For only the second time since we've been here, the village has been transformed by the arrival of snow. We've had snow the last four days and more is forecast for six of the next seven days. The snow has changed the mood in the village and even more so on the mountains - three consecutive powder days are a great luxury this season.

There were several important arrivals in Whistler on the evening of Thursday 6th: Dom arrived from Vancouver, Matt and Rich (two friends from uni) arrived from the UK and, far more importantly, almost 20cm of snow arrived from wherever snow arrives from. The last of these caused considerable excitement in the house, as it was the first time since Christmas that we've had snow in the village. Plans were immediately made for a Fresh Tracks start.

The excitement was dampened slightly on Friday 7th when we discovered that it hadn't snowed at all overnight but we were still very glad that the temperature had fallen and the snow was back. We caught the 07:00 bus and met Stan by the gondolas but were shocked to find the Fresh Tracks queue stretching all the way back to the steps up to the bus loop. After a few minutes discussion we decided that the tracks would not be fresh at all with that many people on the hill, so instead we took up position in the Blackcomb gondola queue, where there were only about 20 people in front of us. Matt and Rich went off for some breakfast and to collect their kit, with the hope of meeting up later in the day.

After a very cold (-18ºC) 45 minute wait, the gondola opened at about 08:00. When we reached the top of Excelerator our hands and feet were freezing, and we were disappointed to find that none of the main lifts were open yet. We had a high-speed run down Honeycomb back to Excelerator, shooting down the groomed bits of piste and leaping miles off the edges of the cat-tracks into the lovely fresh snow.

Back at the top of Excelerator we found Jersey Cream had opened, so took that then followed the cat-track down to 7th Heaven, hoping it wouldn't be too long before that opened as well. Luckily we only had a couple of minutes to wait. We were in one of the first ten chairs up and once again the excitement built as we looked down onto untracked snow.

Unlike the last time I'd been up 7th heaven on a powder day, Thursday night's snow had all fallen early in the evening. This meant that the piste-bashers had been able to groom most of the runs they normally groomed during the night. Our search for powder was narrowed as we ruled out the groomed runs and we decided to head down our favourite powder fields to skiers' right of the chair.

The new snow had made an immense difference to the state of the mountain and we confidently flew down through areas that the previous day were covered with rocks and ice. There were very few tracks ahead of us so the main challenge was not finding fresh snow but deciding which way to go through the trees. Andy, Dom and I took a great route we knew from previous years and found the snow was very different to the usual powder - it was much lighter and drier, normally known as champagne powder. Anyway, it was great!

For our second run we stayed underneath the chairlift but the moguls there were still obvious enough to slow us down. We moved over to Lakeside Bowl for our third run and found the best snow yet, then as we returned for another run there we noticed that Showcase T-Bar had opened and began wondering whether Blackcomb Glacier might be open.

We discovered in the T-Bar queue that the glacier was open, so hiked up to that and along the wind-lip to avoid the tracks nearer the gate. Immediately below the lip there were moguls under the powder, so Stan and I traversed over to the right a bit and found even better snow than we had ridden in Lakeside Bowl. We had a brilliant run down, then blasted down Blackcomb Glacier Road back to Excelerator.

Andy and I took Glacier Express up again the dropped down Ridge-Runner to the Crystal Hut, while the others paused for a break at Glacier Creek. We took the lower entrance into the Fraggle Rock area and leapt down through the powder there, then carried on down Log Jam and Backstage Pass back to Excelerator again, where Andy departed to set off for Vancouver.

I met up with the others at Glacier Creek for some lunch, then we went back up Glacier Creek and Horstman before dropping into Secret Bowl and down Pakalolo back to the chairlifts. Stan and I set off with the plan of tackling Secret Bowl again but at the top of Horstman we decided to try the Grey Zone hike, so took Ridge-Runner then contoured off along the side of the ridge. We found obvious footsteps as we hiked up the chimney, which was a relief as it was the first time I'd done the hike this season. At the top I didn't recognise anything from my previous trip but Crystal Hut was obvious below us, so we flew down through more virgin snow then crossed over Rock'n'Roll to take the higher route to Fraggle Rock. This route involved a small hike, but was definitely worth it as the snow higher up was much less tracked out than the snow Andy and I had found earlier.

We had a short pause at Rendezvous for some refreshment, then Dom, Stan and I set off for a quick run down Springboard to Solar Coaster. For some reason Stan and I both felt a huge surge of confidence and both straight-lined the run, flying off the soft moguls which were already forming. As we flew down I thought first how impressive we must look from the chairlift above, then began thinking that sooner or later something very bad was going to happen. It happened sooner, when a heelside turn let go and I slid along the ground on my arse spraying snow everywhere. Luckily I didn't tumble, Stan managed to avoid me and, apart from a bruise, all was well.

