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

Friday March 31 2006 - Time to go home to Whistler

The flight back to Vancouver was at 4pm but checked out at 11am so got things packed and headed down to the Pharaohs Buffet for breakfast. After the buffet experience at Bellagio it wasn't really comparable but the bacon and sausages were hot, plenty of pancakes and maple syrup and lots of fresh orange juice.

Thursday March 30 2006 - Vegas Day 3

Started the day with coffee and croissants at the New York New York hotel and played the machines in the Coney Island amusement arcade.

I wanted to go to the top of the Stratosphere Tower and go on some of the rides up there, the tip came from Mike & Lisa. The weather was nice and sunny with a cool breeze so I walked the 4.8 miles to the North end of the "strip". It was a good opportunity to see all the hotels from the more modern and glam to the older, more basic ones. The Stratosphere Hotel is the one with fastest lift in the world. 3 floors per second and takes 37 seconds to get to the top of the 900ft tower. There are 3 rides at the top of the tower and I wanted to do "x-scream" This is a long roller coaster car that holds 8 or 10 people that is on a long track which runs right over the edge of the tower and suddenly come to a halt and stops hovering you 900ft over the Las Vegas strip. Being scared of heights, I went as white as a sheet and felt sick! I did it and after a strong coffee in the worlds highest Starbucks I finally stopped shaking!

Wednesday March 29 2006 - Vegas Day 2

It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm and perfect for walking the "strip".

I had read that the Bellagio hotel had one of the best buffets on offer so gave it a go. For $40 had the choice of crab, salmon, fish, meats, salads that went on and on. I found the dessert area quickly and soon piled my bowl high with bread and butter pudding, sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce, chocolate chips, toffee chip, ice cream and a double chocolate chip on the side - it is probably the best dessert and buffet I had in a long long time.

Next port of call was the Mirage Hotel where the white tiger, wild cat and dolphin sanctuary was. The white bengal tigers were beautiful as were all the cats here but the environment they were living in seemed to be stressing them out. This was particularly so when I saw the black Panther and Leopards who were pacing back and forth in the same place over and over again. It was quite upsetting to see them like this as they obviously weren't happy there.

The dolphins on the other hand were quite happy in their play area. It was a shame I got there just before closing as it would have been awesome to see them doing their jumps and spins - maybe next time.

Treasure Island is quite far from the Luxor hotel so got a taxi to the show "Mystere". It was such a different show from the previous night but still as spectacular and amazing to see. The theatres in the hotels are large but still small enough to get great views and really feel like you are part of the show. I had just missed the pirate show outside the Treasure Island hotel and the next one wasn't for another half hour so missed out and walked back towards Caesars Palace to the Pussycat Dolls Lounge which is attached to the famous Pure nightclub.

Next stop, Caesars Palace where The Pussycat Dolls perform every night in the Pussycat Lounge. Seeing the dolls was on the top of my list so we decided to go there after seeing the show that night.

For those of you who don't know, the Dolls were originally formed as a burlesque type of dance troupe in Johnny Depp's Viper Room in Los Angeles. They now have a troupe in Las Vegas as well as the more famous Dolls who have recently released singles like the No 1 "don't cha" and their new album. The Dolls have had many famous guests perform with them from Carmen Electra, Paris Hilton, Pamela Anderson and Gwen Steffani. It's all very cheeky, sexy, fun and glamorous which seems to appeal to the women as well as the men. I stayed in the lounge for a couple of drinks and got to see 2 of the shows before calling it a night at 1am.

Tuesday March 28 2006 - Exploring Vegas

I had list of places, shows and attractions I wanted to see and the first was the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay. This was an awesome aquarium with beautiful exotic fish, sharks, crocs and other weird and wonderful aquatic creatures. We were even able to touch baby sharks in an open touch pool and watch them be fed.

The MGM Grand was the next stop, I wanted to see the Lion Habitat. Every day they have 2 or 3 lions of various ages on show for a few hours. The lions live 12 miles away from the hotel on a ranch and are on rotation for the hotel. Apparently they are all bathed and blow dried before being bought to the hotel and put on show. The environment was very impressive and 2 of the lions I saw were quite young and very playful with their trainers who would play with balls and other toys and cuddle them and tickle the lions. They seemed very tame but were still very big cats you wouldn't want to mess with on a bad day.

