Whistler 08 Course Diary...

Sunday 6th January 2008

All the Whistler long course trainees arrived safe and well last night. The airport transfer from Vancouver was pleasant and comfortable on the 'Simpsons School Bus' a bright yellow American school bus funnily enough.  Today, Monday 7 Jan was spent getting to know each other, a joining brief was given and lift passes and ski lockers sorted out.  In the evening the group met their ski and snowboard instructors at a Canski Shop open evening where instructors and staff were on hand to advise on skis, boots and equipment. Tomorrow they hit the slopes!!

Tug Wilson (Course Leader)

Thursday 10th January

After settling in we all went for a free ski session on the 8th, with the skiers and boarders split up. Their are 9 snowboarders in our group, well for about 30 seconds into our first run when two rebellious critters decided to make their own way down the mountain they know so well! After meeting up with lost boys at lunch the afternoon was spent getting to know the mountain and getting ready for our first day of tuition. The following morning the boarders met their instructor and started ripping up the slopes in a more organise fashion compared to the previous day. The highlight being Nevil in his all in one red jump suit getting stuck in a tree, how we don’t know maybe we never will. The skiers all went off separately and after one run were all split down further into two more groups. The day was spent trying to find some fresh powder runs under the expert guidance of the two Jennys; they even managed to find us a fresh set of bear paw prints in the snow. The next two days were spent with the instructor who successfully managed to find some runs where the powder rose up to above our knees whilst constantly ensuring that we were remembering all the finer points she mentioned. Most of the group however were simply trying to stay attached to the mountain so the finer technical points were overlooked in most cases. Tomorrow the plan is for some more powder work as another impressive snow fall is predicted for tonight!!

Ben Sharpe & Ben Zinzett

Monday 7th January

After recovering from the long flight, we had a ‘lie in’ (according to Tug) till 9.30! Headed up to 7207 for a course brief and some team building exercises to help get to know one another. A series of games and exercises later, it became apparent that the ‘good house’ had lost its title so soon in the course as 7252 took the lead. Later we headed off to town for an orientation, meet the instructors, buy essentials like skis etc. and have a drink in one of the many bars.

Tuesday 8th January

First day on the mountain of Blackcomb after a heavy dump of snow meant only one thing, a powder day. As it was our free day to ski we split into two random groups. The group led by Iain started “rippin’ up some sick pow pow” getting used to the mountain and our skis once again.

Wednesday 9th January

Today we started our first ski lessons with Gib and Annie, again in two groups. As an effort to impress the new ski instructors, there were some falls, ranging from flipping out of skis in deep powder, being crashed into by the biggest guy on the mountain (Phil) when lying down in his ski path, and possibly the best of all trying to get 4 people on a 3 person chairlift, getting dragged under and bending their poles to 90 degrees. Shame they were all done by me then! Coming home thinking a nice meal would have been prepared however, the oven hadn’t been turned on, whoops!

Ollie Bourke

Thursday 10th January

After more heavy dumps of powder, we decided to head off to the Whistler Mountain. Finding some amazing glades with the latest person to accompany the group on his silly telemarks, Tug, providing the hard working ski class with some comedy after hugging a tree saving himself from a fall, only to get pummelled by snow for about 30 seconds from the branches above him, too funny! Overall another great day on the slopes.

Friday 11th January

Starting the day a little late and meeting the instructors a little late, Oli and Will were made to sing ‘I’m a little teapot’ in front of the whole group and other watchers in the Rendezvous café! Today was the day of the video, and after finishing the run finding we all skied too fast, some encouraging comments were made. Idiot of the day would have to be given to Phil after snapping both of his poles by trying to get off a chairlift while sitting on them!

Comment of the week – Ian – “sick”

Fall of the week – Phil – trying to do a 180 and landing on the lip causing his skis to fall off!

Ollie Bourke

Another snowy day in paradise

Saturday 12th January

Today was the first weekend we had in Whistler. Eventually we all hit the slopes in a big group when everyone finally got out of bed. The boarders and skiers where united for the first time and everyone had a great afternoon on the mountain together. The evening consisted of a small (crazy) house part at 7207, which most people of the group attended. It was a quiet (crazy) short (still drunk the next day) house gathering.

