Date: 8th of January 2008

Hi All,

Well after a week of fairly dry conditions as in not much in the way of snowfalls the heavens have certainly opened today with 20+ cm of super dry power. It started snowing around 6.00am and absolutely dumped all day. So with a powder day on the card this morning everyone was up and out there first thing

Chris and the freeride group woke up nice and early and packed their things and headed for a day at Big White.  The left just after 6.30 for the two hour drive across to Big White and with solid snow falling for the entire drive everyone is good spirits and looking forward to a big day. They arrived just after 9 and were skiing by 9:30.  Probably about 10cm had fallen overnight and it was still snowing hard.  Chris had good experience on where to go so the group quickly headed up The Bullet Chair and droped into the trees down to Black Forest Chair.  The group was greeted to boot to knee deep snow in places and everyone quickly disappeared into the powder and though the trees and all you could hear were hoots and halers.  At the top of the Black Forest the group headed though the park which was a great surprise.  Tons of rails and boxes as well as some great beginner and intermediate jumps the guys and girls could play on.  Conrad was hitting the big flat down and down rail.  Both Hamish and Conrad were trying to nail the C boxes.  All the other crew were playing in the other lanes hitting the flat boxes as well as the jumps.  Everyone was perfecting their 180’s on the small jump.  The group was so pumped to ski they stayed until last chair.  It snowed most of the way back to Silver Star and are looking forward to another powder day tomorrow.    

Enter Jack Thorburn. After a number of days off snow Jack decided to grace the moguls group once again with his presence as Silver Star delivered some epic snow. After beginning work on the new competition course at 9pm last night and finishing at 1.30am this morning, Ridley could be excused for being a little groggy. The group headed straight for the new course at 8:45 with both Kate and Jack dragging but in the early morning conditions. After a number of slips and steps the course was taking great shape. The girls swung a few laps while the boys stepped and shovelled. The girls then rejoined the group looking like snow ghosts, frozen from head to toe. As the group began to lightly ski the course the weather became worse and worse with some snow flakes the size of your little toe. The group headed in for lunch hoping the snow would keep up and provide a great afternoons skiing.

The afternoon began with Elvis and Airlie running late, there’s been a bit of this lately and Ridley so from tomorrow anyone late will miss the session. The crew headed straight for Attridge with Pez leading, taking some world class photos on the way.  After a few runs it was time to slip and step the course once more to ensure it would not get snowed in as it was still snowing heavily.. After the slip the group headed through The Chute for some last pow turns. The snow was so good half the group headed back up for another one returning to the hostel just before last lift. The group will have a couple of big days in the moguls coming up with competition training on Thursday and Finals on Friday. Weather and snow conditions permitting, duals will be held on Sunday.

Lunch today was another camp favourite of BBQ Beef burgers. Two burgers plus a bowl of Emma’s potato and leek soup gave everyone plenty of energy for the afternoon’s powder ski/board bonanza. Dinner was a tasty chicken and bacon pasta bake with garlic bread and green salad. Good old ice cream in a cone followed for dessert.

The boarders were out the door quickly and there were plenty of smiles and excitement with everyone anticipating an epic day. The smiles soon disappeared as Matesy got a little carried away and decided to take some of the kids and Beggsy on a little gully run to start the day. Let’s just say the gully didn’t have as much snow as Matesy first thought and the kids gave him the dirty looks all morning. Everyone was pumped on our secret little cliff drop on the frontside. It had a nice layer of powder on the landing and most of the kids had not jumped anything into a nice soft powder so it was a good experience for them. Nate was first to drop and riding his new board he didn’t waste any time launching some nice big indy grabs. Jack and Kane were getting rather tech both doing cab 180's and switchbackside 180's and Olli was by far going the biggest and  he was even outdoing the coaches. Jordi and Jay had smiles on their  faces being able to hit a fun jump and not have to worry about a hard landing.  Dave decided he wasn’t going to waste a powder and day and was getting some nice face shots next to the drop. Rowan got the daily skullcandy award for his rather large powder turns  and be sure to check out the photos. The rest of the day was spent riding the small gully's on the frontside and getting as many powder shots as they could fit in before it was time to head in. I’m sure they will all sleep well tonight.

This morning, the alpine/snowboardcross group headed out with new member . Greg came along with us and he will be here for the next few weeks. It was only snowing lightly at that point so they were able to still train GS on Big Dipper for the first hour or so before the snow intensity increased. Ash did not join the group as she was not feeling too well and even though Julia was also feeling a little off color she still made it out for a few runs. Chrisy did really well today and again made some great improvements to her race line and carve. Greg also did very well for his first day and really impressed Phil with his good clean carving and strong position.  After lunch, they went out to ride the fresh snow that fell over lunch time and pretty much had the entire mountain to themselves with the crowds all but disappearing. Sam caught up with the groups and took some great shots of the guys riding in the powder. Julia had a couple great face shots, Greg had some good lines and a few good stacks and Chrisy made some great turns. Phil got in on the action hitting a few cliff drops and showing the group how it’s done.

The alpine racers of James, James and Lachlan were supposed to be training GS today but the heavy snowfalls meant that that had to be cancelled due to safety reason and instead they took the lead of everyone else on the mountain and went powder skiing. Tomorrow is planned for another day of GS and hopefully for them the conditions are a little more favourable.

We also held the third of our AWSC awards tonight where we give out 4 awards to the athletes that are voted on by the coaches. The first of the awards was The “Bolle Big Break Award” and this is awarded to the athlete who has made the most improvement over the past week. This week it was awarded to Alex Wyatt. The second award is the “Helly Hansen Encouragement Award” is awarded to the skier and snowboarder who have contributed the most effort and tried the hardest over the past week. This week it was awarded to Jordy Cozzella for the snowboarders and Lauren Wilson for the skiers. The final award is the “XTM Training eXcellence Award” This week it was awarded to Alex Cassilles.

Pinky goes out to the little womanizer Piers, who has been telling the girls he is 13, 14 and some cases even 15 when in fact he’s only 12. Unfortunately for him his little deception was discovered tonight and was dropped like a stone by the girls. Better luck next time buddy!

Stowie