Next first stop was The New York New York Hotel which is huge with the Statue of Liberty out front, the Manhattan Skyline with the Manhattan Express Roller Coaster running through the hotel. I wanted to see "Zumanity" which is one of the 4 Cirque du Soleil shows currently in Vegas. This particular show was definitely not for children, it was for 18+ because of the show content which was, to say the least, very naughty. It was a spectacular show though with amazing acrobatics, dancing, music and specialty acts.... like the bendy naked girl in the water bowl and the girl on the bondage ropes!!!! - you have to see it to believe it.

While exploring the Mandalay Bay hotel I had spotted a rather nice Chinese restaurant called Shanghai Lilly. I wasin the mood for some oriental cuisine and tucked into a whole roast duck with little dough buns and plum sauce followed by duck with water chestnuts and chinese sausage in lettuce nests washed down with a glass of pink champagne - perfect!

Monday March 27 2006 - Off to Vegas

So, after being in Whistler for a good few months, working hard on our boarding, I decided to take a holiday and re-charge the batteries. What better place to do that than 4 days in Vegas!!!!

Monday afternoon I caught the Perimeter bus to Vancouver airport to get the 7.30pm flight - I was way excited. Anyway, picking the evening flight worked out and and we flew into Las Vegas over the bright lights and neon signs of "the strip" and was amazed that we could see the hotel from the plane so clearly, the view was amazing. What was also bizarre was the fact that as soon as you walked into the baggage claim you could start gambling on the machines.

Sunday March 26 2006 - Vans?

I was pretty tired after yesterdays exertions so I stayed in and chilled out today. I cleaned up a bit and did tons of research on a van to buy when I get home this summer.

I'm becoming a bit of a van expert now! Basically I need a short wheel based (SWB) commercial van - not the huge ones you see driving around but a short one slightly longer than a SUV type car. Jersey's roads are narrow and bendy and I need the vehicle for everyday use so I can only really go for a short van for practical reasons. However, I need to be able to fit long surfboards in it - so I need about 9-10ft storage.

This creates a bit of a dilemma as no SWB van would be long enough to allow this capacity. My saving grace is that VW's newish 'Transporter' commercial vehicle puts the gear stick on the dash board creating a clear space between the driver and passenger seats. This means that long boards would slot snugly right down the middle of the van - perfect!

So now I have the type of van - now I have to decide the format. Commercial vans come as 'panel vans' i.e. no windows, 'window vans' with windows down the side, obviously, and 'camper' conversions with all mod cons such as gas hobs, sinks, cupboards and beds for super comfort.

So it's whether I get a basic commercial VW van or a camper. The basic is significantly cheaper but being a bit of a gadget person and liking the great outdoors, a camper is very tempting!

So that was my day - van research! Oh and getting stuff together for a little trip tomorrow.

Saturday March 25 2006 - Swim & Pipe (Riding Day 87)

Today was a pretty active day. After getting up from camping again, I thought I would make an effort to get some sort of swimming fitness back.

I wasn't home for long before heading out at 5:00pm to the base of blackcomb for some night snowboarding. I hooked up with Justin and Mike and played around in the snow for an hour until Lisa turned up. We just jibbed around on small jumps doing little 180s and playing around doing nose slides and turns and generally falling over a lot!

Lisa turned up at 6:30 and and we headed up the superpipe for a bit more serious riding. We all hiked it about 5 times. My heel turns on the right side of the pipe were good but I was still struggling keeping my toe turns smooth and keeping my speed up on the transition. Nevertheless it was pretty successful not really having too much trouble getting my tip tail out of the pipe. Mike was the only real success of the night by being the only one to truly clear out of the pipe.

All that was hungry work so we went down to Portobellos at the Chateau for supper at about 8-9ish. It sounds posh but you can get massive made to order sandwiches for 6 bucks which are a meal in themselves. We all then parted and headed home.

Wednesday March 22 to Friday March 24 2006 - Rest

I'm combining days for the first time today - not bad having documented every day for the last five or so months! But I've been off color so the last three days have been pretty quiet with lots of rest and recuperation.