We finished the day with a quick ride through the terrain park and headed home, satisfied that we'd made the most of the powder.

Matt, Rich and I went out for a curry with Stan in the evening, then were joined by Matt for a few drinks later on. An unexpected dump of snow meant that we spent about an hour and a half debating whether to do fresh tracks, eventually deciding to see what things looked like in the morning.

I woke at about 05:15 on Saturday 8th and when I checked the path there had been no snow since the previous night. Having deserted Matt and Rich for the previous day, I decided to spend Saturday showing them round Whistler, so went back to bed and slept for a few hours, glad to avoid the 06:30 start.

We began our tour with a run down Green Acres to Emerald Express, then took Peak up and raced down Saddle. I was expecting to comfortably beat both Matt and Rich, so was surprised to find Rich straight-lining almost the entire run! He and Matt and ended up arguing about who reached the chairlift first but the three of us were all pretty close.

We took Upper Franz's down to Mid-Station then attacked the Dave Murray Downhill. Matt and Rich both enjoyed the wide, steep curving run down to Creekside, then after the gondola ride up we stopped for a break at the Raven's Nest.

We had another very fast run down Saddle then took the T-Bars over to Harmony, as the boys had been there the previous day and enjoyed Harmony Ridge. We arrived down Harmony Piste, which is another great, wide run, normally perfectly groomed and ideal for a minimal-turn, high-speed run. At the top there were places where the powder from the day before still looked inviting, so I cut off the main piste here and there, then we all shot down the lower part of the run to the chairlift.

As the Matt and Rich had done the ridge the previous day I took them down Burnt Stew Trail, round the back of Symphony Bowl. We dropped into the bowl beneath Piccolo and Matt and Rich got their first taste of powder skiing. I can remember from my days on skis how hard turning in powder is, so was glad they both made it out of the bowl and back onto the cat-track! They'd enjoyed the bowl though, so we went back and did it again.

As I rode out of Symphony Bowl the second time, I looked up towards the top of the chair and noticed an area of untracked powder below and to the right of Sun Bowl. I'd never been through Sun Bowl and it didn't look like many other people were using it, but there seemed to be a route to the fresh snow, so next time round I set off to find it.

Matt and Rich looked down the moguls at the top of Sun Bowl and decided to press on down the Ridge, leaving me to slide down past the odd protruding rock in search of a way out. Following the right edge of the bowl, I found a gap in the trees and traversed across to find myself at the top of a gully dropping steeply into Symphony Bowl, right above the fresh snow I'd seen. I rode down through the best snow of the day then straight-lined the lower part of the bowl, re-joined the cat-track and met up with Matt and Rich back at the chairlift.

We took Pika's Traverse over to the Roundhouse for a late lunch and relaxed there for a while, then set off to finish the day with Dave Murray. A small navigational error resulted in us missing the lower part of the downhill and we ended up taking Expressway down to Garbanzo. We took that up, sent Rich back down to the village, then took Dave Murray from the very top right the way down to Creekside, caught the gondola and returned to the village via Expressway and Crab Apple.

Andy and Emily cooked a risotto in the evening and we all chilled out at home.

After the enormous Fresh Tracks queue we had encountered on Friday (25% more than the previous record), we decided to set off half an hour earlier on Sunday 9th, so Andy and I caught the 06:30 bus and met Stan at 06:50. We were about tenth in the queue, though the number of people behind us never came anywhere near the number we'd seen on Friday.

Thanks to our ridiculously early start we had time for breakfast before the runs were opened and we each shovelled in a quick plate of scrambled egg, sausages and hash browns. By 08:00 we were on our boards and waiting at the rope, then at 08:10 the patroller gave us the all clear and we ducked under the rope and shot off down the right-hand side of Green Acres, riding through about a foot of fresh snow.

We were the first people to make it down to Emerald Express and had to wait for the all clear from the maintenance people before they'd let us on. Back at the top we decided on the usual Fresh Tracks route: follow Upper Whiskey Jack for about 200m before leaping off to the right and cutting through the powder down to Ego Bowl, crossing that and following the route of the chairlift then straight-lining Green Acres and jumping off the rollers. The route was as good as ever and we all flew off the final roller of Green Acres, safe in the knowledge that our landing would be cushioned by the 20cm of fresh snow.

We repeated the route then bumped into Jeremy at the top of Emerald and tried another variation, then moved to the other side of the mountain, dropping down to Big Red. As we shot down Upper Franz's, disaster struck.

