First day of our training with alltracks today which has made the 5th first of 2014!

We began the day with an early start catching the bus to whistler base. MASSIVE BLONDE MOMENT: I was on the way to the mountain with my friends, on the moving bus when I realised that I’d forgotten my ski pass! Obviously I couldn’t get off the bus and as we had a set meeting time I didn’t have enough time to go back to the house to get it. Instead I ran into the ticket office telling them I’d lost my old one and so thankfully they printed me a new one. (First reprint free, next comes with a price – apparently) 8.59 and I was at the meeting point with a ski pass in hand ready to start the day at 9.
Once we were up the slope we were split into different groups based on what we thought about our ability. My friends and I put ourselves in the top group (not exactly my choice but id much rather be in the top group with my friends then a lower one alone) and then the top group was split into three and ofcourse The Three Blondes requested to be together. It actually worked out well though and our group is all the same (top) ability and all really nice. So after the group decisions we finally had a group of 6 and did a few quick runs before going in for an early lunch.
The afternoon was full of adventure, off piste, tree runs, and 20cm deep powder! Our instructor’s catch phrase of the day was “weeellll I haven’t done this run yet this season but it should be good… Hopefully” before leading us through the narrowest path into a world of powder and valleys.
The day was tough and I fell over many times but falls cushioned by thick powder is more like sitting down on a puffy pillow.
The best fall of the day has to be when we all had to ski in a tight line as the off piste powder run, through the trees was so narrow and our instructor wasn’t quite sure where exactly we were going. He then told us to traverse down an icy steep slope until we got to a point where we could ski fast down the short end of the run in order to make it over the river which was lightly covered by snow. We all took it in turns and once we made it over the river the slope went sharply upwards and we flew into the air. Once we’d all made it up the other side, our instructor told us why he was making sure we stopped at the top. This was because just beneath us was a valley of very shallow water which a person could easily fly into if they weren’t careful, as they skiied over the edge. Unfortunately we obliviously forgot about the last girl in our group who was further behind and just as the instructor was warning us about the valley below, we heard a scream as she flew over the slope lip and straight into the river.
Luckily she was fine, cushioned by the thick snow and quickly got out before the water reached her!
After skiing we were all very grateful for the boiling hottub and soaked our tired legs before dinner.
It’s a hard life!