The weather has been pretty wet - reminding me of Jersey in November! But there should be plenty of fresh snow - the alpine has been closed with bad weather on the mountains so it will still be there when it brightens up a bit. Other than that - just movies and television and a bit of food. I've also booked into the dentist for a week on Saturday - the first visit for nine years I'm afraid to say. Hopefully they won't pull them all out!

Tuesday March 21 2006 - B'Day

Today is my birthday and also the first day of spring. I had a very low key day. A big lie in followed by home made brunch took up the morning. I cooked french toast (eggy bread).

I then went out and got a haircut - the first for about a year! An inch came off so not a huge change! Maybe it will become an annual event!

I met up with friends for a few drinks in the evening at 3 Below. Ben, Bron, Justin, Ross, Kat, Mike and Lisa came along. I wasn't feeling 100% so it was a quiet one - although I did get a birthday present of a shot of Absinthe - first time I have ever tried it - it was pretty grim!

Monday March 20 2006 - Flute 2 (Riding Day 86)

I had arranged to meet Mike and Lisa at 9:00am. We headed up Whistler mountain for another hike and flute day. The weather was even better today - hotter and breezeless. We did the usual gondie run and then Peak Chair to get to the start of the adventure.

Dropping off the cat track, we made our way to the start of the hike up Piccolo. It was starting to get a bit rocky up there so we did some rock dodging on the way down. Mike and I noticed a cool cornice just waiting to be jumped - it was untouched - but we thought to save it for another day.

The hike up Piccolo was a good warm up and when we got to the top the views were just as stunning as ever and it was warm enough for t-shirts. We mucked around a bit with photos. Mike accidentally hit a Japanese girl with a snow (ice) ball which was pretty funny!

Then it was freshies down to the Flute hike. I was cruising pretty well down but went over a ridge and let my nose sink. I was going pretty quick and my board started digging a tunnels before my body flipped over. I left a pretty big hole in the snow but it was soft and like crashing on cotton wool!

We spotted another cornice and Mike and I decided to do a few circuits and jump it. It wasn't huge about 6ft but doubled to about 12ft after landing down the hill. Again the landings were soft and it was great fun.

We then clubbed the cat track for the big hike of the day. It only took us about 20mins and was relatively easy going. Then more photos at the summit and Mike and I sussed out our route into the bowl for the day. I had spotted a good route in yesterday. It's blind as you hike up the bowl so is not as tracked as others but it was great as it started high, had great steeps and a fantastic powder run out. I marked the entrance and we all strapped in and dropped in.

I hung a bit left for a real steep powder run and then it was into a bowl where some guys were building a kicker. There were also guys doing huge rock drops and a couple of skiers dropping off cornices - the sun must have brought the crazies out!

The run didn't disappoint and I just pointed the nose straight for where I was going and ripped through the powder - there's no better feeling in snowboarding! I was going so fast I hardly had to lean back - the nose was out of the snow and the wind resistance was pushing it up - an amazing feeling.

I got down quickly and so had enough time to get the camera out of my rucksack and get shots of the guys coming down.

Finally we hiked out and headed to the Roundhouse for a well deserved lunch. Then we rode to the base and I got the bus home.

Sunday March 19 2006 - Flute 1 (Riding Day 85)

Hiking for our runs today.

Well the Flute bowl on Whistler did beckon today and it was tons of fun. I met up with Justin at 11:30 and we headed straight up Whistler Gondie and then Peak Chair. It was a glorious day and the views were stunning.

The first hike was up Piccolo peak where we took plenty of photos and then down to the hike for Flute. The powder was still pretty soft and the riding was easy although Flute was as tracked as I had seen it yet. On the way up we notices that someone had built a kicker off some rocks. The jump was to clear the cat track and down a hill on the other side. It was a huge kicker and it was pretty cool to see riders hit it.

After a sweaty hike we made it to Flute Peak and had a good look around. We considered riding into Oboe and hiking that peak too. But the sun had been shining creating potential avalanche trouble. No one was going in there and as we didn't have probes, transceivers or shovels, we thought it wise to stay in Flute.

Justin fancied a cornice drop. We watched a couple of skiers drop in and survive so he decided to give it a go. I set up camera on one side and another guy who Justin knows set up one on the other. We both caught the action. The drop was a good 20-30ft.

