us to do when we are just riding.  These included such riding as X jumping, Edge-to-Edge, Hand over nose & tail, switch, Hop Turns, Tornado, Ollie and Nollie, Top Gun, and many others.  (want to know more about these, just ask me and I'll let you know, as these are very good 'Tactics' to encourage "self discovery" in your students!)

After some riding, we got into teaching our "students" (which were the other people in the group, who pretended to be beginners).  Me and my big mouth managed to get it so that I was first to give a lesson.  My first lesson was to teach Isolated Beginner Turns.  I thought that this went OK, but not excellent.  To be honest I think that in the morning everyone was a little ropey.  Greg was a little concerned, however after lunch it really improved.

After lunch we all managed to step it up a level.  For my self, my second instruction course was to teach 'Pendulum'.  This instruction went very much better than this morning.  In fact, I think that everyone really did well in the afternoon.  The non-english speaking students did struggle a little, but this was very much because of the language barrier, but their demonstrations were still good.

In the evening 1-2-1 discussion with Greg, once again I got some really positive feedback from him which was hugely appreciated.  Once again I was a 'strong' rider and a 'strong' instructor.  Let's hope that tomorrow goes as well.

In all, once again I feel that I got a lot out of today.  I am so looking forward to tomorrow!

An early start today, as my Instructor course started at 08:30 at Merlins.  We (myself, Dawn and Pete) got the early bus, quickly followed by Andy and grabbed a coffee/hot chocolate before registering.  The first part of the morning was simply a registration and an introduction session, before we headed up Blackcomb to the top of the Solar Coaster.

There was a lot of people taking this course and we were all given a number, which assigned us to a group.  There were 6 groups of 7 riders with 1 instructor.  Myself and Andy ended up in group 2 with the lead Instructor, who was called Greg.  Dawn and Pete also managed to be together in another group.

Our group comprised of myself, Andy, Michael (a Swede), Ralph (another Scot), Matt (a Canadian who is already instructing), Shiho (girl from Japan), and Minhoo (from Korea), and of course Greg the Instructor.  We all got on well straight away, and bonded well as a group.

The whole day was a mix of two main core elements.  Our own personal assessment by Greg, and a complete run through of all of the beginner to novice snowboarding progressions requirements.  For each of these we had to demonstrate that we could 'de-tune' ourselves to effectively demonstrate as how we would to a beginner.  It went along like this:

1. Basic Mobility (Skill: Stance & Balance):
   • Equipment Description and guidance
   • Walking/Skating
   • Climbing
   • Straight Running
     • Fore and Aft
     • Lateral
     • Vertical
     • Body Alignment
     • Arms, "Balance Awareness"
     • Head Looking in direction of travel
   • Toe/Heel Drag and also Hypnosis Turns
2. Side Slipping (Skill: Edging)
   • An introduction to edging
     • Crabwalk
     • Gas Pedal
   • Side Slipping
3. Pendulum (Skill: Pressure Control)
   • Pendulum
4. Traverse (Skill: Pressure Control)
   • Traverse with stop
5. Isolated beginner turn (Skill: Pivot)
   • Static rotation exercises (board off - full body rotation)
   • Twisting the disc's (result of full body rotation)
   • Assisted isolated beginner turn
6. Linked beginner turns (Skill: Timing & Coordination)
   • Linking beginner turns
   • Mileage
   • Equal pressure
   • Side slip to control speed
7. Novice Turn (Skill: Pressure Control)
   • Static Flexing/Extension exercise
   • Linked novice turns (look/ follow/ react)
   • Speed control Techniques (shape, size, slope)

I do have to say that I was riding really well and as Greg put it "strong" today.  This does not surprise me at all, as I was riding well within my self, and can honestly say that I think I could pass the level 1 riding assessment in switch!

The day ended off with us all going to the Marriott hotel for a couple video presentations "Respects & Standards", "Children & Snowboarding", and also an equipment analysis.  It also detailed what was required from Level 1, and we also watched what was required for level 2.  I am so much more positive that I can achieve level 2.  The only thing I will need is some experience putting level 1 into practise for a week or so.

In summary, I really had a good day.  It was really good to go back to the basics, and reminisce as to what it was like to be a beginner again.

Once again, not a particularly good day on the slopes.  It was even colder today on the slopes than yesterday.  With the wind chill added in it was -40!

As the cold temperature was expected I didn't make the effort to get up the mountain particularly early, so about 10:30 then.  As my Instructor training/certification starts tomorrow, I thought that I would again (as yesterday) work on my technique.  So, I rode all over the place, experiencing different terrain and different levels of ice and moguls.

The full forward lean that I put on yesterday was really pinching my right calf today and wasn't working as well as yesterday, so I lessened it off to 5/6.  This did the trick and saved my poor calf from a royal bashing.

Early in the day the riding wasn't going well on the ice, and didn't improve until I started to ride the Harmony Ridge and over onto McConceys.  For what ever reason I upped the aggression level some what, and really started to tear it down the slopes, even though it was very, very icy, cookie covered, and with loads of bumps and moguls around.  I did that a few times, and each time I rode it I pointed the board more and more straight down the hill.  That was, until some *ick decided that it was a good idea to jump out of the trees right into the line of some skiers who scattered and almost took me out too.  Let's just say, I don't know if the ski instructor took his pass or not, but he got some huge amount of verbal from him.  Too right!

Nothing much else to report to be honest.  Lots of ice riding...very few actual turns (is the best way to ride ice)...loads of mogul runs to keep myself warm (snowboarders generally hate moguls...me I don't mind them too much), and a general day devoted to getting ready for tomorrow.

In all reflection, today wasn't a very good day.  The weather was bitterly cold, requiring an extra layer and also the need to wear the face mask all day too.  Never really got really cold, but never really got warm either.

I started off on Whistler mountain.  Decided that I was going to work on my technique in preparation of my forth coming CASI level 1 training and certification on Saturday.  So, started off working on my pivoting, edges, balance, body position, popping over into switch and back again, spins, C and S turns, etc. etc.  Decided that since i was doing this I may as well go exploring around the mountains.  As I have already rode almost every inch of Whistler mountain, I decided to ride on over to Blackcomb.

The ride on over to Blackcomb was icy as hell, and really not fun at all.  I had even waxed, tuned and edged my board yesterday, and was still struggling.  On the way up I noticed that my forward lean was down to 3/6.  I remembered that I lightened the lean when I was in the park, and forgot to put it back.  So, I put the lean up to 4/6.  It helped, so next run I put it up to 5/6 and eventually put the full lean on 6/6, and rode that for the rest of the day.

The maximum lean really made the ice riding better.  So much so that I started to straight line it down the piste.  I varied my riding between piste riding and going through the terrain garden.  In the terrain garden I only did a few spines, whoop-de-doos, the box and a couple rails on each and every ride through.  The best part of the day was the striping down the hill, and did make the day OK.

Today started off rather slowly.  We went out for a couple small beers last night, that turned into a late night club fest

So, when I had got up the mountain it was already after 10:30.  After last nights beer I thought that I would take it easy.  Turned out that I had a rather mixed bag day.  I rode literally all over the Whistler mountain.  Rode switch and regular, on and off all day.  Jibbed a little here and there.  Practised my 180's on the flats.  Just can't get the switch backside to work, I think there is a bit of a mental block there.

I rode all day, and skipped lunch as I had started so late.  It was really cold today, and tomorrow is expected to be even colder.  So I was glad that I wrapped up extra warm.  However, if I go out tomorrow I will definitely wear another extra layer.

A lot of us are planing to go out tonight for Valentines Day, and have a few beers.  It also gives us the opportunity to get to know out new house guest April (Auzie who lines in London), who arrived last night.

Today didn't start off too early, but early enough.  Myself and Andy left the house and headed on up Whistler mountain.  There was a low level cloud cover all the way up to near the top of Big Red, and it really was cold.  We couldn't quite decide what we wanted to do, so headed on over to the Harmony Chair.  Our first run was down 'Burnt Stew Trail', and was OK, but nothing spectacular.  We headed on back up and over to the Harmony Ridge and headed on down the Sun Bowl, traversing through the trees.  This was a big mistake.  The conditions were so hard and icy that it was terrible.  There is no way that I am going back there until the conditions improve over there.

We did some runs down 'Little Whistler', in an effort to try and find some 'friendly' territory.  So, what we ended up doing was some switch riding down in my usual haunts.  Man, my switch riding is getting much better and sweeter.  We did that for a while and then headed on for lunch at the Roundhouse.  We ran into Pete, Jono, Dawn and Steve in there, and headed out with them after lunch.

We all headed down into the park and run that for a while.  The trouble is that all of the jumps and rails, their run outs were all rather rutted and broken.  The good news was that there were two nice little kickers that I was able to do a number of front side switch 180's over, I think about 10 in total!  Sweet!  I managed to pop a few others at the side of the piste in a few places here an there.  Got to keep the good work going.

After that it was once again the last lift and a couple of the guys had already wained and departed for home.  So, myself, Dawn, Pete and Jono were left to blast it down to the bottom.  Jono did was for us to have a race, but that was a little foolish and potentially dangerous.  It especially didn't start off to well, when he decides to go off down another route!  Anyway, we blasted down that slope.  The conditions were perfect and you couldn't ask for any better if you were going to stripe the hill.  My ears were cold and noised up by the time we all got down to the bottom.  Brilliant!

Today didn't get off to a good start.  I was in a very bad mood.  All started yesterday (probably because I got battered by the sun!), got worse in the evening, culminating in proceeding to get royally wound up in the Evening.  The upshot of this was that I was also in no mood to sleep either, so I ended up getting up and out of the door and on the bus before the lifts had even opened

Today was another blue bird day, probably more so than yesterday, but again very cold.  Was nice in the sun shine though   I decided to head on over to Blackcomb Mountain today for a change of scenery.  This would probably be the first time in about 1 1/2 months that I was actually able to see the mountain too!

