Somebody once said that all good things come to an end and unfortunately they were right.  Friday was my last day in Whistler and at 3pm I caught my last lift of the season.  I did one last lap through the top section of the Spring park and then ducked under the ropes at the top of the gondola and rode the ‘closed’ ski-out with my buddy.  The ski-out has been closed so that they can prepare for bringing equipment up the mountain that they need for the new peak to peak gondola, which means that when you do the ski-out now you have the weird opportunity to board across the road is a couple of places (with just a slight covering of snow to stop the base of the board being shredded).  All in all my last day was fantastic, I rode the park in the morning and fresh snow (yes more snow fell on Thursday night) in the afternoon.  I couldn’t have asked for more.

Above is a photo I took on my journey to Vancouver.  In total my trip home managed to take 25 hours, but it did include going for dinner with my friend at the Cactus Club in Vancouver and also a couple of hours sorting out my car after I returned to collect it, only to find that (a) someone had scratched it and (b) the battery was dead.

My first full season has been everything that I had hoped for.  I passed both instructor levels that I went for, improved my riding exponentially, rode some of the best runs in the world, travelled to several resorts, rode the most amazing powder, experienced gnarly tree runs, learnt a bunch of new tricks, rode out of the ski area and most importantly made some friends for life.  If I had the option to start the season again now I would take it – but my body is probably glad that it isn’t an option as it needs some time to recover.

I have put a few more photos on my Picasa site if you want to see some more pictures of snow.

Thanks to all of you who have been following my blog.  I have to go and save money for next season so, for now, it is over.

1500 – approximate number of chair lift rides that I took during the season

987 – cumulative amount of snowfall (in cm) for the season in Whistler at the point that I left.

250 – approximate number of bus trips that I took

167 - length (in cm) of the longest board I rode this season

151 - length (in cm) of the shortest board I rode this season

101 – total days riding this season

100 – total number of days I spent in Whistler

85 – total days riding in Whistler-Blackcomb

48 – degree of the steepest pitch that I rode

23 – minutes that Whistler gondola takes from base to the top

22 – hours spent on planes

17 – days that I haven’t ridden so far this year.

15 – minutes walk from my house to the gondola station

12 – days riding in Banff

11 – different boards that I rode this season (Ride Decade, Burton Custom X, Burton Clash, Rome Agent, Burton Dominant, Atomic Pivot, Ride Society, Prior AMF 167, K2 WWW, Ride Agenda, Burton Baron)

8 – different bindings that I rode

7 – stitches that I needed

6 – different resorts that I rode this season

5 – different months that I rode (Dec – April)

3 – pairs of boots that I wore; days riding in Europe this season (Morzine-Avoriaz); different pairs of gloves that I wore

2 - exams that I passed

1 – trip to the doctor

0 – number of broken bones (that I know about); day’s riding missed due to injury/illness; number of bears that I saw

-5 – temperature at the peak of Whistler as I write this post

-19 – alpine temperature on day 3 of my level 2 exam (and yes, it was in April)

-21 – lowest temperature that I can remember riding in this season

Today marked my 100th day on snow this season.  The mountain rewarded me (and everyone else) with more new snow and so I am still getting fresh lines at the end of the season.  To be fair though the snow is nothing by comparison with earlier in the season.

There is a new park that is slowly taking shape now that all the winter parks are closed.  Each day they add new features and I am enjoying my runs though the park, even though several of the features are too big for me – including the main jump which would normally be found in a black park!  Saw someone smash themselves on it yesterday and they had to have a helicopter come and get take them down, so no fear of me trying the jump.  Maybe next season!

Not much else to tell you.  My flight is on Saturday so tomorrow is my last day of the season.  Unless I ride Saturday morning – and it is supposed to be perfect weather for park riding on Saturday.  Hmmm.

I passed my CASI Level 2 exam after four hard hard days.  The standard for the level 2 is a LOT higher than the standard for level 1 and I needed to ride at my absolutely best to meet the grade.  Above is my evaluation sheet.  Below the badge (or pin) that I spent 15 weeks working so hard to get.

There were 7 people on our course, and only 2 of us passed, so I’m pretty happy that I was one of them.  Only 3 days riding left.

On Wednesday I rode Whistler for the last time this season (but hopefully not the last time this year!!!).  Here is my last view of the Harmony ridge for the season.  I rode some new black diamond runs that I had not done at all this season.  Nothing spectacular, but just amazing that there are still so many runs that I haven’t done yet.  Whistler closes at the weekend and as my exam is on Blackcomb my remaining 9 days riding (yes, only 9) will all be on Blackcomb.  Including my 2 exam days.

I have mainly been practicing for my exam, but I did manage to get a couple of laps in the park and learnt a couple of new tricks (Stalefish grab and shiftying the rainbow rail if you must ask – tee hee).  I also saw a guy on skis in an inflatable sumo-wrestler suit.  weird.