I rode round the ridge as I had spotted some freshies on the other side of the bowl. I wasn't disappointed - the entrance was pretty steep but big soft powder, and then it was through a gorgeous powder field, through some trees and to Justin who was waiting at the bottom. We were both stoked and we celebrated with a picnic of bananas, muffins and water.

We hiked out and headed home down the mountain. It was a great day's riding.

Saturday March 18 2006 - First Descent

Pete Tong is playing in Whistler on Monday night so we went to Electric Daisy next to Garfs' to get tickets. Unfortunately it had sold out - bummer - biggest DJ of the year and the eve of my Birthday and we can't get in!

I also popped by Rogers the video shop on the way home. I heard about a snowboard movie called First Descent a little while ago. It's not a standard snowboarding vid full of people riding to music but more of a documentary along the lines of Billabong Odyssey and Riding Giants. They had it in stock at the vid store for the first time in ages so I got it out. It's about two hours long and is brilliant and really inspiring.

Half of it is on the birth and rise of snowboarding and half about a handful of the best riders in the world - old and new - going on a trip to Alaska to ride phenomenal back country. The riders include teenage Olympic gold medallists Shaun White and Hannah Tetter, Terje Haakonsen who is as old as me and has been a perennial legend for the last ten years and also Shawn Farmer - one of the most famous riders who pioneered the sport back in the eighties and nineties.

The movie really wants you to make you go out and ride so when Justin called to see if I was riding tomorrow - I was well up for suggesting a back country day out at the flute bowl - not quite AK but more than good enough!

Friday March 17 2006 - Happy St Paddy's

A very very lazy day off today. Three days straight riding at then end of the season takes it's toll. So today I chilled. First up was to tidy up after last nights little get together. The kitchen floor was till very sticky from the litre of Kahlua incident so that got a good mopping and I hoovered the carpet of all the bits of pizza and nachos.

The evening was a quiet chill out and camped in the lounge. Apparently the village was celebrating St Paddy's Day without any Irish people in sight - it's celebrated pretty big in the U.S. & Canada.

Thursday March 16 2006 - Quiet One (Riding Day 84)

I had agreed to meet up with Justin and Bron. All I wanted to do was go back to bed but I couldn't as I had already agreed to go riding. So I dragged myself up and out and then up the mountain. Fortunately Justin had brought Ross along with him which meant I could duck out early. I did a couple of runs including the cliff drop at the top of excelerator and then bugged out home. I chilled out during the day and slept for a couple of hours.

Justin, Ross, Mike, Lisa, Kirsten, Tim, Ben & Bron all came round about 7:30ish. After about half an hour I was chatting with Mike in the kitchen when I picked up a full litre bottle of Kahlua to put in the fridge when it just slid out of my hand and smashed all over the kitchen floor! It took Ben and me another half an hour to clean it up - shards of glass and sticky booze - a real handful. Thanks to Ben for his help on that one!

We all sat around, stuffed ourselves with pizza and chatted - mostly about snowboarding! The guys left at about midnight - most of them working tomorrow.

Wednesday March 15 2006 - Double Breakfast (Riding Day 83)

Justin tucking into his steak breakfast

An early start - 7:15 and I was at the base of Whistler ready to meet Justin, Mike, Lisa and Ross. We got the gondie to the top of Whistler.

The plan was to do Peak To Creek but it seemed a bit blowy at the top of Peak chair so we did a few runs around Franz's meadow to warm up. The legs were feeling a bit tired and it was taking a while to warm up. It was good fun riding and Justin and Mike seemed to know the area pretty well and the little hits around and about. We also did a few runs I hadn't been to before including Goat's Gully, Jimmy's Joker and Wild Card. We also made it to the tree house for a bit of childish fun.

We wanted to get to Creekside for breakfast but the best way was Dave Murray Downhill which will host the 2010 Olympic men's downhill ski event. But today it was closed until 10:30am as there was some sort of racing going on. Eventually when it did open, we all must have been starving coz we rode it at full speed all the way to Creekside! Justin did do a bit of stunt riding on the way - the video says it all!

