Date: 26th of December 2007

Hi Everyone,

Snow, Snow and more snow! We awoke this morning to a dump of 20+ cm of the driest, lightest snow you are ever likely to see. Things may have got off to a slow early season start but it’s more than made up for it over the past week with about 60cm falling in the last week. The good news is that there is still quite a bit more to come according to the forecast.  Everyone was still a little bloated from the copious amounts of food consumed from last night so breakfast for many was a bit of a non event.

Chris’ group was up early and ready to go 15mins earlier this morning due to the dump champagne powder that fell overnight.  They quickly made their way to the backside to catch first tracks down as many runs as they could.  First up was the usual, Where’s Joe and then off to Gong Show and all the Bowl runs that had just open for the first time today with Three Wise Men and Casanova being some of the best.  After a few laps they headed back over to the other side of the mountain were Free Fall had just opened which is probably the steepest run on the hill.  Also Hinky Heights off Sunny Ridge opened and the group was one of the first down.  The snow was so light and dry everyone was getting blasted with face shots. 

 In the afternoon the group turned their attention t o the jump site which was covered in powder.  After about an hour of prep they got the in-run and jumps groomed to perfection.  They purposely left the landing hill untouched to give it a backcountry feel when landing.  Hamish was the lucky one of the group and was the first to hit the jump into the powder.  Couple of nice mute grabs were the go before he stepped up and nailed a 3.  Conrad was a bit of the same with a few straight airs to get him going before he turn it up with some 3 mutes.  Amy, Lauran and Bassett helped Chris build up a nice jump near the knoll and all three girls were working on their pop which was coming along nicely.  All three of them are getting more confidence every time they hit the jump and are going bigger and bigger.  Soon they’ll be onto grabs.  

Tonight’s activity was another double header with round two of the table tennis challenge and also another Nintendo Wii night down at the NATC. We were a little late kicking off both activities and we needed to schedule another super clean of all the rooms and things had started to get a little out of control. Sam took a group of keen Wii enthusiasts but when they arrived found that there was a big crowd and the wait was going to be too long…… they all decided to wait until next time. Meanwhile round two of the table tennis challenge went ahead in full force with another 7 teams battling it out for the winner’s prize of a $10 Starbucks card. After some furious competition the team of Hamish and Brodie took home the coffee!

With all the new snow the mogul course is now built and it was time for the moguls group to show their skills.  They began the morning skiing sections on the new course getting their legs back and after some course prep and jump maintenance the course was up and running nicely. Brodie, Bryn, Alex and Jack were all impressive in their first bumps sessions. Unfortunately for the girls the course was a little difficult and some more training on a skills course will be required. After about 3 runs each it was time for another slip to keep the course in mint condition.
The afternoon was a tough one with Ridley putting the crew through their paces in the absorbsion tank. The group put in a fantastic effort in the snowy conditions and made some excellent improvement, particularly Kate and Brighid who are making great progress. The boys also took the opportunity to hit the air site for some more 360’s and T-sets. Congratulations to the girls for putting in a massive effort in hiking the tank for 2 hours and only catching the lift once for the trip home. Thanks to Jack for the water run.

The boarders had their earliest start of the camp today. With all the fresh snow Beggsy did the rounds early to ensure that all the kids were out on snow on time. He brought in the 20cm rule that anyone who wasn't there on time would be left behind. Beggsy described the snow today as some of the best and lightest he has ever ridden in Silver Star, which is not a bad call given this is Beggsy’s 6th year here. The group had such a good first run they decided to keep tracking out the six pack until the crowds arrived.  It was then off to some of Beggsy's "secret stashes" on the front side.
First the guys found a nice little drop when all the crew got some big air time with an untouched landing. Beggsy went first launching close to 50ft and stoaking out the group setting the tone for the rest of the morning. Kane and Jack tried to match his speed and did a smooth straight air each, Jamie and Oli both went quite large considering that they had not seen the jump while Jay and Nate were kept their cool and also got some good air. After the cliff , the guys had a few more runs hiking around the Attridge area to get the best possible lines before hooking up with Pez to get some shots. After another couple of runs with Pez the guys headed to Attridge Drop which was still fresh with a chest deep untouched landing. After walking around and checking it out, Beggsy patted down a take off for the group and let the guys contemplate up on top, with most ending up choosing  to watch from the bottom. Beggsy went first with a cab 180 and was followed by Jack with a nice styled nose grab and then Kane with a sweet Indy bone. The group decided to finish the morning with that and headed into lunch, Cozzie was not finished and managed to get a few more face shots on the way in.

After lunch the plan was to go and get some photos of the drop but the 20cms of fresh powder on the landing of the big air site enticed them into heading over there for a jump. After some hard work with the freeride skiers the guys had the snow cleared off the jumps and another little jump built and the session was ready to begin. Jack and Kane continued where they left off the other day on the big floater and after a straight air did their first large frontside 360s for the camp. Jack stomped a sweet one into the pow and called it a day. Jay was on the smaller jump practicing his ollies and getting his straight airs smooth. Ollie and Nath were working on variety with their grabs while Cozzie was getting used to the out-run and playing catch up with the group after missing last week’s air site session. The boarders were a bit late in this afternoon choosing to stay out and enjoy what some believed was the "best day ever" over going down to the boxing day sales.

Boxing Day sales don’t only happen in Australia and there were also going on here in full force. Both myself and Beggsy to shuttles down to Vernon full of kids ready to spend, spend and spend. Some headed to Attridge to pick up some goodies while the girls (Amy, Laura and Lauren) went clothes shopping at the mall. By the time we picked everyone up again wallets were drained and bags were full of bargins.
 
Pinky today goes to another repeat recipient – Rowan Cozzella. Like many of the kids Rowan had his iPod in his jacket out riding today. He was so caught up in the moment of getting awesome powder face shots he did not realize that he had not zipped up the pocket his iPod was in. When the music all of a sudden stopped he assumed his battery was flat and not that it had a fallen out. Needless to say that finding a white iPod in a 20cm+ dump would be the proverbial needle in a hay stack!

Back to Christmas – what a day! The food prepared last night by Emma was awesome and as mentioned last night thanks to all the staff for making the room look so great. Christmas day is one of if not the most important days here at AWSC. Making sure that everyone has a memorable Christmas is paramount as many are away from home and their families for their first Christmas.

Feedback – We want to here from you with any feedback you have on the website or the camps in general so far. Click this link to send me an email: websitefeedback@awsc.com.au  

Well that’s about it for today, until tomorrow.

So until then.

Stowie

PS: happy birthday also to Chef Emma