Period: November 2005 | December 2005 | January 2006 | February 2006 | March 2006 | April 2006

Tuesday January 31 2006 - Jacque's 'Brake'

I chilled out in the morning whilst Matt and Jacque went up the hill so Matt could do some riding.

After Matt's boarding, they went to the medical center to check out Jacques wrist which was still sore from Sunday. It turned out she had broken her wrist. The doc could tell before it was even x-rayed. She got a nice waterproof cast and a nice large bill from the center. There was consolation as they did get a bit of money back from the board hire and lift pass.

I went for a walk in the village in the afternoon and had a good maccas lunch. We all met up for a sushi dinner in the evening at Sushi Ya in the marketplace. Matt ordered some eel and soup to go with his Teriyaki Chicken, Jacque had some sushi rolls and I shared some tuna and prawn sushi. It was really great food. I went home for an early night and Matt & Jacque went for a couple of beers at the Brewhouse. Matt followed up with a nice cheeseburger at Maccas after his beers.

Monday January 30 2006 - 40cms - dump of the season! (Day 57)

We awoke early to Mountain FM announcing 40cms of new snow overnight - the biggest overnight snowfall of the season so far. I was ready to go before everyone else so left a bit early to get the freshies. I headed up Whistler and did three runs to emerald before meeting the others back at the Roundhouse, The snow was so deep and heavy and very easy to get stuck. There were a lot of fallers and people getting bogged down but I managed OK thankfully having done a lot of powder runs already in the season. My back leg was burning after just three runs though and it was only 9:30am!

Jacque decided to take the day off so Matt, I headed down the mountain whilst Jacque chilled out at the Roundhouse. We did one big run from the Roundhouse to Creekside taking in Franz's and a few other blue runs. Matt took to the powder like a fish to water. The conditions were great with really soft powder and tons of it. We met back up with Jacque at lunch time and Matt and Jacque got the gondie back down to the village. I did another run but was pretty tired from the powder so headed back down to the village.

I had a three hour siesta and then we walked to the GLC for dinner and a few beers followed by a couple more at the Brewhouse. Matt and I stayed up until 1:00am and watched the highlights of the 2nd ashes test from the summer at Edgbaston that Matt had bought for me.

Sunday January 29 2006 - First Timers (Day 56)

The first day on the slopes for Matt & Jacque. We walked to the base of Blackcomb and started the lesson. I showed them how to skate the board around and be able to get on and off the lifts then it was up to the top of the baby slopes on the tragic (magic) chair.

I got them both going by teaching them to side-slip down the slopes on both their heel and toe edges. Matt just totally ignored what I said and shot off down the hill! As it turned out he was a bit of a natural on the board. Maybe it's the super powers of his new stream lined jacket that did it - who knows.

We did one run down which took a little while and Jacque stopped for a hot chocolate whilst Matt and I went back up for another run. It was Matt's first day ever and he was starting to link turns after a couple of hours which was a result. Jacque was progressing nicely but had fallen a bit heavy on her hand so she decided to call it a day.

I went up to the top of Blackcomb to do some runs. We did another run through the boarder cross, half pipe and terrain garden but it was cold and all the sitting around all day had numbed my hands and feet so we grabbed a hot drink and made our way down to the bottom.

We were short on booze and as the market place off license was shut on a sunday, matt and I did a short hike to the Boot Pub to get some Kokanee and wine. The forecast was heavy snow overnight and they weren't wrong! At 9:00pm it was already half a foot deep and coming down hard - all good signs for tomorrow! We watched Breakfast Club after dinner and then headed to bed for a powder day.

Saturday January 28 2006 - Baby Owl

The baby owl spotted by Jacque outside Milestones.

We got up and went out onto Robson Street for breakfast. Matt & Jacque were due to land at 11:40am so it was just toast and coffee before checking out, getting the car and heading to the airport.

