We had a fairly relaxed start on Saturday 29th, getting the 09:00 bus into the village to get Dawson to his lesson on time. He was running around panicking about everything, asking how to do his boots up and how to carry a snowboard, but we managed to get him to the bottom of the slopes, where Colette and I left him to the mercy of the snowboard instructor.
The forecast had predicted loads of precipitation, together with much increased temperatures, so we were a bit worried about it raining. The rain held off during the morning but the temperature was noticeably warmer and the snow was slushy even up on Peak. After taking Fitzsimmons, Garbanzo and Emerald up to avoid the gondola queue, we caught Peak up into the cloud and rode down Saddle. The run was fairly empty but neither of us felt very confident going fast, as we couldn't see far and the light was very flat.
We took the T-Bars up then dropped over into Harmony Bowl, riding down Die Hard then crossing over to Harmony Piste. The snow was not only slushy but also very slow in places - the board would suddenly feel as though it were braking, even when going in a straight line.
By the time Colette and I had got down to the chair I was feeling very uninspired, so when we got to the top of the chair we rode down Pika's Traverse and paused at the Roundhouse for a hot chocolate. 3 hours later we left, having put the world to rights. We rode back down to the village through the slush and rain, hoping it would cool down enough to snow overnight, then wandered off to shop for the evening's curry.
I cooked the usual Thai green chicken curry for Dawson, Colette, Stan, Kinga, Josh and Rich then Kinga provided a cherry pie and we settled down in front of the TV and watched the greatest film of all time, Top Gun.
We got up much earlier on Sunday 30th, to check whether the forecast rain had fallen as snow, but the website claimed there had been no new snow so we all went back to bed.
When we eventually caught the 12:00 bus into the village it was pouring with rain, so Dawson and Colette weren't at all keen on going up the hill. They dropped into Dubh Linn Gate to join Stan and Rich for the rugby and I took the gondola up Whistler to see how bad the conditions were. Peak and Harmony were closed so I managed one run down to Emerald through the slush before downloading the gondola. Above the terrain park it was snowing, so I left the mountain hoping that the conditions higher up would be gradually improving.
I met up with Dawson and Colette for some food in Citta then Dawson and I headed home and watched 8 Mile while Colette went shopping.
Bob and Andy returned from Vancouver in the afternoon then both Mikes and Shandy came round in the evening for a DIY sushi party.
Monday 31st was my 32nd consecutive day on the mountain and, to my great relief, the final day in March. I'd been trying to ride every day in March to win a competition, but the last week I'd been feeling very tired, so it was nice to have finally finished - I was looking forward to April and a day off!
We were up early again to see whether there was new snow but this time we didn't go back to bed and we up at the Roundhouse by 09:00. I spent one run with Dawson, slowly sliding down to Emerald Express, then got back to the top to discover Peak had opened. Stan, Rich, Bob, Matt and Colette were already on their way up, so I caught the chair up and set off down Whistler Bowl to Shale Slope. The snow there was pretty good - it was slightly heavy but it was deep enough to fly through without worrying about anything underneath, and better then anything we'd ridden for the past three or four days.
I caught Peak up into the cloud again, expecting the others to have dropped into West Bowl but there were very few tracks through the deep snow on Frontier Pass. I peeled off down the little path to the Justice drop-in and discovered that the snow there was still completely fresh.
The snow was wind-blown and had a slight crust, which worried me slightly. As I slid in I dislodged a couple of small avalanches but the snow in the gully was OK so I turned down it a couple of times then traversed across the bowl. The avalanche control had set off two falls, both of which had cleared the top layer of snow completely, exposing a horrible hard, rutted, icy layer created by the previous day's rain. I clattered across the avalanche tracks, then finally found some decent snow and flew down into the bowl. Although the snow was quite heavy it felt great to be flying through the bowl again and as I shot down the ramp onto the Highway I had the usual grin.
Stan caught up with me at the top of Big Red and we did the West Bowl again, then switched to Harmony. We set off towards Piccolo, wondering about the hike, but the visibility was awful so we abandoned our plan and headed for Symphony Bowl. On the way across the lower slopes of Piccolo I lost my balance, landed on my front, then looked behind to see Stan flying towards me. He sounded slightly surprised as he rode out of the fog, slightly worried as he rode straight towards me, then slightly apologetic as he rode straight over me! Luckily the snow was soft enough for my legs to sink in as Stan rode over them and I escaped injury.
We found some great snow at the top of Symphony Bowl but got stuck at the bottom and had to hike a bit before we made it over to Crescendo.
Back at the top we decided to try the ridge. The road wasn't too bad and we found the huge open area above the Sun Bowl Trees still had some fresh snow over to the right. Having gone right we headed for the Glades then on down through the trees, returning to the lift via Burnt Stew Trail.
We went back to the Roundhouse to catch up with Kinga and Josh, met up with Colette and Rich as well and decided to stop for lunch. Dawson joined us later on, then he and I headed out onto Ego Bowl while the others set off at slightly higher speed. Dawson had improved immensely since my run with him in the morning and was flying along, happily linking turns as he went. By the time we reached the bottom he'd given up traversing and was putting in short, fast turns.