Breakfast was great - Justin and I had steak, hash browns, double eggs and toast. That and a big cup of orange juice cost a mere $5 (£2.50) - excellent! Mike, Lisa and Ross all had an all day breakfast which is the same but with sausage instead of steak. We hung out at Dusty's for about an hour and then went up the mountain again pretty stuffed. We didn't really do much except lap the park. I was still very nervous over the jumps after crunching myself last time. Mike and Justin both attempted the big 'L' jump whilst I watched, Lisa filmed and Ross tries to maim himself of some rails!

Then it was a nice fast run to the base and home for a nice hot bath to soothe the legs and a cup of Yorkshire tea to soothe the stomach.

Tuesday March 14 2006 - Intrepid Ice Climbers (Riding Day 82) Happy Birthday Tilly!!!

I met up with Mike and Lisa at 9:00am and Tim was also out today to play too. We got the lifts up and noticed Glacier was open pretty early. It was nice and quiet so we decided to do the Chimney as a warm up for Spanky's.

The other guys hadn't been up before so I was leading the way. The trouble is nobody else had been up there and it had snowed a bit since. So first I missed the traverse track to the climb which meant everybody had to do a bit of unnecessary climbing and then when we did get to the climb it was solid ice without any footmarks at all. It took us ages to get up there - probably an hour when it should have taken about 10 minutes. Tim went ahead and tried to chip away at the ice with his ski boots. Then I went up mid way and grabbed the boards and skis which Mike was handing up to me after climbing up the ice each time. It was a bit of a nightmare but we got up there in the end.

We did the run down to Crystal and then traversed to the CBC trees. Then it was down the glacier road cat track and finally back to the Excelerator. It was 11:30 by the time we got back to Glacier Creek and we had only done one run!

We kept on going and did some tree runs and then some more tree runs and then some more! By the time we got back to Glacier Creek about 1 ish we were all pretty tired and hungry!

We scoffed our lunch and did a run back to the village and called it a day. I got home and Liz was home after her haircut looking (and acting) a little bit blonder.

I had a kip for an hour or two then we popped out to the Supermarket and then to Maccas for a $1.79 (90p) Big Mac. Then home for a two hour session of American Idol and then the Amazing Race.

Monday March 13 2006 - R&R

A day off the slopes today - I didn't really do much but I did go out for dinner to a tapas bar called Elements. It was great - I had a bottle of wine, cold cheese & meats, steak with mash, salmon and goats cheese all Tapas style and really really tasty. That's about it for today!

Sunday March 12 2006 - Sunny Slopes (Riding Day 81)

Today's riding was nice and relaxed - just how it should be on a Sunday. I went up Whistler in the afternoon after pancakes for breakfast (cooked by me). I just rode around Expressway. It was super sunny and we just did some nice chilled out riding taking in the rays.

I put on a couple of movies in the evening and chilled.

Saturday March 11 2006 - Out to play - Peak to Creek (Riding Day 80)

The hairy Hairfarmers at the GLC

I went up today about 9ish. The weather was great and no wind the Peak to Creek routes were on.

Today I headed up to Cockalorum. The drop in was pretty standard - me on my toes. Then it was a traverse to the middle of the slope and then a nice steep drop to the meadows below. The powder wasn't great - a bit chopped and lumpy but not yet moguled so it was not bad going.

The meadow in West Bowl was fun and then I dropped into the valley to the left of Lower Peak To Creek. It was great fun in there - like a cross between a boarder-cross track, a tree run, a fairground ride and an assault coarse! There were trees to duck and holes to dodge but it had loads of banks to slash and trees to slalom round. Eventually it came out at Kadenwood - about half a mile of vertical drop!

I finished off the day with a trip to the GLC for a bit of Apres. The Hairfarmers were playing and so I joined in the fun with a jug of beer and some traditional Canadian chips, gravy and cheese.

Friday March 10 2006 - Day off at last.

The legs were wrecked and shoulder shredded so today was a lie in and chill out day. I eventually made it out for a walk at about 4:00pm. I headed to Lost Lake and walked next to the cross country ski tracks until I reached the Chateau Whistler Golf Course pro shop which doubles as a fondue restaurant in the winter. There was a horse and sled outside and a fire pit. It was like something out of a movie!

