This week in Banff has been a very relaxing one. It was our first week off in 8 weeks! Let’s just say I spent it regaining my 
energy and catching up with people from back home. The highlights of this week were shredding the powder on Monday, sleeping in on Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday, and learning to snowboard on Friday – not to mention the Jersey Shore themed night in the Storm Cellar.
Last week’s cold temperatures left us with no lessons at the end of the week, so to make up for it we had a day’s training on Monday. The snow was dumping and the powder was building up quickly which made for a great day of skiing. This time I had Dom as my instructor, for the first time in the program. He took us to Wa Wa straight away and headed to the trees for some fresh tracks. It wasn’t all fun and games though as we learnt how to introduce someone to powder skiing for the first time. It’s quite a different stance compared to normal skiing. By the end of a great day skiing however, I was extremely tired! Once the bus drove us home, we had a nice dinner and then headed off to bed.
Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday were spent catching up on sleep, watching movies, shopping, doing my washing, cooking, walking around town and the list of lazy things goes on! I did enjoy a trip into town to watch the Chelsea vs Manchester United match. There were about 13 of us who watched – with only a few Man U supporters. Unfortunately Man U lost and there were triple the amount of smiles in the room for Chelsea’s win!
Friday was a whole different story! Duncan Evans was kind enough to put his new instructing qualifications to the test by teaching me to snowboard. I was lucky enough to borrow Kirstin Lindsay’s snowboard and boots for the day instead of having to hire some. At first I couldn’t manage to get the hang of it but after 2 or 3 runs I was having the best time! We boarded up Goats Eye, Angel, Divide and Wa Wa – not to mention the terrain park! I didn’t do any jumps obviously but we met up with Tim Sanderson in the park and he showed off his awesome skills. Tim is an amazing skier – he has a lot of guts to pull off the tricks he does. By the end of the day I was wrecked! I had so much fun and a big thanks to Duncan for being such a great teacher!! The end of the afternoon was the beginning of a big night – our Jersey Shore party! Surprisingly, quite a lot of the guys really got into it and headed into town and to get spray tans during the day. They definitely fit the part well with tight clothes, big hair, lots of makeup, hair gel and sunnies! It was a lot of fun, not to mention the karaoke at the Storm Cellar! If you want to see everyone in their fake tans, take a look on the other Banff Blog for some great pictures!
Level 2 training commences tomorrow and everyone is getting ready for a big couple of weeks. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us all!
Until next week,
Shauna.
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