The plane was on time and I met them at the arrivals terminal - matt looked spiffing in hid diamond sweater and side parting.

We drove straight up to Whistler and to the house. Matt and Jacque unpacked and we went out to get them sorted with gear and a lift pass each. Matt had brought with him a (literally) shiny new jacket for snowboarding that any luge athlete would be proud of!

After being disappointingly passed from pillar to post by whistler-blackcomb rental staff - they kept sending us to different shops, each in turn saying they were too busy to serve us - we hired Matt's boots and Jacque's board and boots from Spicy Sports.

That evening we went down to Milestone's for a good steak dinner and a few pints. It's always good grub there and Matt & Jacque took a liking the Canadian beer - Kokanee. It was snowing outside when we left and I took a photo of Matt and Jacque outside. I noticed that Jacque wasn't looking at the camera and when asked why, she said there was a little owl in the tree next to us. We looked and there was the tiniest baby owl looking back at us. We walked round to the front of the tree and it just kept on looking curiously at us. I took a couple of photos and Jacque managed to climb a pile of snow to be literally a few inches from it - it just kept staring at her looking with a very quizzed look on it's face! It eventually flew away when Jacque held out her finger hoping it would hop on!

We got home and watched some fame on dvd, we had bought the box set in Vancouver. Then it was an early night in anticipation of an early start and the first ever day on the hills for Matt & Jacque.

Friday January 27 2006 - Couver

I was due to pick up Matt and Jacque on Saturday morning at Vancouver airport so I decided to go to the city on Friday for a bit of shopping and a night out. I picked up our Ford Explorer at 11:00am and drove down the sea to sky highway to the shopping center in North Vancouver.

I checked in and then went for a walk down Robson Street - Vancouver's equivalent of Oxford Street - and then went for a Chinese meal at the Imperial restaurant. The food was great, I decided upon the set menu which was peking duck followed by soup, then shredded duck wrapped in lettuce, then salmon in black bean sauce and then sweet and sour pork with fried rice. And finally apricot ice cream, it was delicious.

I left about 10:30 but the city was still alive and the shops were open so I strolled home popping into shops including HMV where I bought the Fame box set and then the Canadian Rocky Chocolate Factory where I bought a marshmallow stick covered in milk chocolate and hundreds and thousands - great!

Thursday January 26 2006 - Ozzy Day (Day 55)

Today was Ozzie day - a national holiday in Oz when they celebrate everything Australia. Justin came round at 6:15am and we went up to staff accommodation at Base II for a celebratory pancake breakfast with sparkling wine. Justin was suitably dressed up with an ozzie flag for a cape and an ozzie t-shirt together with ozzie flags painted in his cheeks.

We then headed up the gondie to Blackcomb at 8:15. We had a good day out, the mountain was pretty quiet and there was plenty of fresh snow. We played in the park, got freshies on 7th heaven and some great powder in the secret bowl in the morning. We grabbed lunch and then did a secret run down to crystal and then some great tree runs down to the glacier road. A few more runs in the baby park, some more trees and my legs were starting to give way! So we headed down so justin could start his ozzie day partying.

Justin got changed at ours and headed off to the longhorn which was apparently kicking off with drunken cricket matches, naked drunk people running through the village and lots of partying. I chilled out for a few hours with a few drinks at home then headed to Milestones at 7:00pm to meet up with Ben and Bron. I then headed to Tommy's after dinner to join in the Ozzie day celebrations.

Wednesday January 25 2006 - Mac Attack (Day 54)

It was a lovely clear morning, perfect conditions. We started on a warm up run on Cruiser then the Board Cross which was great fun that led onto the Half Pipe.

We then did a run down to the Terrain Garden which is a small freestyle park with jumps and rails and loads of fun.

At 11am we stopped off for cookies and hot chocolate after doing Jersey Cream. The weather was starting to get a bit blustery and it started to get a bit unbearable on the lifts higher up the mountain.

I got a maccas in the evening and settled down to some movies.

