The big event today is to dress up like Santa and ski the day away. Alternately, you can dress however you like and watch the Santas.

Unfortunately you have to be awake and on the mountain before 9 o'clock. Mac and I didn't quite make it.

But Anthony and Ian did and they shredded the mountain (and Anthony's Santa suit). Their 7.30 early start (in the dark we believe) got them free lift passes for the day (that's $109 here). They joined with dozens of other early bird Santas and then stayed in costume all day. They were a hit of course and had themselves featured on everyone's social media pages and in The Quest newspaper and of course are the stars of their own super hero gopro feature film. (Footage pending ). And just saying, think the $8 felt Santy suit will not find its way back to Australia. It's headed for the bin!

The story of the Skiing Santas is in the local newspaper The Pique.
http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/skiing-santas-hit-the-slopes/Content?oid=2743618

Anthony has declared today as his best skiing ever...so "go the Whistler powder." They stuck to Whistler Mountain today, hugging the runs under the Emerald Chair. But to be truthful, there was so much powder around there was no shortage of options.

As for us, we fell into the "late" category and saw two Santas sliding towards their bus and one Santa on his way to breakfast. Needed to be up earlier and further up the mountain to see the action. Will have to rely on pictures.

Mac had good intentions of doing the Santa run. Thank goodness common sense prevailed. He decided that after 32 years absence from skiing he probably needed a practice run before going out with the big boys! Planning on making the first run on Tuesday on Mindy's day off.

The Village was really buzzing this morning. Big super blobs of snow cascaded from the sky. The heaviest snow we have seen since arriving. No wind. Not really cold. Everyone just seemed to be so HAPPY. Lots of smiles, people scampering towards the gondolas, lots of different languages, children running up and sliding down snow mounds. The constant crackle and crunch of boots on snow. It was if we were in our very own Christmas card.

And of course, everything is so white. I keep snapping the camera but the pale white sameness of the picture doesn't quite capture the startling white purity of the reality of the snow. You really do need to be here!

So what did we get up to while the energetic ones were skiing and Mindy was working? We spent our time outside revisiting our familiar haunts. Our early morning walk was back to Fitzsimmons Creek. The bridge we crossed everyday in summer. The back trail from our unit leads to the bridge...literally a five minute walk. We did the big loop via the Village then came home via the back trail. The creek is still running but the rocks and surrounding park is just a lumpy bed of white.

Heard the rumbles this morning as the mountain crew fired the explosions to trigger the avalanches. Ian and Anthony of course got a closer version than us. This is a daily precaution that helps to keep the mountain safe and prevents the big accumulations of snow from becoming unpredictably dangerous.

And no kidding, Mac did one of his super eardrum bursting sneezes this morning and caused an avalanche from our roof...the snow poured over the eaves and cascaded to the ground. Was very funny. Can't wait for the next one to see if it really was the cause or if it were a coincidence.

I was in Christmas decoration mode. Reconfigured the meagre 6 strands of Christmas lights and found myself a tree that had been cut away from one of the paths. I scooped up some branch fronds and tied them together with sticky tape and jammed them into the remnants of the socks box to make a bit of a Christmas tree for the mantel. Mindy keeps reminding me this is a National Forest and "no tree can be harmed in the making of a Merry Christmas!"

My big project was to build a snowman. The truth is, I really wanted to use the shovel! Slid open the back door and scrapped up all the snow on the balcony into a mound as the base for Frosty. Wasn't quite sure how I was going to shape it.....Decided to consult the expert on everything - Dr Google, only to find that you actually make a snowman by ROLLING balls of snow.....no shovel needed. So I have abandoned my project to wait for the daylight of tomorrow....and then will give it another go!

Our day finished with a catchup with the only worker in the group. Obviously peak season for Mindy. This is the first week of the school holidays for Canada so the families were streaming into the ski fields. Mindy started the day at 7am and finished at 8.00 pm.

But somehow still had the energy to make the trek up Blackcomb Way with Ian to join us for dinner and lots of laughs. We relived the blog entry from our last visit about the disastrous scooter ride! Anthony headed out to watch the Rail Comp and followed it up with the new Star Wars movie. He has caught up with Paul's sister....Nicole who is here for her first winter of seasonal work with Whistler Blackcomb.

Meanwhile, back in Banff, Michael was skiing and in equal proportions, while at the same time lamenting the missed opportunity of the snow piling up in Whistler. Had a nervous moment yesterday because the Whistler Connection shuttle was all booked out for next Tuesday to get Michael back to Whistler in time for Christmas ...but he found an alternate. Phew. That would have been awkward.

Big day tomorrow: snow man and shopping!