Headed on all the way up to the top of the Jersey Cream, and headed on down into the Terrain Park.  This was the first time that I had ventured into the Terrain Park on Blackcomb.  It started off with a huge 'right' spine, which I wussed over.  Not a good start.  Then onto a reasonable sized set of two jumps.  For neither of these I had enough speed, another wussy effort.  A 'left' spine, wuss, 'right' spine, wuss.  Hmm, theme here.  So I had to up it a little, and to do so, the next time I thought that I would warm up in the Terrain Garden.  On the way to the terrain garden I was quite happily hopping between regular and switch riding.  Now this was much more like it.  This style of riding I actually kept up all day, along with a few other rotation and jump exercises I know about.

Anyway, back to the terrain garden part.  The terrain garden was a much better place to warm up the day with.  It too started with a spine on the right.  Much smaller, but at least I didn't wuss that one.  Then immediately onto a left spine, left onto a bug roller where I popped a really nice ollie off, then again onto another left spine.  Now this was much more like it.  After that there was a short box.  Now, I've never been too happy with rails, but I must admit that since coming here I have been much more 'have a go' with the rails and boxes.  So popped up onto it and 50-50 board slid it, and ollie popped off the end.  Quite chuffed with the ollie off.  Next up was a thin rail, just did a 50-50 along it.  Then came a small rainbow, again a nice 50-50.  To the right of this last rainbow is a set of 4 (5?) big rollers, be if you do the rainbow you only have enough speed for the last two rollers.  These are really good places to practise the ollie off, and I managed to pop some nice ( and very stable, and stomped the landing flat) air on both.

After the bottom of the terrain garden there is a nice long run down to the 'Solarcoaster' chair down a number of different runs.  As I had only been riding switch most of the week, it had been a while since I really let rip and stripe the slopes.  So I did, even letting go even more than normal.  This must be some of the riding improvement's that I have made since coming here, as this extra straight lining and higher speed continued all day.  Perfect.

So I went around to the terrain garden again to do the same.  This time I rode it even better.  Only, this time on the box, I didn't get onto it fully and ended up doing a nose press board slide, and managing to pull the board back around when coming off the end.  Perhaps I'll try and 'mean' it next time.

The fourth ride through was prittey uneventfull.  The only event was when I was wurtling down the piste at the bottom on my way back to the 'Solarcoaster'.  In an area where I am going prity fast, some boarder comes crashing down a mogul slope to the upper right, and completely loses it and manages to slide out right infront of me.  Thankfully even though I was going really fast, I always remain in control.  So I managed to avoid hitting him.  Well, almost.  Because he was 'flapping about', His hand hit me on the shoulder, and it put me off so I lost it.  Again, thankfully I managed to come to a screeching hault.

Wait there is more...

This snowboarder was still out of control and still going.  He managed to somehow come around and crash into my side (low speed) and fall over me ending up eventually in a big heap.  Thankfully neither he, nor more importantly was I hurt.  His mates were further up the slopes pissing themselves laughing.  So I asked if the 'idiot' was OK, and making sure he was, also laughed it off and set off again.

Must have 'brought me down' a little, as the next ride through the terrain garden was terrible.  The second hip, I leaned too far forward on the landing and ended up sprawled accross the piste.  The third hip, I must have over compensated and ended up on my arse.  The last rail confirmed it.  Managed to let the board slip out from under me, ended up sitting on the rail then toppeling over backwards and rolling over.  No bruises thankfully.  Needless to say, the last two rollers were also my worst of the day too.

So, decided to try something different that the terrain guarden, and I found the Boarder Cross   It's very, very steep, and even more tight with some netting right on the edge, but great none the less.  That put the smile back on my face again.  So, did it again.  This time, as I knew the layout I hit it with more speed.  On the last corner I was going some, so much so that I couldn't apply any more pressure to the turn without slipping out, so edged out wide and almost ended up in the netting.  Could hear the board touching the netting.

As i got back down to the bottom of the Solar coasterprettyuneventfullyhurtlingSolar coaster, I got on the chair with these two guys and this head snowboard instructor.  They were all getting some unofficial tuition to do their Level 2 Instructor exams.  So, I thought that I would be cheaky and follow and observe for a while.  Turned out there were about 8 of them getting some tuition.  There was only one rider who was technicaly better than I am, and I saw nothing to make me feel that I couldn't also do the level two if this was the acceptable level.  As we rode off the top and headed towards '7th Heaven', I stayed behind and observed.  The leader was asking each one what they would tell rider X (who was just someone riding infront), what they would teach them if they were in one of their leasons.  I was glad to hear that when i was infront for a bit, all I heard was 'Don't know he's pretty good'.

So, I also followed them up 7th Heaven, and knew that they were heading off to the left at the top so did the same.  I thought that I was caught as the leader asked me over and asked if I could take a photo for him.  Phew...escaped!  I decided that it was a bit too cheeky, so I let them ride off first and then followed.

At the top of 'Crystal Traverse' if you head on off left on an extremely narrow and difficult traverse, you eventually end up in the 'Secret Bowl'.  This traverse, with the conditions of the snow (or should I say ice, at the top), made me hang on to the mountain side.  Scary.  As we hit in there, it was obvious that they were going to do some group self assessment as they stopped at the top and rode one at a time.  So I too this as my opportunity to leave them, and carved some sweet lines down the bowl.  I do have to recommend that Intermediate riders and above go for this run!  At the bottom of the bowl, I ended up in what is called 'Pakalolo', which is a tight couloir (about 2m wide to start) which gradually opens up as it progresses.  The conditions were not in my favour, as it was rock hard and very difficult to get any edge.  Still, I must admit that at the bottom I was disappointed in my self, as I know for 100% sure that I can really nail that thing.

OK, I then decided to have lunch.  Man, what a packed and varied day I've been having!  Whilst at lunch at the 'Glacier Creek', I looked at the map, and decided to go up the 'Crystal Chair', as I had not done that particular part of the mountain.

The Crystal Chair, whilst opening up a nice ride and loads of runs, is very slow, pathetic and old.  Really, Whistler should actually invest some money in getting the uplift sorted out, it really is appalling! <rant over!>

I was going to give 'Ridge Runner' a look, as I could choose where to go from that.  However, instead I ended up just going right, and further right.  I actually ended up, if you look on the map, just under the cliffs in the 'closed area'.  This would be a fantastic and varied tree run if there was some softer conditions.  So, I made a mental note to try this the next time there is a snow dump.  I eventually ended up coming out onto the 'Blackcomb Glacier Road', very near the start of it, which is at the bottom of the glacier?!?

As is usual, it was getting late now, so headed back up the Excelerator chair with the intention of doing the terrain garden again.  Which I did.  Thankfully to say, this was a much better run through than the last effort earlier in the day.  Then striped it down 'Slingshot' as fast as my little board could carry me, and then onto 'Lower Gear Jammer' and finally onto 'Village Run' back to the bus.

Got up slightly later this morning, after the epic hiking efforts yesterday.  I made sure that I changed the lenses on my goggles today, as it was obviously going to be a sunny day.  So out came the Iridium Red lens, and man was it a sunny day.  Not a cloud in the sky.  The only trouble was, it was also very cold.  So, I also ditched the usual neck cover and put on the scarf that my Mum bought me for Christmas.  It felt like I was wearing a neck brace, but I got used to it.  It also did the job in keeping the cold out.  Brilliant.

I was still one of the first out of the house and up the slopes.  Yes it was very, very bright and cold and I am so glad I changed lenses and wrapped up more.

I started off with the same switch runs as I did yesterday.  However, I was feeling really confident and relaxed today, that I decided to go and hunt newer challenges to try out my new switch riding skills.  I soon found a mogul field, and found that whilst my switch riding is acceptable on the piste, it is still lacking in the moguls.  Yes I rode them out, but very tentatively, and I avoided the biggest moguls.  Still, give it time and more experience and I'll ride those mogul suckers soon enough.

I also found an extension to my run by bypassing the Emerald chair and carrying onto the 'Upper Olympic' run and down to the 'Garbonzo Express'.  This part of the piste was much more wide open and it made it easier to practise without those damned skiers using me as a turning point at 100 mph!

During the day I was getting faster and faster, and even more confident.  I forgot what it was like to be a beginner again.  All that visible advancement in short periods of time, makes you feel good about your self.  This should set me in good settle for my forth coming CASI Level 1 Instructor test, next week.

Did this run, and quite a few other variations around all day.  I managed to get the last Emerald Chair at exactly 15:30.  From there I headed down my usual switch ride down, 'Pony Trail', 'Orange Peel' and down onto 'Upper Dave Murry Downhill'.  This last run was a mistake.  This run has severely iced up, and it is really not worth the run out, especially trying to do it switch!  I actually gave up trying to ride it switch, and just straight lined it down.  Tip: The way to ride steep icy conditions, is to make fewer turns!

I almost forgot to mention.  As there was a lot of Sunshine today, I thought that I would take my phone up the slopes and take some photos!  Have a look at them here.

What a brilliant day.  The sun was out, my riding was going great, my switch riding is really getting there and the Flute bowl was fantastic!

I got up very early again this morning, and was again beaten out only by one of the skiers!  (But she meets up with the British Ski School early).

It was again my intention today to concentrate on my switch riding today.  So I headed on back up to the same 'switching ground' as I rode on Monday (From the top of the Emerald chair, down the "Ego Bowl" which is a green, onto the "Ptarmigan" which is a blue and on down "Side Order" which is a black and back to the Emerald Chair).  The first run didn't start off too well, as I started off a bit sketchy.  However that was overcome before too long and I was straight back into it again.  On the way up the Emerald Chair, I could not help but notice just how great the sunshine was today (see my weather report for the day), and decided that instead of switch riding I was going to go on over and give the Flute Bowl a go.

