Date: 12th of January 2008

Hi Everyone,

It was definitely an early morning for the snowboarders this morning who left at 6.00am for Big White. They tried to be quiet but they were always bound to wake everyone up with their clomping up and down the hall. For the rest of the group it was the regulation 7.30am knock on the door, followed by breakfast.

Beggsy, Matesy and the boarders as mentioned were out the door at 6.00am and had breakfast on the way and arrived to a blue bird day at Big White. The blue sky was short lived and by the time the group reached the top of the lift the clouds had come over and visibility was limited. The group headed straight for the park to try and get below the fog and watch Jack, Kane, Matesy and Henry warm up for the slopestyle comp. The small line of the park was in really good shape today and the guys were quick to start learning new tricks on the small boxes and mini jumps. It wasn't long before they had a loop which had a few natural jibs, a lap through the park followed by a few more natural hits to the lift. Rowan and Steve were loving the smaller jumps perfecting their Indy grabs and working on some melons. Oli and Nath both started spinning and working on some cab and backside 180s. Jamie was working on not carving his backside 360s so much and he even nailed a few backside 540s. Jay was riding super hard today and he was spinning like a top off everything he could find mainly working on switch spins. He was actually riding so hard he snapped his binding clean in half. The standout of the morning was Jordy who learned three new tricks, a tail press on the box, and Indy grab and a backside 180, he was the winner of the Skull candy award today for his rapid progression.

Over at the slopestyle Henry nailed two nice runs but was a little conservative due to his broken arm. Kane fell on his first run in the jump section but came back strong on his second run doing some really technical rail tricks and getting a few sweet 360s on the jump section to lock away a clean run. Jack was unlucky not to podium in the under 14 section on his second run and he also had some tech rail tricks followed by two frontside 360s and a backside 180 melon. Matesy led by example today locking away a clean first run with a rail section that surprised even him, followed by a frontside 540 into a switch 540 into a backside 540 which was enough for him to take the gold in the open men's section. The group went for lunch in one of Big Whites restaurants where they had one large table and a great bonding session before hitting the park for a few more runs before presentations followed by a long trip home. Everyone had an awesome day today maybe even one of the best yet, despite the weather, improving lots on snow and getting to know each other better making themselves an even tighter team going into the last few weeks of camp.

Lunch today was good old hot dogs which are always popular plus French onion soup and sandwich buffet also. Dinner was the oh so tasty chicken parmas with mash potato and salad with some banana goop (pudding and cream).

There was a bit of a swap around with groups today due to the B.C. provincials Big Air Comp being held. Chris took out Conrad, Brodie, Bryn, Alex C, Alex E, and Alex W first thing while Ridley to the other skiers not competing for the day. Chris took his group over to site and did a warm up before the comp training started. There was a 97 skier field so it was pretty busy and all the boys managed to get in three warm up jumps which they used to gauge in run speed and dial in their tricks for the comp.  The comp got under way around 11 30 and was a two run format with best run counting.  Brodie was up first and pulled off a very nice 3 true tail grab off the med kicker.  Alex E was next and hit up a nice mute grab off the small kicker.  Alex C was jumping off the med jump and tried a 3 but got a little excited and over rotated his 3 and crash.  Bryn was doing 3 crucial off the med jump.  Conrad was hitting the medium jump and stomped a 7.  Probably the biggest 7 he's done to date.  Alex W was off the med jump as well and did a beautiful 3 double safety grab.    After round one Brodie and Alex W were in 4th place in their different divisions.  The rest of the boys were all around mid pack in their division which by the way was one of the toughest I’ve seen.  Brodie was up first for his second jump and did a nice 7 but unfortunately he caught his ski on the landing and put a hand down.  His first jump counted and he ended up finishing 5th in his division.  Alex E stuck with the same trick as the first run and did a clean mute grab and stomped his landing.  Bryn mixed it up a bit and did a 3 with a double japan grab.  Alex C wanted to go big and tried his first 3 truck driver, a much harder grab to do in a 360.  Conrad stepped back a bit and went 5 mute grab.  His plan was to go as big as the 7 and as he went off the jump he pumped himself up so much he over rotated his 5 and crashed.  Alex W did a bit of the same and his plan was to step up to 5 double safety grab.  He stomped his trick but didn’t go nearly as big as the first run.  All the boys deserve a big hand for today’s effort in a very tough field of skiers.  The results were Brodie 5th in M4, Conrad 19th in M3, Bryn 22th in M3, Alex C 25th in M3, Alex E 28th in M3, Alex W 11th in M2.

As the group was split in two today Ridley took the non-competing group and headed for some bike trails with Pez. The group ran a lap through the park with Hamish and Nick leading the charge. Piers stomped the long flat box after bruising his behind on the smallest box in the park. Brighid, Kate, Basset and Annabel all gave the boxes a good crack with Annabel stomping all her slides to a switch landing. After hitting the park the group headed for the Red Bull trail and Tree Valley which are always a bit of fun. Silver Star has greatly developed their mountain biking facilities in the past 12 months with all tracks and features remaining skiable throughout the winter. The tracks become a snowy bobsleigh track with berms, jumps and wooden ramps covered in the fluffy white stuff. The group then headed for Attridge and the skills course for a few laps. The afternoon was spent on the skills course with Pez grabbing some great shots and the group also combined with the alpine boarders and competitors in the big air to watch the remaining 2 hours of competition. A great spectacle with many high difficulty jumps being demonstrated.

The racers had today off from training and while James L was feeling off colour and spent the day curled up on the couch James P headed out for a bit of a freeski with Pez and a couple of others.

This morning, the alpine/snowboardcross group headed out to big dipper a little earlier than usual to compete in a small race. They had a 2 run GS on a perfect hill and awesome snow. Chrisy rode well and had two good runs, Ash had a crash on her first run, but she had some good sections in the course. Greg made a good first run but crashed in the soft snow in his second.  Julia had a really good line and a clean carving with not too many mistakes and good speed. She was the fastest out of the group and won the girls category. In the afternoon they went out to check the big air competition but first they headed down the skills mogul course to work on some absorption. Everyone had a few problems absorbing the bumps but they all made it down in the end. Then they watched round two of the Big Air comp and witnessed some great jumping, good inspiration for when they hit the site next week to practice their jumping.

Pinky goes out to our resident 12 year old Piers who receives Pinky twice in a week. This time it’s for forgetting his pass and trying to convince everyone he could go to lunch without needing it. Needless to say a after a few stern worlds from Ridley and Pez he got the message and went and retrieved his pass.

Tonight’s activity is ice skating over on Brewers Pond. With the snowboarders still not back from Big White and many of the skiers down at presentations from this weekend’s event there was not a huge turnout. Our resident skating Phil took the group over for about an hour and half session.

That’s it for today,

Stowie