Winter Camping

Yesterday was probably my most varied day i have had.

Lessons didn't go to well in the morning, Jens kept having a go at my skiing and to be honest made me feel like sh1t. It seemed like there was no way i would ever pass Level 2 next week.

I was well down beat for most of the morning, wondering also whether i should go on the winter camping in the afternoon of if i needed all the instruction i could get.
Anyways we finally broke for lunch and went to lizard creek. After a mass luncheon a few of us just chilled out in the lounge before we headed off for winter camping.

We met everyone @ 3 @ the bottom of the timber chair. We headed up not long after with huge bags and loads of gear. Then it was a short ski to get out of bounds and an absolutely exhausting hike to the area where we were building our caves. Then we started the building or more like digging actually cos that was what it was. We started the process by flattening/trampling a circle about 10ft across. Then piled alot more snow on top to make a dome. Meanwhile John dug a pit about 8 ft deep at the front to start our entrance. One we had gone far enough down we started to dig in and then up - all bloody hard work. Over the period of 5 hours we went from a flat piece of ground to a cave about 60cm tall, 6 ft wide and about 6 ft deep. I have never dug so much in my life - it was like building a sand castle the size of a large car!

Eventually it was finished and we joined everyone by the measly fire to try and warm up a little. In the end though we just hit the sack - literally. To be honest i didn't sleep to badly. The only issues i came across was the fact that my pillow rolled away in the middle of the night.

We woke up early this morning to see what was happening - Louise had had a very cold night and was like an ice block unlike me and John who were fine. It was fairly chilly and so getting changed/back into selopats and jacket in a space as small as i described was a challenge. Also our boots had quite literally frozen and getting them back on took ages and is not easy when you cant sit up and only lie on your side.

Any how after about an hour of faffing we got to the point where we had skis on and were ready to go. Feeling like a Sherpa with a huge bag on my back we skied powder covered steep terrain back to the piste. Once on there it was great as no one had been done the run yet so we had virtually fresh tracks - wicked!

Strange as it sounds i would do the whole thing again it was great fun!

At this point breakfast was in order and so we hit the day lodge for some much needed nourishment. I indulged myself with waffles, syrup and cream - yum. After breaky we got the bus back to the lodge where we freshened up and chilled out - i was absolutely cream crackered. In the afternoon i went for a ponder to town and did nothing else - just rested knowing that i had my coaching course starting tomoz.

Will let peps know how that goes.