The skiing in Whistler was the best skiing I have ever seen.
There was over 17 feet of snow on the ground, and if you knew where to look
there was some amazing powder. We were
renting a condo about three minutes from the slopes, so we could ski from first
lift till last, (we never did). All in all it was the best skiing experience I
have ever had.
Despite all the great things about Whistler, getting there
was not all that fun. We flew into Vancouver at about 3:30 and grabbed our
stuff. Since we were skiing we also had two bags full of skis, along with a
backpack and a carry-on each. As if that wasn’t enough, we also had to carry a
50 pound bag. Even worse, as we soon found out that we had to walk through the
freezing rain to get to the shuttle for the rental cars which was out of the
airport, across the street, and through a parking garage, (to grandmothers
house we go). Once the shuttle came we went to the rental car place and were
offered two options. We could either have a Hyundai Tuscon or a VW Tiguan.
Immediately we answered Tuscon. We had a Tiguan in Hawaii, and it was just way
too cramped, even if it did have an awesome name. Tiguan, honestly where did
that come from. Anyway, after we got our car we started our drive to Whistler.
In Vermont we have no idea what traffic is. The “traffic” I grew up with meant
waiting 30 seconds at a red light behind four other cars. Vancouver traffic
means that you’re lucky to get your car through a red light in less than ten
minutes. The drive took a lot longer than expected, so we got to Whistler an
about 6:30 at night. Six-thirty may not seem that late, but since we were so
far north it had been dark for about 45 minutes. We found our place and spent
about five minutes trying to figure out how the lock worked. When we got in we
unpacked groceries and passed out.
The next day we just relaxed. Since we were there for a week
we were in no hurry.
It was cold on Friday, so we didn’t go skiing then. We heard
that the place was mobbed on the weekends, so we waited until Monday to ski.
We didn’t just relax over the weekend. On Sunday we went to
a fire and ice show. It consisted of fire dancers, and skiers jumping through a
flaming hoop then doing tricks. It was pretty amazing seeing people doing
insane stunts in the dark after flying through a flaming hoop.
On Monday we went skiing for the first time. I woke up as
early as I could and took the shuttle to the mountain. We had gotten the
mountain collective pass from Liftopia, and it took a while to redeem, but
after about a half hour we were ready to ski. We took the chair up and started
out on one of the easier trails, a blue groomer that had hardly been touched
yet because it was so early. I am glad that we started easy because I had just
gotten new skis, and they had a completely different feel than my old ones. In
the past I had just rented skis since I was growing so much, but in the recent
months I had grown a few inches and was hopefully flat lining for a few years.
I am 5’7” and estimated to be about 6’1” when I’m done growing, so that gives
me several years to grow six inches. The point is that I am hoping that I may
be able to use these skis for a few years before I outgrow them. They are green
Soul 7s that feel really weird. I can’t put much weight on my downhill foot
without skipping out, so I had to learn an entirely new way to ski in which I
have weight on my uphill foot.
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| This was the view from the top of Whistler. My favorite part is the fin in the background. |
After the first run we went up again and took another route
down. This time we skirted the ski area boundary. My favorite part was right
above the trail where there was a foot of fresh powder. In Vermont there isn’t
powder like that often, and when there is it doesn’t feel the same. On that
much powder it feels more like water skiing on a completely smooth lake. Later
on we also found some powder bowls that had the same feeling. That day we skied
a lot of trails and finished completely exhausted. We went back to the condo,
and I had a Gatorade and a Dr Pepper, which
After a hard day of skiing I really needed a day off, so we
stayed home and relaxed for the day. When I say we, I mean me and my mom. My
dad doesn’t know how to relax. He decided that his ideal day off was to go hike
the mountain even higher than the lifts took people and ski down. See what I
mean. It is a five hour hike up and a
one hour ski down, but there are fresh
tracks and a foot and a half of powder, so I can understand some of his motives.
My mom and I stayed back, and I worked on school work. After a few hours we
went cross country skiing on the trails surrounding Whistler. Overall the
highlight of my day was getting in the hot tub in the evening.
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| Fresh tracks on a hike. |
On our second day of skiing we went to Blackcomb Mountain.
Even though the place is called Whistler there is another mountain right next
to Whistler called Blackcomb that is part of Whistler. Overall I liked the
skiing at Blackcomb more than Whistler. I don’t know why. It might have been
because I was better with my skis, or there might have been a little snow
overnight. Whatever the reason I thought it felt better. The most notable thing
we skied was called the Blackcomb Glacier. Yes now I can say that I have skied
a glacier. By definition a glacier just means that the snow has compacted so
much that it becomes ice and stays as such throughout the year and moves a tiny
bit. We only skied one of the trails on the glacier, but there were several.
From the top there was the Blackcomb Glacier Trail, (the one we did), along
with Blowhole. An alternate route was to go up Spanky’s Ladder to access
Diamond Bowl, Ruby Bowl, Sapphire Bowl, and Garnet Bowl.
We did several more runs on Blackcomb then took the Peak To
Peak gondola back to Whistler. The Peak To Peak gondola actually holds several
records including the highest gondola off the ground and the longest section of
a gondola to be suspended without poles. We spent a few more days at Whistler then,
“We were leaving on a jet plane, I don’t know when I’ll be back again. Oh
slopes I hate to go.”
-John Denver 1969
Now we are heading to Mammoth, and I am hoping to have just
as much fun there.
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