THE SNOW HAS BEGUN!!!!!

It all began on Monday afternoon with a little snow-shower, but since then it's been snow all the way, with several inches settling in the village on Wednesday night.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last instalment was a crash I had on Sunday (8th) - it happened in amongst the throng of beginners on Whistler, all riding down the same little track around the front of the Roundhouse. As I slowed to wait for a beginner to turn I hit a snowbank, caught my toe-side edge and was thrown onto my face. I was winded, so sat there for a few minutes before moving on, but otherwise felt OK. When we got to the bottom of the run Bob informed me that my nose was cut, presumably by my goggles.

Anyway, I didn't think anything more of it - on Sunday night it wasn't even important enough to make my diary. On Monday my ribs felt a bit bruised, but the day was quite enjoyable. In the evening we all went to the gym, and I felt fine other than aching pecs from the previous trip to the gym.

Andy and Bob went up the mountain on Tuesday without me, as I was staying at home to receive an important delivery - a router. This little gadget has finally brought peace to the Palace, as we can now all surf at the same time - previously Bob and I had hardly got the chance to check our email, as Andy seemed to be emailing the entire world...

On Wednesday we all went up, but my ribs were really beginning to hurt - I guess a day sat around at home had stiffened them up, so every time I bent over to do up my bindings the pain prevented me from breathing properly. We discussed whether something my be broken, but the consensus so far is that it's a muscular injury. Either way, I didn't really enjoy the day, despite the fact that it was the best powder we'd seen.

As the day wore on the snowfall became heavier and heavier, and by the time we'd had a massage in the Longhorn bar and got back to the car it was settling in the village. As we drove home we slid down the hill, narrowly avoiding another car, then by the time Bob and I went to the gym the snow was inches deep. It was quite a weird experience sitting in the hot tub and sauna looking outside into the snow.

There was much excitement on Wednesday night, as the snow kept coming, and we began dreaming of our first real powder-day. When we woke up on Thursday we found the snow had turned to rain, which was melting the snow in out garden, but we hoped it might be colder up the mountain, and still snowing.

We found a huge queue at the Wizard chair - obviously we weren't the only people to notice the previous night's snow. The rain, however, continued to the top of the Wizard chair, and as we took the Solar Coaster chair we began worrying. Half way up the rain became light snow, but the snow on the ground was very wet and sticky. We then discovered that the mountain's high-point, the Blackcomb Glacier, was closed due to high winds. We rode down to the Jersey Cream chair, back into the rain, and began getting depressed. After a wind-blown lift-ride up we'd had enough, and took the Solar Coaster back down, feeling a bit lame.

We made the most of our afternoon off, with a trip down the hill to Squamish to get some new tyres for the Wagon, and replenish our food supplies. The journey was slightly worrying, as the clutch on the Wagon is on it's last legs. We knew when we bought the car that the clutch might need replacing, but it's now reached the stage where hills are impossible in 4th or 5th gear. Luckily we've got it booked in for a replacement on Monday.

Friday (today) has been one of our best days yet: the snow has been as good as we've seen, and the rain has gone. We spent the first part of the day on Cat Skinner, riding the unopened runs to skiers' left of the terrain park, which is closed for the Nokia World Cup snowboarding. After watching some of the competition we noticed Glacier chair opening, and had a fantastic couple of powder runs down that. It got tracked out fairly quickly (bloody skiers!) so we headed up the T-Bars. Andy and I hiked as high as possible up the peak above Windlip (see the Fellowship video from last season) and had a brilliant run down, while Bob climbed the other side of the valley and managed to carve a nice chunk out of his board.

In the afternoon the powder got harder to find, but was still much better than we're used to. We met Stan on the Showcase T-Bar, and spent the rest of the day riding with him, ending up with another run down to the Glacier chair.

We managed to drag ourselves out of Merlin's without eating any nachos, and made it to the gym, before heading home to meet Nasya and get ready for a night out, which is about to begin.