What a difference from last week’s blizzard… not a cloud in the sky and above seasonal normal temperatures. Brooklyn had a perfect pair of pink cotton gloves and the rest of the gang was down a few layers. Olivia and Riddley missing again today. Promise me you’ll be here for our last week.

I’m very fond of owls too, Soldis. I got a photo of this handsome fellow in the village last summer .

Soldis arrived just in time and the “Six Pack” was out the door shortly after my 9:00am alarm went off. Up the gondola then Red, we parked one pole at the light board. Balancing poles on our wrists, we did the top half of Green Acres making those “Big-S” turns. I only saw one pole hit the snow. Well done all! We did the bottom half of the run at a faster pace holding poles like we are riding our bikes. I had the kids count “1-2 turn” followed by trying to stay on one ski on the road to the Emerald chair.

Back at the Roundhouse, we picked up our poles and skied Ego Bowl, the bumps in Cougar Trail and those next to the Enchanted Forest. There was a huge lineup at Emerald, so we skied pretty much non-stop to Garbanzo. Finley wasn’t too keen to do Dave Murray but gave a good effort making 3 Big-S turns followed by 6 little-s turn series on the icy pitch. Down the Toilet Bowl, we picked up the pace on the road back to Raven’s Nest. Perfect timing for skiing to the bottom for our 12:15 lunch.

Scotty tagged up with us at the Dave Murray entrance off Expressway. Gulp! The boss was assessing me. The Sewer was really icy but the kids made good turns keeping on the left side. Watching them all come down from Coaches Corner, I gave them a thumbs up. Keeping to the left side of Powerline, I got an impressive behind-and-below regrouping at the top of Murr’s Hoppe / Hot Air. The kids skied as fast as they could to the caution sign on the last pitch. Catching up with them, there was a chorus of “Can we have a free ski?”. I gave instructions to spread out, make lots of turns, be safe and sent them on their way. Thank you team: Scotty was impressed with the confidence and skills demonstrated. I think I passed.

I have to get bagpipes in at least one video clip… :)

Lunch was a raucous party scene! Swamp water for the day was orange juice and lemonade. Sigrid poured from our jug down Axel and Beckett’s gullet. It was pretty loud and rowdy outside getting gloves, jackets and helmets on. Spring is in the air.

It was 1:00pm… I was particularly conscious of the time after last week’s misadventure. At the light board, Axel had an excellent drill suggestion (see the video!)… so we parked one pole and into Ego Bowl we went. We then did the bumps in Cougar Trail keeping our bicycle handle bars pointed down the fall line. The brushes were still set up in the School Yard, so we did a slalom run back to the chair.

Picking up our poles from the light board we skated to Roundhouse Roll. I think Maleah’s favourite way to do it is sliding down on her backside… sheesh! Into Whiskey Jack, a snow snake caught Axel and he had a good tumble. All good though. We did the last hockey stop and side slipping drill for the season to the Chick Pea. We parked our skis and had some water, gummies and fun feeding the Whiskey Jacks.

Skis on we skated the flats and repeated the Dave Murray / Toilet Bowl route back to Raven’s Nest. Beckett had a good splat on the way… speed control there young fellow! Axel signed out with Dad and the rest of us downloaded for our 2:45 meet up… on time today.

Going over the time stamp on my video clips, I’ve amended the results in Scotty’s newsletter…

Soldis: 22.15
Maleah: 24.25
Axel: 25.12
Brooklyn: 25.42
Beckett: 26.05
Finley: 29.23

Next week’s theme is “Retro Week - Hippies”… I think I can dig up an outrageous kit for the day.

Axel had his skis tuned and waxed for the event. Beckett was back and I think the toe he got caught in the door at the pool was causing some boot “issues”. Riddley and Olivia missing today. Elyse pointed out that there was “little snow flakes” in the air. Who’d have guessed that by the end of the day there was about 20cm of accumulation!

We were out the door shortly after my 9:00am alarm sounded. I’m getting a complex… all wanted to ride up with a “responsible adult”. Skis on, it was a blustery ride up Red but nary a complaint when we regrouped at the top. Out of the wind at the light board, I had the kids struggle to hold poles with gloves properly through the straps. That’s still a tough one!

Fresh snow in Jolly Green Giant was fun. Kids ducked in and out of the trees on the left. We stopped at a good spot and reviewed tree wells then all practiced on one ski on the road to Emerald. Offloading the chair, I did get a giggle of the snow covered children waiting at the “Whistler Kids Meet Here” sign.

Keeping an athletic stance, into the deeper snow parallel to the Terrain Park we went, followed by the bumps on Cougar Trail to the School Yard. Good job all… no splats. Alice told us our groups were racing at 11:15… so we skied beside the course studying the lanes set up. Back up Emerald, we had blizzard conditions blowing us into Roundhouse Roll. Maleah made one turn, fell, and slid to the bottom on her backside (laughing all the way). Side slipping in the deeper snow was a bit of a challenge on Upper Whiskey Jack but those “Big-S” turns were easier. We ducked into the Chickpea for a bit of a warmup with Sigrid and Elyse’s groups. To the race course, I made the kids skate and ski as fast as they could to get ready for the last in our Triple Challenge events against Village Kinder kids.

The kids performed well on the course. Ironically, Axel raced Axel from the village! My fingers froze shooting the video… :( We’ll get the results next week. Back up Emerald, we made another foray into Roundhouse Roll with much better results. Little legs had to work harder to skate the snowy flats to Dave Murray. Good turns in the Toilet Bowl and through the fog we parked our skis at Raven’s Nest… and were 15 minutes late for lunch! Maleah could have built a snowman with what was packed in her hoody!

Beckett and Brooklyn correctly guessed swamp water today was orange juice and lemonade. Back out we had quite the hunt to find our skis. Luckily, I planted my poles to mark the spot. Axel’s dad joined us on the race to the beaver bench. We then skied some untracked snow down Crabapple to the village.

My excitement for fresh snow got the better of me… on the ride up I saw the time was 2:29 and we were only at mid station. Yikes!!

I called Scotty to let him know we were going to be late. The gondola must have been perversely aware of the situation then slowed to a crawl and stopped several times. Axel’s dad signed him and Beckett out at the Olympic rings. Wearing two extra FLAIKs and vests lopped through my belt we were off at a brisk pace down Pony Trail to the Orange Peel flats. Axel and Beckett came flying out of the trees at the end of Fruity Trees. Finley thought we might be doing Wild Card and didn’t want to give a primal scream in the tunnel today. However, I am impressed with all the kids stamina. They wanted to do the jump and chicane behind the Tree Fort. We skied pretty much non-stop through Bear Cub back to Creekside gondola….

… 45 minutes late. I hang my head.

Next week is our “Final Assessment Day”: Who improved the most and who had the most fun?