OnSno.com

The day started as normal this morning, with everyone awake by 8am. Breakfast was uneventful, and we tried to hit the slopes as early as possible to make the most of another day of great morning weather. There had been a light dusting of snow and the conditions were (in the most), perfect.

Pip and I skied alone for a while during the morning, while Ed and Tess hit the slopes to bust their thighs a little more. We skied around the Silver Woods area for the most part, although we ventured towards the Comet express and skied a number of runs over here as well. We met up with Ed not long after, and we attempted to cover every run in the Silver Woods area before we stopped for lunch.

We stopped for lunch at Bugaboos Bakery, again, as we enjoyed it immensely the day before. Although we ate similar dishes, we mixed and matched the food to keep some form of variety in what we called a ‘diet’. Lunch was much more quite today, as most of the locals were back at work/school/college and so the mountain was basically a part of Australia. Not only the people on the mountain, but most of them working here were of Australian origin (once the locals had vacated the area). Feels like we’ve come a long way, only to be at home again!

After lunch we were rejoined by Tess and we skied more runs off the Comet Express, including Sundance and Far Out (and Silver Fox) – now Pip’s favourites – and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon. Although the weather wasn’t as great, and the clouds had sunk lower and lower, it still wasn’t too cold and it was nice enough for skiing.

We ended the day in the Silver Woods area – closest to our house – where we skied until the buzzer went at 3:30pm. After making a short uphill hike, we managed to get onto the ski-home trail that was actually just a road or two leading to our house. Once we had returned home, and rested briefly, Pip and I headed for the village to do a bit of shopping. While we were there, we discovered that not only did Silver Star offer snowmobile tours (which we had already decided we wanted to do), but also Snowshoeing tours. We were told to visit a small expo that ran every Monday night at the Saloon, to get some more information about the different options that were available.

Although the walk to the Saloon was not far from the shop where we discovered this, the weather had turned considerably nasty, and we walked the few steps in blizzard conditions. After obtaining some information, we decided that we were going to do one of the tours that included a full dinner at one of the cabins out in the woods – but we had to check if anybody else was interested first (we thought Nat might be).

From here we ventured to Silver Star’s own candy store, and on to the on-mountain grocery store to collect some supplies. By the time we were finished this, the weather was terrible – it was really coming down (as the photos don’t do justice to). Luckily, as we headed for home, the resort shuttle bus was preparing to leave, and drop people at their respective homes – so we jumped aboard and saved turning ourselves into snowmen.

Once we reached the house, we relaxed for a short while with everyone else (who had been relaxing while we braved the weather) before Ed decided that he wanted to have a short dip in the hot tub. Before doing this, however, he had mentioned days before that he was going to walk out on the balcony where the snow was waist deep – but he was going to do it in his bathers. After trudging out there, and discovering that it wasn’t quite as soft and fluffy, sink to your waist powder, and that it was much colder than he had anticipated, it was time for a spa.

While the weather was bad, it wasn’t that bad… yet. Ed, Pip and I made our way to the hot tub first, which unfortunately wasn’t just on the balcony like most of the luxury apartments that had recently been finished. Instead it was out the front door, around the side of the house, down the stairs to the front yard, around the front of the house and there – in the middle of the front yard – was the hot tub. No protection from the elements, nowhere to get changed, nowhere to leave the clothes we had quickly taken off before jumping into the scorching heat and so on. Not to worry though – we were tough!

As soon as Nat and Tess joined us, however, the weather made a turn for the worse. The wind picked up incredibly (which, annoyingly, blew quite a wind tunnel down the side of the house where the only stairs to our door were) and blew mounds of snow from the tall trees that surrounded the yard. While it was fun at first, it soon dawned on us how cold it was, how dangerous the falling snow was, and how far it was back to the warmth of the house.

The hot tub didn’t last long, and as we all finally escaped the freezing paradise Ed had provided for us, we greatly enjoyed the heat of the house once we made it up the stairs and back inside. From here, it was a relatively normal evening for us – an episode or two of a CSI marathon, and relatively early to bed.

We all fell asleep hoping that the blizzard that had ruined our hot tub had brought lots of new snow for the morning ahead – just to top off the nice conditions we had had during the day – and that the weather was back to being excellent by the time we woke up.

For once, the photos are actually more up to date than the blog, so don’t hesitate to check them out!

Hopefully I’ll put up today’s report tomorrow morning, so check it out when you wake up! For now though, it’s goodnight!