After much anticipation, Tuesday 10th turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax. Huge amounts of snow had been forecast, although the temperature was also due to rise. Hoping that the snow would be OK higher up, Matt and I arranged to meet on the 07:00 bus and use up our final Fresh Tracks tickets.

The snow report said there had been 22cm of snow overnight, which was enough to convince me of the Fresh Tracks plan. The gondola was running slowly because of the wind, but we were up at the Roundhouse shortly before 08:00 and had time to grab a plate of sausage, bacon, egg and hash-browns before rushing outside to sample the snow.

The snow was quite heavy even at the level of the Roundhouse. We flew off the side of Upper Whiskey Jack then almost failed to make it over the flat area on the far side of Ego Bowl. Simply reaching the rollers on Green Acres was hard enough - the snow was incredibly slow, so we failed to take off over the rollers and only just made it back to Emerald Express.

We tried an alternative route, heading to the right of Emerald then down part of Marmot to Green Acres. The run was slightly steeper and so a little easier in the heavy snow, but the jumps off the rollers were still disappointing.

We gave up on Emerald and tried Franz's Meadow instead. That was OK at the top, but the heavier snow lower down made life very difficult and we both had to hike out. We moved on to the tree run off to the left Orange Peel then under the chair and across Jimmy's Joker, but the snow there was as wet as anywhere, so we gave up and went to Pika's for a drink.

While we were drying out Mike joined us. He didn't think either Peak or Harmony was likely to open, so Matt and I decided to ride down and call it a day. The route down was like wake-boarding once again but was quite fun.

I spent the afternoon doing a few errands then relaxing back at the Palace. We invited Dawson's mates, Gavin and Mark, round for dinner and Dawson began his culinary training with the famous Thai Green Curry. The five of us then moved on to the Boot Pub for a very entertaining evening.

Wednesday 9th was one of the best days of the season. After the disappointment of the previous day's conditions (and the alcohol in the evening) I hadn't set an alarm, so woke up at about 08:00. When I had a look online I discovered a snow report claiming not 15-20cm of fresh snow as forecast, but 43cm, with almost a metre in the last 48 hours!

I instantly began panicking, as 43cm of powder should not, under any circumstances, be ignored. Nor should it be left to people who don't understand Justice. The only solution was to get up there as quickly as possible.

I made it to the bus stop by 08:30, leaving Royce and Dawson sleeping off the previous night's excesses. The weather was a massive improvement on the previous morning: it was colder, clearer, brighter and not raining. Matt caught the same bus and we took the gondola up Whistler, arriving at the Roundhouse not long after 09:00. There we were faced with the usual problem of which route to take while waiting for the high lifts to open.

We began with the usual run down Upper Whiskey Jack then off across Ego Bowl and down over the rollers on Green Acres. The snow was pretty good, although getting a bit heavy by the bottom of the run. It was deep but didn't look or feel like 43cm.

We rode down past the reservoir by Peak chair and out into Franz's Meadow. The snow there was great at top again although by the time we got down to the level of Franz's chair it was quite heavy and we both ended up walking.

We tried the Orange Peel trees next and found the snow had improved massively in 24 hours. Although the terrain was steep, the deep snow made it easy to get down. I had a minor catastrophe when I crossed Jimmy's Joker and fell down a small cliff, landing on my back on a tree, on exactly the same place I'd bruised when I crashed on Ptarmigan the previous week. After a few minutes to recover, we set off again and were soon back at the chair.

At the top of Big Red we spoke to a patroller who said the T-Bars might open within 20 minutes, with Harmony shortly behind and Peak not before midday. We considered riding down and queuing for the T-Bars but opted for a little hike up Pika's traverse instead.

The first line of avalanche danger signs had been folded up, indicating that avalanche control beyond them was complete, so we hiked further up Pika's than normal, until we reached the second line of signs, which were still open. We put our boards on and flew down Back Bowl, which was much better than our run down Rabbit Tracks the day before. We both made it onto the G.S. run without stopping then traversed right into the space under the chairlift. There were a few tracks there but it was all very soft, and we surfed down to the chair before racing off down Sidewinder towards Emerald, keeping as much speed as possible.

We caught Emerald back up then Matt decided to stop for a break and I rode down to the T-Bars. There were huge queues for both the T-Bars and Peak, although only the T-Bars were running. After a considerable wait I got up and rode back down through Glacier Bowl to the T-Bar queue.