I decided to go and nosey around the Four Seasons resort. It's nice in there but I think I like the Chateau better - more character. I bumped into Tim working in the ski rental shop in the hotel. I then walked to Blackcomb Base, to Whistler Base and then home. It took a couple of hours and it got dark just as I got home.

Thursday March 9 2006 - The Groundhog Never Lies! (Riding Day 79)

The legs were tired, my shoulder aching but I had promised myself that if the storm had died then I would get up early to get freshies that would be waiting on 7th Heaven and the glacier after the storm yesterday.

The alarm went off at 7:15 and Mountain FM declared that the winds were light meaning the alpine would open this morning. So I pulled myself out of bed and met up with Justin at the base of Blackcomb at 8:15. We got the Gondie and then the Excelerator up Blackcomb. The first thing we did when we got to the top of the chairlift? The 10ft drop off just underneath the lift! Not very sensible with stone cold thighs but the powder was nice and soft and it was a fun way to start the day!

I committed myself to riding all the fresh lines we could find and after they were all gone I would ride my sore legs home. The first fresh tracks were made through the trees to Solar Coaster. The snow was as good as yesterday allowing great control and tons of fun through the trees.

Then it was to 7th Heaven. It hadn't opened but we wanted to get there before it did and be some of the first down the powder. The sun was starting to come though, there wasn't much wind and it was about -10 - we knew the powder would be stunning. We waited about 15mins and then the lift opened. We were about 30th up the lift - some then turned left into Jersey Cream Bowl and some headed down the cat-track. We dropped off the cat-track and immediately found fresh lines. We burned it all the way down 7th heaven through completely untouched deep fresh powder - guaranteed grins were on display as we got back on the lift for run two. The news had got out that 7th was now open and it was getting busier. Nevertheless we still found freshies.

We went up the 7th chair again but this time we turned left off the chair and checked out Couloir Extreme. Justin was up for it so we did the double diamond. The top was steep and a bit lumpy so we took it easy until the powder was fresh and then we just ripped it all the way down to Jersey Cream - the day just got better!

The final freshies of the day were found off Spanky's. We headed up Glacier and then did the short traverse and hike to Spanky's Ladder. We strapped in and then cruised to the icy, rocky and steep entrance to Sapphire Bowl. We got through with a bit of side slipping and sitting to get through the rocks without gouging our boards. Then we dropped down the chute into the bowl which gave us the steepest and deepest powder of the day.

After the cat-track back to Excelerator I said my goodbyes and called it a day and rode back into the village. My legs were done and needed a rest. I got home, showered and went to Milestones for a well deserved lunch.

Oh and the groundhog - Back in February, all-star groundhog Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting 6 more weeks of winter. We can't doubt him in Whistler, as March has started with heaps of new snow this past week and more snow coming. Spring will just have to wait.

Wednesday March 8 2006 - Storms (Riding Day 78)

A storm was predicted today. I had arranged to meet Lisa and Mike for a day up Blackcomb. I met up with them at 9:00am and headed up. The storm hadn't really kicked in but there was lovely fresh snow everywhere - probably about half a foot to a foot.

We spent a couple of hours cruising around showing each other our fave spots including Fraggle Rock, new tree runs and Merlin's mini tree boarder-cross. It was good fun. Mike's a pretty aggressive rider so it was good fun hacking through trees and finding drops.

We grabbed lunch at Glacier Creek and found Justin who was out riding with his friend Kate. We all hooked up and the six of us rode through the afternoon. The storm had started to close in whilst we were having lunch and the ride up Jersey Cream after turned out to be very blowy and cold with really bad visibility. The plan was to go down Jersey and head up Glacier but it was way too cold and besides the Glacier lift closed shortly after due to the storm. Instead we played around Crystal doing another Fraggle run and finding some new cool trees of Rock n Roll that cut out most of the evil cat-track out of Crystal.

We went back up Excelerator. For people familiar with this chair lift, they will probably have seen the scary little rock drop on the left immediately before the end of the chair lift. The drop was looking dooable today. I don't know if it was due to confidence or the fact that we knew that the snow was so soft but we gave it a go anyway. Justin, Mike and I all dropped off different lines but all of us enjoyed it although I really felt my shoulder go on the landing but I planted it and rode out of it anyway.

