Beckett, Maleah and Olivia were among the missing today… :( It’s warming up but still below seasonal temperatures. However, another crystal clear day! No need to find “responsible adults” for uploading…

Thanks to Whistler patrol dispatcher, Tracy, we had a “field trip” to learn about the inner workings of patrol. Amanda’s group was with us, but Doug and Elyse’s group missed the trip because of a mix up of kids with the wrong skis.

Patroller Sarah Hogg gave us an animated overview of duties. I was put in a vacuum cast for a broken arm and we learned about setting up a toboggan. Kids had fun pulling a sled full of team mates. Thank you Whistler Patrol for 45 minutes of your time!

Skis on, Amanda and I took our groups through Upper Whiskey Jack. Excellent effort on those Big-S turns to the last pitch to the Chickpea. I gave the kids a free ski to the restaurant with the task of counting turns. With a big grin on his face, Axel said he did at least a thousand.

More drills, we skated Orange Peel flats with hands behind our backs then “hockey stop” turns on Orange Peel and tucked to Dave Murray entrance. Amanda’s class must have been at warp speed… no sight of her. We took Bear Cub and Brooklyn led the class to Raven’s Nest. Riddley and I were the tail gunners closely watching that everyone was making parallel turns… pretty good show!

We skated around the Nest onto Expressway and into Dave Murray. Emphasizing stance and edging, we took the left side of the Sewer with a bit more pace. Good turns on the icy pitch! We practiced hockey stops all the way to Hot Air.. then “let ‘em rip” to the caution sign at the merge point from Lower Franz’s. The kids earned another free ski to the bottom and skis off, we were in for our 11:15 lunch in the “minions” building.

Axel was the only one who could successfully pronounce “deinonychus”.

Swamp water today was orange juice and lemonade. Our budding paleontologist, Axel, was our knowledgeable narrator about the dinosaurs in my Fandex guide.

Out the door promptly at 12:00 (no missing FLAIKs today) we had a race from Raven’s Nest to the beaver bench on Expressway. Riddley and Axel were the ones to beat but the rest were not far behind.

We were the only ones on Crabapple to the village. A patroller pulling a toboggan was there and was impressed that the kids knew what the chains on the front were for. Good listening at the morning tutorial! On the ride up we read the info about "Bambiraptor” (Bambi robber), “Deinonychus” (terrible claw) and “Velociraptors” (swift robber) then shared our gummies with village instructor AJ and his one charge, Matty.

Photo bombing a group of tourists at the Olympic rings we headed into the family zone. Working on those “Big-S” turns we skied non-stop to the School Yard. Tom Francis has set up two series of brushes. My bad reading the first one… I thought it was a side by side course. Kids figured out that it was “red gate - blue gate”… repeat. I did a better job explaining the tight slalom brush setup.

Back up Emerald, Roundhouse Roll got a thumbs down… so we practiced hockey stops all the way to the Chickpea. Skis off and some rehydration, the gang had fun feeding the Whiskey Jacks. We did Jimmy’s Joker which was groomed. Way to go Finley… you had an epiphany on finishing turns with skis parallel. Exiting on the Wild Card side, kids really got into giving a primal scream through the tunnel then skied the sugary snow back to Raven’s Nest.

We took Crossroads to Lower Franz’s for our “home run”. Lots of interesting jumps and only a few skiers on the run. No splats… nicely done team. We tagged up with Amanda at the Dave Murray merge. Too crowded for a free ski, so a rather long snake made it home for meet-up with parents.

Next week is “Race Day” … be sure to take your fast pills.