After not a lot of snow fall and some spring temperatures we suddenly received a snow report forecasting some fresh snow (much needed) followed by some cold temperatures. I guess winter had made a come back.
So the day before our exam, while the rest of the kids undertook their teach exam we headed out for some ski practice in fresh powder. It was 10 -15 cm thick in places and so dry and powdery. It was also minus 20 and the wind made it feel a lot colder. In anticipation of the weather, we had both bought some new gloves in Invermere on the Sunday. My new down and feather filled mittens were stuffed with hand warmers and I still couldn’t feel my fingers. With the start of frost bite on my nose scare we headed in for lunch and a defrost. I decided to put my new mittens to the test and for the afternoon wore one new mitten and one of my old mittens so I could make a true comparison.
The down mittens won, even though my fingers still got cold at times. Pete meanwhile wore one small and one medium glove and decided they were equally chilly. Even Pete had cold fingers – and that NEVER happens!
We woke up on exam day and it was minus 30 degrees. The Summit chairlift didn’t open all day as it was minus 34 at the top plus wind chill. I guess it was either too cold for the chairlift to operate or too cold for the staff to stand outside and operate it. Luckily the wind was a lot stiller than the day before so it actually didn’t feel quite as cold.
So the exam proceeded and we were both put in the same group with Vincent La Fontaine as our course conductor (or Vince Fontaine from Grease as my friend at home, Amanda, pointed out). Because of the cold we were asked to perform each of the 4 elements twice with a little feedback for improvement in between from Vincent. We had a warm up break mid-morning while everyone tried to find their fingers and toes – and don’t forget to check your nose!
We finished at 2pm and had an hour to wait for the results and then gathered nervously to wait. My name was called out for a pass quite early on which was followed by many others. Eventually Pete and I could see Vincent only had one envelope left, heart in mouth time. And then, thankfully, he called Pete’s name out. Phew ! It would have been awful if one had passed and not the other. Thankfully, we are both now Level 2 CSIA ski instructors. If only we were young enough to get a visa and work out here in Canada with it (dream, dream dream).
We headed straight to the T bar for a celebratory drink or 6. The evening is a bit of a blur with more drinks in the common room, a pizza, back in the T Bar, jaeger bombs, a party on a balcony and midnight munchies.
The next day we managed a few runs in the afternoon followed by a much needed warm up in the thermal pools. The ice on your feet getting to the edge of the pools was the coldest I have felt my feet – ever!
And before you know it, our last night with everyone was upon us. We had a drink in the T-bar with a few of the kids and then popped to a few people’s rooms to say farewell and then went to undertake a mammoth packing session.
The leaving of the Pine Inn was true to form. The kids were leaving for Calgary airport at 06.15 and, once they left their rooms, their keycard wouldn’t let them back in to get the rest of their luggage. Also the lift broke (again) so everyone had to carry their luggage down 4 flights of stairs. Unfortunately it wasn’t fixed when we had to leave for Revelstoke at 12pm either. What a joy!
So now there are four of us heading to Revelstoke for 2 days “steeps and deeps” and then onto Sunpeaks.
The next chapter of the adventure….
