May Dump!

We woke up on Thursday to a 10cm layer of fresh snow everywhere! Unfortunately, I was working at the base, so for once we didn't get up early to ski. I also carried a couple of bags down to the car; for Mum and Dad were leaving via John's house on Friday and could leave all my stuff with him, allowing me just the bare essentials to last me the final 10 days at Sunshine then the week in Invermere.

So I spent another quiet morning at the base, while Mum and Dad exchanged and bought a few things in town. They joined me in time to ride the gondola back up, and after lunch (staff cafe for once!) we went out for a ski in the now 20cm of snow! We went straight for Wawa, Dad and I racing down with Mum calmly practicing her turns behind us. On the way back up Wawa we saw Mum, and what a difference in her skiing! She was looking very very steady, confident and strong as she kept a rhythm, turning all the way down Wawa Bowl in the deep and heavy snow. Her instructor had definately done a good job with her!

Dad and I headed over to Standish to see what that was like, but one run told us pretty quickly that Wawa was the best place to go. Unfortunately, trying to get on the lift, I spent too much time brushing the wetness off the seat and found myself too low to get back on!!! The lift was stopped and I made my way back to the base to get on the next chair, but it still looked particularly stupid... We did a couple more runs up the lift, but I was developing a sore calf and we decided that afer one last run through the trees of Star Trek, is was time to get some more hot chocolate. Skiing back to the village, we noticed that all the lifts (including the gondola) were suspiciously stopped... Ian, F&B manager, told us that the whole resort had suffered a power cut on account of the heavy snowfall affecting the power lines, but at least the Daylodge, OSL and Hotel were all runnning on the generator that cuts in automatically when this happens.

We were able to get our hot chocolate, and by the time we headed over to the Salomon tent we were greeted by a very wet mother, who had been stuck on Wawa for 20 minutes, just feet from the end terminal! She was cold but amused, and told us about the ski patrol who had been refusing to lift her the 6 feet off the chair onto the ramp. So it was definately time to head to the hot tub.

We ate again in Chimney Corner, which was outstanding. It's funny seeing it from the punter's perspective, but the overall effect is particularly good; the food, the service and the whole experience were all excellent. And during mum and Dad's stay we experience 4 different servers and 14 different dishes, which were all equally fast and tasty respectively. Between us, though, we had the Philly Cheese Steak 3 times, which definately proves to be a winner...

Although power had been out in my room when I returned my things before hot-tubbing, it had been restored by the time I had returned, so I was able to finish packing for Mum and Dad's departure the next day.

I had an excellent time with my parents, and I loved organising and then supervising their holiday. It was great to show them 'my resort', especially when it was so quiet. And I'll see them again in 3 weeks' time!

Seeing my parents off