The Telus Ski and Snowboard Festival has started.  On Saturday night they had the big air competition where they built a rediculous jump down at the base of Whistler and anyone insane enough to be able to throw a 5, 7 and 9 off it (1.5, 2 and 2.5 spins respectively) could pretty much qualify for the final.  Here is one said insane individual.  Yes he is between the trees and the flags, miles above the ground and mid 900 (i.e. half way through performing a 900 degree spin).  This photo makes the jump look much smaller than it really is.  But trust me that this is a huge jump with a drop-in ramp that was nearly vertical (from some scaffolding) to allow the riders to get enough speed to be able to clear the gap and the table before the landing!

Here’s a photo of the ludicrous drop-in ramp from which the riders hurtled towards the jump.

Actually when I said that pretty much anyone insane enough could qualify I lied as one of our coaches didn’t qualify despite throwing a cab 9 as his party trick.  The winner threw a double corked 10.  Don’t worry if the last sentence reads as if it is not in English, those who want to know will understand and those of you who don’t understand probably don’t want to know.

If you want to see what it is like to wipeout on such a jump then you will have to head on over to my Picasa site (as wordpress is still a bit limited in what it lets me post).  Click here.

For the rest of the week there are lots of bands playing, a half-pipe competition, a slopestyle competition, a rail jam, loads of free stuff being given away and a general party atmosphere in the village.

Also going on this week is my CASI Level II exam.  Sat/Sun last weekend were the first two days and the final 2 days are going to be next Sat/Sun.  The first day is focused on our riding, the second day on teaching advanced sliding turns, the third day on teaching carving and finally on the fourth day we run lessons ourselves and have our teaching evaluated.  The least said about the first two days the better.  I have lots to work on and won’t be surprised if don’t pass next weekend.  I guess I would have to come back next year to do the exam instead.  That would be a shame.

Lots more to tell you, but I have to go and do some study for my exam so I’ll save it for tomorrow!  My return to England is getting too close.

Not many days left.  Another week has raced past like Cole Trickle’s racing car and here am I contemplating only 2 more weeks in Whistler.  2 weeks.  Still plans are afoot for a return next season.  More than half the people that I have been fortunate enough to ride with this year are planning to come back next season.  We will have to see how many of them actually make it, but it has a special time in Whistler this season.

Above is a picture of the short hike along the ridge that I did last Sunday.  By hiking the ridge is allowed me to drop into what is called the high-line of Ruby Bowl.  The powder was amazing.  The visibility (as you can see) was not.  But there was not another person in the whole of Ruby Bowl when I rode it and it made for some of the best riding all season – although there are a lot of days that I could say that about.  Here is a picture of the run – I traversed under the big rock in the middle of the picture and then I turned right and rode straight down through the powder.

Today was my last lesson on pro-ride and now I have four days of exams and about 8 days riding with my buddies. And then that will be that, and I will have to go back to the UK and pretend to be a grown-up again.  At least for a few months!  The exam is for my CASI Level 2 instructor certificate and takes up Saturday and Sunday for the next two weekends.  Not ideal, but it is the only course that I could get on.  Today’s lesson was a lot of fun working on euro carving (where you build up enough pressure in the board so that when you turn on your toes you can lean over and lie nearly flat on the snow whilst your board carves to make the turn) and also down-unweighted turns, which is probably not worth me even trying to explain.  It was all good stuff and gives me some things to work on over the next couple of weeks.

This week is the TELUS Ski and Snowboard festival.  It is going to be epic.  There are loads of competitions (such as the big air tomorrow where pro-riders will huck themselves off a true DADDY of a jump), loads of free stuff being given away, loads of stalls from companies advertising stuff and loads of bands playing.  Sadly I will be studying – but not everyday!!!  I’m pretty excited about the festival and it is another reason to be glad that I stayed on for April!

Anyway, before the credits role on my first season there is still time for some more snowboarding and Whistler is still providing epic riding conditions.  I can’t believe how good the snow is in April – the only problem is that you can’t always ride the park as the sun can’t be relied on to put in an appearance.

I will update you soon on how my exam is going. 

PS Tom Cruise played Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder.  But you knew that already, no?

Yes, I realise that April Fool’s Day is before my last post, but I only just got these photos.  So here is how I spent my April Fool’s Day – the perfect way, and it aint no joke…

Step 1: Hike.  Here I am hiking to Ladies First (you can spot me by the bald head as I have had to turn on the air conditioning whilst hiking so don’t have my helmet on).

Step 2: Celebrate.  On arriving at the top of the hike and contemplating the run ahead of me I have no shame in celebrating.

Step 3: Slash.  Make sure you get a good slash on the way down (!) otherwise why did you climb all that way?

Oh yeah, now we’re talking.  I sprayed so much snow you can’t even see my green pants.   That’ll please some of you!!!  More soon….

