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.

View from my weather window on Friday morning…

Woohoo! All 8 were here again today. I got off pretty lightly with only a Batman tutu to put on… no coconut bras like I’ve had in previous years. It was another chilly morning… but we had blue skies again. The team was out the door before our 9:00am alarm. On the trip to Peak to Peak, Finley. Olivia and I reviewed each of the 10 Alpine Responsibility Codes posted on towers up Big Red. There will be a test.

Huh… the glass bottom Peak-to-Peak gondola has been repainted blue with native art to look like my skis! Boards on at the Blackcomb station, I told the kids to stay close as were were on new terrain. Finley knew a lot about the Family Zone, so we skied through the area. I knew the Terrain Garden was there but missed the entrance. Next time! It was fairly quiet at the Catskinner chair and took longer than usual to get everyone up.

Regrouping at the top, we navigated people and ski racks around Rendezvous onto Jersey Cream. I was going to do Buzzcut but Brooklyn was about 50 yards down Honeycomb before she heard us calling… so Honeycomb it was. Lots of squeals and laughter behind me. Nice! We ended up at mid station of the new gondola. Boys came up with me and the girls with “responsible adults”. Axel and Beckett were a bit stressed about the cold so we went into Rendezvous for a warmup.

Too early for lunch so back out for another run. This time we stayed in the centre of Jersey Cream all the way to the Jersey Cream chair. Axel was pretty grumpy about standing out in the bone chilling cold waiting for our Creekside team photo of all the dressed up instructors and kids at Peak-to-Peak.

In for our 12:00 lunch at the aptly named “Zoo”, we wrestled for a table and bin to store helmets, balaclavas and gloves. I was lucky enough to locate a laundry bag for jackets. Bowls of chicken noodle soup warmed up cold hands. Chocolate pudding for dessert was a bit messy to serve but a delight.

Kitted up and out the door at 12:45 we tagged up with Amanda, her 5 charges and Scotty for a trip to Buzzcut. Scotty led all of us through jumps and drops all the way to the mid station gondola. No splats for the kids and Amanda and I were a bit relieved that neither of us had a tumble. All of my eight rode up with a Mountain Safety team member and he chatted about his responsibility on the mountain.

Before heading back to Whistler, we had another photo session with Scotty modelling his giant panda head. Amanda’s and our group entertained some New York tourists on our ride across and I shared the remaining gummies with everyone. Skis on at the welcome pole, 13 children snaked their way down Upper Whiskey Jack to Orange Peel. Good turns and nice tucks across the flats to Dave Murray. (They are all getting quite confident at higher speeds!) Ho hum… Toilet bowl and Dave Murray to Creekside gondola.

We were a little bit too late to ski out and it looked crowded… so making the call, downloaded we did for our 2:45 meet up with parents.

Our theme next week is “Race Training”… remember: “ice is your friend”.