Sunday 13th January

Sunday was the day of mourning after everyone’s livers had suffered from the night before. Some of the group even woke up to find themselves in the wrong house where they had fallen asleep on the couches.  Three strong soldiers: Phil, Little Andy and big Ben where strong enough to brave the Blackcomb mountain and had a day in Blackcomb’s terrain park. The day insisted of big airs big falls and Phil’s huge 360 off the parks kickers. Sunday night was spent chilling around each others houses and everyone crashed in for an early night because on Monday everyone was back to ski and snowboard school.

Monday 14th January

Monday was the start of a new week and for the skiers this meant new instructors. The weather was poor, nothing but rain on Blackcomb so the skiers and boarders decided to go to whistler for the day and ride there.  In the evening Tug gave a ski tuning clinic.

Tuesday 15th January

Sunshine and lots of it, the 3 groups spent the day again on Whistler. The sun was shining and the riding conditions where perfect, they where so good the boarder Ben busted out the first backflip of the trip. Everyone had the day off on Wednesday so some of the group went for a night out in whistler.

Phil Dyer

Wednesday 16th January

Everyone had the day off on Wednesday so it was spent mainly sleeping. In the evening most people went to the gym but for some it was time to watch a season of  ‘The fresh prince of bel-air’.

Thursday 17th January

Thursday was a big eye opener for the skiers because that was the day they got filmed so that they could view there progression. The video did not turn out the way the instructors had planned. There was clearly work to be done so the rest of the afternoon was spent doing drills to improve everyone’s technique.

Friday 18th January

Everyone worked really hard on the Friday on their stance and technique. The instructors where really pleased with everyone’s progression and they said to everyone that we are back on track for our level 1 test in a weeks time. In the evening it was après ski with the ski instructors were we all had a few drinks and some food in the bar with the instructors.

Phil Dyer

Sunday 20th January

This has definitely been a week of back to basics, complete with wedge turns and snowploughs (which we all struggled with).  It's amazing how you forget how to do the slow, simple things properly after years of skiing like a lunatic.

The weather dramatically improved late on this week, enabling us to actually see where we were skiing. And as a result of the inversion we experienced on Thursday and Friday we were able to enjoy skiing in warm weather (just the minus 3 degrees then !!!).

Two of the more memorable highlights of the week include carving up the Women's World Cup Downhill course and when our instructor, Annie, asked us to do 360 degree turns to improve our balance. When asked whether he could perform 360 degree turns both clockwise and anti-clockwise, Ollie's response was "Obviously!".... only to end up sprawled face down in the snow less than 5 seconds later !

We're still enjoying plenty of Après Ski in Merlins and somehow I can't see that changing much over the next 10 weeks...

Finally...this week's Friday night out took place at Buffalo Bills and it saw Alice doing her best to improve Anglo-Oz relations. It's a tough job, but she seemed more than happy to oblige at the time (apparently).

Matt Hoffman

Monday 21 January

The first day of week 3 started with the skiers preparing for their Level 1 exams next week by perfecting their own technique and beginning to teach mini lessons to the group. A race to the bottom of the hill on the last run of the day resulted in being told to slow down by the patrollers (Oops sorry!)

Tuesday 22 January

An eventful Tuesday for some with the 'fall of the week' going to Basil who dislocated his shoulder when attempting a cartwheel while wearing his snowboard - luckily the on call Doctor was able to relocate with the aid of morphine and happy gas.  The evening (and the next morning) saw a few sore heads after a night re-hydrating!!  (Honest)

Wednesday 23 January

Our day off was spent by most people on the hill refining the teaching skills we had learnt on the previous 2 days.  Others went to the gym and pool for a full on workout.........this was where Ollie was seen strutting his stuff along the poolside in front of the girlie lifeguards!