This week has been really weird.  On Monday the Alpine high was -13 and it felt like winter.  By Wednesday the Alpine high was -1, the sun was out and suddenly it was Spring.  In between was April fool’s day which was a lot of fun.  The picture above in from Wednesday when it was warm.  You may also notice that the mountain is quiet now that we are in April.

On Tuesday we played a few jokes on Anthony our coach, but he got his own back on us by making us hike.  Fortunately we were hiking Ladies First(a run that I did in about my 2nd week in Whistler).  It is such an awesome run and totally worth the hike, plus now that there has been more snow over the winter you don’t have to hike down to get onto the run, but instead you can ride around the rocks from the top of the climb.  Once we had reached the top of our climb Anthony announced that as this was Ladies First the girls could drop in first and pointed at the run with a small drop into a really steep chute, followed by a 20 ft cliff drop.  After the colour had drained from their faces he coolly said “April Fool” and we rode around the rocks onto the run that is actually Ladies First! This time I didn’t fall down half of it, but instead made some beautiful powder turns with powder way over my head as I sped down the run.  Looking back on the run with the seven lines on it from our group was pretty cool.  Being a muppet I hadn’t taken my camera, so you’ll just have to take my word for it!

As I said before by Wednesday the sun was out, Spring was in the air and we were on Whistler mountain.  So here’s a picture of me as I drop off a branch.  Green pants and all.

(I’m blurry because I’m going reeeeaaaaalllllly fast – honest.) On Wednesday we worked on carving, and I am now getting pretty good at this skill.  It means that I can actually grab my board whilst making a turn (Indy grab on a heelside turn) as you have to get pretty low on the board to make a good carve at speed, so for fun you can actually hold on to the board.  It feels pretty sick to have your fingers under the base of your board whilst making a turn!

With it being Spring and the clocks having changed we can now end our days in the sunshine with a refreshing beverage to celebrate successful days on the slopes.  Its a hard life…

PS – Chunky/Girly/anyone-who-knows-what-a-method-grab-is: I can now do methods.

This week has been another incredible week.  The snow has kept coming all week resulting in riding conditions that have been as close to perfect as I can ever remember.  This has also meant a lot of hiking to get to the best runs.  I have hiked Spanky’s Ladder a good few times and this has allowed me to ride Ruby Bowl, Diamond Bowl and Sapphire Bowl.  On Friday I finally got to hike The Chimney but I will tell you more about that in a minute.   I have also ridden several lines, such as Wonderland and The Cake Hole, which involve hiking to get out rather than hiking to get to them.

Last Sunday (before my last post) was a fantastic day, but it was outdone for me by the riding on Wednesday.  Snow past my knees on some of the runs (the ones out of the patrolled ski area), dry snow because the temperatures are colder than usual for the end of March, new runs because some of the runs can only be done when there is a lot of snow around, dropping cliffs (because the snow is soft when/if you crash) and more trees that you would find in Robin Hood’s garden.  Can’t really explain just how good it feels to ride this stuff.  But I am very glad that I chose to stay for an extra four weeks, otherwise I would be writing this post from whichever friend’s house I had happened knock on the door of.  Instead I am writing this post from my new room upstairs in the Brio house – and now I have enough room to store all my clothes and a double bed.  Although the mattress is softer than a Hugh Grant romantic comedy.

So back to the Chimney.  Fridays are normally a more chilled out day than the rest of the week, with less emphasis on what we need to learn and more emphasis on charging around the steep runs that Whistler has to offer.   All morning Anthony took us to crazy out of the way runs and we got fresh snow for most of the day.  Then in the afternoon I got the opportunity to ride with a couple of the coaches just for fun.  After doing a few cliff drops on Fraggle Rock (yes that really is the name of a run) the others who were riding with us called it a day.  So I headed off with coach Dave and coach Lisa to hike the Chimney.  The Chimney is the toughest hiking I have done since I took off my crampons in Chamonix.  Although nothing crazy, it is a steep, narrow path up hill and you have to do it with a snowboard in your hand and only your snowboard boots for grip and you can probably get about 1/5th of your boot into the snow to get grip.  So if either you or any of the people above you miss one of the footholds, you will all be tumbling down the mountain.  Anyway…after this hike (which is not far at about 10mins in total) we rode Grey Area right next to a PC (permanently closed) area of the mountain.  Then we hit Molly’s Reachwhich is a steep chute – the entrance to which is slightly to the skier right and if you missed your turn you would tumble over a pretty big cliff.  After receiving instruction from Dave (“you can’t miss your first turn, after that the chute’s not too bad” was his full briefing) I took on probably the scariest run of my life.  It seems that as my skills improve I am able to take on ever more dangerous and death-defying terrain.  Cool.  It definitely lets you know that you are alive.

The sun is supposed to come out next week so I shall take my camera out and try to get some new shots.

…Let the music play, down at Fraggle Rock