Date: 28th of December 2007

G’day All,

You’re probably getting sick of me talking about all the snow we’ve been having lately but again we awoke to another dump – this time a lazy 15cm overnight. The weather forecasters have finally got things right and they are predicting further snowfalls for the rest of the week.

The mogul group had an amazing morning in the fresh snow but unfortunately the  girls missed out as they took the day off to rest up their niggles. The boys headed out with Ridley to find some hopefully untracked powder turns. Heading straight for the backside the first run produced some of the nicest turns of the day. After heading back to the top the group moved through the trees to find Doog Nog which contained many drops and some very fresh turns. Jack, Brodie, Alex and Bryn loved the pow, while Ridley dropped a great log jib at the bottom of the run.  The next few runs were much the same with drops and plenty of pillow lines. A mention must also go to Ridley who launched a cat track on the way to the lift, overshooting it and landing as flat as a pancake, double ejecting and face planting, doing an excellent job of filling his goggles and beanie with snow. Brodie proceeded to be the first down every run and poached all the possible powder, while Bryn found some great powder on the sides of the runs.  The group had the afternoon off to recover for tomorrow’s rail jam with a 1 hour stretch and sauna at the NATC. Some easy listening tunes and good company made for a nice relaxation session. The group will hit the park tomorrow for some training before the big night comp to be held in the village tomorrow.

With all the fresh snow Beggsy and the boarders made a mad scramble to get their stances moved back and switch to their powder boards and they still made it onto the snow by 9:05. They headed straight to the drop they had been sessioning yesterday and worked on getting their tricks into a powder landing. They had a few runs on the six until the crowds built up and then headed over to Attridge on a tip Beggsy had from ski patrol that all the runs over there were opening. The tip paid off with most of the people in the resort heading to the backside, the guys had Attridge all to themselves and there was more than enough face shots to go around. Rowan was riding well and got some good turns. Oli and Nath were charging as usual while Jack, Kane and Jay were popping off everything they could find. Jamie also rode strong riding into everything switch and practicing his newly learned cab 180s. After tracking out Attridge the group found themselves in a new area riding over a bridge that has just been built. This led them into the village where they found rails, drops and all sorts of other urban features; check the photos on the web. Kane Jack and Jay all launched a nice bomb drops between two houses while Jamie and Jack also got powder turns next to someone's front porch. They could have sprayed into the living room they were so close to the house! After riding through the houses and jibbing everything in sight the group headed up the summit to hit one more drop before lunch. It was a relaxed and fun morning but with the amount of different features hit it turned out to be one of the most productive days yet. After lunch the guys had the afternoon off snow to rest their legs. The group met after lunch for a team bonding session where they did a video analysis  session with the group and then  watched the new Mack Dawg movie "We're people too" to get them psyched for tomorrow night’s rail jam in the village.

No report from Chris’ freeski group today. He’s been flat out from the moment he got off snow with driving shuttles and with tonight’s activity. What I do know from the brief talk I had with him at lunch was that the group consisting of Lauren, Conrad, Hamish and Amy were over on the backside hitting some of the freshly opened runs. Sam skied with them for most of the morning and took some great photos. I’ll be sure to get a full update tomorrow.

Pinky today without a doubt has to go out to Jack Carlin. Jack is one of our cleaner boys! In that I mean washing his clothes, showering etc so today when he decided to do a load of washing he must have forgotten to read the instructions cleaning posted beside the washing machine. Shortly after lunch I had a visit from Dan (hostel owner) who had a big smile on his face saying he’d just pulled a load of washing out of the machine and with it came a small sealable baggy (still sealed) full of washing detergent. Jack had thrown his clothes in the wash and rather than empty the bag of detergent into the receptacle, he just threw the entire bag in. Definitely a pinky offence!

Lunch today was beef and barley soup along with the standard sandwich buffet. As usual Emma out did herself with the soup. Dinner tonight was bangers, mash and veggies; may not sound too inspirational but it went down a treat.

Tonight’s activity was 10 pin bowling down in Vernon. Up until this year there have been two bowling alleys in Vernon, one for 10 pin and one for 5 pin. For the past few years 5 pin has been our choice and we were devastated this year to find that the big conglomerates have moved in and taken over the bowling alley and turned it into a “Shopper Drug Mart”, yes a huge chemist. So 10 pin it was! Now as I write this the crew (2 vans led by Chris and Ridley) are still down in Vernon so I have no info but I’ll be sure to update you tomorrow.

Finally we welcome Julia, Ash and coach Phil who arrived today and will be with us until the end of the camp.

Until then,

Stowie