December 20, 2006

I will keep this one short and sweet, because I'm way behind on my Christmas shopping. With all of this great snow, it is hard to take a day off skis never mind the shopping. I feel like I have been run over by a truck my body is aching so much, yet I get up next day and go skiing anyway. Its funny how nothing hurts when I'm skiing, it's after when I get home and have to do chores that my body aches. I get no sympathy from my wife. Is there no justice in this world?

The last camp was almost a reflection of the previous camp – snow, wind and more snow. The only difference was that on Tuesday, the sun came out and it was one of the most beautiful days of the year so far. Everyone definitely took their powder skiing to another level. I was skiing with Mr. Tan and he was ecstatic to ski Harvey's with style, powder blowing over his head, smile on his face. Isn't it what skiing is all about?

We even had the "cappo di tuti cappi" of the Ski School, Otto Kamstra, take a run with us on the Peak, but Otto had a hard time staying upright, as is evident by the photo in the Gallery. Getting old I guess and can't keep up! (Check this out /dave/gallery/index.htm).

And we actually got a race off on Wednesday. The funny thing was that almost none us ran any gates before that day, yet everyone had so much fun racing. Well, we did one run and then it was back to powder skiing again. The "Most Useless Coach" award went to The Verminator (John Kindree) as most of his group had no clue how to start, one of them even missed the finish gate and one stopped just before the finish gate, having no clue what to do. Apparently, John was way too busy in the start bothering all of the other groups to coach his group in the proper racing technique. Nobody seemed to care and right after the race they just went skiing John's favorite stashes. That is always a treat as John has been skiing here since 1965.

It was good to have Kim and Ken coaching this camp. This wife/husband (I put wife first, 'cause Kim wears the pants in this family) team always brings great energy to the Camps. Although they both have extensive racing backgrounds and still race the odd Skier Cross and Speed Skiing event, you will mostly find them on fat skis with a pack on their backs, heading into the backcountry. Both of them know all the nooks and crannies and if you ski with them, you will be sure to ski somewhere you have never been before.

The après is always fun with Kim and Ken, but Kim should come with a warning label; "Warning – Drinking Beer With Me May Cause You To Prematurely Pass Out". Many a camper has met with untimely loss of consciousness trying to go beer for beer with Kimmy. I have no idea how this slight girl does it, but she is a beer processing machine on which a large amount consumed has no apparent effect. This talent combined with her skiing ability sometimes has very humbling effects on the more hairy, testosterone inflated members of the opposite sex (yours truly included).

We also had some rookies working with us this camp – Sead Causevic and Jamie Finlayson. Sead is a "seasoned" coach, but Jamie is way too nice and polite. We will have to corrupt him a bit; otherwise he will make us old salts look bad. I forgot to mention in my previous report that we had Ashleigh McIvor also rookie with us in the previous camp. Ashleigh is an ex ski racer and a World Cup Skier Cross competitor. This tall, blond ski goddess can definitely rip on her skis and she has mischievous twinkle in her eye.

All of these "kids" have extensive racing and coaching experience and we hope to have them working the Camps for your skiing pleasure. That is what it is to ski with these guys and girl – pure pleasure. These guys and girl rip!

Once again, we had a great time in the camp. Snow was awesome and more is on the way, so come and join us December 27th-29th, beat the Holiday lineups and take your skiing to another level.

May you have Happy Holidays in Whistler.

Tom Pro