The mountain was virtually empty and it felt we had the whole of Blackcomb to ourselves. It was quiet anyway but I think the storm had driven most people to the comfort of the village but for us it just meant more great snow! We were all buzzing and trying plenty of tricks - my fave of the day were my front side slash 180s off banks on my right - I've always wanted to give them a go but knew that wipeouts would hurt as it would be my heel edge that would most likely to get caught resulting in a head slam. The snow was so soft today that the fear factor wasn't there and I was pulling them off pretty much at will - I was well chuffed!

I called it a day about 3:30 and headed home.

Tuesday March 7 2006 - Perfect Powder (Riding Day 77)

I headed off on my own with iPod to Blackcomb. I got to the top of Excelerator about 9:30. The snow had dumped for the last two days but the Alpine had been closed due to high winds. Today the conditions were much better so it was inevitable that the alpine would open with a couple of feet of fresh untouched powder.

I headed to the Glacier Express chair lift. It hadn't opened yet but it looked liked they were preparing to open it. I was about tenth in line. They did eventually open the chair about 20 minutes later and by that time there must have been a hundred people behind me. As it opened there was a mad scramble and I was on the the third chair up.

As we traveled up the chair lift it was obvious the conditions were special. Nothing had been touched all the way up - no groomers, no ski patrol tracks - nothing - just pure untouched powder for hundreds of meters!

As I skated off the top of the lift I made sure I got my back foot binding on double quick and then I was off. I had already picked my route from the chair lift I was just hoping no one of the other nine people in front of me had got the same line in mind. Fortunately they hadn't! About half of them headed over to Spanky's which was still closed due to Avalanche dangers and the others spread off in a different direction.

The next few minutes I spent gliding down through the most pristine untouched steep deep powder accumulated to easily the best inbounds riding I had done all season. The only powder runs that have superceded this were done on Flute. I had the whole of the route back down to Glacier to myself. The powder was light and deep and the route completely untouched, wide and fast. I switched between big straight fast cruisey lines to wide powder carves throwing up plumes of the stuff behind and sometimes over me. The front of the board didn't touch the snow as I sank on my back foot and flew.

Needless to say I got back to the bottom of Glacier with a huge smile on my face.

Monday March 6 2006 - PowWow (Riding Day 76)

The alarm went off at 7:00am and I headed up Blackcomb. I lazily got the free shuttle bus instead of taking the 10 minute walk today but it did get me to the base of the mountain early enough so I was one of the first to the top. The snow was very light and dusty too which made for easy riding. There was still hard pack under so it wasn't super soft but still excellent!

I rode 7th Express and then through the trees to sunset boulevard. The powder in the trees was deep in places. 7th Express was closed though due to high winds. In fact all the alpine was closed. I did the run again but a small fall in the trees brought back all the pain of the injuries from Friday. I cruised through pruned paradise then across gondola road and down Grub Stake to Lower Cruiser.

Sunday March 5 2006 - Monopoly v2

Although with intentions to get up and go out onto the mountain today, it didn't happen. I was still sore and didn't want to make things worse.

So I had a quiet day - hot chocolate at Blenz followed by movies in the afternoon. Unfortunately my laptop fell ill and I had to update the drivers too but not until I had had a few of those horrible blue screens as it crashed.

Ben and Bron came round in the evening for dinner and a round of monopoly! It was actually a pretty quick game - about two hours with Bron and I fighting it out. It could have gone on so we finished before one of us went bankrupt.

The snow started falling throughout the afternoon and evening and there had already been a good covering by 11. So it was to bed with the intention of getting up early for the fresh powder.

Saturday March 4 2006 - Creekside Chinese

We had to be careful near the rivers!

I woke up a bit sore and with no intention of going up the mountain. I chilled out a bit and then went for a long walk.

I went along the three lakes - Alta, Nita and Alpha. It was another lovely sunny day with lots of squirrels and dogs around. I walked along and on the frozen lakes and through the christmas tree woods. Eventually I got to Creekside and went for a wander around the village.