Ben Sharpe giving practice lesson

Thursday 24 January

Another day on the slopes was partly spent doing video feedback sessions.  This helps our skiing on a personal level, but also allowed us to wear the 'instructor hat' and analysis faults in each others skiing. We could all see a huge improvement in our skiing after this 3 weeks.

Friday 25 January

The skiers last day of Level 1 instruction before the exams start next week.  Everybody got to practice at least one lesson - a stressful experience which was relieved by the much needed après ski drink at Merlins.

The Weekend This was spent preparing for the exam both mentally and physically.  Some tuned their skis themselves using newly learnt skills from the previous week taught by Tug while others opted for the professional approach and handed them into the ski shop.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL FOR THE EXAMS NEXT WEEK.

Jenny Hyslop

Diane Freer giving practice lesson

Will Hull crashing into his friendly trainer Gib!

26th January
This day was mostly taken up will sleeping and work towards all the skiers level one test that was coming up and gym and swim in the afternoon. That night  matt, Baz, Pete, Ollie and i went out to longhorn because it was Australia day and all the oozy's were out all day having fun so we thought we would join them and Ollie showed every one is rap skills and it is now on facebook with matt.

27th January
Sunday morning Ollie had to face the consequence of his actions of the previous night and more revision for the level one that would start the next day. Doug and will went on a big day out with lots of food and shopping (lots of fun had by all) and some people went out skiing and this was a big day of snow and fresh tracks to be ripped up.

Treasure hunt winning team

28th January
This was the first day of the skiers level one, we all got put in groups with other people, and had a day of having are skiing looked out and improved, Jenny had a fall on her shoulder and was told by the doctor that she should rest for 10 days so that was the end of level one for this time, but she will take it again in two weeks. 

29th January
Another day in the house for me nursing an ankle injury, they do say snowboarders sit on there asses all the time !! The injuries are piling up on the course, Little Andy's hurt his knee and ankle, on different legs, so he's walking like John Wayne. Huw has a pulled his groin, which he believes was due to riding, but there are rumours that he was busting some sick moves in Tommy Africas check his facebook for pics. Big Nev dogg has been in pain with his bruised ribs, but he's still been riding hard everyday, give it up for the hardcore robot. Big Pete has hurt his backside, but we wont go there!!!! everything else has been really cool with the snowboard group though, its dumping pow again and we're all getting geared up for our level one exams.

'Big' Andy & 'Massive' Doug

Avalanche Training

30th January
Third  day of level one for the skiers we were all given a new instructor to assess our teaching and told how to improve for the next day was are big day of teaching a whole lesson and being asses throw out with no help, so that night every one had their face in a book or was writing notes.

31st January
So today was the big day for all the skiers because it was the final day of the testing. Everyone was excited at the prospect of being a qualified instructor, and we all seemed up for the exams. The results were really positive and the pass rate was very high, let the celebrations begin. We all met at Cinnamon bear with the snowboarders and raised quite a few glasses to toast our success. Towards the end of the night there was a sense of anticipation for the treasure hunt on the following day.

1st February
This morning there were a few sore heads but the treasure hunt must go on, so all the newly qualified skiers kitted up for an adventure. The hunt took the skiers across mountains and through tree runs, following a trail to fill in questionnaires. The winning group received a bottle of champagne, which probably tasted all the sweeter for the amount of miles covered in the day. The night varied for the group, some went to the gym for an epic (apparently) game of water basketball thingy.

'Big' Andy & 'Massive' Doug

Monday 4th February

Another  week  begins  in  the  unforgettable  paradise  that  is  Whistler.  It  was a  week  to  forget  about  the  pressures  of  ski  training.  The  majority  us  had  our  first  day  of  first  aid  training  to attend.  This  was  both  a  highly  informative  day  and  greatly  entertaining, although  how  our  instructor  managed  to  tolerate  us  just  boggles  the  mind!  After  a  day  of  feeling  like  we  were  back  at school  we  all  returned  home  absolutely  shattered.  An  early  night  me  thinks.