Tuesday January 24 2006 - Sunny Fun (Day 53)

It was a beautiful day, hardly any clouds at all. I went up the mountain. I did a run down from Glacier to Crystal hut and tried to video it but the results were a bit shaky.

Kat was working at the Crystal Hut so I sat outside with her on her break and helped her eat her steak and potatoes and banana bread. Anna was working at the top of the Crystal Chair, a snow ball throw away (literally, many times) and Holly and Kerry also popped by on their way down the mountain so it turned into a bit of a social.

The route down was stunning with the slopes basking in the sunshine. I dropped into the night moves super-pipe at the bottom of the hill and did another practice run in the pipe. I'm looking forward to hopefully getting better in the pipe, it's great fun and a good work out.

I popped out to the video shop and another trip to the supermarket. I cooked jacket potatoes with cheesy beans and settled down to a night of movies and American Idol. Bron phoned and we also arranged an early start tomorrow - 8:30 at the blackcomb gondie.

Monday January 23 2006 - How Big Is Your Butt? (Riding Day 52

Today was another fun day up the slopes.

I grabbed some bread, made some chicken sandwiches from the roast the night before and settled down to another quiet night, both of us still suffering a bit from coughs and colds. Hot choccy and wine gums definitely helped!

My hot choccy at the roundhouse - slurp.

Sunday January 22 2006 - Ride & Roast (Riding Day 51)

With good intentions of getting up early and hitting the slopes, I slept through the alarm and got up about 10:30 instead! No frosties today, the supermarket has run out, so I had to make do with normal old cornflakes and a bagel. But I up the mountain for about midday so that was OK.

I popped to the supermarket and got ingredients for a roast chicken dinner with cheesy mash, roast parsnips, roast peppers, roast onions, roasted hot dog sausages (so good), baby carrots, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and canadian pancake muffins - wow - the whole works! I went to the video shop and got the Constant Gardener and Two For The Money for another night in of food and movies - it's a hard life!

Saturday January 21 2006 - Night Pipe (Day 50)

Today was a pretty chilled out day. My legs were pretty sore after two good days on the mountain and I still had leftover chesty stuff so I put my feet up for most of the day. I did start the day well though making yummy french toast with mashed bananas, blueberries and maple syrup, yum!

After relaxing, I headed to Blackcomb for 5:00pm to go night snowboarding. The slope at the base of blackcomb is floodlit together with the superpipe higher up. Kat and I headed for the half pipe. I did 5 runs down, I only screwed one up and had four good runs. The pipe was very icy and fast so in theory very good but that also means that if you fall it's going to hurt! So I was running down well in control, riding to the lip on each side as well as I could. It was great fun in the floodlights and there were some awesome riders in there. It was also good fitness as each run needed a hike back up the pipe to the top.

I then went for a burger and a jug of beer at Merlin's before heading back to start watching our 'Taken' season one DVD's and an early night.

Friday January 20 2006 - Flute & Pamper

Another early start, today was a day up Whistler. I met Kat and the warm up was four runs through the Habitat Terrain Park - lots of jumps and the trees at the side are lots of fun.

Then it was up Peak Chair for some serious powder. We have had 333cms (over 10 ft) of snow since Jan 1 with another 12cms overnight so there was plenty of un to be had. The mountain is pretty quiet at the moment too. We decided to try some of the double diamond black runs off the Peak to Creek area. We had a look and went down Cockalorum and West Bowl - it was some of the best powder riding I have ever done - fresh tracks at very high speed - I'll definitely be heading back there in the future!

We did the rest of Peak to Creek via the closed off Big Timber - more powder! We got to Creekside pretty quickly and decided to have a bit of food at Dusty's. We had already decided we would go to the Flute Bowl in the afternoon so we needed some calories for the 1 hr hike!

