Apparently there has been some good snowfall on the mountain over the last few days. They tell me it’s getting nice and soft up there. It snowed heavily in the village yesterday morning. Made a change from a week of rain.
Hopefully I’ll be fit for next week and can give you a first hand report!
OK, I’m off to the pub for lunch…
OK, I’ve had a few messages from you guys wondering why there have been no updates for a while…
So, the short answer is: I gave my knee a pretty hard smack on the Thursday before Christmas and haven’t skiied since.
The snow was a bit weird that day, after being rained on, some fresh snow over the top made conditions quite tricky. You’d be skiing along and the skis would just stop dead. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve ejected over the front of my skis, but this is the first time in 15 years I’ve hurt myself. I picked myself up and skied gently down to the lift. By the time I got back to the top I could feel my knee stiffening up. Shit. Download on the gondola and head straight for the physio…
I was planning to take myself heli-skiing for Christmas but instead I stayed at home, mainly because I could barely walk.
But the good news is that there appears to be no ligament damage. The swelling has come down quite well, so I’ve got pretty good range of movement and I can walk fine. Weight bearing seems to be OK too. So, touch wood, it will be OK.
The level 2 instructor course starts this Monday and will take up all of my last week in Whistler. So I’ve decided to give the knee as long to recover as possible and then jump into the L2 course with no training and see how I go.
Been snowing all day today. What a relief! Still snowing outside now (night) so we could be in for a good day tomorrow.
I’ve been bumped (pun intended …) up to the experts group so our instructor has been searching out some pretty gnarly runs for us to tackle. Have to admit I am struggling to keep up with these guys but it’s all character building I guess…
We laid some fresh tracks in the powder this afternoon which was fantastic. Although one run that looked soft and smooth from the top actually had a bunch of VW beetles parked under the snow. I had a couple of spills on that one…
Here’s a pic of Whistler Village lit up at night. It’s about -7 degrees celsius.
I’m planning to take some decent shots with a real (film) camera this weekend. Will try to get some from the mountains as well. Supposed to be sunny for the weekend… There are rumours of a big snow dump next week. (puhleeeeeease!!!)
Woo Hoo!!!
Passed my Level 1 Instructor exams today. So just for the record, I am now a qualified CSIA Level 1 ski instructor! How good is that?
So now when I get the old “So, what do you do?” when meeting people, I get to say “Oh, I’m a ski instructor.”
The (very bad, mobile phone/camera) photo is of my CSIA L1 lapel pin. CSIA stands for Canadian Ski Instructor Alliance.
Now for the level 2 exams…
Started the first of 4 days which comprise my level 1 instructor certification. Got off to a pretty rusty start in the morning but got it together by the afternoon. Got some positive comments from the examiner so that’s good.
Snow conditions were pretty bad - rock hard and slippery, as in, ice everywhere. Got a bit of heavy snowfall during the day but it hasn’t set in yet. Hopefully the next few days will bring some fresh snow to soften everything up.
I’m off to do my homework assignment now!
I found the creek that gives it’s name to the part of the village I am staying in - “Whistler Creekside”.
Don’t have a fishing rod though…
More snowplows today. This ski instructor gig is not all it’s cracked up to be! Took this shot on the way to the only serious run we did today. I remembered the name of the peak in the background - it’s called “Black Tusk”. Much more impressive in real life I can assure you!
When I said we skied out of bounds the other week, I was not quite correct. The Flute Bowl used to be out of bounds, now it is part of the ski area but not open all the time - depending on snow conditions, whether not enough or too much (avalanches). Today it was closed again. The peak in the back ground is a volcanic plug, the name of which escapes me at the moment…