And then there were three...

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On Thursday there was still no Marie or Maria so John decides it's time to move away from "basic parallel" and onto carving... Which of course leaves Mark even further behind on the slopes - very hard to carve in a snowplough. I had great fun though - perfectly groomed slopes and the wind in my hair 😊 - could get to like this speed thing! Some bad news today - poor Greg, who's been complaining about his ribs, has found out that he's actually broken one! Physio was going on about muscle damage but no... But the man's tough - he's carrying on regardless.

After nearly 2 weeks resting her knees, Maria felt fit enough to join us on Friday which was great! As it was Friday we were due to have one-to-one lessons but given the poor attendance during the week it was agreed that we'd just do a normal group session again. Well, I say normal but it was generally messing around "claiming" slopes (although not in the same league as the guys in the video!), trying to get some air off rollers and small jumps and eating the most enormous waffle in the world at the Crystal Hut, fully loaded with fruit, chocolate and whipped cream...

After which, John finally lets us loose at the Pontiac Race Centre again! This could get very messy... John was very diplomatic and didn't let me race Mark... So I had to beat Maria instead 😊 Which I did in 25.78 seconds (nearly 5 seconds faster than my first race time in week 1). It was a close race and the course was pretty icy but fun nonetheless.

Back to the Chateau Fairmont for apres (Fairmont Friday - $5 cocktails!) but a fairly quiet night overall. And a restful weekend - tried to get the purple ski pants but alas they had sold out of my size with no chance of more to come 😞 At least it saves me some money I guess.

The following week was the level 2 course for about 24 of our skiers - I chose not to do it in the end for a number of reasons, the two major ones being my skiing isn't good enough yet and I didn't fancy spending $550 on a qualification I don't think I'm going to use (or get!). So normal lessons on Monday to Thursday for those of us not doing it.

Ski highlights of the week:

• Skiing Dave Murray Downhill without poles (intentionally - it was an exercise!) and without falling over - something that would have scared me rigid 10 weeks ago
  
• Having fun in the powder on Xhiggy's Meadow
  
• Not stacking it in the narrow icy gully through Franz's Meadows
  
• The cornice on Low Roll followed by the steep moguls of Lower McConkey's (OK, so it wasn't a drop off the cornice really, more a steep slide) - not beautiful but done
  
• Tackling the moguls of Ratfink with more style than the first time, i.e. not falling over!
  
• Laughing my way around the skier-cross course on Blackcomb
  
• Getting some air without the cartoon windmilling
  
• Generally releasing the inner child 😊 and finding some confidence at long last! Particularly fun runs being Ridge Runner (natural half pipe plus lots of places to hop off), Twist and Shout (more natural half pipe) and Arthur's Choice (trees and bumps)
  
• Choosing to ski home on my own via dark blue and black runs - the confidence has improved massively!

Ski lowlights of the week:

• Realising that my body is no longer 21 and that my knees are beginning to seriously hurt and hinder my progress, especially in bumps and on steeps when I can't get away with faking it
  
• Not attempting the Where's Joe gladed run for that very reason
  
• Making a hash of the Blackcomb Glacier and not giving the Blowhole a shot (to be fair, I didn't realise what it was until we got home that night)
  
• Marie nearly t-boning me on a cat track as she came down off a foray onto the side slope, having misjudged how fast I was travelling - narrowly avoided actual collision but I think I did ski over the back of her skis...
  
• Maria leaving us to join her other half in his group and thus skiing more difficult terrain which I'd love to try - unfortunately my body won't let me at this stage, and my confidence and Mark wouldn't let me in previous weeks

As for evening activities - well, the quiz again on Wednesday (still haven't won anything but fun anyway), apres on the patio at GLC on Thursday, soaking up the sunshine... And then Friday came and level 2 results were decided. Of the Alltracks crowd, I believe only 4 didn't pass (and they each passed either teaching or skiing, just not both) which was a pretty good result. Celebrations were long and drunken - post results drinks in GLC after which Kerry and I escaped to the Amsterdam pub for a very tasty burger. She quit and went home at that point but I headed over to the house party at Snowgoose (very silly games, someone playing guitar and everyone singing along, couple of mild punch-ups, obviously far too much to drink for everyone involved!), then on to Tommy Africa's for a bit of dancing to rubbish music, some pizza then home by 3am! A good Friday night was had by all 😊

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Photos

The wonders of modern engineering
One of the towers supporting the Peak2Peak gondola on Whistler

Don't make me laugh!
Greg, having discovered he's broken his rib

Claimed!
Maria in Heavenly Basin