The groups just keep getting larger and larger! This time a record 35 Mouat students ventured up to Sasquatch Mountain for the fifth ski/snowboard trip of the year. While there wasn’t as much fresh snow as on previous trips, the snow conditions were quite good given how late it is getting in the season. The trip ran much more smoothly this week and students were able to maximize their time on the slopes as a result. Highlights included introducing several new students to the great sport of snowboarding, and getting several Outdoor Ed students up on the mountain for the first time in their lives. It has been great to see the growing confidence that many students are gaining over the course of several ski trips, particularly those who are overcoming their fears and expanding their abilities. Outdoor Education students please leave a 100 word blog response below.
Mouat Extreme Outdoor Education 
That trip was a blast the second I got up parking was easy we got out gear fairly fast to,got kn the lift and snowboarder away, my friends and I had a blast and it wasn’t even cold.
10 out of 10 was a great trip and would totally do it again and best thing was it was organized way better then the previous.
I’m glad that the experience was much better on this trip for you. The mountain definitely learnt some lessons from the week before and things went more smoothly this time around.
this was one of the best trips it went very smoothly and i had lots of fun with all my friends. i did my very first blue run in lessons and we had a really nice instructor. on my third blue run i kneed myself in the face and my lip was bleeding a lot so that wasn’t really fun. but other than that this was onshore my favourite trips and i wouldn’t do anything differently other than maybe trying a black run.
Why was your knee near your face? You might be snowboarding wrong 🙂
This was the very first time I went on a mt. to snowboard. I was super nervous and scared at the beginning. I did struggle a lot. At times I couldn’t even get up. But I went there to have fun so I didn’t let that get in the way. Even though I was super bad at it, I challenged myself. I went on the yellow mt. which may not seem like a lot, but to me it was. Sadly, I couldn’t get up again so I ended up walking down the mt. I found it so hard to being strapped to two feet on the board, because during the lesson we only had one foot strapped. That was so much easier and during the lesson I was fairly good. The bunny hill at first was so challenging but towards the end I could go down it without any problems. One thing I would do differently is maybe dress a little warmer, as I was kind of cold in the beginning. At the end, I had a super fun time with my friends, and I had fun. Would definitely go again!
Everyone needs to start somewhere and as I said in the morning meeting the first day or two is always rough. It is a personal highlight for me when I get the opportunity to introduce people to the mountain for the first time, and I hope that you decide to go back up again in the future!
On February 26th, we went snow boarding on the mountain . It was an great experience my first time snowboarding. Me and my friends stayed together and had an amazing time. I fell a lot and was sore the next day but it was worth it. I learned all about snowboarding and what I need. Now I know how to stop and turn next time will be better. One thing I am gonna bring next time are googles. But this was a good experience for me.
I’m glad you enjoyed the experience and improved your skills. I look forward to getting you up on the mountain again!
February 26th, I decided to Ski again this trip, it was great experience, I even managed to go on he blue chair on one of the really tall mountains with my instructor. I fell a few times and was sore the next few days but it was 100% worth it. I brought goggles his time so I was better protected around my face and eyes which was nice. I’d like to do this again sometime. I am not half as nervous about going up the blue chair anymore. In fact, I want to go on it again sometime! Possibly with some friends later in life. I’d like to thank you for allowing me to experience what it is like up on he mountains, and how fun Skiing can be!
Jess it is awesome to see how much you’ve improved in terms of ability and confidence. Keep pushing yourself!
On the February 26th trip, I made a goal for myself. That goal was to get better at 180 spins off jumps and to ride a couple of black diamonds. At the beginning of the day, me and Jakob when to the top of the green chair and rode right down the face. It was amazing because it was pretty much fresh powder that nobody had went on because it was the beginning of the day. Then after I went on a couple runs down the blue chair I went on the yellow runs to try out my 180s, On the last trip I first attempted them and I fell quite a bit, but then when I went that day I didn’t fall once doing 180s.
That’s great to hear that you improved in that skill. Maybe I’ll join you on this upcoming trip and you can teach me!
Trip was fun and exciting, felt surreal, snowboarding was easy to pick up though lessons had flaws, chair lifts could go a bit faster, but in the end the pros outweigh the cons.
What were some of the flaws you found with the lessons? I’m glad you found it to be a positive experience!
