Date: 1st of January 2008

Hi Everyone and Happy New Year!

A late night was had by just about everyone last night so there were not too many people jumping out of bed this morning for breakfast when I gave the wake up call. We had the morning off this morning so most chose the extra sleep over food with only a handful making in down at 8.45am for brekky. It was a pretty relaxed morning and before we knew it lunch time was upon us and then out for the afternoon’s training session at 12.30pm.

As mentioned we had a bunch of new arrivals on the 30th from Australia. In no particular order I’d like to welcome James Parsell, James Laidlaw, Marnie and Nick Shae, Airlie Lemercier, Alex Wyatt, Alex Edwards, Julia Harper, Ash Holckner, Chrisy Richardson, Piers Fitton, Thomas Pratt, Kate Deedy, Michael Rimilton and Erica De Le Harpe.

The boarders headed out this afternoon with only Jay, Nate, Kane and Jack on time. Beggsy and Matesy decided to teach the boys a lesson for their tardiness and left them behind. To get from our lodge to the snow is no more than 10 steps and these guys are constantly late and keeping everyone waiting so today the others paid the price. The NYE celebrations must have kept many of the visitors here in Silver Star in bed today as the crowds were noticeably less than the past week so the group warmed up with a few hot laps over the rollers and through the park. The boys also had a few runs on Silverwoods where Matesy found a little natural jump that the boys could get some air time off. It turned out not to be so good, but Nath and Kane still managed to get bigger air then their coach. By the late afternoon they ended up hiking the bonk bins in the park where Nathan was doing some nice frontside 180 tail bonks on the bin. It was a new trick for Nath, so he was awarded the Skull Candy award of the day and got himself a nice looking key ring. Kane was nailing his front 3 bonks on the bin with nice smooth style, and even managed to throw a few front 180 to 360 out on the bins but came up a little short on his attempts. Jack was working on his front 3 bonks and was making them smoother every try he had. Jay was not to be out done with pulling off some nice 5050's 180 out on the pvc pipe which was impressing the coaches.

The moguls skiers welcomed Alex, Alex and Airlie today before the crew headed for the newly constructed moguls course on Bibs Bumps. The group were excited to see the course as it is another great addition to the training facilities here at Silver Star. Mike from the local freestyle club pushed the course up last night and did a great job however a small amount of work was needed to get it in ski able condition. The course has been designed as a practice/skills course which will test the abilities of all the athletes. A line of stubbies will also be set up alongside the course. Once the group got access to shovels the work began on building the jumps. As there are two lines the group constructed two jumps, one a little smaller than the other. The group put in a massive effort and had both the jumps a course finished by the end of the day….well done everyone!

The full freeride team with all its new members hit the snow with a fairly low key day in order to allow everyone to get used to their new get and to get their legs into shape.  The group did a few laps off the six pack taking advantage of whiskey jack rollers and then it was into the park but not before playing on all the tree trails on the way down.  To finish the day off they went for a quick lap through Attridge so they could scope some rails and fun jibs to do later on in the camp before heading home.  Tomorrow the group is getting right into their training hitting the park to get ready for all the comps coming up in the next few weeks.    

Pinky goes to the late snowboarders who missed training completely today due to the inability to get from their rooms – take 10- to 15 steps to get onto the snow in time for training.

Chicken Parma’s, mashed potato and salad for dinner….oh yer -enough said!!!

That’s all for today,

Stowie