Really glad I did give the flute bowl a go.  It was fan-bloody-tastic!  The hike up the bowl is a really long one and thankfully there was no wind today so it made it a bit easier.  I got to the top and it was obvious that the recent high winds and cold night temperatures had battered the top of the mountain quite a bit.  The first 10m was very crusty and difficult to ride.  However, just after that 'crust' it was brilliant.  Wide open, powder filled, and completely un-tracked.  There was surprisingly no tracks down the route that I took.  The route that I rode took me down thou a valley that is much like a natural half pipe.  I haired down into it and made a fantastic and huge wind-lip slash, followed by another further down.  The whole run down was so fast, easy, and steep... I loved it.  As is required by the Flute Bowl, there is also another long hike out, before a long easy cat track down to the Harmony Express.

After such an epic run, what else could I do but do it again, and who would blame me?

The second run, I did almost the same, but this time I rode up and popped up over the wind-lip and did a really nice relaxed 'method' grab.  Looking back up the piste, it was also quite a big jump, 6-10 board lengths in distance.

I got to the top of the Harmony Express again, and ... hmm, I just had to do it again.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.  I did try the jump again, but bailed it big style, and as usual landed on my heels in a part rotation.  No F'n good!

OK, after doing the flute bowl a huge hike 3 times, I was really hungry by now and headed to the Roundhouse, down Pitkas Traverse.  Whizzed down that run...After all "turning is for wimps", and "speed is your friend".

By the time I finished my huge lunch, it was almost 14:30.  Since it was so late in the afternoon, I thought that I would do some switch riding.  I started off again down the same run as earlier in the day.  I was so stuffed after lunch and tired, that I must admit that I struggled down the first run.  However the next few runs were great, as I doubled my efforts and put my mind to it.  Really starting to nail this 'switch' thing.  I kept that going until the very last lift at 15:30.

So at the top of the Emerald Express it was too late to head on over to the Peak chair, so instead I headed on down the slopes in switch.  I started off on the green 'Pony Trail', then onto the blue 'Orange Peel' and back onto a green called 'Bear Cub' and arrived at the bottom of the Big Red Express.  This switch riding is hard work you know.  Anyway, I thought that I would carry it on all the way to the base of the mountain, so from top to bottom in switch.  Cool eh?

Heading off from the Big red, I headed on down 'Lower Dave Murry Downhill', which is a black run.  It started out nice and friendly for my fledgling switch riding.  However, it got progressively more and more icy the further down.  Now this was a challenge to my new switch riding skills.  I will admit that there were a few 'moments' coming down there, but thankfully no spills.  Even a week ago I would have probably not even tried to switch rid down a black run, never mind an icy black, but I am quite proud of my efforts today.

What a great day.  Let's hope that there are loads more like this!

I was almost the first out of the house this morning, only beaten by one skier!  *Ugh*  The lines for the gondola was very light, despite it being a Monday and the local schools having this 'Monday Club' thing, that allows the kids to ski/snowboard on Mondays!

As there has been a hell of a lot of powder lately, my switch riding has not been getting much attention, so I resolved to do some switch.  And switch I did.  From 08:30 until the last run at 03:25!

The morning switch riding got off to a shaky and slow start, but I soon started to get into it.  I really was giving it a good go, so much so, I don't think I've taken so many falls for a long time.  One particular fall (caught a heel edge and really crashed out) was quite severe.  I'm glad that I am wearing these dental retainers (those who know me, will know that I have been getting a lot of dental work), as if I wasn't I would have savagely bitten my tongue.  Instead, the retainers meant that I only savagely mashed my tongue!

My route was to cover from the top of the Emerald chair, down the "Ego Bowl" which is a green, onto the "Ptarmigan" which is a blue and on down "Side Order" which is a black and back to the Emerald Chair.  I think I picked a really good route as it started easy and got harder as the run went on.  This helped to push the switch riding in different conditions.

As I had started so early, I just had to have lunch, and did so at the Roundhouse before setting off again.

The afternoon was even better than the morning.  I was really feeling the switch riding and it is starting to feel more and more natural.  My biggest weakness with the switch riding is the toe side turns.  This afternoon though, they were just flowing so nicely and getting really fast, even on the black run.  Really enjoying it as I can really feel the progression and improvement in my riding.

As usual, the day has to come to an end so I headed on over to the Peak Chair and headed on off down the Khyber Pass.  I was just so relaxed after the great day that I really just flowed down the slope, even though it was a mogul mine field that was quite icy down near the bottom.

What a great day!

To finish off such a great day, I had to hit the hot tub.  There have been some problems with the hot tub lately.  The jets didn't work properly.  So when I got in, I noticed that the filter guard wasn't on correctly.  So I opened it up and found that the filter was out of place.  So I moved it back into place, replaced the guard and hay presto the jets were back working again.  Yippee.

I have added loads of new photos to my photo album for Whistler.  Have a look at them here: http://www.internetwideworld.com/WebSite/Photos.aspx?AlbumID=13  Let me know what you think about them.  Most of them were taken by Sam.  Thanks Sam.

You may have noticed that I have not been riding yesterday or am riding today.  That is because I want to go and see the Superbowl down at the pub.  This will be the first time in about 8 years I've managed to see the Superbowl on the TV live!  So, going to go hit Tappleys in about 10 minutes!

Go Seattle!

 

After last night, we still managed to get up and out quite early.  I was about 15 minutes behind everyone else though.  However as soon as I got up and ready and caught the bus, I was off like a rocket.  It was everyones intention to hit the wind lip at the top of the Blackcomb Glacier, so I knew where to find them.  I was really moving and managed to catch up with Steve, Jono and Toby by the Glacier Express chair, overtook them by the top and was way ahead by the Showcase T-Bar and the hike up to the glacier.

Hiking the wind lip, I could see that Pete and Sam had only just got there, so I really made some good time.

You could tell that there was loads more snow here this time compared to the last time we used this lip for a jump.  Pete made the headway up the climb, whilst me and Sam started the work on the lip.  Did a couple of side slips, and it was clearly deep.  I then headed on up to help Pete.  We both side slipped the first time, and then flat lined it after that.  Initially as the snow was so soft and deep we only managed to get a couple of feet of air.

Then we started to hit it more.  For my self, I actually managed to take and land two 180's...Well, actually it was more like a 170   We did this for about a couple of hours, before we all started to feel the effects of last night.  So, we headed on down and grabbed lunch at the 'Glacier Creek'.  We were going to go and do 7th Heaven, but Sam had some shopping to do, as this was his last day here.  So instead we decided to go through the park and down.

I managed to somehow get separated from everyone at the top, before even getting to the park.  Don't know how, as I was between Pete and Andy!  I managed to get to the Terrain Garden though.  There were some nice rainbow rails which I did, spines, and a lot of big rollers.  Was thinking that I may head back and use these rollers to try and do some spins on some time later.

So, finished the terrain garden, and striped it down to the bottom of the piste and waited for the rest of the group to arrive.  Only waited about 5 minutes.

Last night, what with all of the snow, we all decided to use the 'Fresh Tracks' option.  This did mean however, getting up at 05:30!  *Ugh*  I managed to get probably about 2 hours sleep!

Anyway, we all got up and out the door and on the bus on time (myself, Will, Pete, Dawn, Andy, and Sam).  You have to take the bus to the Blackcomb base and line up for the "Whistler Village Gondola".  We got up to the Roundhouse at about 07:30, where we had breakfast.  I do have to say that the breakfast is fantastic.  It's a full help your self.  Cereal, pastries, fruit, scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, pancakes, juice, coffee, everything.  The fresh tracks cost me about $16, but I managed to get it for a 2-4-1 deal.  So, a full breakfast for $8, which is about 4 quid!  Fantastic, and well worth it.

Whilst we were eating breakfast we were looking out onto the slopes and you could see that there was a very, very strong gale.  So, we took our time and eat and drank loads, until it was time to really go.

We all got ready and headed on over to the park.  Since my ankles have almost totally healed, I've been feeling better and better about jumping and jibbing.  Just off the Emerald chair is a small jump which is next to the half-pipe (which is closed).  It's not a great jump though.  The first thing in the park, was a tap-up rail.  Surprisingly, I was the only one in the group to reach and tap!  This didn't last any further than that, as the visibility improved and all of the park riders in the group started to really hit it.  Next after that is large box.  It was actually a good box, and I think that I'll go back to it some time in the future and try and session it and try and get some spins.  After than, we headed on over to the left trail of the park.  In here there are 3 medium sized jumps in a row.  The first jump is really, really good but the run out is sketchy and then has loads of powder fluff to try and throw you.  You are then lead straight into the second jump then the third.  Unfortunately, the second jump isn't great and it is very difficult to not hit the knuckle on the third jump as you cant get enough speed.  After that, there is an unofficial jump further down the park to the right which we all hit.  We then rode through the trees for a while then get onto the Emerald Chair again.

We did that quite a few times.  However, each time through we started to get a little more and more 'mad'.  So we started doing fun things like, seeing who could do the gayest jump.  I think Pete managed to win, often.  I do have to say that my ankles are holding up quite well, and getting better.

We then decided to head on over to the Garbanzo chair.  On the way over I managed to miss the turn, and decided to head on through the trees over to the run.  I somehow managed to end up at the top of a cliff, with no apparent way out.  The first way down was about 20ft and had a log going down it, which I actually say someone later use as a rail down the cliff...massive.  Anyway, the way down for me was between two trees and a drop of about 10ft, which I'm quite proud of my self, I managed to straight line.  We then went up the Garbanzo lift again, and this time we rode the line under the Garbanzo chair.  Now this is a cliff area and is out of bounds, but very good, steep and varied.  I do recommend that advanced people who are intermediate riders and above do this run!