Tuesday 5th February

First  Aid,  day  two.  With  the  snow  bucketing  down  outside  many  of  us  just  wanted  to rip  it  up  in  the  fresh  powder  however  it  proved  to  be  yet  another  informative  and  entertaining  day.  The  highlights  being  Oli’s  inability to  get  a chocolate  beaver  tail in  his mouth  properly,  Chris’s  speech  which  I  think  was stuck on  repeat  and  confused  everyone  oh  and  not  forgetting   Pete  and  Basil’s   horribly  poor  Bob  Geldoff  poem.  We  all  succeeded  in  becoming  qualified  first  aiders!!!! (don’t have an accident near us though)  The  evening  was  quiet  with  some  of  us  chilling  watching  DVDs,  others  playing  pool  at  a  bar  and  others  just  relaxing  at  one  of  the  houses.

Wednesday 6th February

For  some  of  us  it  was  Avalanche  awareness  day  and  for  others  it  was  a  free  day.  Oh  and  for  the  boarders  it  was  more  tuition  and  more  preparation  for  their  level  1  exam  on  Friday.  Oli, Phil, Luke, Gillian, Matt  and  I  did  avalanche  awareness  with  tug.  The  conditions  where  we  went  were  incredible.  We  performed  tests  on  the  snow  and  used  devices  needed  during  an  avalanche.  One  of  the  more  memorable  parts  of  the  day  was  the  long  hike  to  the  top  of  the  flute  bowl.  Some  found  the  hike  tough,  Oli  found  it  a mission  this  was  proven  by  the  time  we  had  to  wait  for  him.  There  were  some  good  falls  with  Phil  taking  the  majority  of  them  and  Gillian  taking  a  comical  face plant.

Thursday 7th February

GILLIAN'S 18th BIRTHDAY !!!!!!! WOOP WOOP. A  relaxing  day  at home  for  some  for  others  who  couldn’t  tear  themselves  away  from  the  slope  not  naming  any  names  CHRIS,  skiing  was  the  prime  objective.  A  huge  breakfast  was  made  for Gillian  which  was  GOOHOOD!!! The  evening  saw  the  two  houses  come  together  to  celebrate  and  we  all  had  a  big  meal. Ummm shrimp  cannelloni.  There  was  also  a  dressing  up  theme  Pimps  and Hoes.  Some  of  the  costumes  were  well  ill let  the  pictures  do  the  talking  and  some  of  the  costumes  were  hardly  there.  With  lots  of  alcohol  and  lots  of  partying  for  some  it  moved  onto  Tommy  Africas.  However  for  the  boarders  it  was  an  early  night. SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!  GOOD  DAY,  GOOD  NIGHT,  GOOD  TIMES.  Oh  and  a  big  up  to  Alice  for  all  her  efforts  in  making  the day  such  a  good  one.

Friday 8th February

RECOVERY.  The  boarders  had  there  first  day  of  examination. Good  luck.  Some  of  the  more  responsible  people  were  able  get  up  the  mountain  to  enjoy  some  great  snow  conditions.  A  day  where  not  much  happened.  Facebook  photo  tagging  and  general  computer  play  was  as  heavy  as  things  got.

Saturday 9th February

The  majority  of  us  skiers  went  on  the  hill  and  had  some  loose,  casual  skiing.  Oli  is  still  persistent  that  he  needs  the  right  skis  to  perform  tricks.  Skiing  was  ok  however  Gillian  is  in  the  wars  again  with  a  gammy  leg. It  was  the  boarders  second  day  of  examination  with  nothing  of  any  interest  to  add.  No  surprise  there  then.  The  evening   saw  Phil  and  Chris  put  there  cooking  skills  to  the  test  with  fajitas.

Will Hull

Friday 15th February

This week in Whistler saw the resumption of ski and snowboard training specifically aimed at getting all the trainees ready for their Level 2 course examinations, which are due in four weeks time.  This was also Gib Dow's final week instructing with the Peak Leaders skiers as he is returning with his wife to Ontario for the birth of the second child........we wish them both all the best and thank Gib for great instruction over the past weeks.  

