Fernie 11 Week Ski Instructor Course ‘06 – Week 10

By Trevor Murphy

Week 10, the penultimate week for the first group of people doing Level 2 and they’re starting to feel some pressure. Luckily the rest of us are having a blast knowing it’s at least 3 weeks until we have to go through the same torture!!! That still doesn’t make us exempt from the dreaded weekly Thursday ski-off but where would the fun be if we didn’t have Jens, Wendy Mac, Jono etc grading our current performances!

The midweek social highlight was 5 pin bowling. You read it correctly, only 5 pins. We went along feeling mighty confident that this would be much easier than regular 10 pin bowling. Oh how wrong we were. For starters the bowling balls just about fit in the palm of your hand and those 5 pins are very well spread out. Yes, the excuses are already being put in place for what amounted to some very low scores (on the most part). Although, naming no names, one person did score more points in half a game with his left hand than the previous full game using his natural right hand, shocking but true.

After the bowling we ended up in The Pub having a few drinks with the instructors that attended and playing “I have never…”. Suffice to say that all the juicy gossip came out as the drinks began to flow and Leanne learned that us NONSTOPers are not as angelic as she once thought.

The highlight of the week was the 3 day trip to Banff. On the way we stopped off at the Radium Hot Springs for a soak before making our way to Banff and a chance to meet the NONSTOPers based there.

We all met for a meal at Wild Bill’s but we couldn’t eat unless there were members of Fernie and Banff on the same table. It was a great way to mix us which continued after the food as we played various ‘cowboy’ themed games such as lassoing the runaway bull (which was won by the Fernie NSS crew, Yee Haw).

The night continued in several drinking establishments before ending at the Auroura nightclub.

Worse for wear most of us did ski the next day at Lake Louise where we were faced with ‘huge’ queues at the lifts. (With 2 people making up a queue in Fernie, 15 people is ridiculous by comparison!)

That evening took on a similar feel to the previous night with great food and a’ few’ drinks before collapsing back at the hostel just over the bridge.

Sunday brought another early start and a trip to a new mountain resort called Sunshine. Another day’s skiing, our first trip in a gondola and weather that behaved with a Fernie factor all made Sunshine a memorable day out.

The trip home was fairly uneventful, well apart from an ambulance meeting the NONSTOP bus but that’s another story.

This is Mr Brightside signing off.

READ WEEK 11