Date: 15th of January 2008

Hi All,

This morning was a bit of a sleep in after arriving home quite late last night after curling. The wake up call was at 9.00am which has been the latest wake up we’ve had on the camps in many years. Even through the wake up was late I’d estimate more the 50% of the group was up at regular time waiting for breakfast. Maybe we just forget about sleep ins in the future!!!!

After a big weekend of competition it was time for the moguls crew to let their hair down and hit the park. Getting their gangster steeze on, they headed over to slide some metal and hit the lone booter at the top of the park. The boys headed for the jump while the girls went for the boxes. Alex W was in some great form going to a corked 540 early up. After over rotating Ridley and Beggsy suggested he takes it to 7. He did just that and 2 jumps later was stomping his first corked 7’s. Brodie and Bryn were attempting some corked 3’s while Alex C put down some nice straight 360’s. The crew also had some good sessions on the rails with Annabelle sliding some nice rotations to  switch landings.  As the morning came to a close the group headed for the bumps course to give it a step and slip for the afternoon session. Luckily the windblown snow had filled in the deep troughs in the course bringing it back into excellent skiing condition.

After lunch the group split in two with half making a quick trip to the air site to grab shovels and a scoop while the other half slipped and stepped the bumps course. After the crew prepared the jump and landing it was time for a big air session with Alex W throwing down with some great corked 7’s. Bryn attempted a couple but was unlucky and unable to land any. Alex E made some great progress with his 360’s and will be sure to land some in the coming days. Brodie was having a shocker floating his 3’s however got back on his game as the afternoon drew close to an end. Annabelle landed some great jumps requesting to try some 360’s in the coming days. Kate, Brighid and Airlie now have their own personal jump in the moguls course and will begin jumping into the bumps tomorrow.

Chris was up early (against the sleep in mode) and was on a mission with Hamish, Conrad and Pez.  The four of them went out for first lift at 8:30 to blue bird skies.  The wind had been out the night before so the snow was either beautiful soft powder or really windblown.  The boys went straight to the back side to destroy some of the runs and managed to get a few good turns in off sunny ridge.  The group headed to the six to pack to meet the rest of the group who’d had the sleep in (good idea) and they headed straight over to Attridge.  The snow was a little more forgiving and the Attridge drop was untouched so the boys sessioned it for a couple of laps all while Pez was shooting photos.

In the arvo the group staked their claim to a nearby tree jib. They teamed up with Matesy and his crew worked for about a hour fixing it up and prepping a nice in run and solid jump to get onto the tree for some nice stalls.  The snow was soft and needed time to set up.  The coaches did their best to maintain the feature but it just wouldn’t hold up as the snow was so dry. They decided to cut their losses and hit the park for a couple of laps and it was then off to the village for the annual group photo.  A shout out goes to Conrad who nailed a nice reverse 270 off the big flat bar in the park right at the end of the day.  

This morning, the alpine/snowboardcross group headed out on soft boots to enjoy the fresh snow that fell overnight. They first headed out back side but soon decided to head back to the front as they conditions were not great. They took a few runs on the front side and enjoyed some good powder turns before heading  to Attridge to ride the trees. The snow was much better over there and they had a great time. It was really cold and the girls did well to stay outside this morning. Julia made some good turns in the powder chose some good lines while Ash also had some great powder turns and Chrisy also did well. During the afternoon they  joined up with Beggsy and his riders and went over to Attridge for some photos with Sam. Everyone had some great shots and also some good crashes also – got to love the powder.

The racers had a full day of slalom today on Big Dipper. The conditions were just about perfect with firm snow conditions and clear skiers. Both James’ skied well showing great progression. They worked on a their line a making sure they were not late through the turn for most of the day.

The boarders also started an hour later than usual after the late night and decided to head for the park hoping that the park crew had cleared the rails off. They were right and were rewarded with a fresh 25ft jump with a nice soft landing and perfect take offs for all the rails and boxes. The jump looked like it had too much kick and looked a bit like a "mogul jump" but after Beggsy and Matesy had a test hit and decided it was actually quite nice  so the group started hitting it. Nearly all the group gave it a go and Jay, Oli, Jamie, Henry and Jack  got a few nice straight airs before Jamie and Jack moved onto doing backside 360s. The rest of the group hit the battleship box next to the jump and Jordy, Rowan, Dave and Steve all hit it successfully for the first time, while Emma was working on her boardslides over it. Jay came out charging this morning hitting everything in his way and he was seen frontside boardsliding the 32ft flat box doing some really cool and technical stationary boardslides down the down flat down box. He even landed a switch backside 360 down the bottom of the park.

This afternoon the most of the group joined up with the freeride ski group to build a tree jib down near the village while Beggsy took Dave, Steve and Nate out with the racers and did some drills on Attridge lift. They spent most of the afternoon finding the last stashes of fresh snow from the morning and getting some shots with Sam. Pez even showed them "Pezz a never land" a secret spot of his that is always full of fresh snow and to be respected by everyone, needless to say the group all had a great time.
Today's Pinky is a late one but still a goody and goes to Henry Gosper who when swimming forgot his towel. So he had to resort to using paper towels and toilet paper to dry himself. Sorry no photos guys, we’ll get one tomorrow.

Tonight’s activity was pretty casual after yesterdays Super Monday of activities. It was movie night here at the lodge with different movies playing in both of the lounge rooms. In the main room is was ‘Mr Woodcock’ a comedy, while in the second lounge was a snowboard movie called ‘ More’ which was apparently very good.

That’s about it for today.

Stowie