On Wednesday the snowboarders went with Tug to Flute bowl for avalanche awareness training and a ride in the backcountry.  Notably events this day were Huw's ride down the powder slope, a fall consisting of two head over heels and the subsequent recovery back upright to ride on as if nothing had happened.  The other fun part was burying Pete Anakin up to his neck in the snow and the team trying to locate his torso with avalanche probes.

On the skiing front Gib took his group down the gated timed race course where one of the group, Ollie, was beaten down the course by Gillian!!  Needless to say Ollie took his second defeat from Gillian with all his usual good grace.  On Friday Gib took his group on some good tree and powder runs where Will and Dougie had to spectacular wipe outs as they tried to rejoin a cat track. 

Another of the highlights this week was a trip to kiddies fort of Blackcomb Mountain.  Here the group regressed about 10 years and took over the slides and the fort!!!   Friday evening saw us having a few drinks in House 7252 to say farewell to Gib and well done to the skiers and boarders who passed their Level 1 examinations.

Tug Wilson

Monday 18th February

This week was presidents’ week a national holiday for America apparently and also the World Cup is in town, so whistler has been pretty busy. We were a bit short on numbers due to the whistler flu striking people down and party people staying out a bit too late the night before, so there was only me, Olli and Chris in my group. Most of the boarders made it up and the other ski group was also a bit fuller.  Gib are ski instructor left this week to return home for his birth of his second baby, so we had a new instructor Stephen for the day, another brilliant trainer and cool character.  We did some general skiing in the morning just to get into the mind set of instructing again then revisited some of level 1 drills which we will use in level 2.  As a reward we skied some tight tree and glade runs in the afternoon. Most memorable moment of the day was getting stuck on the lift for 15minutes and Olli telling his chat up lines that he was gone to use on the girls on the chair in front.

Tuesday 19th February

This was a really fun day; we had a new instructor again to keep for the week Joanne another level 4 extraordinaire. The morning was spent getting to know Jo and her assessing are skiing. We did some fun tree runs and then went to the slalom Pontiac track for some racing, me and Will setting the quickest times and Olli getting beaten by Phil.  The second half of the day was spent in the Park with Olivier a park instructor form Quebec and although a little hard to understand at times he was awesome. Phil landed a 540 on the first attempt while the rest of us had to settle for 180’s and fakie 180’s. a few of us had some large falls me being one of them as well as Phil completely clearing the jump by 2meters and landing on his arse, Olli had a hilarious fall trying to do a backwards 180 losing too much speed and just rolling off the jump, you need more ‘hair’ as Olivier would say. Everyone enjoyed the park and now Phil is obsessed with talking it to the next level a 720.

Wednesday 20th February

We had our usual rest day on Wednesday but most of us went on the slopes. I preferred to stay in bed and catch up on some sleep. Phil, Ian, Ben, hew, Kayla and Andy where all in the Nintendo terrain park showing their stuff and perfecting 540’s. Phil was told that he was ‘sick’ and was well chuffed.

Thursday 21st February

Super g was on whistler so not to miss the opportunity of seeing some world class skiing both ski groups went to watch. We managed to get an awesome spot to watch it and about half an hour in we were rewarded with a huge crash from Italian Peter fill only 100 meters away. We also saw Bodie Miller and Herman Maier flying down looking super smooth unfortunately though, Bodie missed a gate and Maier crashed. We waited for number 45 the only British competitor and gave him some good encouragement as he went past might have put him off though. After lunch we went to work on are moguls and also had a race on the Pontiac slalom. Straight after skiing me, Will, Doug, Pete and Gill went tubing which was so much fun we were there for 2 hour racing each other down the hill. Pete didn’t slow down at the end and few out of his tube as he hit the barrier.

