Happy Feet for Peaks Trainees

It's going to be a great start to our instructor course, which kicks off at the end of this month. The snow just keeps on falling! The current storm system has blanketed the mountains with over 204 cm (80 inches) of fresh snow in the past week. Operations crews are hard at work preparing more lifts and terrain to open this weekend as conditions allow.   It may still be early in the season but don’t tell that to Mother Nature. With over 362cm’s (142.5 inches) of snow so far this month Whistler Blackcomb has more than doubled its average November snowfall of 148cm (58 inches). With almost two weeks left in the month, as well as over 100cm (40 inches) in the forecast for the next five days, Whistler Blackcomb is well on its way to the possibility of breaking the record of snow in the month of November, 416cm (164 inches).   “I’ve skied here for over 15 years and I’ve never seen this much snow so early in a season, it seems like every day’s snowfall is topping the last,” say’s Stephen Butt, Communications Coordinator and voice of the Snow Phone for Whistler Blackcomb. “We have already received one third of our average annual snowfall for the entire season and it’s only four days into the season, it’s unbelievable!” For more info on our Whistler instructor course, please check the course pages.

Firstly, I wanted to say thanks to everyone at Peak Leaders who had anything to do with the course. It was a great time and something I'll never forget; and I passed so that was the best way to top it off!

The team out there who ran it were just great. Ed and Lucie were a big help getting out there and always on hand around the hosteria to sort out any problems. The local team (Alvar, Ivan and the instructors) were incredible. In particular Alvar, who seemed to be able to solve absolutely anything, no matter how trivial or big. I think a great deal of credit should go to him for the success of the trip; I spoke to nobody who at some stage didn't require his help and he always went the extra mile to make sure we got what we needed. His knowledge of the way things worked out there was invaluable. It takes a while before you realise how differently people operate out there; we called it T.I.A (This Is Argentina!), a phrase most people used several times a day. Alvar knows what the score is so he was great to have around.

The Hosteria El Retorno was top as well. What a location! Our Argentinian instructors were great fun to ski with and also really friendly and, importantly, cared about us. They got involved with all the events and activities and it was nice having them around the hosteria for breakfast and dinner.

Bariloche is an awesome town, especially at night. I think if you really want to sell the trip better, mention that every week the vast number of clubs are filled with thousands of gorgeous Argentinian and Brazillian students all partying like crazy. That was definately a bonus :-)

It was a fantastic 9 weeks in a beautiful country. I'm definately going back there as soon as I can. I'm working as a guide in Les Arcs this winter, then I'm off to teach in New Zealand in the summer but I'm going to squeeze in a trip to Bariloche in between the two. I've made friends for life over the last 10 weeks! Please pass on my thanks to everyone involved; the course was better than I could have imagined and clearly very well thought out and operated. Thanks a lot.