Obviously we were all dying to do more runs as there was plenty of time left (extra runs are a ridiculous $59 (£25) each). By now we were all shouting "TAKE MY CREDIT CARD AND BLEED IT DRY". All agreed on a fourth run, we called for the heli and flew back to our lunchtime landing site with the intention of riding the run called "Melody", which starts at the same place as "Coppercrown" but runs down a different face of the mountain. General consensus was that we definitely liked the steeper part of the last run best, so this steep run promised to be a good 'un. Because this slope was steep, the avalanche danger was obviously greater, especially with 5 snowboarders hurtling down it. Kris instructed us to ride down the first third of the run one by one to reduce the avalanche risk (still filming us, BTW- the video is fantastic). During the middle third of the run Kris slowly snowploughed down holding the video camera and let us overtake him so he could get some decent action shots. I managed to get a fantastic turn in right in front of him, just dipping my hand in the snow. The bottom third of the run was like a giant 25 foot tall half pipe- bloody brilliant, you could go all the way up the sides making massive tracks in the powder. The sun was starting to go down by now and Kris took advantage by filming us from the pickup site with the sunlight reflecting off the snow we were all kicking up. When we got to the pickup site Dave looked at his watch and it was only 2.40, so we decided on a 5th run (this was to be the last one...Honest). By now the total bill for the day stood at £300, which looking back is still a complete bargain.

Our designated doorman, Paul.

The end of the last run, our lives will never be quite the same again! From left to right, Mark, Dave, Paul, Kris, Jacqui and Me.

After consultation with Kris, we decided on a combination of the steep top part of Melody and the steep bottom part of Coppercrown, which included the cornice drop. We rode this one pretty fast because we already knew the basic layout of the terrain (We rode at a reasonable pace all day, generally stopping for safety reasons so Kris could point out the route for the next section). There was still tons of fresh untouched snow to be had, not much danger of that one ever getting tracked out! Kris let us ride the last half of the run first, while he stopped at the top to film us riding down. I didn't land the drop this time, instead opting to perform my signature "Mute Grab to Face Plant", which IIRC was my only big fall of the day. We rode to the pickup site and the heli was already there (getting in a stationary chopper is not quite as exhilarating). After taking a few last minute pictures, we flew back to base where we were presented with our certificates and badges (as well as the bill for our extra runs). While we were waiting for the other group to get back we watched the video that Kris had made for us, drank 5 pitchers of beer, sat in the R.K. Heli teepee (!!) and drank whisky through an ice sculpture (!!!) before getting the bus back to Lake Louise. All in all, it really was the perfect day.

Fantastic sunset picture sent to me by Jacqui.