After that, it was getting on into the afternoon and it was a long day.  So, some people started to flag and decided to head on back.  It was left to me, Pete and Sam to do some more riding.  We headed on up the Peak chair with the intention of doing the 'Khyber Pass' as the view was much better.  Sam took some photo's up there as it was an amazing view.  Sam has a proper SLR camera and takes his photography quite serious.

At least this time the run was so much easier and faster as we could see.  On the way down through the trees we really made a good effort and somehow ended up coming out much, much further to the right and out of the tree's near the run out.  Pete nicknamed the tree run as 'The forest of Overon' as the trees suddenly seamed to stop!  It was actually a difficult line out of the trees to the cat track out, and involved the drop off a cliff.  Nothing major though, but still intimidating.

After that it was a ride down the icy cat track down all the way to Bayshores!

Whistler, BC (Ski Press)-As of 10am this morning, Whistler broke the record for the snowiest month the mountains have seen since weather data collection began 25 years ago. With 46 centimetres (18 inches) of snow in the past 36 hours, January's snowfall accumulation so far is 461 centimetres (181.5 inches). The snowiest month previously was January 1992 at 459 centimetres (180.7 inches.)

"The continuous snowfall this month has been phenomenal," says Sara Aldridge from Whistler Blackcomb's snow and weather communications office. "Most mornings this month we've woken up to fresh snow; we’ve been experiencing perpetual powder days. This is classic Whistler weather – system after system lined up, one after the other, dumping snow on the resort. The locals are in heaven and our visitors are ecstatic."

This month Whistler received fifteen 10+ centimetre (4 inch) snow days. Of those; one was a 50+ centimetre (23 inch) day, three were 40+ centimetre (16 inch) days, four were 30+ centimetre (12 inch) days and one was a 20+ centimetre (8 inch) day. The snowiest day this month was January 13 with 58 centimetres (or 23 inches) of snow.

"I've lost track of all the great lines I've had this month; it has been outrageously good," says Leslie Anthony, Editorial/Creative Director of SKIER Magazine and Whistler resident. "I've experienced this type of weather pattern before but in smaller spurts. This is why I moved to Whistler."

With the record already broken, there's still more snow on the way. Environment Canada is forecasting a possible 20 centimetres (8 inches) over the next several hours.

After an epic day and pizza, some of us (myself, Jono [skier!!!] and Will) decided to put up in the garden a box and gas pipe.  Not just a flat box, but a box put up against a tree!!!

We decided to build up a large mound of snow at the base of the tree, about a 5 ft base, and prop the box up against the tree...the long way.  We then heaved (as the box is big and bloody heavy) the bot onto the top of the snow pile, and dug it in.  We then added a lot more snow behind the box and around it to support it and our weight.

It wasn't really our intention to ride it tonight, but we couldn't resist.  So we started to hit it.  It became apparent quite quickly that the angle was a bit wrong.  It was OK for me, a goofy rider, but the regular riders kept ending up in the tree/bushes to the right when coming off the box.  So, we decided to rotate it around to a better angle, which worked really better.

The three of us then proceeded to keep hitting the box.  We were all riding the box quite well.  With all of us getting higher up the box each time.  Will was really starting to nail it and was getting to the top of the box repeatedly with his lead foot.  Jono was doing well to.  As for my self, I was doing OK, but I was starting to get tired.  After all, we had been riding since very early morning.  So, I wasn't getting better, just more tired.

We called it a day, late on at night, at about 23:10!  I must admit that it was a good evening!

The day for me got off to a very slow start.  Everyone else had left before I had, but I wasn't too far behind. 

So I headed up and knew that they were heading on over to the Emerald chair, as I knew that they were doing the park.  So I headed on down the run, but didn't see them.  On the way up the chair, I spotted the posse about half way down, and knew that I could catch up with them.  Which I did on the way down.

We all (that is, myself, Will, Pete, Dawn, Andy, Jono, Steve and Sam) headed on back up the Emerald and hit the park.  There were quite a few good jumps and spines that I hit.  The best is that there are tree similar sized jumps in a row on the left of the park.  Brilliant.  Managed a couple grabs on there and only bailed one jump.  Still need to get my 'mojo' in-tune, as I'm still crap at jumps.  It's a confidence thing, which isn't helped if you cant even see anything.

We all did that for a while before Steve and Andy decided to head on off and either do something else or go home.

In the mean time, we all headed on up to the Peak chair.  The wind was really blowing up there and it was not pleasant.  Couldn't see more than a couple of feet in front.  Our intention was to hit some off piste to the left of Highway 89.  A tree/valley run called 'Cybers Pass'. All I can say about this run is 'Epic!'.  It was a really great, knarly, tree lined, steep, valley, jumpy run.  Awesome.  However, at the top we did get into some difficulties, as the powder was very deep and it was difficult to get going and onto the real run.

We were however, majory off piste, and so we all made sure that we kept stopping to make sure that everyone in the group were together.  There were some amazing features to this run.  There were some tree falls over the tight track, that meant that you had to ride under the tree and through the branches.  Thankfully Pete went just before me, and hung onto the branches and managed to get it to drop all of the snow off of the branches .  So I just rode straight through, with my lead arm up to protect my face.

There were a couple of problems with this run.  Firstly, even though Will has seasoned hear a few times, even he did not really know where we were going to come out.  Secondly, because of the conditions, it was really difficult to see anything and there were loads of bumps and the run out was quite flat.  So, this made it really difficult to keep your speed.

Eventually, we actually ended back on the right side of the mountain.  We could have even made a run on over to the Creekside Gondola.  However, as there was enough snow we decided to take the run down to Bayshores, where the house is.  This was a really tight but fun line.  On the way down, we met these two dudes building this massive gas pipe jump/rail.  It was massive, and you could tell that they had been working on it for a while.  Anyway, the run ended just up the road from the house and we walked home within 2 minutes.

After such an epic day, we all decided that it was Dominos time.  On Tuesday at Dominos here, there is a 2-4-1 deal.  So we all ordered a 14" pizza, some Pepsi and also some Cheesy Bread.  So fat.  Only managed to finishes the Cheesy Bread and half of my Meatzza Feast!  Will save the rest for later tonight.  We are planning to ride the gas pipe, box and 1/4 pipe onto a tree which are all set up in the garden.  May also try some of the trampoline tonight, to work on getting my knees up and making those spins happen (rather than thinking they will come around naturally!).

Will keep you posted...

Today just didn't really seam to get started.  I got up the slopes at a reasonable time.  It looked like they were going to open the T-Bars, so I headed on down to them.  Waited for a while, and it looked like they were going to open the Peak chair.  So, I took the decision to risk it and headed for that line.  A mistake.  Waited in that line for over 45 minutes before getting on.

OK, so the run from the Peak was worth it.  I was on about the 8th chair to get to the top, and while most people headed down 'Whistler Bowl', I headed on toward the Bagel Bowl.  There was only one person in front of me, and I caught him at the lip of the bagel bowl, and just charged off the drop while he was still looking at it.  It was a really nice run.  Oh so deep!  The only trouble was, that the run out hadn't been tracked before.  It was therefore very slow and difficult to get out of the bottom of the bowl and onto 'Highway 89'.  I wanted to do that run again, but the lines were massive.

By now the Harmony Express was also open, to I headed on up the T-bars.  Rode these lines for a while, before thinking I would give the flute bowl or Burnt Stew Trail a go.  By now the weather had closed in and I couldn't see very far, so I didn't have enough speed to get an easy walk into the Flute Bowl gate.  So instead I dropped off and hit the 'Crescendo' run.  My oh my was the powder deep hear.  It was extremely hard to keep my speed up, even when straight lining it.  I actually got stuck and had to hike up to the next rise before setting off again.  However, as I couldn't see anything I managed to get stuck again in a trough.  Another hike up to the top of the next ridge.  I eventually got out though.

It was really late now, so I headed on down and thought that I would get a few tree runs in that I did earlier in the week and hit the Emerald Express.  Did them a couple times and caught one of the last lifts up and headed on over to the Peak for the run out.  I thought that perhaps the Peak to Creak would have been groomed by now.  Nope, just as bad if not worse.  This time thou, I thought that I would do 'Big Timber' or 'Home Run'.  Ended up doing 'Big Timber'.  This would be a fantastic run if only it wasn't full of moguls and ubber-moguls.

Finished that run, and once again my thighs were killing me at the end.  Doing massive moguls on a snowboard is not that much fun, especially as further down the slopes the snow is really hard work.  Still, better than no snow!

I knew that today would be a good day.  It all started out by for the first time since the 'rubbage', when I put my boots on in the morning, it didn't hurt!  Yippee!  Nearly fully healed.

So, the weather wasn't too great, but there was some new fresh powder to be had.  I started the day off with a couple runs down to the Emerald chair.  For as usual after a snow dump, neither the Peak or Harmony express was open until much later in the day.  After the warm up, I started to get more and more adventurous.  Felt like my aggression levels were up, and ready for a challenge.  So, I did more and more nearly tree runs.  Some of these tree runs were really testing and were really testing me.  There was one memorable run, where I was flying down and only just squeezed through this gap between two trees, that I brushed my ass and my chest when going through!  Phew!  Hairy.

I must have been in one of those moods.  I kept looking for more and more challenges.  I was really charging through the choppy powder, and the tree runs.  I even did a couple little cliff jumps.  Nothing too big, but big enough. I also skipped lunch, as I was in the zone!

I was so engrossed in doing these runs, that I did not notice when the Harmony and Peak chairs opened.  So, when they did I headed on over to the Harmony and did some runs over the Harmony ridge.  I did have a look at the drop in to McConkeys.  However, that was really big and looked very rocky.  Perhaps when there is more snow, I'll do it, or if I have someone else with me to push me into it.

