This week was a fun week following our level 1 exam!

We didn’t have a structured week as such, it was more for our own ski improvement, but to change it up from the drills and exercises we had been doing previously! This didn’t mean it would be easy for us because I would say it’s been the hardest week yet – both physically and mentally.

Our instructor, Javier, who is originally from Chile, definitely pushed us to our limits this week with pretty much no groomed runs! The only time we spent on the groomed runs was to traverse onto another tree run! It was all moguls, tree runs and off piste. It was pretty “loco” as Javier would say! Not only were  the tree runs pretty steep and narrower, but everything was done at a much faster pace. After all we are now pushing for our level 2 qualification. I think it’s fair to say we were all knackered after the first day and an end of the day hot tub ‘sesh’ was calling combined with lots of stretching after!

What I found really lovely about the week though, was that we have now been here for nearly 5 weeks yet we were discovering and exploring even more beautiful runs. Some of the tree runs are like maze’s but absolutely epic at the same time.

Although we were pushed so much throughout the week and had our downfalls (literally!) – we all improved so much by the end of the week. Luckily for us we had a lot of powder this week so didn’t really mind a good fall.

Personally, I found I managed to control my speed and turn shape on moguls a lot better than I did at the beginning, which I was really happy with. Also, nearer the end of the week we returned to more groomed runs and after doing all un-groomed, the improvement was so noticeable it felt amazing.

We also broke the week up a bit with a mid-week treat at Sessions which is a restaurant on the slopes, which was nice to ski to for lunch. On Friday all of us NBS’ers had a tasty Thai meal ready for Snowshoe Sam’s pub after. We were all playing pool competitions and let’s just say it can get pretty messy when you lose and the lethal shots come out to play.

On Saturday me and a few others went to Kelowna, as we got an air bnb so we could all go out and see what Kelowna has to offer. I had an absolutely amazing time!!!!! There was 5 of us so it worked out pretty well ?. On Sunday we made it back early because it was Nathan’s 21st birthday, so all the decorations were out in one of the condos, along with birthday cake and drinking games! After everyone headed to the pub in the village for a fantastic night! Such a great week!

Amy.