Friday 22nd February

Friday we went to watch some of the woman’s downhill, Alice got a bit bored and decided to throw a few snow balls making Doug a little angry, and getting snow firmly imbedded in my ear. In the end their wasn’t many places where you could get a good view, so we decided to carry on with some ski improvement. Most of the day we carved it up on some really nice groomed runs but Olli Doug and will insisted that they wanted to go in the park. Doug completely over shot a jump and got a little out of shape much to the amusement of the rest of the group. Olli decided to go off with the snowboards to see if they could get any better in the park and Doug went down hurting from his overshot jump. So it only left me, Gill and Will with Jo. We just worked on moving the ankles and knees separately to the body. Also got told some pretty funny stories by Jo on the chair lift.   

Saturday 23rd February

The weekend is here, lie in day. I’m pretty sure everyone stayed in, most people went out on the town the night before so are all feeling the effects. I definitly am from Phil's drinking game ‘good morning Mr Jack’. Think everyone is going out again tonight. Tomorrow a park day is planned so wish Olli luck on his 360, and we will find out in next week’s diary if he did it.

Saturday 1st March

This week was a quiet week in Whistler for the Peak Leaders trainees with training as per usual for the Level 2 ski and snowboard exams that are due to commence on 17 March.  The focus of the training from Annie and Kawasaki, our trainers, has been on teaching and personal performance.  They have been using the video camera for personal skiing analysis and some of the trainees have found out that the phase 'the camera never lies' is never truer that when training to be a ski instructor!! 

The weather has been great early in the week with cloud low down in the valley and bright sunshine up at the highest runs, today - Friday - we have had our first reasonable snow fall for a few weeks with more expected tomorrow and early next week - bring it on.   We unfortunately lost one of our trainees this week through injury, Jenny Lawson damaged her shoulder and had to return to the UK. Get better soon Jenny and good luck for the future!!  

Friday was also a strange day for another reason.  Can any one understand out what made Will Hull wear that 'figure hugging' one piece ski suit. It gets better. During the day Will's suit got wetter and wetter.  The design of the suit, especially the seems around the waist and backside, meant that as the white suits seems got wetter they took on a darker colour making it look like Will was wearing a giant thong!!  This amused his classmates so much that a shorter day was called for and an Apes Ski beer!   I could not think of a suitable caption so over to you readers.......answers on a Postcard to Peak Leaders.

Tug Wilson     

Monday 3rd March

With Sunday night being a pretty big night for many of us at one of our favorite clubs, Monday morning was the perfect hangover cure, loads of fresh powder and a few runs down some of the best runs on the mountain to warm up! For our group at least the day was aimed at perfecting a few of the demos for the Level 2.

In the evening it was crunch time for the first set of ILM students, all the presentations went well though and everyone passed.

Tuesday 4th March

Today we had a clash of old school and new school, we had Will in a retro All-In-One that looked like it was from the 60’s and Olli going for the Park Rat look with his 4XL shirt, Hoodie and Pants. Loads of funny looks from the Lifties and the public in general

Wednesday 5th March

After ANOTHER dump of powder overnight and chances of bright blue skies it was a prefect day for Fresh Trax, for the ones who did it was a 6 o’clock wake up, out the door by 6: 45, breakfast at the top of the mountain at 7: 30 with an amazing sun rise, and skiing in untouched powder for an hour before the crowds hit it!!

Thursday 6th March

Another day today of level 2 preparation, lots of drills, practice teaching…….. more drills, and the dreaded video analysis, it’s a sure fire sign that someone is going to eat it!!In the evening it was the last of the ILM presentations, and my turn as well. In the group was Doug, Andy and Basil. All of us passed and a few drinks were had as a result.

Friday 7th March

Today was our last day with Big John as our instructor. We got another good days skiing in and a few words of advice given to all of us to help us before the exam. Friday is the day when the group hits Merlins for Apres, its straight off the mountain and straight to the bar! Everyone joins in and is definitely a great end to the week!

Chris Mitchell

Monday 10th March

'This week is the final week before most of the trainees sit their Level 2 examination in either skiing or snowboarding commencing Monday 17 March.  So the main focus of the week has been spent polishing and honing their skills with lots of practice teaching sessions. 

This weekend will be spent having their skis and boards tuned and resting before the rigours of next week, there may be the odd beer or two taken just to relax them.

