Ski Blog

Posted on 02/23/2005 @ 17:45 PST

Well we haven't gotten as much snow this month like we did in January, but it's been beautiful and cold. Last Friday I almost screamed when I got off the Skyride. It was -10 and really windy. That's very cold for Grouse Mountain. It was so windy that kids were blowing away at Ski Wee for most of the day. The cold of last Friday also caused mechanical problems for the Sleigh-ride and the Olympic Express Chairlift.

Earlier this week I put in some extra hours by replacing sick instructors on Monday and Tuesday. I ended up replacing one of my supervisors on Tuesday because she had no voice. It's pretty obvious that every ski instructor needs a voice that can be loud. I'm also making a rare Sunday appearance to replace my brother as he records with Insert this weekend.

Posted on 01/04/2006 @ 16:10 PST

Since the beginning of the ski season alot has happened in the last month. As of December 18th, 2005, I am a CSIA certified ski instructor, and I am continuing teaching at Grouse. The biggest thing so far for me is a recent road trip to Calgary and Nelson. On Christmas Day I left for Calgary from YVR, 2 days later I re-visited Sushine Village, home to the best snow in Canada. I run on the philosophy that everyone can improve, even ski instructors, so I took a lesson from a CSIA level 4 instructor, and we worked on Mogul Skiing. So far it is the best ski day I've had this year. 2 Days Later I skied at Lake Louise. Since I was last there in March 2003, It has been taken over by some rich oil guy in Calgary. Louise had alot of people who were out of control. I nearly got hit a couple of times, and there was barely any ski patrol or any other staff on the runs. During my time in Calgary, I got a good deal on a new pair of Rossignol Z3's, and relegated my Fischer VC150's to rock skis. The Fischer's which had served almost 5 seasons of heavy mileage saw their last run at Lake Louise, and are now sitting in my room here in NV, rusting away. on December 30th, I drove down to Nelson BC, to celebrate new years and ski at Whitewater. Whitewater is a small mountain some of the best conditions in the province. It only has 2 double chairlifts, but it has 43 runs. The runs are also very steep. A blue run out there is considered black on Grouse. There is also a very nice poweder bowl just beyond the boundary, which can have waste deep powder on some days. When I went there it was only ankle deep, but it was a good test on the new skis. This was an awesome trip and I will remember it for years to come.

Posted on 11/12/2005 @ 12:30 PST

Yesterday me and some friends went up Cypress, which is enjoying their earliest season ever. We arrived on the hill at around 9:00 yesterday morning. Upon Arrival it was puking snow. This was not ordinary early season conditions either, this was like mid-season powder, and it's very rarely that snow like this comes in early November. This also the second season that I have started away from Grouse, the other being the 2001-2002 season which was started on Blackcomb, on December 1st, 2001. We spent most of the day on the Sunrise Quad and Eagle Express. We sould have gon up the Sky Chair if it was open. the only thing that was missing from this day was clear skies and a good view. This was my very first ski day on Cypress and I loved the conditions and the runs. Cypress has way more vertical to their runs than Grouse or Seymour do, and they have the most too. Although i have a bone to pick with their cafeteria, The Black Mountain Grill. Their food was macdonalds quality, overpriced, and they took a very long time to get my food. I was thinking, "If this was Grouse, they'd all be fired!" But the bad service at the Grill did not make the day bad at all. I was pleased with the quality of the conditions and the runs there, and best of all Cypress still has room to expand, and they plan to use it over the next few years because they will be hosting Freestyle Skiing Moguls and Dual Giant Slalom for snowboarding at the 2010 Olympics.