To get to Flute, we got the gondie up out of Creekside then the lifts to the top of Peak. We started heading down Burnt Stew Trail to get to the avalanche gate for the Flute Bowl and spotted another gate that allowed a hike up Piccolo - a small peak over looking the trail. So we decided to hike it! After about 20 min's we got to the top. There seemed to be access to the flute bowl hike from piccolo bit there was only a couple of tracks. We checked it out and it seemed possible so we went for it. The run was amazing - total fresh tracks across powder fields and took us straight to the road to the Flute Bowl - awesome!

The hike to flute seemed a bit easier than the time I had done it previously, ski patrol had developed a small trail with the ski-doos which made the climb easier. It took us about 45mins to get to the peak. We picked our line into the bowl - not an easy task as any route in requires a vertical drop. Kat found some rocks and advised me to take a fresh track drop over a small cornice. I went over very steadily and a lot of snow slipped away into a mini avalanche. Everything was good though and I started my descent into the bowl across the fallen snow I had just created. The drop was amazing. Completely fresh tracks in deep and steep powder. The bowl is big too so it's a really long run. It's difficult to explain the feeling when you go through powder like that but it's very quiet and feels like you're floating at high speed - almost flying. It definitely gave me one of my biggest snowboarding smiles of the season!

The hike out was about 20 min's long back onto burnt stew trail. Next stop was the Roundhouse for a well earned hot chocolate. My legs were in pieces and I was very tired but the choccy gave me energy for the run down into the village. It was about 3:30 and the mountain was closing so was relatively quiet so the run down was fun. The speed control people were still out though but I didn't really take much notice of them when doing fast jumps off rollers!

I was ready for a quiet night in with the legs up.

Thursday January 19 2006 - Spanky's Ladder

Phil is back! I was feeling a bit better today so I decided to get up early and get out on the mountain. I met up with Kat at 8:15 and we headed up Blackcomb for the morning. There wasn't much fresh snow but the mountain was very quiet and well groomed which meant it was easy to go very fast and that's what we did for the warm up. Then it was to the park for a fast run through the boarder-cross track and then through the half pipe. A quick run through the trees and we were back at Solar Coaster.

7th Heaven opened early so we headed down the cat track. Kat had been given advice on good spots so we traversed to Xhiggy's Meadow and Lakeside Bowl. We found freshies and then good trees. &7th is always best when there is new snow so that was the only run of the day. There wasn't any wind and the visibility was excellent so we decided to give Secret Bowl and Pakalolo a go. We had been eyeing up Pakalolo for months. It's a steep double black diamond chute visible from the Glacier Chair. The snow was pretty nice albeit steep and it was a fun descent - I could have probably done more turns but caution prevailed on the first attempt.

Then it was off to the Glacier Chair and a short hike up Spanky's Ladder - another area of the mountain we wanted to conquer. The views were fantastic from up there and the slopes very steep - the only way down is via double diamond black runs. We looked around and the best snow appeared to be on Garnet Bowl and Sapphire Bowl so that's the route we took. The powder was fantastic - steep and deep!

The next run was the secret powder above the Crystal Hut after a hike up a chute and then on to Outer Limits for some fantastic tree snow. My body was ready to pack up on me at the end of it though so I called it a day.

I was shattered at the end of it and went home and slept for four hours. I woke up, showered and went out for dinner at Milestones. I had thai chicken curry. Yum.

Wednesday January 18 2006 - Finally.... (Riding Day 47)

.......we made it up the mountain! Got up late and I was still a bit poorly but was getting withdrawal symptoms. Went down Harmony straight to the bottom to the village. Had an evening of total junk food, Maccas followed by Dominos pizza, wine and beer!. Watched Lost which is in it's 2nd season over here and about 8 episodes into it so I am a bit lost as to what's happening.

Tuesday January 17 2006 - Still Poorly...

Poorly.

Monday January 16 2006 - Poorly Phil

Poorly.