I had lots of fun on the 26th of February. I really liked going on the powder and practiced getting better at doing turns on powder. I learned that you can sit down while skiing and it’s lot’s of fun. When I went down a really easy trail I enjoyed just chilling and talking with the people who I was skiing with.
I want to see you demo this sitting down while skiing-sounds fun! I also love the powder days.
This was the third ski trip that I have attended. It was a great experience, there were a few bumps in the road, but we all had a great time. One of the first problems we encountered that day was when we were up the top of the blue chair, we found out one of Logan’s board straps was broken, and he was unable to ride it down without falling. We solved that problem by having him switch boards with me since I was a more experienced border, and we made it down the hill in good time. When we got to the bottom, Logan went and exchanged his board in the rental shop and got one with a good strap. Jordan had broken my goggles at some point during the day so next time I wont be lending him my gear. All in all it was a great trip and I’m super excited for the next one.
Good job problem solving in a difficult situation. Sorry to hear about your goggles but I’m glad you enjoyed the experience and showed good leadership!
i lost my goggles so if you have an extra pair i would bring them. If you’re going hard down the slopes you’re gonna get hot so i wore a tank top underneath my second layer and it helped a lot. I went on a black run for the first time and i would suggest the one on the green chair you have to hike up a bit to get there but it’s not far it’s super powdery so it kinda feels like you’re on a wave it’s so pretty.
I completely agree with you about the black diamond off the green chair-always beautiful snow conditions on that run. Sorry to hear about your goggles.
I have never been snowboarding ever, and going for the first time left a great experience! I did struggle in the beginning, getting up was really hard on the mountain, strapping both feet was really hard because I couldn’t even get up but thats how the instructor taught us, my friends helped me learn a lot. This trip left great memories and I would 100% go back!
It was great to see you and your friends enjoy heading up to the mountain so much. I hope to be able to see you on the slopes again soon!
I had a lot of fun on this ski trip, the process of getting there and skiing went faster than the previous times which was nice because then I could get more runs in. In the junior ski instructor program I learned how to teach people to ski in parallel and how to stop doing pizza turns. The skiing conditions were really nice and I had fun doing a small hike and then dropping into baby bowl for the nice powder. I found one of my favourite runs in the trees and enjoyed watching Rebecca try and do it. I learned how to do a cliff drop better as well.
When the conditions are good that baby bowl run is by far my favourite! That drop you did looked intense. The Junior instructor program is definitely not for the faint of heart!
This was my first time going to sasquatch and oh this definitely not my last! I haven’t had this much fun on a field trip ever. I had a awesome experience there and also have never in my 15 years of living never been so soar and so gassed out in my life but it was totally worth it! I learned many things like how to turn right,left how to stop and how to fall down safely. Some more things were to smoothly get off the lift because the first time I went on I just straight face planted in the snow! I learned I’m not the best at snowboarding but slowly I’m going to get it.Something that I wish that went differently I asked the instructor more questions so it would be even easier.Next time I would bring goggles and definitely my water bottle because I was dying for water! Otherwise this was a awesome experience me and friends had a lot of fun and would definitely go again also the food was very good too not the price though. Otherwise I would definitely go again!
It was great to introduce you and your friends to the mountain. Don’t worry about the lift faceplant-we’ve all been there!!! Guess the next step is to convince your friends to head up on the weekend with you 🙂
Great trip, even though none of my friends went I was able to make a new friend! Tried the green run for the first time and did super good on it as well. Something I want to approve on is my toe because I definitely have majority of the basic stuff down except for my toe. I’m sad this is the last trip. Cant wait for next year though!
February 26th was a fun trip for skiing, I got to ski with Joseph, Zac, and his mom I have never skied or snowboarded with them before which was very fun to do. I had a lot of fun with them and it was a good day. What I did learn on the trip was that I have to try and ski without getting much snow on my skis, because I went down a green and by the end I fell and I couldn’t get my boots back into my skis. I walked all the way back to the front and shook all of it off and it was fine after the fact. Something I learned about myself on the trip was I should slow down at some points because that’s what happened when I couldn’t get my boots into my skis, I forgot to slow down and I went off a bump and I fell into the snow. I think I wish we got to be at our usual spot because this was the first time we had all our stuff at the lounge area near the tubing park, it was tiring sometimes to go back and forth every time to there. I think for next time I will prepare for the trip again, I will bring headphones because I like to listen to music on the way back, and the way there. I keep forgetting every time to bring them, so I don’t have to put the phone speaker up to my ear to listen to music.
