Woo-hoo! I’m a very happy boy tonight - ace’d the skiing technical demos and got some good marks on the teaching assessment too.
Not bad for an old guy with dodgy knees!
The pic shows some of my fellow skiing gurus going through their teaching assessment. I had already finished so was able to relax and smell the roses so to speak. The big dude in the red and white is our course conductor. He’s a level 4 uber-skier, and never misses a photo-op! My skis in the foreground - just in case you think I’m making all this up 
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
Well, I’ve made it this far. One more day of ski technique demos and teaching a lesson and it’s all over.
I’m working on the theory that if the coaches haven’t pointed out anything really bad then I’m still in with a chance. We will see…
I am looking forward to a beer or six tomorrow night!
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
This ones for you Staggy!
30cm overnight yesterday, 4cm this morning. It’s snowing outside right now and the forecast is for around 30cm again tonight.
By the way, does everyone know that the 2010 Winter Olympics are being held in Canada? Whistler is hosting the Men’s Downhill events and they are building a bobsled track as well. If you want to come I suggest you book now…
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
The knee is holding up OK so far. This is good.
My skiing was total rubbish on Monday. Very disappointing. Today was a fair bit better in the morning and by the afternoon I was getting back in the swing of it. Hopefully I’ve done enough to make the course coaches happy.
Two days of teaching and then a final assessment on Friday. We get homework to do in the evenings too…
The fortune cookie that I got with lunch today read: “The best teacher is also a good student.” Very profound!
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
Well, tomorrow is the big test… either my knee is going to hold out for 5 days or this blog is going to get stale fast…
Stay tuned and wish me luck!
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
New Year’s Eve, Whistler style was pretty big. Managed to get into a pub with some of the people in the ski group. The place turned out to be a great pick. Most of the people there we my age, the band played tunes I knew the words to, and the beer was reasonably priced!
Spent the night bopping (yes, I even danced!) and they played Men At Work’s “Down Under” and Waltzing Matilda for the Aussies - very sporting! We rang in the New Year to a pretty fair rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock ‘n Roll”. One of the guys brought his Aussie flag with him (is that normal?)… and we got pretty pissed!
Weather was something different too - it snowed like crazy most of the night. They tell me Sydney had 40 degrees this week!
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
Ice Hockey
Went to an ice hockey game a few days ago. The match was a friendly between the Blackcomb and Whistler ski instructors. Blackcomb won 7-3. One of the Blackcomb players went home in an ambulance.
Ice hockey is a very fast game. You have to see it live to be able to follow it really. On TV you can’t see the puk most of the time!
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
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…
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
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.
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
It’s raining at 2000 metres…
Matt Ski Trip '05 / '06