Sunday January 15 2006 - Day Off (again)

Sunday is the day of rest but today I was forced to clean the whole house - hoovering, cleaning toilets, showers, dishes etc. But it was all in a good cause coz at the end I got a good home cooked turkey curry!

I'm suffering from a chesty cough at the moment and the village is mobbed with americans for their bank holiday weekend so a day off the slopes hibernating was welcome. Except for the cleaning, I chilled out in front of the fire and tele, went for a walk into the village and had a coffee at Blenz and got some movies from the video shop.

The turkey curry was excellent and it's good to be starting to eat proper food - not just pizza, nachos, burgers and chicken wings! I then sat in front of the tele and watched Dark Water and Must Like Dogs in the evening. Even though it was a quiet day, I was pretty whacked by the end of it. Hopefully I will be feeling a bit better soon when the slopes are quiet again.

Saturday January 14 2006 - Fondue

Everyone seems to be working all the time at the moment.

I stopped by the children's Tree House adventure park whilst going down Bear Cub. It's easy to miss and you have to go through a tunnel to get there. But once you're in it's good fun with loads of slides and bridges between the trees. There was hardly anyone around so I did the slides a go. One was a pretty scary affair that twisted vertically downwards and then spits you out at the end. When I went down, apparently it wobbled a lot and looked like it was going to bring the whole tree house down!

The terrain park beckoned again. I did a few M & L jumps, a board slide and a spine.

I decided to go for a couple of martinis at the GLC. I crashed a table and chatted to a guy and girl from Seattle. They were over for the weekend as it's a bank holiday in the US on Monday - Martin Luther King day. I gave them tips on good places to ski and they gave me advice on road trips through the US - something I said I would like to do some day.

I walked home about midnight. The village was manic. So many whooping and shouting americans - mainly youngsters. Seattle had made it into the last four for the super bowl today for the first time ever so there were lots of celebrations going on.

Friday January 13 2006 - Jinx

Friday 13th - says it all! Hid from the world except for going to Maccas, again and watching Red Eye on DVD.

Thursday January 12 2006 - Goofy

No new snow overnight but I got up and headed up Whistler mountain for the day. The snow was very light and fluffy and the riding conditions were excellent. I first headed down Upper Whiskey Jack and Papoose and then headed down Franz's - the run to be used by the Women's downhill in the Olympics.

I decided to ride switch all day (goofy or backwards) even taking my wrong foot out of the binding as I got on the chair lifts. I was beginning to master my intermediate turns but had plenty of falls none the less. But the snow was soft so was good to learn in.

I then took a trip into the Nintendo terrain park, I did some of the features.

Finally I went down Pig Alley into the Jolly Green Giant, down Upper Olympic, It Happens and Lower Fantastic all the way into the village. By the time I got to the bottom I was really pleased with my riding - I had almost got the hang of switch riding and started practicing my nose slide turns.

I rewarded myself after a good days riding with turkey, stuffing and cranberry jelly sandwiches and lots of tele.

Wednesday January 11 2006 - Under-snow Snowboarding

I met up early with Justin, Dane and Kim and we headed up Whistler. There had been a ton of snow overnight so we were looking forward to some good powder.

We did a few runs through the Whistler Nintendo Terrain Park, it's smaller than the Blackcomb park and all the features much smaller and easier. It's also surrounded by woodland with good spacing between the trees. We all had a good play around to warm up.

As soon as Peak chair opened we got on it as the powder in Whistler bowl looked stunning. There were only a couple of tracks down 'Left Hook' so that's where we got our powder fix. We all basically flat lines the whole run sinking deep into the powder, all of us were spraying it big behind us. We were all buzzing so we went up again. This time we tried the trees next to Left Hook. It was sun although I lost balance at one point - it was very strange, I though I was going to fall and started sinking deep into the powder as I lost balance - but I kept the board going underneath me without falling - this left me basically snowboarding under the snow, with the powder flying right over my head - under-snow snowboarding, definitely a new one for me!