Really had a good day.  Spent as much time as I could over near the Harmony ridge.  However, as the time on the mountain got near to an end, I headed on over the 'Saddle' to get to the Peak chair.  Even this late in the day, the saddle (if you traversed off to the left) was pretty damn good.  Anyway, made the peak chair with only a couple minutes before close.  I then decided to try and ride the 'Peak to Creak' run.  Apparently it is the longest run in the resort!  So, I thought I would give it a try.

The top of the run was 'lush', and I dipped in and out of the trees.  Very good terrain.  However, further down it got extremely mogully.  I do mean extremely.  It was so bad, I was not regretting doing the run.  Doesn't look like this run has been groomed at all!  Some of those moguls were huge.  I wouldn't even call them moguls, I would call them glaciers   Anyway, I got down in tact and with my thighs really burning through the effort.

Got some video footage together.  Very poorly edited, but there all the same!

View the video here: Launch in external player

It wasn't so much as riding today, but more like hiking and hitting a kicker

Virtually everyone in the house had all decided last night to go up and build a kicker.  So, at about 10am, Myself, Will, Pete, Dawn, Andy, Jono and Steve all headed out.  We decided to head up to Blackcomb and the glacier bowl, as Will knew where this nice wind lip was.  What a wind lip it was too.  it was a huge long wind lip, with lots of opportunities to choose where you wanted to hit it.  it also had a very steep run out and lots of powder.  So we picked our spot and set to work to get it set up.  Well, some of us did.  Some of the others were throwing them selves off the wind lip into the snow...

Myself, Pete and Steve all hiked up the slope with me in front making the foot holes, then Pete took over.  We got up to a reasonable height and whilst the guys at the bottom were slipping the take off spot, Pete side slipped down the run in.  Then followed by Steve and myself.  We three headed back up again, this time to hit the run.  First went Pete.  He went straight line down and only just made it up and onto the table.  So, I then set off.  No speed checks at all.

It's about now I have to mention that I prepare my own board and use my own blended wax mixing.  Normally going down the slopes my board rides quite a bit faster than virtually anyone else.  This was a fact that I forgot to take into account when I headed down the run in with no speed checks.

So, there I was hurtling down, and I honestly thought that I would simply pop out the top and only get a foot or two.  Well, apparently, I flew about 20 ft into the air, and way, way down the landing before bailing the landing.  Man, I have to say that I practically **it my self I flew so high and so far down the slope.  I had so long in the air to think about it, that was the more scary part.  Everyone was cheering and clapping.  Thankfully the landing was so soft, and I didn't physically hurt my self.  I do have to say though, that it definitely shook me up mentally.  Unfortunately, no one had their video camera's out.  Oh well, perhaps next time

So, we all sessioned this jump all day.  Will was pulling some big sick tricks, Pete was also throwing some nice spins, and everyone else was really giving it a go.  I was trying for a simple front-side 180, but didn't do too well.

Got some really good footage.

Now, Dawn is a small girl, and even though she was straight lining it from the same place as us all, she just wasn't getting the speed.  So, she started hiking further and further up the hill.  Then when she was practically at the top, she let rip and flew even bigger and longer than me!

We where there so long sessioning that jump, that the ski patrol came along and told us that we had to head down.

I do have to say, that it was a fantastic day.  I just need to get my head into focus and try harder at the jumps.  Instead of thinking that it is going to naturally come around, I have to make it happen.  I think that that is my big problem with jumps.  Other's make it look so smooth and easy, that I think it is too...but it isn't.

Anyway, I'm putting together some video and hope to publish it soon!

One of the earliest starts for me this morning.  Really wanted to get up the slopes quick, after the busy weekend, to experience some quiet board time.  I wasn't disappointed either.  Got to the gondola 10 minutes after opening, and there was no line.  In fact, all day the lift lines were tiny.  More often than not, I got straight onto the chair no wait.  That was mostly for the Harmony Express too!

Anyway.  I wasn't sure as to what I was going to do today.  Again i was hoping that the visibility would be good enough to make the Flute bowl worth while.  On the way up it looked very promising.  However, on my way over to the flute bowl, the clouds moved in and quashed any real hopes of riding the flute.  OK, yes I could still ride it if I wanted, but the visibility wouldn't have made the huge effort worth it.

So, I was nearly at the Flute Bowl, and I didn't make the flat far enough so turned off on to 'Crescendo'.  What a bit of good luck.  The whole area was covered in virtually untouched powder, and no-one was riding it.  I thought that over the last few days, all the powder had been stolen, but I was wrong.  Basically, all of the runs short of the Flute Bowl were un-touched?  That was 'Boundary Piste', 'Burnt Stew Trail', 'Crescendo', and 'Sun Bowl'.  Whilst it wasn't champagne powder, it was a bit crusty but powder all the same.  I rode all those lines practically all day.  I was nailing it so much, that my average round trip time was 17 minutes, from top of the Harmony Express to the top again.  I reckon that I got in almost 20 runs in there.  The good thing about this area is that because it was so open, I could make each run as difficult of as easy as I liked.

On each of the runs, I started the top of 'Burnt Stew Trail' in switch and rode as much as possible in Switch.  Sometimes it felt really mad, as there was practically no visibility at all at the top.  Sometimes I was going down, and couldn't tell if I was moving or not!  So, a couple of times it freaked me out and I fell over.  No biggies thank goodness.

As I was really going for it, and with the early start I had to have lunch.  Got up the Harmony Express, and hammered it down 'Pika's Traverse'.  Even though this is a green run, it really is a good little speed freak run, with lots of twists and turns.

After lunch, I went straight back on over to do the same thing again.  However, to get on over to the Harmony Express I needed to get a run down to the lift.  I hung a right after the bottom of the half pipe (which is really bad, and not worth riding as one side has two lips!) and headed on over to 'Ratfink'.  Instead of heading down this place as normal, I headed on right, right, right into the trees.  This has to be the steepest, tightest and scariest tree run I have ever done.  Gave me a great sense of achievement to pop out at the bottom, near the lift, onto 'Lower Ratfink' the green.

AS I said, I did the same runs as I had been doing all morning.  That was until it was near last lift time.  So, I headed up and rode down 'The Saddle'.  Again, the visibility was so bad, I couldn't tell if I was moving or not.  I managed to get one of the last chairs on 'The Peak Chair'.  I wanted to do the 'Peak to Creek' run.  As I headed down that, again in rear zero visibility, it became obvious that there run was chopped up to hell, and moguled.  Further down the visibility cleared up, but the condition of the piste didn't.  It was really hard work.  At one point, I was coming over what I thought was this mogul, but it turned out to be a big drop (about 8ft) over the other side, and I only just managed to not fall over it backward!  Scary.  Other than that, it was a tough thigh excesses to get down.

I actually managed to get up the mountain quite early this morning, despite it being a weekend.  It is really quite obvious now that a lot of people from Vancouver (and other areas) come up to Whistler for the weekends.  Therefore the lines for the gondola was quite long, but I entered the 'singles' line and got ahead of the game.

It was my intention to avoid the crowds by going and doing the 'Flute Bowl' again today.  However, there were two reasons why this did not happen.  Firstly, the weather.  There was a high level cloud that was quite dark, and as such the visibility was very poor.  The second reason was my ankles.  They were giving me a bit of jip today and frankly I couldn't face the hike with my ankles the way they were.

Instead I headed on over to 'Ratfink' and did a couple of runs over by the 'Emerald Chair' and also the 'Harmony Express'.  I must admit that I just wasn't 'feeling' it today.  You know what I mean?  I ended up just below the bottom of the 'Big Red Express' chair at the top of 'Lower Dave Murry's Downhill', where I sat for a while and thought about things.  i wasn't feeling it, and it was still early in the day.  I decided that it was just too early to head on down just yet.  So, I ended up going up the big red.

Whist at the top of Big Red, I still had to decide what to do.  My #1 goal of this trip is to get my switch riding down pat.  So, the decision was obvious as what to do.  Keep my switch riding going.  I am so glad that I did too.  I could really see and feel a great improvement in my switch riding today, and I was enjoying it too.  I'm really starting to get confident and much, much faster.  I have even been doing some (ankle permitting) 180's on the flat, and carrying on the riding in switch.  Excellent!  I did this for the rest of the afternoon, skipping lunch, until the last lift.

As a treat to my self for doing so well, I allowed my self to straight line it down to the bottom (well, as close to straight line as was comfortable).  Really hit some high speed on the way down, and had some real sketchy moments.  But all was well, and I made it down (and everyone else) in one piece.  Whoo Hoo.

Today got off to an early start.  There were four of us who all set off at the same time.  Myself, Pete, Dawn and Andy.

As the weather was as close to a blue-bird day as we have ever had, we thought that we would do the 'Flute Bowl'.  To get there we needed to head on over to the 'Harmony Express'.  So we headed on over and rode down the 'ratfink' to get to the express.  We could already tell that there was a good set of powder available.

We headed off from the top of harmony express and started the treck up the flute bowl.  When we started the weather was really good, and there was some of the best visibility that I have seen in Whistler since arriving.  If anyone has ever done it, they can appreciate just how much of a hike it is.  It took us over an hour to hike to the top, and it was one hell of a hike.  When at the top though, the weather had closed in, and when we headed off it was blind boarding.  As I hiked up to the top first, it was my honor to head off first.  With no visibility, the first couple of turn were difficult.  With the slope being steep, and the powder being deep, it was a good ride.  About 1/3 of the way down it cleared up, and I headed on into this almost natural but wide half pipe.  Wow, what a ride.  So steep and so powdery, and completley fresh tracks.  Brilliant!  The run out was great too.  We all really, really enjoyed it.

Then came the hike out.  Again, the people who have ridden the Flute Bowl, will also remember how long the treck out is.

