It's been a strange few days since the last diary entry: we've spent most nights having farewell parties and have said goodbye to Andy, Stan, Kinga, Josh and Colette. The days have been spent on the mountain, where the snow on the upper slopes is still in great condition. Up to 70cm of snow is forecast for the next 24 hours so things should get better and better.

Friday 4th was Stan's last chance to do Fresh Tracks so he and Rich were up very early. I caught the first gondola up and met them at the Roundhouse at about 08:35. We did a run down Green Acres and flew off the rollers then Stan and Rich popped in for some more breakfast and I had a second run down Green Acres.

We met up with Bob, Matt and Colette and took Peak up. Stan had fond memories of the previous day's Peak to Creek run and proposed another trip, though there wasn't much enthusiasm. Eventually Stan convinced Bob, Matt and me and we said goodbye to Rich and Colette.

We took the same route as the previous day, down Frontier Pass and Highway 86 then under the boundary fence and over to Khybers. The run down was OK but we ended up with another walk out at the bottom and several damaged boards.

Back at the Roundhouse we had a coffee then wandered outside without any real purpose. My back was quite sore from the crash I had on the way down Ptarmigan the day before, so I was on the verge of downloading in the gondola until Stan ridiculed me into submission and we headed over to Harmony.

We took various different routes, with Stan and me opting for the trees above Marmot. We traversed around higher and further than usual, until the point where I noticed that there were no other tracks. Very shortly after that we realised we were at the top of a very steep slope, which was getting steeper the further we went. We had just dropped down after passing a dense patch of trees and couldn’t go back, so instead we stood there wondering what to do and beginning to worry.

Stan began side-slipping down the precarious slope, sometimes in control but often hanging on to trees and rocks as he slid. I didn't like the look of his descent, so climbed up a bit and went back the way we'd come, but the route wasn't much more friendly. We stayed in radio contact as we slid down, and after about 10 rather scary minutes we both appeared on the track just above the Millennium Jump and continued on to Harmony Express.

Having met up with the rest of the group at the top, Colette and I set off down the ridge for a leisurely run while Matt, Stan and Bob leapt off everything they could find. We took it very easy, chatting all the way, eventually being lapped by the others. After meeting up again at the top of Harmony we took Pika's Traverse down to the Roundhouse then carried on down to the base of the mountain.

Stan, Colette and I had lunch at the Dubh Linn Gate with Rich, Kinga and Josh then switched mountains for Colette's farewell tour of Blackcomb. We began with 7th Heaven, blasting down Cloud Nine, then Stan and I dropped into Secret Bowl. After months of thinking we were riding down Pakalolo we finally found the real route, which was far steeper than our normal descent and had some great fluffy powder.

We met up with Colette back down at Glacier Express, took the chair up through the heavy snow then rode down the Crystal Traverse and finished the day with a blast down Ridge Runner and Rock'n'Roll.

Friday was Colette's last night in Whistler, so we all went out for a few drinks in the evening. We began in Citta, then moved on to Moe Joes for some cheesy dance music. Colette, Stan, Rich, Dawson, Royce, Bob, Matt and I boogied on into the night, enjoying free Bacardis, glo-sticks and hats courtesy of Crystal and her fleet of Bacardi girls.

None of us felt particularly good on Saturday morning. I got up around 10:00 to bid farewell to Colette but went straight back to bed. I eventually made it out and met up with Ingrid, Dave, Amber, Curtis and Adam at the Wizard Grill. We ate lunch there then did a run down the Wizard chair with Amber, before setting off for 7th Heaven and Cloud Nine.

Stan and Rich joined us at the bottom of 7th Heaven and we did a couple of runs down the powder fields and Cloud Nine then dropped over the other side of the ridge and down to Secret Bowl. We sat for a while talking then set off towards Secret Chute.

When we'd done Pakalolo the previous day I'd looked up and seen a great little gully, where the snow looked amazing. I thought it was Secret Chute but, on arriving at the top of the chute, it turned out to be much wider and less interesting than the gully I'd seen. I traversed across the top towards where I though the gully was then hiked over a ridge and found the hidden gully.

There were a couple of tracks leading into it, but the snow was still pretty good. Near the top there were a couple of rocks showing, which made the initial drop-in rather difficult as the gully wasn't much wider than a snowboard. Having side-slipped slowly down the top section of the gully I traversed across to the left and flew down towards where Stan and Rich were waiting, turning down the steep slope into some great, deep powder.

