Date: 29th of December 2007

Hi Everyone,

With more fresh snow over night the conditions here in Silver Star are just getting better and better. The temperatures have dropped slightly which has been keeping the snow light and dry. The crowds have been pretty crazy over the past few days with the Christmas holidays but they should all be done by mid next week.

The boarders headed straight to the park to train for tonight's rail jam. After one run the guys decided to avoid the crowds by hiking and spent the remainder of the morning hiking various features. Rowan was quick to get into it and started with a few 5050s before learning his first tail presses while Oli and Nath were pressing well too. Jamie was doing some nice boardslides before trying to get slide more on the nose. Jay was trying to keep with Jack and Kane who were trying various combos on the up flat box before turning their attention to the long flat box a feature similar to tonight's contest. After a few hours of hiking the group were out of energy, so Beggsy started a session on the bin bonk and after another hour of everyone getting new tricks on the bin the group hiked in for lunch.

The afternoon and they were all back in the park to continue sessioning the bin while Kane and Jack trained for tonight's competition. Jack did a few nice spin combos on the flat\ down before gapping over the flat to a super smooth board slide and deciding to film for the rest of the afternoon and rest up for tonight. Not to be outdone Kane went one better and did the same gap to Frontside board slide. On the bin, new kid Henry Gosper spent the afternoon trying to cab 360 nose bonk the bin finally getting a few really nice ones before the days end. Jamie was on fire again this afternoon and threw his first backside 540s over the bin. Rowan got another new trick this afternoon grabbing his first Indy showing that he not happy learning just one new trick every day.  The guys were trying to finish early today to get some rest for tonight but were having so much fun they didn't get back until 3:30 I'm sure they will welcome having tomorrow off snow to get their legs back for next week.

The day looked very promising for the moguls group with the sun shining down on the moguls course. Ridley, Bryn, Brodie, Jack and Alex worked hard to get the course in good condition while Brighid and Kate worked on some short tunes off to the side of the course. The sun continued to shine while the boys got their first runs in. The girls were also going well making some promising progress. The cloud began to come in and the boys found the going tough in the flat light. Ridley put Brodie through his paces with some comp simulation while Jack, Bryn and Alex worked hard on finishing some top to bottoms with Bryn coming out on top. Kate made some great turns towards the end of the morning and will be ready to hit the bumps as soon as the skills course is constructed.

With the rail jam coming up tonight, Ridley and Chris took the groups to the park for some metal love. Brodie and Bryn put together some nice slides with 270 out. Alex was looking smooth as ever although struggled to get the 270 round. Jack bonked a box with his knee and sat out for the afternoon while Ridley landed a few disasters and 450’s off and is looking promising for the jam tonight. Kate continued to work hard on her box sliding and will continue to build confidence in the coming days. The weather had luckily improved for the afternoon session and a number of the group were forced to strip down to cool down.

Chris’ group headed out early this morning and straight to the village to register for the rail jam.  Conrad and his Chris were the only two of the group to go in, but it was good experience for everyone to see the process.  Off to the six pack they went for a good warm up run and stretch.  After the group was feeling all loose and limber they headed over to the park and started to session all the features.  Like the rest of the groups they decided to hike to avoid the crowds.  Amy and Lauren were working on building their confidents on the flat box and also worked on getting a stronger pop to help get the skis to 90 degrees on the box.  By the end of the afternoon both girls had it a few times and even stepped up to a flat down box further down the park.  Conrad was up top hitting the down box throwing some beautiful 270’s on and off.  A couple of switch on and 270’s off.  In the afternoon Conrad and his Chris moved down to the flat box to gap to down box.  Conrad had it in his mind to 270 on and then slide the down box.  After a couple of good spills Chris joined in as well for a little motivation and on his last slide of the afternoon he nailed it clearly. 

Lunch today was another favourite of BBQ beef burgers. The group tucked in and loaded up on a big lunch with many taking seconds. Dinner tonight was a variation on Emma’s world famous homemade lasagne – chicken lasagne… yummy!

Pinky goes today to Jack Thorburn for getting up close and personal with one of the boxes in the park this afternoon…..let’s just leave it at that!

Tonight’s was the village Rail Jam, the first in a series of 3 events. The local Silver Star Park Crew set up a series of boxes and rails in the village. The format was a jam session and with the tunes pumping and under lights a fun night was had by all. Chris and Conrad from the freeski group, Kane and Jack from the board group and Ridley, Alex, Bryn and Brodie from the mogul crew all took part. For the rest of the crew they joined the other spectators cheering the skiers and riders along.

The next wave of AWSC participants arrive tomorrow for the month program here in Silver Star. With another 17 arriving tomorrow we’ll be humming here in Silver Star for the rest of the camp.

That’s it for today, until tomorrow

Stowie