Earlier this week Diane Freer past her Level 1 skiing resit - well done Mum (prior to coming on the course she only had about 2 weeks skiing experience.)  Nev Hewit passed his Level 1 skiing qualification as well, this is especially noteworthy as Nev came out here as a snowboarder and took the ski exam over two weekends in his own time.  Finally Andy Jones (Fireman Sam look-a-like from the RAF) passed his Level 1 snowboard exam that had been delayed for many weeks due an injury he picked up early in the course. 

Not long now until the end of the course, already their is sadness at the thought of going home for some of the trainees, however all good things must come to an end.

Tug Wilson

Diane Freer - Ski Instructor

Monday 17th March

With most of the candidates doing there Level 2 Boarding and Level 2 Skiing courses this week, it left those of us not participating to continue with ski improver lessons. This week Kawasaki had the pleasure of instructing us! Kawasaki is one of the superb Level 4 instructors from Whistler Ski School that have been involved in our programme.

Monday started out nicely with some fresh snow and good visibility. Focus was on bumps - watch those knee joints - ouch! After lunch it was decided to seek out the Blackcomb Glacier and do some carving on what is normally a well groomed pitch next to Horstmans T Bar. By the time we arrived at the top of the T Bar the mist had well and truly settled on the mountain and it was all we could do to keep track of one another! You couldn't see  more than 10 feet in front of you at best! Well, I thought - at least Kawasaki can't see all my mistakes - WRONG - he has eyes in the back of his head AND special mist vision - he knows where you are and how much (or not) you are flexing those ankle joints!

The afternoon was therefore spent playing hide and seek, for each other and for areas of good visibility! These were often lower down the mountain. Unfortunately, with the warm weather we have been having the snow below mid station is not as good as it was and has turned sugary, so a little bit of a disappointing afternoons skiing.

But in Whistler disappointments are very minor and usually well and truly made up for on another day. And in my opinion Tuesday made up for Monday afternoon and every other moment of bad weather or visibility we've had this season! The great thing about clouds is that they bring snow! On Tuesday it was there, soft, white powder covering the slopes and continuing to fall. The visibility started OK and got better and better until the sun poked its smiling face through the clouds and left the mountain a glistening white haven. We were on Whistler and as soon as the Peak chair was open off we went - powder hunting! We spent the whole day not so much skiing, as playing in the enormous playground that is Symphony bowl! The powder varied in depth from maybe 6 inches to 18 inches and was light as a feather. We tested our nerves and skills on Piccolos' Face at the top of Symphony Chair - a double black diamond pitch - and then celebrated our success by skiing in and out of the beautiful Whistler Christmas trees which are in abundance in symphony bowl. At one point I got separated from the others and took a wrong turn onto the T Bar run. What a mistake to make - it was the most perfect, untouched powder and once the others had found me, we all thoroughly enjoyed making perfectly fresh tracks. Totally elating stuff! We traversed into Flute Bowl to do a little more steeps and touched on Harmony Bowl too. On a day like this, there is no place on earth to match the magic of Whistler.

Today, Wednesday is our day off so chores took up the best part of the day - but as I look outside, the snow is falling in large flakes. Roll on tomorrow and Blackcomb Glacier Bowl! Life is tough!

Thursday - Blackcomb today. The weather was good, the snow awesome and we headed for the Blackcomb Glacier area. During the course of the day we did 7 black runs, 2 of which were Double Blacks. First Pakalolo - through Secret Bowl and then to an entrance way of maybe 3 meters wide - and steep - opening up to a much more comfortable 10m to 15m after 3 or 4 turns. Pretty challenging stuff for some of us! But after a successful descent, we headed to the 2nd Double Black - Spankys Ladder - one of Whistler/Blackcomb's most famous trails.

Again conditions were excellent and much fun was had. Then we headed over to Bark Sandwich - a bumps run between the trees. Then having said our Goodbyes to Kawasaki, we found as many trees and bumps as we could on our way down to Blackcomb Base. Another excellent day.

Friday - this was spent recovering from the farewell party to Jarron the snowboarding instructor! 