It was about 4:00pm but I was starving. Creekside is the only place around that has a Chinese restaurant so that's where I headed. It was called Joey Chan's and is quite funky, completely different from the normal restaurants you get at home. It has a cool bar, can see into the kitchen and has very cool colors, booths and decorations. I scoffed down pork spring rolls, ribs with honey and garlic, sweet and sour chicken and ginger chili beef. It was washed down with martinis and cocktails - great!

Friday March 3 2006 - Crash Bang Wallop (Riding Day 75)

Another early start and I headed up Whistler again today. The conditions were almost perfect - there had been 12cms of new snow overnight but the sky had cleared and it was a beautiful clear day with little wind.

I got off the gondola at midstation and took Garbanzo up to the Alpine. I then went down Raven to Emerald. It was fun dropping in and out of the trees with lovely soft snow to cruise through. I decided to have a run through the park. The Whistler park is split into two.

The left side split has small and medium features including rails, jumps and boxes. The right only has large features including big boxes, high rails and big kicker jumps. Having mastered the left side to the extent that it I could pretty much do the run through without thinking about it - I decided to try and progress by now using the right hand side of the park. Today seemed like an ideal day with soft snow and good visibility. The spine was plain sailing having done large spines quite a bit before in the Blackcomb park.

Then I stopped at the main large jump. The kicker had about a 4-6ft back and about a 12ft table. That means when you take off you are already about 6ft in the air before the lift you gain from riding up the ramp. The kicker ramp throws you up about another 4-6ft so the height between the board and the snow underneath you is 8-12ft. If you're dropping from that height you don't really want to land flat as this takes a lot to absorb on your legs. After each jump is a down slope to land on to make the landing soft. In this case the down slope was about 12ft after the jump so you have to travel 12ft to make sure the landing is good.

I waited and watched as some other riders hit the jump. There were a couple of falls but I got a rough idea of the speed I needed to hit the jump to clear the table. I went for it but it turned out my speed wasn't quite fast enough and I hit the knuckle of the table just before the down slope. I crashed pretty bad twisting my ankle, getting all tied up and bounced down the down slope hitting my head. Fortunately I was wearing my helmet so no serious damage was done even though I was very dazed! I sat around for 10 minutes and gathered myself.

The rest of the day was slow going but did some nice runs down Harmony. I didn't want to go home given the excellent conditions, although I could have done with a painkiller or ten!

Maccas and movies was required in the evening to help ease the pain!

Thursday March 2 2006 - Monopoly (Riding Day 74)

I was up early again today - another 7:15 start and up Whistler for 8:45. The pipe was closed but there was a little fresh snow although the wind was blowing a hooly at the top of the Emerald chair lift.

I lapped the park a few times then hit the Roundhouse about 11:30 to warm up with hot chocolates. The medium jumps in the park now seem pretty easy to me and I was getting well up on to the log out of the quarter pipe. I was also trying 180s over a natural kicker.

Wednesday March 1 2006 - Jumps (Riding Day 73)

I met up with Kat and her Dutch friend Anuk at 8:15 and we headed up Whistler. It was snowing and there had been a bit of fresh overnight so the going was good. It was very windy though so we warmed up on the sheltered north side of the mountain doing a run down to the Big Red Express chairlift. I did stack right at the start of the run though giving myself a twisted back ankle (right) and a bit of whiplash!

Kat had bought some new bindings and she wasn't happy with them Showcase had sold her a medium size when she would probably have been better with smalls. So she went back to the village with Anuk. I escorted down past Garbanzo and Seppo's and then came back up Garbanzo on my own.

For the rest of the morning I lapped the terrain park. The half pipe was full of powder which was actually quite good fun. It had blown onto the right wall so you could ride the steep side in the powder - it's pretty much as close as you can get to the same feeling as surfing - all on the back foot traversing fast down the steep wall. After a couple of laps I was easily clearing all the jumps in the park. Once the confidence builds up to hit the jumps fast, clearing the table and landing on the down slope after the jumps starts to feel very easy and natural. Also, the more you practice, the less you think about it and like most things, the easier it becomes as it becomes second nature.

I also set myself a couple of other goals - riding a rail and ollying high up a quarter pipe where the parkies had strapped a log vertically a foot or so on top of the ramp - the idea being either tapping it with the nose of your board as you reach the top of the quarter pipe or jumping onto it. I managed to achieve these two so I finished about midday happy I had done what I wanted to.