Eventually, we got to the 'Harmony Express', and headed back up.  We all discussed it and decided to hit the 'Flute Bowl' again.  This time however, we were not going to hike all the way to the top.  Instead we headed only part of the way up.  This time however, the weather was much better.  Again, I got to head off first.  This time however, the run was much more of a blast fast through the powder, making only a few turns.  Again, it was a really good ride, but not as rewarding as the first.  Again, the hike out was long and hard.

By now, it was almost 1pm.  Two runs in almost 3 hours!  WHat run's though.  So, as we had all had a hard day already, we headed for some lunch at the RoundHouse.

After that we had a couple of run's through the park.  I must admit that my ancles are still giving me trouble.  The rubbage on my left foot is almost completley healed, but the right is still not great.  Therefore, I only did a couple jumps, and one of the spines.

It was now late, and Dawn's bad knee was playing up, so when we suggested going up the 'Peak Chair', she decided to head down the easy way and let us lads go to the peak.  When we got to the top there was this absolute amazing view, with the clouds below.  Pitty that none of us had a camera!  Oh well.  We headed on into the 'Bagel Bowl'.  It was quite choppy, but soft none the less, and we just charged it.

I got up quite early this morning.  That's two in a row!  Even though I still had the Palmer set-up I took that board out, just in case there was some good powder riding to be had. Unfortunately, there wasn't any real powder available.  So, I decided that I was going to continue to try and improve my switch riding.  I rode practically all of the day in switch.  Quite proud of my self in that.  As there were clock's at the top of each run, I could tell just how long each of my runs were taking.  I therefore could tell that my riding was getting quicker (not necessarily better ).  The first run was about 35 minutes, and by the time I was on my last run, it was down to 28 minutes.  I really do intend to keep it up.

Only trouble with riding switch all day, is that 'regular' muscles that are not usually used when riding 'goofy' tend to take a bit of a bettering.  My neck, thighs and feet are achy and fatigued.

Today, I got up really early.  After getting my board's prepared earlier in the evening, I wanted to take out the Palmer (Carbon Circle).  As it was a bigger (162cm) and stiffer board, it should handle the powder much better.  I got up early enough to just miss the first lifts.  This morning I was accompanied by Andy, who is my room mate.

As there was a fair bit of snow over night, the lifts to the top of the mountain as usual were not open.  So, we headed off down 'Ratfink' to try and find some powder stashes.  Even though there was some fresh powder over the night, there wasn't really any fresh powder.  It was all chopped up and actually a bit crusty, as the temperature over night was quite low.  We chopped our way though this and over to the 'Emerald Chair'.  We did that run again, and decided to try and head on over to Blackcomb mountain, as Andy hadn't as yet managed to get on over to there.  The run out to the bottom of Whistler gondola was quite difficult.  Whilst there was not much powder, this run out had not been done by many people.  There was a crusty topping to the snow, but it was none the less still quite easy to ride, if you managed to keep your speed up.

Once we headed on over to Blackcomb, we decided to head on over to 7th Heaven.  As mentioned in a previous blog, this area is very exposed and subject to a lot of wind and cold.  We managed to find some really good lines back down the the 7th Heaven Express.  On the third time up, the pass over toward the Blackcomb Glacier was open, so I decided to take Andy over to the Glacier Bowl.  Really glad we did.  The light was actually quite bright and there was loads of snow available.  We made some fantastic lines down the glacier, and Andy really enjoyed it.  It was a cool ride.

When we got to the bottom, and took the ride out (which is 3 miles along a cat track).  When we got back to the lift, Andy needed to head off to get a bank account sorted, so I left him at the top of the 'Jersey Cream Express', and headed for some lunch.

After having lunch I decided that since the glacier bowl was so good, I'd go back and have another go.  This turned out not to be a good choice.  The weather closed in and the visibility had dropped to virtually none.  I did not enjoy the ride down, and a couple of times, where I did not see a ridge, I flew over them and bailed it big time.  After the two bails, I was a little sore.  Again, after the ride out, I decided to call it a day.  On the way down, the weather got worse, so I decided to close out the day by taking the gondola down.

I've been needing some new gloves for a while, and today was the final trigger to get my ass in gear.  They were soaked by midday.  So, when I got off the mountain I went off to Showcase (where I knew had the best Burton gear in Whistler, from asking around), and had a mooch around.  I found a set of gloves that were good for me, but was also drawn to getting a new pair of pants.  I normally take two pairs of pants with me all the time.  Whilst one is drying for a whole day, I can use the others.  However, this time I didn't bring the two pairs.  Doh!  My current pair are also starting to loose their waterproofness.  So, given that I do like retail therapy, I thought that I would check out the System pants, that matches my jacket.  The have everything I need from pants, and they are designed to go with my jacket.

So, I left it at that and went back to the house to drop off the mountain gear, get showered, use the hot-tub, and have something to eat.  After that I decided to head back into town and give those gloves and pants a further look into.  Needless to say, half and hour later after thoroughly testing, pulling, playing, un-zipping, and trying them on for size I walked out with both the gloves and the pants!

 

Gore Mitts	System Pants
TECH & FEATURES Storm-lite® 1.0-E Shell (5,000MM, 5,000G) GORE-TEX® 3L Insert Brushed Microfiber Lining Toughgrip™ Palm Removable, 4-Way Stretch Liner Soft Chamois Goggle Wipe Heater/Vent Pocket Thermacore™ Insulation	TECH & FEATURES Storm-lite® 5.0-E Shell Fabric (20,000MM, 5,000G) 3-in-1 System Pant with Removable, Lightweight Fleece Pant Fully Taped Seams Inner Thigh Vents Knee Articulation Double-Stacked Cargo Pockets Shell-to-Liner Vent Interface Internal Waist Adjustment Microfleece Fly and Waistband Microfleece-Lined Handwarmer Pockets Ghetto Slits Double-Headed Fly

I got up really early today.  As usual, I am really struggling with sleep.  For today however, this was a good thing.  This was because there was some 30cm of new snow over night.  WhooHoo.

So, I headed on up and almost as expected 'The Peak' chair and all the other lifts that get you to the top of the mountain were either closed or not yet open.  So, I simply headed on down the hill and took the Big Red Express back up again.  This run, despite the powder, was not that good for me.  I must admit that I still felt really fatigued, just like the day before.  I even contemplated after another couple runs, just going back and calling it a day.  The rubbage on my ankles were really killing me too.  The left rubbage is much better and close to healed.  However the right is really quite bad.  It is healing, but quite slowly.  It is my fault, well actually it's the "snow god's" fault for always dumping such great vast amounts of powder

Anyway, whilst coming back up the Big Red, I noticed that the 'T-Bars' were open.  So, I thought that as there were a lot of people in the line, I could take a bit of a rest and then see what happens.  I eventually got to the top, and noticed that the 'Harmony Express' was now open.  Hmm.  I think I was being told something.  And I was!  On the run down to get the 'Harmony Express', I actually had a really good (and very deep) powder run.  The fatigue whilst hadn't completely gone, was more than acceptable.  Also, the rubbage had gone numb again, so I wasn't feeling that either.  Great.

The run down from the 'Harmony', I decided to go around the ridge, and do one of the big drop-in's that I did earlier in the week.  The drop was bigger than I remember, but that could have been because I couldn't actually see it.  I am definitely getting batter at these big drop-ins and nailing the ride out. 

I then met Dawn and Pete on the way out of this run.  Dawn was stuck in a deep powder hole and I rode past and jeered   OK, so I waited at the ridge for her and Pete.  So, we hooked up and basically did the same run as I had just done again, two more times.  Was well worth it.  We headed down the 'saddle', as we all needed a quick rest, and carried on until we got to the bottom of the Big Red, and headed into the 'Ravens Nest' for a hot chocolate and a dry out. Needed the dry out, as it had been snowing all day, and as such we all got rather wet.  My first hot chocolate of the trip, and it was fantastic.

We headed on up, and decided that for the last few runs, we would go through the terrain park.  There was loads of rails.  Nailed a few myself, including one really big one that just seamed to make me go farther whilst going along on a 50-50.  I also found an excellent spine, it felt really good and natural, despite the rubbage.  As we all enjoyed that, we decided to go again.  Bloody Harmony Express was extremely busy.  Took about 40 minutes!  However the second run through the part was good too.

By now, the lifts were closing and we started to head down.  We could only make the village run out.  Dawn was having some real trouble with here knee/ankle by now.  She tweaked it earlier in the week, and aggravated it earlier in the day.  So, rather than take a carpy run down to the village, we took the easy route and took the gondola down.

Despite the dodgy start, the day ended up being really good.  Also, as it had been snowing all day, it looks like it could be another great day tomorrow.

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 30cm overnight, also snowed heavily all day (except 1 hour)
Piste Condition: Deep crisp powder.
Wind: Variable.  Light to strong
Temperature: 0 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Heavy.

It appears that today, it was busy because there was a 'college weekend'?  I suppose that it could be to do with the NFL playoff weekend!

Tonight was the night where we nearly get a full house.  That is the last 4 people were set to arrive.  However, one of the group of 3 isn't coming out until the end of January (3 blokes sharing 1 room, only 2 beds?!?!!?).  This also included Andy, who is sharing with me.  All of the new arrivals are 18.  Damned young whipper snappers.

For the evening, I must admit that I spent most of my time catching up with my blogging.  I must admit that I have even amazed myself in my dedication on keeping my blog up to date.  Let's hope that I keep it up.  Are you getting anything out of this?  Or is it just good for me to keep a diary?  For the rest of the evening I spent what was left of it just watching TV, and then played some more Uno!

