Everyone was still psyched after the weekend of partying and in high spirits when we met our new instructors. The groups were mixed up again, everyone buzzing to ski with new people once again, the Monday morning routine just not getting boring. It seems my friends back home hate Mondays, but out here they are pretty awesome. Thankfully the weather was warmer too, (as ‘warm’ as can be expected in Canada,) and we attacked the mountain all day. Our instructor was insane. He got his level 1, 2 and 3 in one season at the age of 18. So very talented and is now level 4 qualified, only one of six as part of Ski School.
The week was relatively easy going, focusing on improving our skiing on more difficult terrain and just enjoying the slopes again without going into too much detail on skiing theory. The temperature dropped again mid-week with the wind making it a chilly -50 so to keep warm we were massively exerting ourselves with constant speiss turns (a 180-degree turn in the air; landing parallel with a pole plant and then jumping again, back 180-degrees) down one of the blue runs. But once the cold had completely taken over, we decided that going in for hot chocolates was the best idea. Despite the cold, the snow conditions were surprisingly good so going in was made more difficult. This week has been no difference to our last, we spent Wednesday night indulging in tacos and wings, all of NBS out in force; taking advantage of our easy going week.
On Thursday afternoon we had a horrible ordeal in regards to getting stuck on one of the chair lifts just before the peak. We huddled together for 20 minutes before the chair started to move again, just swaying in the breeze and slowly freezing to the core in the -30 winds. When we finally reached the top we were scared to stand up incase our legs snapped, as much as it is an exaggeration I now know first hand how it feels to be ‘frozen to the bone’. We regrouped and decided to call it a day, half an hour early, the conditions just too harsh for us to handle. It seems everyone else agreed as the slopes were completely bare as we rode back to the village. Friday was warmer again, with lows of only -10, a welcomed changed the the weather we had been experiencing. With a fresh dump of snow on Thursday night we had perfect bluebird conditions for funday-Friday.
We joined groups and skied beautiful tree routes which line the piste, excited by the challenging terrain. Because we all passed our level one we were able to ski hard without much reference to ski improvement; one day off so our love of free skiing could resurface. Friday evening we went for our usual NBS meal at the thai restaurant in the village, the food was amazing and it was so good to regroup with the family again and have a massive end of week social event. Cannot believe another Friday has passed once again.
Saturday was taken easy, we went for a relaxed midday ski and then onto Sam’s for lunch, a few afternoon drinks and then back for a hot tub session. Saturday night was equally as chilled, we managed to cram in 6 episodes of ‘The Walking Dead’ and then had an early night because of having a slight change to the schedule and having ski school back again on Sunday, taking the following Tuesday off as a rest day. Sunday was another funday for us all, we stayed as one big group and skied different chair routes and more trees. Lots and lots of fun but also very tiring. We were exhausted by 3.30pm, (as warned by our instructors) and spent the evening having another epic sitting of The Walking Dead.
Hannah