Peak was getting tracked out very fast so I took the guys to an unmarked run off Harmony Ridge that Kat and I had sniffed out a couple of weeks before. After traversing through trees, we dropped down into Symphony bowl - the powder was stunning and we were all buzzing again. It was the 11:45 and I had to motor all the way down the mountain. The route was along a very long cat track before hitting the main slopes - that took about 12 min's then just 3 to get from the bottom of Emerald to the base of the mountain - fortunately no one else was coming down at that time so I had the whole run to myself.

I then went and did a nice confidence building run to the top of the Creekside gondola. I downloaded into Creekside to check it out. This is where the olympic village will be in 2010 and is also the bottom of the men's and women's downhill runs. I had a quick look around, had some tea in Dusty's and then got the bus home.

Ben, Bron, Dane, Kim and Justin came round for their tea, a few drinks and a game of Balderdash in the evening. Kim took Justin's crown from NY eve as victor. Kim and Dane were flying back to Oz the following day so we said our goodbyes as they left about 12:30.

Tuesday January 10 2006 - Hidden Powder

There has been tons of new snow recently so I was looking forward to getting up the mountain so I went up and met Justin, Dane, Kim, Kat and Mariko. We went through the park four times hitting the jumps, spines, drops and half-pipe. The snow was soft so bad landings weren't as painful as normal. Justin has been working on his rotations recently and managed to land a 540 of a spine so he was stoked. Everyone was getting good air off the jumps and Kat was nailing her board slides on the rails. I was enjoying the Super Pipe and hopefully it won't be long until I'm completely getting out of it.

Mariko had had a couple of heavy stacks attempting her 360s and board slides so she quit a bit earlier and headed home. Then Justin, Kim and Dane did the same so Kat and I decided to go on the hunt for a fresh powder field above the crystal hut we had had our eye on for quite a while. It wasn't obvious how to get there and we had been speculating for a while but Kat got tipped off by one of her colleagues how to get there - basically traversing from the Glacier Chair past spanky's and then a hike up a hill. We found it and the fresh powder was amazing - completely untouched and the sort of stuff you could really carve. We finished off with Rock n Roll then some sweet little gladed runs around Excelerator.

I called it a day and went home.

Monday January 9 2006 - Karaoke Capers

I had a hangover today so had a bit of a chilled out day. I had a late breakfast of bagels and tea and then took a bus trip to the Meadow Park sports center. I went for a swim. I did my normal 40 laps, which seem to be getting harder and harder every time I do them! We then went for a hot tub and sauna to sweat out the booze.

I came back and watched the Wedding Crashers again - very funny film - I slept through most of it this time though. I'm getting used to my mid-afternoon power naps! Then I got ready to go for the locals Karaoke night at the Crystal Lounge. It's very popular and I've never been before butit was fun.

Out of all of us, Justin was first up. Justin sang like an old Pro whilst I sang completely out of tune and missing out half of the words to Angels by Robbie. I needed a song that I could absolutely kill and that I did! I did a quartet with Kat, Justin and Kerry to I'm A Believer by the Monkeys. Loads of fun! We called it a night at midnight and wandered home.

Sunday January 8 2006 - Night Boarding (Riding Day 42)

Got up about 9ish. First run was Jersey Cream, followed by Easy Out followed by a ride through the Children's Adventure Park which was way icy and quite hard to navigate the mineshaft and the huge drop at the other side which was a complete surprise.

It was time for a beer and pizza at GLC. We met Kiwi Dave who was having Sex Cheese on the next table :-/, say no more!!!!!

Needless to say by the time I left it was dark and we were very, very drunk and the lure of a bit of night boarding was too tempting to resist!. We got the Gondola up to Base 2 and went down the Yellow Brick Road and bumped into 2 horses on the way who were very friendly.

I fell a lot and the little girl on the sledge who was behind me overtook me on the outside and beat me to the bottom - shocking!

