As always we're waiting for more snow but we've had a great few days riding with Andy's Parents, Al, and a pro from the Whistler Freeride Team.

We spent Wednesday 26th on Whistler. Al and I began with a trip from the top of Peak down Frontier Pass and Highway 86 to Mid-station, then on down Dave Murray to Creekside. At the top of the gondola we found Andy and his parents sitting on the deck outside Raven's Nest, so we joined them for a quick break, then took Big Red up and set off to investigate some of the runs below the Roundhouse.

Al and Andy's parents both expressed surprise that there were runs we didn't know, but we've always concentrated on the higher runs where the snow is generally better. The "Run of the Day" for the last few days has been Tokum, so Al and I set off to see what that was like. After riding down the track to Chic Pea we joined the upper part of Dave Murray, then took Tokum down to the Garbanzo Express chair. The snow was pretty good - although the base was hard ice, there was enough powder on top to prevent the board sliding too much.

From the top of Garbanzo we did a couple of runs down Emerald, practising riding switch, then joined up with Andy and his parents for a rather nice lunch at Chic Pea.

After lunch Al, Andy and I spent a few runs on Emerald, riding switch down Jolly Green Giant then leaping off the rollers on Green Acres. Andy headed down after our runs on Emerald, so Al and I had one more blast down Highway 86 and Dave Murray, then took Ptarmigan and Crab Apple back home.

Andy and I popped into Wild Willies in the evening to get our boards sorted out for the Freeride day on Saturday, and also to arrange repair quotes for the our two knackered boards. We then moved on to the gym, before meeting up with Andy's parents for a fantastic meal at Hy's Steakhouse.

I had my first day off for two weeks on Thursday 27th, setting a new Record of Justice for consecutive days on the slopes. I spent several hours on the phone to the UK catching up with friends and family, then in the afternoon Al and I went into the village to have a look round the shops. Our plans for a cheese fondue were knocked slightly off-course when we found the specialist cheese shop had closed down, but we found alternative suppliers and bought tonnes of cheese.

Ingrid drove up in the evening, bringing Bob back, and Al cooked a great fondue for us all. After Andy's parents had gone home we spent several hours playing name that tune, though luckily there were no shots involved on this occasion.

We all went up Blackcomb on Friday 28th, though Andy had already left by the time the rest of us woke up. We met up with him briefly at the Crystal Hut when we stopped for lunch but he spent afternoon with his parents.

Bob, Matt, Stan, Al and I spent the morning doing some of the usual runs down 7th Heaven and Crystal, then visited the terrain park in the afternoon to show Al how massive the jumps were. After riding though the park we headed over to the terrain garden to find some slightly less imposing features and spent a while practising there.

In the evening Dom arrived and Andy cooked a big Spaghetti Bolognese for the group.

Saturday 1st began surprisingly early given the previous night's activities, but there was a very good reason: we were going riding with a pro.

Bob, Andy, Dom, Stan and I met up with the other people on the Freeride day at 08:30 in Merlin's, at the base of Blackcomb. Matt Domanski, who'd guided the Freeride day Bob and Stan had been on in January, was back for more and ended up guiding us and a South African called Tim. He told us that as soon as he'd seen Stan he knew it was going to be another fast day...

We had a muffin for breakfast then set off for 7th Heaven and blasted down Panorama. We managed to avoid most of the people on the run, but as we shot through the crowds on the cat-tracks near the bottom various screams were heard. We took some group shots at the top of 7th, then dropped down the Ridge-Runner track to the Crystal Hut and took Rock'n'Roll down to Excelerator. We then decided to switch to Whistler Mountain, so took Cruiser down to the village. On the way a Mountain Safety patroller (speed police) started chasing the front runners in the group but gave up when he couldn't catch them!

From the Roundhouse on Whistler we took Upper Whiskey Jack then the Dave Murray Downhill all the way to Creekside. The speed down Dave Murray was crazy - we were all glad we'd been practising it in recent days, as without the practise Matt would have left us standing.

We took the gondola and Big Red up, then changed emphasis from freeride to freestyle and rode down Whistler's half-pipe and terrain park a couple of times.

We returned to Blackcomb for late lunch at Rendezvous, where we happened to meet Al, Max, Jill and some of their other mates. After a short break there we paid a quick visit to Blackcomb's terrain park and even tried the enormous half-pipe, which is the biggest and best in North America.

We finished the day with a couple of runs down Gandy Dancer and proceeded down to Merlin's for a few jugs of beer, celebrating what was undoubtedly our highest average speed yet.

There wasn't quite the same enthusiasm for an early start on Sunday 2nd, even though there was a dusting of fresh snow on the lawn. Al took off early to meet his friends and I followed quarter of an hour later to meet up with Stan, leaving Andy in bed and Bob getting ready.

Stan and I met Al & co at the top of the Village Gondola and we began with a trip up Peak. Somehow we lost most of the group, so ended up with just Al, Max, Jill, Stan and me. We raced down the Saddle but, although the piste was in good condition, the visibility was very poor, so the speed was much lower than that usually achieved on the run.

We took the T-Bars up and dropped down Harmony Piste to the lift, then took a run down Harmony Ridge. The visibility still wasn't great but the snow was pretty good. From the top of Harmony we returned to the Roundhouse via Pika's Traverse, then carried on down to the Chic Pea for a hot chocolate and a cookie.

When we felt suitably revived we proceeded on down the Dave Murray Downhill to Creekside, then took the gondola and Big Red back up to the Roundhouse. We met Andy at the lightboard and did a couple of runs down to Emerald, via Green Acres and then through the park, then stopped at the Roundhouse for lunch.

Andy and I spent most of the afternoon hiking the half-pipe at the top of Emerald, though the results were not exactly startling. Andy was definitely improving by the end, but I still felt like a complete beginner. I did a couple of runs after Andy had gone down, landed heavily on my rear end, then gave up and dropped down through the park to Emerald, where I bumped into Al, Max and Jill again. We did two runs through the park and leapt over various combinations of park benches, rainbow rails, spines and box rails then rode back down to the village feeling pretty satisfied with our day's work.