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.

Visibility: Very poor to OK.
Snow: 0cm.  However, it was snowing heavily all day.
Piste Condition: Sticky and very, very wet snow.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: From +9 to -1.
Crowding: Light.
Lift Lines: Light.

This will be the last weather report that I give from Whistler this season.  I head back to the UK tomorrow!

Let me know if you used or liked my reports!

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.

Visibility: Great visibility in the morning with light hazy sunshine.  Increasing cloud and poorer visibility later in the afternoon.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Sticky wet snow.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: From +17 to +3.
Crowding: Light to moderate.
Lift Lines: Light to moderate.

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.

Visibility: Foggy everywhere.  Poor visibility.
Snow: 1cm.
Piste Condition: Slushy warm sticky snow.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: From +8 to -3.
Crowding: Light to moderate.
Lift Lines: Light to moderate.

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!

Visibility: Heavy cloud with none to poor to OK visibility.  With some low lying cloud patches.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: It was snowing higher up the slopes and as such put a small dusting of snow on to hard icy conditions.
Wind: Moderate to Strong.
Temperature: From +8 to -3.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

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!

Visibility: Bluebird sunshine.  Late afternoon, some light clouds moved in.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Super warm, sticky and wet snow.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: None.  Moderate wind starting late after noon.
Temperature: From +18 to -3.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy.

Visibility: Bluebird sunshine.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Very poor.  Super warm, sticky and wet snow.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: None to light.  The wind was actually warm, when riding to the base!
Temperature: From +22 to -3.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy.

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!

Visibility: Bluebird sunshine.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Very poor.  Super warm, sticky and wet snow.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: None to light.
Temperature: From +20 to -4.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy.

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!

Visibility: Bluebird sunshine.
Snow: 1cm.
Piste Condition: Good, but very slushy in the early afternoon.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: Moderate to light.
Temperature: From +5 to +13 at the base and from +4 to -10 at the Peak.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate to heavy.

Visibility: Cloudy but OK to poor.  Occasional low lying cloud and some light snow/rain flurries.
Snow: 10cm.
Piste Condition: OK.  The freezing level is quite high, so mostly wet snow higher up.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: Moderate.
Temperature: +6 at the base -4 at the Peak.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

Visibility: Cloudy but OK to poor.  Occasional low lying cloud and some light snow/rain flurries.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Raining/snowing most of the day.  Very poor on piste conditions.  The freezing level is quite high, so mostly wet snow higher up.  Very poor slushy conditions further down the slope.  It is not reccomended that you ride all the way down to the base.
Wind: Moderate.
Temperature: +7 at the base -3 at the Peak.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

Last night was Andy's last night in Whistler before heading back home.  So, he arranged for us all (himself, Myself, Bridget and Will) to go out for a meal.  He arranged that we would go to Caramba! which serves Mediterranean style wood fired pizza, rotisserie, pasta and seafood.

We were a little late in arriving but it was OK.  We got straight into the ordering and ordered a pitcher of sangria to share.  The sangria was really nice and went down well.  I ordered the Caramba pizza, which has chorizo sausage and Parmesan cheese.  It was a really good pizza, and I would recommend that you give it a try.  I also had the cheesecake desert and an espresso.  The cheesecake could have been better, and the espresso was a little cold, but good none the less.

The four of us made a good evening of it, and had quite a varied number of conversations.  All too soon though, the evening was over and we had to leave.  It was here we said our goodbyes to Andy, as the rest of us headed off to the Brew House for a couple beers.  It was here that Bridget was to meet some of her friends and also Will to meet some of his friends.  We stayed for a couple beers, before me and Will and his friends headed off to try and get into Buffalo Bills.  There was a huge line outside Buffalo Bills, at both entrances!  So, instead we headed off to Moe Joes.  One of Will's friends had VIP tickets and we got straight in and for free.  Thankfully they didn't ask me for ID as I had left my ID back at the house!  We had a good time in Moe Joe's and left about 02:00.

So, in the house now there is only myself, Bridget and the host Will.  I have an entire floor of the building to my self, until I leave.  Which is nice!

Visibility: Cloudy but OK.  Occasional low lying cloud and some light snow flurries.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Nice conditions with some areas of crusty snow.  Poorer slushy conditions further down the slope.
Wind: Moderate.
Temperature: +5 at the base -5 at the Peak.
Crowding: Moderate.
Lift Lines: Moderate.

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.

Visibility: OK to good.  Occasional low lying cloud.
Snow: 0cm.
Piste Condition: Nice conditions with some areas of crusty snow.  Poorer slushy conditions further down the slope.
Wind: Light.
Temperature: +6 at the base -10 at the Peak.
Crowding: Moderate to Heavy.
Lift Lines: Heavy.

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,