We finished our day with a ride up Jersey Cream and a quick trip through the Snow Cross course then headed down to Blackcomb Base II where I took the gondola down to the village.

I got home to discover that there was still no venue for the evening's after-party. We had a slight problem in that the bar we were borrowing for the Sea vs Sky party closed at 01:00, which was likely to leave 50 or more people on the street and looking for a party. Having been told by Dawn that she would call the police as soon as anyone arrived at the house, we had hoped to find an alternative venue but attempts had failed and people were beginning to panic.

I went to Merlin's for 18:00, as the draw for the "Living the Dream" competition was due to take place then. The competition was for season pass holders, to see who did the most days on the mountain each month. Having ridden every day in March I thought I was in with a reasonable chance, but it turned out that there were three people who'd done every day, and I didn't get the prize.

Dawson, Royce and I went for a nice Thai meal then headed home to change into our gang outfits for the Sea to Sky party. We discovered that a venue had been found for the after-party, so everyone was in good spirits as we moved on to Black's for our very own party.

The guests in Black's looked amazing - the vast majority had made an effort to dress like gang members and we had a great party there, with several friends from Vancouver and Whistler working the decks.

When Black's closed at 01:00 most of the party moved on to Tommy Africa's to round up people for the after-party, while Dom, Mike and I put away the kit from the party. We moved straight down the road to Taluswood, an amazing area above Creekside full of enormous houses. The one we'd rented turned out to be magnificent - three stories, with a hot tub, several balconies and a huge living room/dining room/kitchen area. We began wondering why we were living in the squalor of the Palace.

When Tommy's closed the numbers swelled, to the point where there were over 50 people spread between the various floors. Decks were set up and the party really got going. It lasted well into Sunday, although I left with Matt and Dawson at about 06:00 as I was hoping to ride with Stan and Kinga on their last day.

I was brought out of my coma at about 11:30 on Sunday 6th to answer the telephone. It was Kinga, trying to encourage me to join her and Stan for a final trip up the mountain - we decided on Whistler and met up at the Roundhouse at about 12:40.

We rode down through the trees to Harmony, managing to avoid the enormous cliffs that we'd got stuck on the previous day, then took Harmony up and set off for Piccolo. The hike seemed to take longer than recent trips - perhaps because we couldn't see a great deal due to low clouds. At the top and on the way down we paused for some considerable breaks, partly due to Kinga's hangover and partly because we were all feeling quite contemplative as it was Stan and Kinga's last visit of the season to Piccolo.

We returned to the Roundhouse via Pika's then Kinga downloaded and Stan and I took one last Peak chair up. We rode down Frontier Pass and the area between that and the Highway, then descended to the village via Expressway.

Royce, Dawson and I joined Stan, Kinga, Rich and Josh for their final supper in the evening, in La Bocca. We had a nice meal there, mostly spent racing round the restaurant trying to catch Josh, then we said our final goodbyes and headed home.

We had another fairly leisurely start on Monday 7th, taking the gondola up Blackcomb through the heavy snow. The high lifts on Blackcomb were both closed due to the wind, so Royce, Dawson and I began the day with a warm-up run down Wishbone.

I left the boys to play on Jersey Cream and took Crystal up, then did the quick hike up to Fraggle Rock. The snow there was pretty good there but in the steep parts it was still possible to feel the hard-packed snow underneath the new powder.

I rode down Log Jam and Backstage Pass down to the road, then took Excelerator and Jersey Cream back up to meet the boys in Rendezvous. We bumped into a couple of Dawson's friends from the UK there, and set off with them after lunch. We returned to Crystal and took the usual route down Ridge Runner and Rock'n'Roll then dropped off the snowboarding contingent and I took Dawson's friends, Gavin and Mark, up Jersey Cream.

We traversed high and right beneath Secret Bowl but found the area closed due to avalanche risk. There was a gate lower down where entry was allowed, so we dropped down slightly and contoured round towards Glacier Express then descended through some quite deep powder on The Bite.

We met up with Dawson and Royce back at Glacier Creek then after a quick break we said goodbye to Gav and Mark and the three of us took Jersey Cream up again. We rode down the Jersey Cream run then tried Springboard from the top of the chair, but I lost Dawson and Royce there. I finished the day with another run down Wishbone and Zig-Zag then bumped into the boys back in the village and we all caught the bus home.

We had a night off, with Royce cooking pasta, then we watched the second best film ever, The Matrix.