We did another run down to Emerald then caught the gondola back to the village and went for a drink with Colette and Rich in the Longhorn.
Monday evening was Andy's last normal evening in Whistler - although he planned to be back for our party on Saturday, this was the last chance for meal out, so he invited us all to join him at Whistler's most exclusive restaurant, the Rim Rock Café. Andy, Bob, Dawson, Colette, Crystal and I enjoyed an amazing meal there - I'm not normally a huge seafood fan but was feeling adventurous, so tried their 'Trio' of prawns, ahi tuna and sea bass, all of which were superb. It was the probably the best meal any of us have had in Whistler.
After the meal we went home to the Palace and were joined by Matt, both Mikes, Shandy, Lexi and Phil, who helped send Andy off in true Whistler style.
Tuesday 1st was my long-awaited day off. I managed a reasonable lie-in then spent the day lazing around the house, chatting to people on MSN and sorting out various insurance claims while Andy packed up his belongings. Bob and Andy left for Vancouver in the afternoon, then in the evening Colette, Dawson and I walked into town and had a curry with Stan and Rich.
Stan, Rich, Colette and I began Wednesday 2nd with a trip down through the trees to Big Red, then headed over to Peak. At the top Rich and Colette opted for Frontier Pass and Highway 86 while Stan and I dropped into West Bowl. The snow there was OK but not good enough to do again, so we took off towards Harmony.
We hiked up above the top of Emerald and rode down Rabbit Tracks then onto the Millennium jump. We both flew off that faster than we had before but the landing was a bit crunchy.
On the way up Harmony we looked down at a couple of jumps under the lift and decided it would be fun to film them. I filmed Stan over a small cliff drop then moved onto him filming me over a steep drop further down. We had a second run in an attempt to improve but neither of us did so we gave up and moved on. We tried to find Headwall but dropped down too soon and ended up traversing round T-Bar bowl back to the Roundhouse.
After lunch I returned to Harmony with Colette to hike Piccolo. The weather was clear and there were several cm of fresh snow, so the Piccolo path was already well-trodden. We followed the footsteps up for fifteen minutes or so then, after a pause at the top, we set off down. I went first to show the way, stopping after I'd crossed over a couple of ridges. When I looked back I couldn't see Colette, so I dropped further down, hoping to be able to see more of the mountain from slightly further away.
Unfortunately the shape of the slope meant that the lower I went, the less I could see. When I figured this out I stopped and waited, and eventually Colette appeared over the horizon. Her descent took a while, as she insisted on lying down half-way through each turn, but she finally caught up and we took Burnt Stew Trail back down to Harmony.
I cooked a lasagne in the evening then went to meet Matt off the bus. We tried to sort out his kit, pass and lessons, but everywhere had closed, so we returned to the Palace and ate the lasagne with Ali and Colette.
We began Thursday 3rd by sorting Matt's kit out and getting him to his lesson, then Colette and I set Dawson off down Ego Bowl and met up with Stan and Kinga at the bottom of Harmony at about 11:15. I managed to convince Stan and Kinga to hike Piccolo but Colette wasn't keen to try it again, so opted out.
The weather during the hike was pretty amazing: the clouds kept clearing, dramatically lighting the side of Piccolo. The cloud stayed away as we reached the summit and we had some great views along the ridge towards Flute and Oboe.
The snow on the descent towards the boundary fence was as good as I've had on Piccolo. The temperature overnight must have been much colder than recently as the snow was much drier and lighter than the previous day. The three of us flew down the shallow slopes hardly turning, then paused briefly when we reached the trees before dropping off a snow-ledge and speeding off down Burnt Stew Trail.
We didn't have time to do the hike again as we had to get back to relieve Josh's babysitter, so we decided to have another go at the Headwall hike. This time we went past the top of the T-Bars and on over the top of the little hill, finally finding a wide-open area of snow leading gradually down towards the Roundhouse. Although the snow well-tracked it was still soft and the run down to the restaurant was way better than any of the other possible routes.
After lunch Stan, Kinga, Rich and I set off up Peak, leaving Dawson and Colette in charge of Josh. The plan had been a brief trip down Highway 86, but when Stan and I passed the top of Khybers we succumbed to the temptation of Peak to Creek and once more ducked under the boundary rope to the left of the cat-track.
Having got very lost on our last attempt at Khybers, we were careful not to get drawn too far left towards Function Junction. We steered right through the trees and found some amazing wide-open spaces as we dropped down towards the main Peak to Creek piste. Eventually we appeared out of the trees onto the main run and took the less-used left branch, hoping to find more fresh powder.
The snow gradually got worse as we descended and, after a bizarre encounter with a 60 year old local offering us a joint, we finally reached the end of the snow and hiked across onto the lower slopes of Dave Murray.
By the time we reached the Roundhouse everyone had left except Kinga, so Stan and I took off down Ptarmigan back to the village. I had a nasty crash on the way, managing to bruise the base of my spine through the crash-pants.
Back in the village we had a few drinks in the Crystal Lounge then headed home and had take-away pizza. | 