Saturday January 7 2006 - The Mountain (Riding Day 41)

A bit of a late start after a big night out, I eventually got up about 11:00am. Gav & Dave were packing ready for a 2:00pm departure. I got my snowboarding gear on, said goodbye to the boys and headed out to Blackcomb about 1:00pm.

I was still feeling a bit queezy so I only did a couple of runs around Crystal. Then it was home showered, to the video shop and supermarket.

Friday January 6 2006 - Shop Shop Shop

I went round the shops to get some deals - I've already met and kind of know a few of the shop staff around the village so can get relatively good discounts.

I started the day getting a great french toast breakfast at Milestones and then started the search for gear. After going in every board shop at least once I got the best boots and bindings deals at Comor. I eventually finished shopping about 5:00pm and went and grabbed a coffee and then another Maccas for my tea. I then had a few drinks before heading out with Ben, Bron, Justin, Kim, Dane, Dave and Gav to Milestones for a couple of Mojitos. Then it was off to Tommy Africa's for 90's night. It was Dave and Gav's last night in Whistler so I made sure I got suitably drunk with them to send them off. It was a good night with lots of dancing.

Thursday January 5 2006 - Shop

Ben came round in the morning and we went to get brunch at Auntie Em's. I then picked up the hire car from Avis - a Ford Focus - drove Ben home and headed on the Sea to Sky highway to Vancouver. I spent a couple of hours at the shopping center before hand as I had a list of things to get people. Whistler is great for mountain gear but rubbish for lots of general stuff. I got myself a memory card for the little digital Ixus I got my self for Christmas.

Wednesday January 4 2006 - Great Riding

The last big day on the mountain for a while, Dave, Gav and I met up with Kat and Holly. We went up Blackcomb at 8:15 and did a few runs in the park including the boarder-cross and the half pipe. It was Gav and Holly's first time down the boarder-cross and the both loved it. We also had a quick run down Jersey Cream and nearly a run in with Ski Patrol as Kat and I ducked an avalanche control area rope.

We weren't posing a risk as all we were doing was cutting a corner through the trees but we got out of there pretty quickly anyway. We all then went up 7th Heaven where Dave and I found some great freshies. I also gave Dave a dead-leg when we were ripping it down through some powder and Dave cut in front of me to slow and I totally took him out. Apart from the dead leg, we were both fine and thought it was very funny.

We did a couple of runs around Crystal in the afternoon and then headed in about 3:00pm after a good long day. I went out in the evening to meet up with Justin at Bills but after queuing for half an hour, I just went for pies instead!

Tuesday January 3 2006 - Extreme Coul(oir)

This was the second of three days in a row I was planning on getting up early and riding ahead of a rest this weekend. Both Dave and Gav decided on their own rest today so it was just Kat and I heading up Blackcomb at 8:15.

The plan was to hit 7th Heaven again today to try and sniff out some of the powder I enjoyed yesterday. We warmed up on Jersey Cream whilst waiting for 7th to open. We were pretty much the first up 7th again today and the mountain was much quieter than yesterday due to the end of the NY bank holidays. Unfortunately there wasn't much new snow so the main runs were very chopped up.

For our first run we decided to go left down 7th and check out Zigghy's Meadow and Lakeside Bowl. Unfortunately this was just one big chopped up mogul field. So the next four runs we decided to get into the trees where there was still fresh powder. This was loads of fun and very technical - riding through gladed runs helps precision and balance and I could feel that I was gradually improving. It also requires fresh legs and concentration and by the end of the fifth run of the day this was going. So we decided to take the lift to the top of 7th and drop off the back.

