Whistler

It’s September and already on Instagram there are pictures of snow in Whistler mountains and I so wish I was going back there this year. Last year I had an amazing 2 weeks snowboarding with Pro Ride.

Having cracked my rib in Serre Chevalier the year before (which snapped when I sneezed the following week driving to work), I both wanted to make progression with my technique and regain confidence so wanted to get lessons, but as I was travelling alone and couldn’t afford private lessons, I decided that a snowboard camp was the way to go. Unfortunately there is quite limited availability for these in Europe, with them mostly being UK groups going out and would probably have resulted in single supplements etc and I really wanted to guarantee great snow conditions so I could make the most of my Trip… so Canada it was!

The conditions were amazing! Almost every night there was another 10cm of snow. The slopes are wide and often empty, one day when I went down I found a piste that was completely untouched fresh snow. Who needs off-piste with conditions like this?!

The camp was fantastic, as with anywhere, the people make the place and the group that was there over Christmas were so lovely, with apre-ski hot-tub sessions and joint dinners making the whole experience really fun.

I did Free-ride for the first week to regain my confidence and there was just so much snow, we had a great time cruising around the slopes, doing little bits of off-piste amongst the trees and improving general riding technique.

The second week I took on Free-style. Having never been in the park before I was pretty nervous and bearing in mind that my rib injury was due to me trying to teach myself to pop! It was great though, the instructors were able to give us really good individual advice and we wen’t through both parks over the course of the week. I’m so happy that I can now ride boxes hips and jumps!

The video sessions half way through the week are pretty helpful as you can’t necessarily see what you’re doing wrong until you see it from a different perspective, and watching everyone else too makes is a fun social evening and I also learnt how to edge and wax my own board!

Added bonus: Whistler is a Smoke-Free town so you can stand in the lift lines and wander through town with super fresh air in your lungs!