Monday 15th February
This week had been eagerly awaited by everyone and indeed everyones livers: free week. That’s right an entire week of partying and riding without worrying about what time to get up at for lessons. So no messing around, true to form we rode all day and then headed straight to Sams to get on the jugs and play some pool. Mood was high in the camp, safe in the knowledge that no matter how many beers we had, next days alarm wasn’t necessary. That night we got in after close at Sams and headed for a late night hot tubbing just to make sure that we were all hydrated enough for the following day!
Tuesday 16th February
Heavy headed I dragged my head off the pillow to see the sickest blue skied day I had seen all season. Fresh air out on the balcony and chinning a couple Berroccas (lifesavers) I managed to regain a pulse and was ready to head back up the mountain. Joey, Em, Jamie and myself all headed over to West Peak to hit the fresh tracks. The hike up was mental as you could see as far as Silver Star Ski Resort and all over the other side of the mountain. We all sat down and chilled for a while before strapping in and heading down the untouched tree runs. I made a fat GoPro video which looked sick as all the runs were our own lines. We then headed over to The Cliff and did some fat drop ins off trees overhanging parts of it before trekking into the bowl and carving some freshies in there too. That night we were all lagging pretty badly so had early ones because the next day was Sam’s last full day as he was flying back to NZ.
Wednesday 17th February
Today was a pretty light day as the new pair of knees I had ordered hadn’t arrived to replace the broken ones from charging around the day before. After hitting some mellow tree runs over at Black Forest I headed back in for a pool and gym session with Kiwi Sam as he was leaving the next day. After that we got dressed to head up to Sessions for wings Wednesday. After nailing 25 wings we all headed to a snowpines house party.
Thursday 18th February
Sadly even though there was a fair whack of 20cm of fresh powder, I was sofa paralysed from getting too excited from the night before and Sams leaving party. Though from what I was told it was nipple deep so as the snow carried on coming down I chilled with my hangover, preparing for a big days riding tomorrow.
Friday 19th February
I was up first chair today and the snow was as thick as Axel Williams, so we headed straight over to our second home Powder chair to hit the lines up between the trees. There was so much untouched snow between the trees and every line we took after each lap was different which was so sick to explore and find hidden kickers and hits into powder. You could pretty much try any move you could think of and come out of it with half the mountain down your jacket. That night we headed down to Kelowna to the ice hockey which was a sweet experience as I was an hockey virgin so. It was a brilliant game, with such a sick atmosphere.
Saturday 20th February
First lift again as it was another blue bird day and myself and Tom rode hard all morning getting our carve turns in. We headed over after midday back to Snowpines and built a kicker out by the back door with the music blaring. It wasn’t long before Tom landed a back flip and I nearly got a tame dog front flip which was sick. That night we ordered in 20 pizzas from the bakery and sat in the hot tub eating them and drinking beers all night. Life can’t get much better.
Sunday 21st February
After a pretty heavy night today was lax as we knew next week was the start of a huge second half of our seasons as we would be getting into the more serious level two where we all had a fair bit to work on to meet the riding standard and start bossing the mountain in new ways. I headed back for a swim and chill in the hot tub and a big feed before kotching on the sofa watching a movie assessing whether I’d learnt more about drinking than snowboarding in the last week.
Marcus