Snowman
Okay, so it probably wasn't the wisest thing, given my recent weak health, but when I woke up early this morning and saw that Whistler had just received 23cm of new snow, what's a guy to do?
In a flurry of activity, I packed a bag with everything I might need during the day, jumped into the car, and headed sea-to-skyward.
Of course, what the snow report failed to mention was that the Sea to Sky Highway was completely closed down due to a landslide, which had covered a fair amount of road with boulders, trees, and mud.
To make a long story short, I initially gave up and turned aorund, having heard that the mess wouldn't be cleaned up until at least 1pm and probably later, so I got some breakfast at the De Dutch in North Van. However, after finishing my breakfast, the news radio said that they were now hoping to get som traffic through as early as 11am, so I decided to give it another go, and wound up sitting on the side of the highway for about an hour until they started escorting alternating lines of cars through a narrow channel they'd cleared out.
This eventually got me to Whistler around 1:30pm, which was really just as well, given that:
a. I don't really have the endurance to spend more than 3 or 4 hours on the slopes at a time these days, and
b. Given condition a., I might as well be there during the second half of the day rather than the first, so I can at least get the half day discount.
Some random observations:
5000ft of vertical on a mountain is a lot. In 3 1/2 hours I rode the gondola to the top (well, actually, not even that — there's one more chairlift to the very summit after that), boarded my way halfway down the mountain, and then rode the gondola back up to the top o repeat roughly the same terrain once more. That's it. This means that if I'd wanted, I could have probably gone for over 3 hours solid without ever getting on a lift. That's pretty amazing.
My second time on the slopes was even less taxing on my energy levels than the first, so, even though this is a physical activity, it's become primarily a matter of balance and agility rather than brute strength, which suits me pretty well. On my second trip down today, I was really comfortable, and wondering why I don't do this every week.
Being on top of the mountain during a fierce snowstorm, with 45km/h winds, is a pretty humbling experience. At one point visibility was down to maybe 10 or 15 meters. But this meant a constant dusting of fresh snow, which was cool, and also led to the observation:
I'd never really skiied on powder before. Because of bad timing or who knows what else, every other skiing/boarding excursion I've ever had has been on snow at least a day or two old, and I didn't realize how different it feels. Oh, and yeah, especially if you drift a little to far to one side or the other of the trail proper, and suddenly find yourself waist deep in powder, with about 70 pounds of snow on top of your board. Every time I had to dig myself out like that (yes, it happened more than once — the ski patrol even came and fished me out once) it was pretty embarrassing.
Whistler-Blackcomb is definitely a huge place. I saw approximately 1% of the terrain today (200+ trails, and I made it to two of them — see "vertical," above). I see why it was picked for the 2010 games, because there's definitely something there for nearly everyone, and I was utterly amazed at the number of really close accomodations with walk-up-to-the-slopes access — plenty of places to stash athletes.
Anyway, I'm off to bed to have some snowy dreams, and hope that I'm not too worn out in the morning. We'll see.
In a flurry of activity, I packed a bag with everything I might need during the day, jumped into the car, and headed sea-to-skyward.
Of course, what the snow report failed to mention was that the Sea to Sky Highway was completely closed down due to a landslide, which had covered a fair amount of road with boulders, trees, and mud.
To make a long story short, I initially gave up and turned aorund, having heard that the mess wouldn't be cleaned up until at least 1pm and probably later, so I got some breakfast at the De Dutch in North Van. However, after finishing my breakfast, the news radio said that they were now hoping to get som traffic through as early as 11am, so I decided to give it another go, and wound up sitting on the side of the highway for about an hour until they started escorting alternating lines of cars through a narrow channel they'd cleared out.
This eventually got me to Whistler around 1:30pm, which was really just as well, given that:
a. I don't really have the endurance to spend more than 3 or 4 hours on the slopes at a time these days, and
b. Given condition a., I might as well be there during the second half of the day rather than the first, so I can at least get the half day discount.
Some random observations:
Anyway, I'm off to bed to have some snowy dreams, and hope that I'm not too worn out in the morning. We'll see.