Summary

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 2cm overnight.
Piste Condition: Tracked powder.
Wind: Light to medium
Temperature: 0 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

This morning, I was starting to feel all of the excessive that I'd done over the last 15 days.  As such, I didn't really get into it today.  This coupled with my 'rubbage' and also surprisingly for the first time this trip 'pinchy cramp' didn't make for a great days riding.  There was however a few good points never the less.  This morning I decided to head on over to Blackcomb mountain, as I have only been there once so far.  I headed straight up to the glacier.  I managed to time it so well, that they had only just opened the 'Showcase' T-bar before I arrived.  Sweet.

As there were a few people in front of me, I decided to hike up a bit, and beyond the other people.  Glad I did.  Managed to get some great powder.  My carved powder turns are coming on a treat.  I can really bounce, almost jump into them, all with no loss of speed.  In fact, I'm probably gaining speed.

Did a few other bit's and bob's around the mountain before deciding to head off to 7th Heaven.  On the way, I met a guy from Putney, London.  Then on a different lift I managed to meet three people from North London.  What was it about today?  Bloody Londoners all over the place?

Did you know, that Whistler mountain used to be called 'London Mountain'?  It was called London mountain until the locals started to call it Whistler mountain because of all of the Marmot's and their whistle calls.  Nice bit of trivia there for you.

Anyway.  I headed over to 7th Heaven.  This areas was very exposed, and the wind was really bad up here.  Didn't enjoy it too much.  Will go back when I'm not feeling so physically tired.  Did a couple runs, one in switch, but really wasn't feeling it.  Glad it was after 14:30, so headed down.  Was feeling so tired, that I even took the gondola down!  Must have been tired!

Last Evening

As I've been doing loads of snowboarding and thus lower leg exercise, I thought that I could do with an upper body work out.  So I offered to clear all of the snow, and did.  Man it was a lot of work.  I was literally dripping sweat when I finished.  Still, a good workout.  Unfortunately, the hot-tub had only just been topped up with water and wouldn't be ready to use, so no hot tub :-(

Whilst in Vancouver yesterday, I managed to buy a pack of Uno cards.  So we had a few games before calling it a night.

Summary

Visibility: Poor, but brightened up at the end of the day.
Snow: 11cm overnight.
Piste Condition: Powder.
Wind: Light to medium
Temperature: 0 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

After the late night yesterday getting back from Vancouver, I wasn't super keen on going up early.  However, I woke up quite early and decided to head out anyway.  What I wanted to do this time was get some pictures and video of the tree that Tim managed to hit.  So, this was the first thing I did.  There was tonnes of powder around, especially when trying to get to the tree.  Below are some of the photographs:

As you can see, it is quite a substantial tree, and quite immovable.  You can also see that there is quite a gap too.  Tim said that he had lost it a bit and just hit the tree.

After that, I must admit that I was a little apprehensive in my riding.  However, with all of the powder it was hard to resist.  I managed to get up 'The Peak' chair and came straight down the face.  It was a really good ride.  Loads of unspoiled powder.  Did that again   Then headed off to the 'Bagel Bowl'.  It's such a pity that the light is so poor.  Nearly knocked a big chunk off of the wind lip, but it held and I carried on down.

Later, I headed back up Big Red and decided to have some lunch in the Roundhouse.  I managed to meet Pete and Dawn in there.  So after lunch we all headed off together.  We were all doing loads of switch riding, but I could tell that they have done a lot more switch that I have.  They left me way behind.  After catching up, we headed on back up Big Red.  By now it was getting on late into the afternoon, and most people had left the mountain.  The fools!  If they had stayed, they would have had some great breaks in the cloud and have had some of the best visibility I've had since getting here.  So I showed the two the face of the Peaks, which we did a couple of times because it was fantastic!

It was getting late, and by the time we got to the top the last lift had gone.  No worries, as we were going to do the Bagel Bowl.  It was well worth it.  The visibility was great and I streaked down the thing.  Was going so fast and carving it so much, that my knees where scraping the snow on the toe side, and my back was brushing the snow on the heal side.  Fantastic!  What an end to a really, really good day.

Last Evening

Did not really have an evening last evening.  This was because it took us some time to get back from Vancouver.  We did not get back until midnight.

Summary

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 11cm overnight.
Piste Condition: Powder.
Wind: Light to medium
Temperature: 0 at the base to -5 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

Actually, I did no riding today.  Instead myself, Max and Will went off to see Tim in hospital in Vancouver.

The night before I packed a load of his stuff into his backpack, to take to him.  Early afternoon we went on down to the Village and Budget Car rental to hire a car.  It would work out much cheaper to hire a car between three, and it also gave us the possibility of doing some shopping.  We managed to hire a car, and set off for Vancouver.  We stopped off at Squamish and had a quick look and an outlet store.  We then ducked into a 7/11, and bought Tim a 'get well card', a mountain bike magazine and some chocolates.  I do have to say that the ride down to Vancouver was quite scenic and reasonably enjoyable.  We found the street where the hospital was located quite easily, and parked.

In the hospital, we found out where Tim was located and 'tried' to make our way up to the 10th floor.  The main lifts were out of order, so we tried some other lifts.  These did not appear to go above third, so we eventually managed to get back to our original start point, and we took the service elevator

We found Tim's room with no trouble, and he was dozing when we entered.  We had a good chat, and gave him our card.  He was obviously still in a fair bit of pain, but seemed much better.  It does however, look like he is going to have to be taken back to the UK.  I really hope that everything goes well for him, and especially to make sure that the insurance company pays up.  We said our fair wells, and left him to his dinner.

After seeing Tim, I must admit that my spirits were lifted, as I don't think it is as bad as it could have been.

We headed off to try and get to some of the snowboarding shops.  We did not reckon however, that they would be closed before 18:00!  Oh well, better luck next time.  So instead we headed off and got some Mexican/Spanish food.  It was really good, and so very much cheaper than in Whistler.

After than we headed back.  The road back was not as enjoyable as the drive down.  The road markings were terrible, and it was very hard to see the road, never mind the lanes.  Also we hit this amazing fog bank.  The visibility literally reduced to nothing within a matter of a second.  Still, we made it back, safe and sound although a bit tired, as it was now midnight.

Last Evening

I spent some time getting some of Tim's gear packed up to take down to him the next day.  Other than that again, I did very little.

Summary

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 35cm overnight.
Piste Condition: Some of the most amazing powder ever.
Wind: Light to medium
Temperature: -2 at the base to -9 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

I wasn't really in the mood to go riding today.  Tim's accident was still very fresh in my mind.  However I never really slept well, so was quite awake early.  So by about 09:30, I headed out to the slopes with Max, who is another house member, and a skier.  It was very obvious as soon as we got out of the house that there was a load of snow fall over night.  Some 35cm!  It looked fantastic.  There were virtually no lines for the gondola either.  We got to the top, and the T-Bars were open, so we decided to take these and ride down the 'Headwall'.  At the top of the hill, we could see that 'The Peak#s chair was going on standby.  We rode down the 'Headwall', and it was fantastic, and plowed through all of the powder to get down to the chair lift.  OK, so we had to wait for about ½ hour in the line.  The atmosphere was really good though.  Lot's of fun, and there were sporadic snowball fights, that evolved into full blown and organised barrages.

Once we got up the top, we headed off to the right and headed for the 'Bagel Bowl'.  We dropped into the bowl via the 'Cockalorum'.  It was quite a drop in.  Some 3m drop in, but I pushed the aggression up a bit and just went for it.  The bowl was full of powder, it was fantastic.  This was probably some of the best powder riding I had.  It was really good.  It was a little choppy as there was a lot of avalanche debris in the bowl, but it really was good.  Only trouble was, that on the way down to the Big Red Express, there was a huge band of freezing fog.  As soon as you hit that bank, it literally froze on your goggles.  Made it really hard to see.

Once we got back up 'The Peak' chair again, we decided to hit the run again.  This time trying to head right and over into some more real powder.  We headed on up the 'Big Read Express', and headed over toward the 'Harmony Express'.  Up we went and over onto the Harmony Zone.  We made some really steep, and heavy duty rides down the 'Sun Bowl', traversing off to the left, until we got into some really steep terrain, along with trees.  I must admit that this was pushing my steep and tree riding, but it was well worth it.  I was really amping up the aggression and making as much out of it as I could.  Had to, it was so steep.

On our way back down we met up with Dawn and Pete, and we all hooked up and went back to do the 'Sun Bowl' again.  This time, we went a little more extreme, and really did some major traversing to get to some great terrain, with some trees.  Again, a fantastic run.

Next run, up we decided that we wanted to try and get down to The 'Peaks' chair, before the lifts closed.  So, this time we went along the 'Harmony Ridge', and looked for a suitable drop in.  The first drop in we saw, was way too much for me, Pete and Dawn, but not for "Maximum Max".  He dropped right in and rode it.  It was an extremely big drop and steep run out.  So, the other three 'chickens' went further around and eventually dropped into a dope in between 'Camel Back' and 'Low Roll'.  Even the drop in we found was a good couple of meters.  We all did it though, and again the powder was really good.  It was choppy by now, but was really good.  It was a great charging through all this fantastic powder.

We managed to get up Harmony and headed down 'The Saddle'.  The powder was getting really choppy now though, and the light was really poor.  We managed to get the last lift up the Peaks.  Was great timing.  We headed back over to the Bagel bowl.  The light was getting really bad now though.  As I knew where I dropped into the bagel bowl before, I upped my aggression a little and carved into the drop with some speed.  Managed to hold it too, although it felt a little bit bigger drop than earlier in the day.  We all carved out that powder stash.

Max said that he wanted to try to take the 'Peak to Creek' run out back down to Creekside, and we all agreed.  Not a brilliant idea.  For the snow was really nice and fluffy higher up, it was extremely heavy and difficult lower down.  It mashed and took almost everything out of all of our legs just to get down.  I have never been so tired getting to the bottom of a slope.

As a treat, we all had a quick jug of beer at Dusty's.