The top of 7th is one of the highest points on Blackcomb and one of the most prolific runs down is called 'Couloir Extreme'. It's rated double black diamond and bears down menacingly over the Jersey Cream Bowl and Rendezvous. It's rarely open due to it's highly exposed aspect and the avalanche risk associated. I had been looking at the run since arriving in Whistler and had set myself a goal to come down it this season. When you look down it from the top you do get a feeling of vertigo and everything below looks tiny. We decided to check it out today and when looking over, although it was very steep, the condition looked ok - not much exposed rock and ice. I think the Harmony Ridge drops from last week had given me confidence because today we decided to give it a go.

We dropped in without much problem - in fact the entrance was easier than the Harmony drops from last week. The snow at the top was quite soft but very steep. It took quite a bit of concentration and effort to throw in turns on the steepness when the drop below was so far. I probably got about 12 turns in before it started flattening out a little. Then as the slope widened a but midway - powder opportunities were much better and we started cruising down. It was so much fun and the run was nice and long. Eventually we got down to Jersey Cream and I had a great sense of achievement. I promised myself to return one day immediately after fresh snow for a real steep powder ride.

We cruised down to Crystal Hut and ate a well deserved steak sandwich and waffles then headed out for an afternoon around Crystal and Ridge Runner. Ridge Runner runs almost parallel to Rock n Roll and is the most famous out of the two for it's jumps and drops around the side of the run, but this also makes it more popular and busy. But as today was a lot quieter, we explored it a bit more and played on the drops and jumps.

It was a full day and we finished up as the mountain was closing so we met up with Justin at Glacier Creek and I rode down to the base of the village with him. We split at the bottom and I walked home very tired. I soothed my legs in the hot tub for 20 minutes then crashed on the sofa joining the boys who had had another tele fest all day. I grabbed an early night ready for early morning no3 tomorrow.

Monday January 2 2006 - Neck Deep Powder

Back again on the mountain today, Gav, Dave and I headed up Blackcomb at 8:15.

Gav wanted to cruise around whilst Dave and I wanted to sniff out the powder so we split and arranged to meet up at Rendezvous for lunch. Dave and I warmed up on Jersey Cream waiting for 7th Heaven to open. There was a lot of new snow since we were last up but it was getting chopped up very quickly.

We took the 7th Avenue cat track to 7th Heaven before it opened to make sure we got freshies when it did. We hung around the bottom of the 7th Heaven chair for about 15 minutes whilst ski patrol finished their avalanche checks. The sun started shining and it was turning into a beautiful day. The ride up the chair built our excitement. The whole of 7th heaven was untouched powder. The first run down was one of the runs of the season so far. It was one big freshies top to bottom! Dave and I didn't stop all the way down and we flew down pretty much side to side all the way either carving up the powder or flat lining it. We were absolutely buzzing by the bottom of the run. We did a couple more finding more freshies although it was starting to get more chopped and the lift queues bigger as the morning went on.

We knew that there would be deep powder in the everglades from my previous experiences so we headed over to the trees for our last run of the morning. We both found our own ways through the trees. Dave managed to pop out on 7th avenue after finding himself stood up to his armpits in the snow whilst I also cut through the dense trees between 7th avenue and expressway. We were both buzzin!

We met Gav for lunch and then all went up to Crystal. Gav was boarding well, he had had a good morning and linking turns well. I decided to head back after one run. It was about 1:00pm and it was starting to get chopped up and busy and I fancied a sleep! I got back, showered and had a kip whilst watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Jonny Depp. The boys came back after having a couple of beers at Merlin's. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again. We watched another movie and then called it a day ready for another early start tomorrow.

Sunday January 1 2006 - Many Movies

A recovery day - I got up about 11:00am and went downstairs to find a nice tidy house. Dave had done me a favor and tidied up. The landlord was due round in the afternoon so I wanted to make sure the house was OK. I did a bit of hoovering and then met Ben and Bron for New Years brunch at milestones - ham, cheese and eggs.

Ben and Bron came round for the afternoon and evening and we had a movie fest - three movies and dominos pizza also shared by Dave. Gav slept pretty much all day. A very quiet and chilled out New Years Day - perfect!