Yes it is definitely annoying when your skis won’t latch back onto your boots. Remember to kick off the snow next time by banging your boots together and it might save you a trek down the mountain!
Today was lots of fun we got 25 centimeters of powder the night before, so everyone already knew it was going to be a great day. It was super clear out wasn’t windy and was just the best conditions ever from skiing. Today I worked more on switchback carving and how to glide over powder more efficiently it was a fun day with friends and there nothing like being with all your buddies for the last run of the day at the top of the mountain admiring the surrounding views.
I agree. There are moments at the top of the mountain where the awesomeness of life is easy to see.
This ski trip was an absolute blast. My skills had progressed a lot from last time, so I was able to do a variety of new runs, and let me tell you the conditions were amazing! The day started off with an amazing black run that led into a blue that Ethan took me and Jakob on. The powder was incredible! It was my first black run and it was so much fun. I wiped out a few times but I felt like overall it went pretty well. Throughout the day I did a variety of blues, greens and blacks, gaining more and more experience on the board. This was such a great trip, I can’t wait for the next one.
It is awesome when the stars align and you get the great powder days! Definitely makes you looking forward to the next time you get back on the mountain.
This was my third time snowboarding I made some pretty good improvements. The power on this day was incredible, on some of the more unused trails it was like surfing on clouds, although I could not keep it up for very long before falling or catching my nose. I finally got comfortable on blue square runs and did a bit of a black before going through the trees back to the blue. My group was larger than last time and I think the improvements for this day were lesser compared to last time but that’s okay because I still had big improvements. The thing about snowboarding is that once it clicks you kind of just have to do it over and over to improve on the runs, the rest of the stuff to learn is the tricks, I’ll tackle tricks next time.
That is a good lesson that applies not just to boarding but also to life I’d think!
My third time snowboarding was a lot of fun. My friend and I did some lessons which were fine. After that, I went on some blue runs with friends which were difficult at first, but I got used to them and by the end of the day I was doing them pretty comfortably. Unfortunately, we had to being our stuff back and forth from the tube park to eat, which was a big pain… All in all, it was pretty fun but nothing super eventful happened.
Nothing exciting that you can remember about the trip?
This was my second time snowboarding, and I was really excited for it. I started learning how to go toe-side of the board and going down harder runs. I also decided to try some small jumps in the terrain park, I landed none but it was a blast anyway, nothing big but just to get a little air. By the end of the day I could go down greens without falling, and was working on doing blue terrain. I felt like I had improved a ton since my last time going. I made some memories, funny falls, and improved overall. 10/10 Day, definitely going again!
It was great having you on the trip and seeing the improvements you’ve made. Sounds like you’re pushing your comfort zone in a safe and deliberate manner.
Before that skiing trip, I was super nervous because nobody I know was going to join. On Friday morning, I was worrying that I would have to pair up with a stranger. Fortunately, there were two other girls who didnt have their partners yet as well, so we sat next to eachother on the bus ride. The ride was the most uncomfy one ever, so I was really happy to get off the bus at Sasquatch mountain. The weather was okey, but it was not sunny at all. I ended up skiing with one of the girls I talked to and we tried some new slopes. Although I skied and she snowboarded, it worked out pretty well. I was glad that I found somebody and and the end of the day I felt really comfortable on most of the slopes 🙂
For the next trip, I hope the sun will come out some time.
The weather wasn’t great but at least the snow was good! I’m glad that you found someone new to ski with-one of the hidden benefits of the program is meeting people who share similar interests with you!
This trip was very similar to the others. I got to be a part of the junior instructor program, this is always fun and I look forward to it every trip. We had the normal timetable: Classes in the first 2 hours and free time in the last hours. I think that this is a great format and is very good for people who have classes and the people who don’t take the classes. This allows for the new skiers and boarders to learn before they go out skiing with perhaps more experienced friends. This will help to keep the groups together and not spread out on the hill.
I also think the format suits our program well and helps minimize the risk factor for students on the mountain.