As I neared the front of the queue, Matt rang and we agreed to meet at the top of the T-Bars. When I got there though I noticed Harmony chair was running and, faced with a 20 minute wait, I remembered Mike's now-famous words: "No mates on powder days!" I took off across the bowl, riding under the chairlift past the Pylon 11 cliff drop then crossing Harmony Piste and finishing with a great run down the lower section of McConkey's. The snow down the whole route was great - the powder was soft and forgiving, even where there were other tracks.

Arriving at the bottom I was amazed to discover that there was no queue for the lift. I guessed that the lift had only been open for 10 minutes or so and that everyone was queuing for Peak.

Whatever the reason, it was great news! I took the chair up and rode down the ridge, then dropped off down Kaleidescope. The snow there was amazing - even fluffier than the ride down from the T-Bars. I had one of my best ever runs down through the trees and into Boomer Bowl, then on down towards the chair. I got the exit from Boomer Bowl slightly wrong and ended up having to skate back to the chair but it was still an awesome run.

The chair still had hardly any queue, so I took it back up again, aiming to ride down Harvey's Harrow, a steep clearing in the trees above Burnt Stew Trail. Having flown down the ridge I turned right and rode on down towards the trees but somehow missed my intended route and found myself in a steeper wooded area. The journey down wasn't quite as fluid as it might have been without the trees, as I kept finding myself trapped in the denser areas. Eventually I reached the cat-track and returned to the chair.

This time the queue had built up and even though I went for the singles line it took a while. To my amazement it turned out to be almost two o'clock - I had no idea it was so late. On the chair a girl told me that she'd heard that Peak was open, so I panicked for the second time in the day and began worrying about tracks appearing in my beloved West Bowl.

I rode down the ridge between Harmony Bowl and Glacier Bowl then dropped off to the left and rode through some nice snow down to the Peak queue. The queue wasn't too bad, and soon after two I was dropped off at the top. The visibility there wasn't great, so the journey down Frontier Pass was a bit hit and miss, but I stayed on my feet and made it to the Justice Drop-In. On the way I passed various piste markers which had been almost completely covered - these are normally between 1.5 and 2m high, so there had been a considerable amount of snow!

To my dismay there were already tracks towards the drop-in but as I rode past the cliff sign and slid into the gully the snow seemed OK. I traversed across the bowl, crossing some hard patches left by avalanches, ending up above some vast patches of untracked snow. I turned left down the face of the bowl and into some of the best conditions I've ever seen there.

The sky had cleared and the snow was deep, soft and fluffy. It wasn't quite as light and dry as the Christmas Day snow but was about as good as I've ever ridden down through the West Bowl. Inspired by powder, I sped down the bowl doing huge sweeping turns, gradually moving to the right to end up in the trees. The snow at the bottom was slightly heavier and as I flew towards a tree hoping to turn, the changing conditions caught me out and I ended up flying straight into the tree.

I took the opportunity to take a few picture back up into the bowl then rode down into the cloud and back to Big Red. I was back at Peak chair by about half past two and soon heading down Frontier Pass again. This time the conditions had switched around - I could see the route down to the drop-in, but it was overcast by the time I set off down the bowl. I had another great run then raced down to Big Red in the hope of making it to Peak in time for a last lift.

I arrived at the chair at 14:59, with one minute to spare. On the way up I looked over towards the Christmas Trees and decided to try the alternative route into the West Bowl. The descent through Whistler Bowl was surprisingly nice, even though it was fairly well used. There were some large moguls developing but they were soft, so hitting them didn't cause too much of a problem. The path round to the Christmas Trees was even nicer - it crosses some of the steepest areas in the resort, including the double-diamond West Cirque, but the snow was so soft that riding across and even turning down the slopes was easy.

Finally I made it to the saddle above the Christmas Trees. I paused to take a couple more pictures then turned left around the top of the bowl towards the usual way in and traversed a short way out across the bowl. The run down was as good as the two I'd down starting from the other side, but once more I had trouble with the heavier snow near the bottom of the bowl and fell over as I approached the exit ramp.

I took Big Red up for a final run down Ptarmigan to Olympic Station, then downloaded on the gondola.

I ended the day very happy but absolutely exhausted. I hadn't stopped for a break the whole day and had completely forgotten about lunch. Apart from queuing, the only time I'd paused was to relieve myself and even then I'd kept the board on! One of the best days of the season - sorry Stan.