I was following Andy and Jer down the steep slope just below the chair, which was already becoming slightly mogulled. As Andy and Jer screamed down the piste Andy suddenly took off and I saw him cart-wheeling through the air, then heard a loud scream just before he came to a halt.

I came to a halt just below him, then hopped back up to where he'd stopped. I could see he was in some considerable pain. He told me that the scream was caused by his ankle and sat there hitting the ground in frustration. After testing the ankle's movement he declared that it wasn't broken, then after a short break to recover he did up his bindings and prepared to try riding down. As soon as he stood up he screamed again and sat down, so I radioed to Stan to get a ski patroller.

Jer had vanished, so Andy and I were left alone in the middle of the run. We decided it would be better if we were at the edge, so Andy tried walking and managed to limp to the side of the piste. We sat there for a while waiting for a patroller, who eventually turned up and agreed that we needed a blood-wagon to get Andy down. Another patroller brought the wagon and I watched as they splinted Andy's left leg and strapped him into the sled. As the patrollers were working, one of their radios announced that Peak Express had opened.

After Andy had looked after me on December 29th I felt I ought to stay with him and ignore Peak, but he insisted that I go and make the most of the powder. I waited while they finished preparing him for the journey, promised to let Emily know what was happening, then followed him down and took Big Red up to join Stan. After a couple of phone calls we managed to meet Jer at the top of Peak, where we agreed to do the best run in the world: Peak to Creek.

I had hoped to drop in to the West Bowl via the high entrance above Cockalorum but the visibility was very bad and it looked like we might be approaching a cornice. We descended to the conventional Cockalorum drop-in and traversed into the middle of the bowl then flew down, enjoying some of the best powder we've had. This time it was enough to cover all the ice and bumps from previous days, so every turn was pure powder.

We crossed Highway 86, ducked under the boundary rope and carried on down Peak to Creek, where the powder was even less tracked than in the West Bowl. Jer lead us down a new branch of the run, to the left of the main piste, in the hope that there would be fewer people ahead of us. The snow was in great condition and we flew down, leaping confidently over moguls which would normally have presented a much bigger problem.

As we descended towards Creekside the powder got gradually thinner and we began hitting the hard-packed snow beneath, but for once there was snow all the way down to the bottom. We arrived at Creekside hot and exhilarated, but also tired and glad of the rest in the gondola.

Having looked up as we dropped into Cockalorum we'd decided that the high route into West Bowl wasn't a cornice and was do-able, so we took Big Red and Peak back up to try it again. Although the drop-in was a bit sketchy, it was definitely worth it. We crossed over into the second gully and traversed across the bowl, much higher than had been possible from the normal Cockalorum entrance.

I'm running out of ways to describe our great powder runs - suffice to say this was another one of the best.

We stopped at Raven's Nest for a quick early lunch, during which we decided to visit Harmony next. The three of us took Harmony Ridge from our first lift, flying off pistes doing 180s, then hammering down the Gun Barrels. Unlike Monday, when Andy and I had struggled down on skis, there were tonnes of powder and every turn was like falling into goose down. It was so good we did exactly the same run again, though on our second run we all launched off the top of the Gun Barrels, leaping into the powder and narrowly avoiding some badly placed trees.

I managed to convince Stan and Jer to try the Sun Bowl route into Symphony which I'd discovered the previous day, but as we jumped down the steep moguls and traversed through the trees into the middle of the bowl they sounded less than impressed. Below us there were acres of untouched snow and as I lead off I was relieved to hear them both yelling out in excitement. When we met on the lower slopes of Symphony Bowl their grins said it all and Jer reckoned it was the best snow we'd ridden all day.

We rode down Harmony Ridge again for the next two runs, dropping off through the glades and down to the right of the ridge. The trees were fantasic - there was untouched snow on most turns and the trees were wide-enough apart to allow a fast and fluid descent.

When Stan headed home to save his ankle for the next day, Jer and I took one final run down Burnt Stew Trail and hiked along the boundary fence across the lower slopes of Piccolo. We found yet more virgin snow and both screamed down to rejoin the cat-track, before a final chairlift and the run down to the village.

Back home I found Andy sitting on the sofa with an ice-pack on his ankle, playing Tiger Woods golf on the PS2. He'd been told that he shouldn't go riding for a week and was obviously very frustrated, but after winning a couple of Tiger Challenges he perked up a bit.

All four of us were completely worn out and collapsed into our various bed in the early evening for a rest. By the time we woke up we couldn't be bothered cooking or going out, so ordered pizza and relaxed, reading books or playing on the PS2.