SNOWBOARD INSTRUCTOR COURSE DIARY 2016 – WEEK 5

Monday 8th February

It was the first day of level 2 training and the first day of being a qualified CASI snowboard instructor so everyone was super amped. We were put with Andy Jay for a week of care free shredding without any teaching practice, just fun jibbing around the mountain and riding standard improvement for what was required for level 2. It was an absolutely sick day with blue skies so everyone was charging around. Andy got us started on early edging meaning we could really start to push the board and carve more efficiently down the slope. That night we all chilled and had some food before sipping some frothys in the hot tub.

Tuesday 9th February

Another sick blue skies day meant everyone could push their riding again with good snow and visibility. We were lapping the blue runs off Snow Ghost chairlift which were really nicely groomed for practicing carving which is such a sick feeling when you nail a run of carves down a steep piste. Everyone was progressing so much and it was so good to see everyone buzzing off each others riding. We all headed to Sam’s for some games of pool and beers before heading back to the pad to chill.

Wednesday 10th February

The snow was starting to come in again for another fat round of dumping, so we went to the Black Forest where there was some really nice fresh tracks to be had between the trees. It was really good to learn some new techniques for tree riding and everyone was flinging themselves into powder, pairing up playing follow the leader, it was so much fun. That night we all headed to Wings Wednesday at Sessions to eat our body weight in chicken for a fiver!

Thursday 11th February

The snow kept coming and we were all knee deep over at Gem lake again. Everyone was riding so much better than they had the week before the transformation was actually unbelievable! NBS flu had swept the camp and everyone was suffering pretty badly so we had a relaxed evening before Fridays usual antics which traditionally carries on to Saturday and then Sunday!

Friday 12th February

Back to Black Forest to get nipple deep in snow again and it didn’t disappoint! We were all gunning it through the trees pairing up down Easter Shoots. The powder was so thick that if you stopped you sank and me and Kiwi were having so much fun we briefly went out of bounds and had to hike back up to a cat track! That evening we all headed to The Market for some Thai food before one of the highlights of the season so far: a rap battle between Connor, Sam, Felix and Abbie. It took over the whole of Sam’s with a mic being broadcast through the pub, it was hilarious.

Saturday 13th February

As expected – Friday ran into Saturday and before long it was coco pops and beers. A three hour long hot tub session with a lot of spilled drinks in the tub ended up with a huge game of drinking games and cards. It didn’t bode well for tubing that evening where we were all pretty lagging by this point. Tubing is absolutely sick just being flung down a slope with your mates in a rubber ring. We linked 6 up at one point and played beats while we went down jumping into each others tubes.

Sunday 14th February

We got up bright and early for another day of powder and headed out as a house for a family day hitting up Black Forest. The snow was really good so we were charging through the trees. It was really cool to ride with Ant and Joey again as in the week were in lessons so don’t see too much of them on the slopes! We headed in a little earlier today for some well deserved rest, movies and pizza from the bakery.

Marcus.