Saturday - most people rested after the celebrations following the excellent result from both our boarders and Skiers, but Chris Mitchell and I headed out in search of powder - back to Symphony and Flute bowls. Although the snow was a little more tracked out than the perfect conditions we enjoyed on Tuesday (it is Easter weekend after all!!), we had another excellent day in what is decidedly my favorite area in these two hills. Chris and I decided to take off our skis and carry them over our shoulders and hike a very steep 100m or so to get a bit of a higher drop into Flute Bowl in search of lesser tracked powder. And it was worth it. We sat in the glorious sunshine and took in the exhilarating views.....and then we saw it..... in the smooth, untouched powder in the base of the bowl some cheeky, yet quite artistic mountain users has drawn a picture, technically quite perfect and probably about 20m tall - to be seen by all those who braved the climb high enough up the bowls. Lets just say it was part of the male human anatomy!!! We couldn't stop laughing - lets see if my little camera can capture it!!

We spent the day pretty much replicating the runs I hade done with the non Level 2ers on Tuesday, but added the hike on Flute Bowl. A most exhausting day, but a clear blue sky, warm enough temperatures when out of the wind - and excellent snow.
Although on Sunday as I write this diary I am aching all over and have somehow hurt my neck and shoulder, I wouldn't have missed a moment of this weeks skiing for anything.
Only 4 skiing days left. :o(

Diane Freer

Whistler 07 Short Course Diary...

Wednesday 21st November 2007

Well things are coming together here In Whistler with the start of the short course in two days time.  The Welsh contingent of Marc, Dan and Dafyedd settling in nicely and bonding well with Jamie Brown who arrived yesterday.  The mountains here have opened early and the lads hit the slopes today - will let you know how they got on in next bulletin. The weather is bright clear and cold, ideal skiing / boarding conditions with more snow due either at the weekend or early next week.  More trainees are due in this evening and tomorrow with course starting in earnest on Friday morning.

Tug Wilson (Course Leader)

Sunday 25th November 2007

All the trainees have arrived safe and well in Whistler and have settled into the accommodation, taken in the sights, gone shopping and more importantly they have been riding or skiing on Blackcomb Mountain in order to get their legs in shape for forthcoming weeks.  In the photograph you can see Sue Maletroit, Holly Kidd, Stirling Bruce, Catherine Hanlon and Zoe Downing being introduced to the sights and runs of the mountain by one of the Mountain Hosts.  After the days skiing we retired to Merlins Bar to meet our instructors for our training on Monday morning.  Tomorrow will be spend resting and preparing for Monday.

Friday 29th November 2007

We've all been here for over a week now and are all getting on well enjoying the beautiful town of Whistler, if still a little jet lagged.  The snow is amazing, probably some of the best I've ever skied on!  The instructors are really friendly and so encouraging, after only a few days everyone feels they've improved greatly.  I'm so pleased I chose Peak Leaders! 

Suzanne Maletroit

View from kitchen window

Friday 7th December 2007

At the end of the first week we decided to have a meal in the big house on the Saturday evening, which we all contributed to for the food and a moderate amount of wine and beer.  Tug and Kate Hanlon looked after the cooking and Zoe Downing was the games co-coordinator for the quiz, charades and a game called Mafia. (I'm still not sure of the rules but evidently you have to pretend to kill each other by voting each other out!!)  

On Saturday night and all day Sunday we had about a metre of fresh snow, Yahoo powder on Monday was the cry.  Alas a warm weather front called the pineapple express, its come from Hawaii, arrived and it rained solidly for two days washing away all the powder and raising the avalanche risk considerably.  

On Monday the weather conditions were such that training was cancelled due to safety. Instead we had an avalanche awareness lecture from Tug and spent the afternoon at the sports centre working out. The rest of the week has been spent in skiing / boarding classes learning the delicate art of the wedge (snowplough) and the basics of ski lesson planning and teaching. 

On Friday the trainees have to deliver a lesson to their peers. The weekend sees the First Aid Course for some of the course and a chance for rest, recuperation or more skiing for the rest of them.