Last Evening

What with the news about Tim, we all had a quiet night in, and watched TV and played cards.  Thankfully he managed to get through to his parents and let them know.  Will also had him Mom phone Tim's Mom.  Must admit that I really didn't sleep well either.

I've had my Burton 2/1 System jacket for a while now in Whistler, and I thought that I would add some additional personal findings.  My previous postings can be found here and here.

In regards to the build quality, I simply can not fault the jacket at all.  Every stitching, piece of material and quality is spot on.  The length of the jacket including the sleeves is great for me and provides me enough extra space.  The little extra piece of rubber on the end of the sleeve pulls makes it easy to pull the sleeves tight and join the Velcro together.

The jacket is really water proof, and I have not had a problem with it in this respect.  The pockets are also great, and ideally placed, although I do think that the breast pocket's could do with being a little less deep.

The 2/1 system is good, however the loops on the sleeves to hold the sleeves together is practically a waste.  It does not take much for them to come apart, especially when you are 'trying' to take the jacket off.  My only real gripe is about the jacket are the vents.  I have found that they are too far back under the arms, and as such it does make it really hard to even see the zip.  This is really poor when the wind is blowing and your vents are open.  Also, the pull straps for the vents are really weak, and fiddly to find.  Also, the mesh could do with being improved in some way to stop the mesh coming thou the zip.  For what ever reason, in my new jacket, the mesh always comes thou the zip.

I don't know what it is, but the jacket sleeves don't seem to keep my arms very warm.  When the temperature is about -10, and there is a little wind, my arms get cold.  Even though my arms have exactly the same layer covering as the rest of my body.  Could just be me.

I would still recommend the jacket to anyone who is in the market for a jacket.  I'm getting close to the need to get a new pair of pants.  Does anyone have any information on the System pants?  Would appreciate it if you could let me know!

Summary

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 5-10cm overnight.
Piste Condition: Powder.
Wind: Light
Temperature: 0 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

Myself and Tim headed out just after 10:00.  We headed straight up to 'The Peaks' chair.  We headed off to the right and started to head down the 'Whistler Bowl', then headed across some really treacherous little rides on over into 'Surprise'.  There was some really nice powder turns to be taken.  This was really good.  The visibility wasn't too great but it was acceptable.  We went back down to 'The Peak's' chair, to try that again.  This time we tried to cut under the chair lift as much as we would, again, some great powder runs.  We decided to go past 'The Peaks' and go down into 'Franz's Meadows', as when we were first coming up, it looked really good.

As expected there was loads of powder, and it was all light and fluffy.  Myself and Tim hit this little kicker, and both managed to pull off a nice little grab each.  We carried on, and then it happened.

Tim was leading the way down the meadows, and I was a bit behind.  I stopped for what ever reason, and then set off again.  I could hear Tim shouting, and was in obvious stress.  I quickly made my way over to him, to find him flat on his back and in what looked like, and was probably, a hell of a lot of pain.  For what ever reason, he had managed to hit a tree, full side on.  He was in a lot of distress with his left shoulder, but mostly with his left hip.  After a quick check to make sure that he wasn't in extreme trouble, and whilst talking to him the whole time, to make sure that he kept consciousness, I got some people on the chair and a rider going down, to summon help.  I took my jacket off and put it over him and waited for the medical guy's to come.  Soon enough, this first aid person, called Ian arrived.  And immediately started to look after Tim, making sure that everything was as good as could be, and also summoning the 'blood waggon' (thankfully there was no blood), and the doctor.  Someone with the 'blood waggon' arrived shortly followed by the Doc, and another assistant.  We all worked together to help the Doc and Tim, including using some heat packs, and then Tim getting some morphine to ease the pain.

The Doc said that he had obviously dislocated his shoulder, and either fractured or broke his hip.

We actually had a struggle to get Tim onto the waggon, given his injuries.  Also, given where we were located, just under the chair lift, and in a valley, they did struggle to get the waggon down onto a safe area.  They had to use someone at the front, and someone lowering the waggon with the rope.

I followed the waggon.  I also had to carry Tim's board, as there was no space on the waggon, as Time needed a lot of extra padding to his sides.  Following the waggon, and carrying a board in poor visibility is not that easy.  I do have to say that I was only thinking of two things.  First was myself being slefish..."Don't fall with the board", after all I didn't want to have to use a waggon myself.  The second was about Tim, "I hope he is OK".  It took what felt like an absolute age to get down the slope to Whistler (Not Creekside).  It was a very thought provoking time.

At the bottom, the ambulance was already waiting for us.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to accompany Tim, as they would not allow the snowboards in the ambulance.  I made sure I knew where they were taking him, and hurried off to get the bus back to the house.  I was hoping that there would be someone in the house, but there was not.  So I quickly dumped the boards, and got changed.  I quickly headed down to "Route 99" and flagged down a taxi to take me back to the medical centre.

I arrived at the medical centre to find that Tim was in getting his x-ray's, so I waited.  After about 10 minutes he was wheeled back into medical bay 1, where I got a chance to talk to him again.  He was really quite groggy, obviously from all of the pain killers.  He was in surprisingly good spirits, despite the pain.  And apologised for ruining my days riding.  Like that really mattered now.  They had managed to pop his shoulder back in again, so that was very encouraging news.

After talking to him about stuff in general, to keep his mind off things, the doctor from the clinic came along, and gave Tim the news about his hip.  Apparently he had managed to fracture it and it was not all that good.  To get it sorted he was going to have to have surgery, and he was transferring Tim to Vancouver General Hospital.

Next came getting the bill sorted.  The deal is that you pay for all treatment up-front, get receipts, and then claim it back from your insurance company.  So, I had to help Tim get this sorted out.  Fortunately, the bill's so far were only $800 Canadian.  Tim had to pay be credit card.  I made sure that I kept all of the paperwork, and made sure that everything was all sorted.  I tried to call his parent's to let them know, but for what ever reason, I couldn't get through to them.  I even tried my mobile, and also the pay phone.  Still no joy.  Buy now, they were getting ready to taking him into the ambulance to transfer him to Vancouver General Hospital.  I pot all of his stuff into a bag, including his iPod (at Tim's request) and also his wallet with his credit card and insurance.  I was left with his jacket and boot's which I was to take back with me.  I saw him into the ambulance and wished him all of the best.

Going back to the house and delivering the news was not very pleasant.  Everyone is obviously very concerned.  Myself and Will are planning to go down to Vancouver to visit Tim, and take his glasses and some clothes for him.  Not sure if we are going to go tomorrow or the day after.  I think it will all depend on his surgery.  If he has surgery tomorrow, then it is not a good time.  I do hope that it all goes well.

Last Evening

Given today's news, I think that all I'll say is that I did very little last night, but watch some movies on TV.

Summary

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 5-10cm overnight, light rain in the morning
Piste Condition: Light powder.
Wind: Light
Temperature: 4 at the base to -4 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

Today I didn't make it up the mountain.  I had the hangover from hell, what with too much drinks last night.  So instead, I got up late, watched TV and did some work on my board.

Last Evening

Since last night was a Friday night we planned to go out to Tommy Africa's.  So, a little later than expected, at about 21:00 we headed out.  That was myself, Tim, Pete and Dawn.  We had planned to meet Max and Bridget at Tommy later.  Any way, after a couple of beers at 'Tappleys' and some live acoustic music, we headed on to Tommy's.  It was quite a good night, but there were far too many people in there.  Also, the gogo dancers weren't up on stage.  What a shame   It was quite a late night, and we didn't get back until about 03:00.  We also had a few drinks back at the house, got a bit roudy, but no real harm done.

    Another quiet evening in last night.  We did play a lot of PSP games.  It looks like Everybody's Golf is the game of choice.  We also played some card games, sh** Head was the order of the day.

Summary

Visibility: OK.
Snow: 10-15cm overnight, rain in the morning
Piste Condition: Heavy, Wet, Sticky.
Wind: Light
Temperature: 6 at the base to -3 at the top.
Crowding: Very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

I made an effort to get up the mountain as early as I could today.  However, as soon as I got outside I was already thinking that I shouldn't have bothered.  It was raining in the village.  This rain appeared to be falling all the way up to the top.  Which it very much was.  What a shame too, as there was loads of snow over night, which had turned to solid, wet, and sticky snow because of the rain.  There would have been some lovely powder if it hadn't rained.

Anyway, so I set to it. It was really heavy going though.  I tried going some new places over by the 'Harmony Chair', where there were no other people.  Man it would have been so nice, if it had not been raining.  There was obviously a lot of powder around, even though it was wet.  Got load of nice tracks in.  I went down this really steep run, and it was fantastic.  Only trouble was, when trying to speed out of the bottom, it was so wet and sticky I almost flipped forward.  This basically summed up the whole day.  Was good in a way, but bad in others.

Last Evening

Another quiet evening in last night.  We did play a lot of PSP games.  It looks like Everybody's Golf is the game of choice.  We also played some card games, sh** Head was the order of the day.

Summary

Visibility: Poor.
Snow: 5-10cm overnight
Piste Condition: Powder.
Wind: Medium
Temperature: -2 at the base to -8 at the top.
Crowding: Crowded in places, but generally very light.
Lift Lines: Virtually no lines.

The day's Riding

OK, so I haven't blogged this straight after the day's riding, so it's all a little fuzzy.  But, basically I headed up the mountain reasonably early.  There wasn't much in the way of lines for the lifts.  Which was good.  There has been a nice amount of powder over the night, so the riding was actually quite good.  Didn't do very much switch riding today.  Naughty boy that I am.  Need to make more of an effort. 

Last Evening

Another quiet evening in last night.  We did play a lot of PSP games.  It looks like Everybody's Golf is the game of choice.  We also played some card games, sh** Head was the order of the day.

Summary

Visibility: OK.
Snow<