Day of the Quatchi - Easter Monday

[Photos above: Quatchi in his natural environment; plotting a route; riding Peak 2 Peak, ascending the Creekside gondola]

Our last day dawned with promise - big white flakes in the village. We elected to begin on Blackcomb. We got off the shuttle at the Blackcomb base and got on the Wizard Express. It is a bubble chair but as the bubble was coated with snow, there was no way I wanted to be closed in on it. Instead we kept it open and had inches of fresh snow on us by the time we got to the top. From it we took the Solar Coaster. By the time we were at the top of the second chair we were covered with snow and raring to hit the powder. It was definitely the most fresh snow of any day I have been out this year. On our first run, Springboard, we were in fresh snow over the tops of our boots. It was tiring as we figured out how to deal with it. We were both wishing we had powder skis to float on top instead of sinking in with our skinny Eastern skis. As challenging as it was though it was so much fun. The snow was soft underfoot and so quiet as we floated through it. Huge flakes continued to fall as we skiied.

After that first run we took Wishbone, one of the two runs of the day according to the lifties, and then went on to Zig Zag. Every run was covered with huge amounts of fluffly loose snow. By mid-morning we were exhausted and stopped at the Glacier Creek Lodge for a hot chocolate break. We decided to ski more runs in the Crystal Ridge area as being amongst the trees these runs were nicely protected from the wind with great visitbility. Over the course of the morning we did Trapline, Ridge Runner, Twist & Shout, Backstage Pass, and Rock 'n' Roll doing the circuit up Excelerator to Crystal chair each time.

By 1:00-1:30 we were getting hungry and decided to start making our way somewhere to eat. As the snow had now stopped and the sky was clear, we decided to take Jersey Cream to the top and the Peak 2 Peak across to Whistler. The views were breathtaking.As we did not take a glass bottom gondola this time we looked out the windows instead of down for a whole different perspective.

As we had such a fantastic lunch at Dusty's yesterday we decided to make our way down to Creekside again for lunch today. This time we took Pony Trail to Little Red Run to Franz's. Franz's run is actually going to the Women's Downhill and GS course for the Olympics. It was neat that we took the Men's Olympic run one day and the Women's the next. As with yesterday, the bottom part of the mountain was very slushy and a lot of work for our tired legs. The restaurant was like an oasis at the bottom of the run.

We had a fabulous lunch and then took the Creekside gondola up and skiied back to download on the Whistler gondola as it was already later in the afternoon and our legs were toast. What a fantastic day!

Upon getting back to the condo we had a good soak in the hot tub. Even with almost 10 hours of sleep last night I was having trouble staying awake in the hot tub. After the hot tub we walked into the heart of the village and did a little browsing. We decided to have a quiet last night in so we bought a couple of slices of pizza at Avalanche and ate at home and watched Dancing with the Stars.

It has been a great four days of skiing. I forgot how much I love Whistler. I hope it won't be as long before I am back again.

Whistler Creekside - Easter Sunday

[Photos above: Michelle testing out the Olympic bob sled; me seeing what it feels like to be on the top step of the podium]

After our big night out last night we had a slower start today. We leisurely made our way to the Westin to pick up our skis that we had left at Shane and Amy's the previous night. Shane and Amy were still having breakfast so Michelle and I headed up Whistler on our own. In the lift line I ran into Esta Evans who had just moved here from Toronto and was doing a session as part of Whistler Ski Ski School.

It was raining in the village but as we ascended the rain turned into snow. We started by taking Jolly Green Giant to Marmot to get over to the Harmony Express chair. My plan was to get over to Symphony where we would hopefully find some untracked powder. Not such a great plan as it turned out. Symphony was closed and visibility was brutal at the top of Harmony. A couple of snow hosts suggested we get down taking Harmony Piste and we followed their advice. At the bottom we grabbed Sidewinder to get back to the Emerald chair. Conditions off the Emerald Chair were spectacular. There was a ton of loose fresh snow and great visibility. It was crowded by western standards but way less so than I am used to in the East. We did the rest of Jolly Green Giant for our first run and then headed into Ego Bowl for our second. It is only rated a green but had some soft fluffy bumps I wanted to jump into. They were so easy to ski that I was able to fly through them.

To do something different today we decided to ski down to Creekside for lunch. I had seen Dusty's on Pontiac World of Skiing and it looked really good. We took Dave Murray's Downhill, the run that is going to be used for the Men's Downhill and Super G in the Olympics. It was cool to see where they had already set up netting and interim timing intervals. I tried to memorize the hill so I could remember it when I watch the Olympics next winter. A big chunk of the run was in the fog which hopefully the racers won't face when careening down it at speeds far exceeding ours. The bottom portion was really slushy making me think of Slurpees.

Dusty's was great - fantastic food and table service at a similar price to the cafeteria-style dining on the hill. As we finished up lunch Shane and Amy joined us, just in time to upload with us before Michelle and I quit for the day. We came back to the condo and cleaned up before meeting Shane, Amy, and Gord at Brandy's at The Keg for an apres-ski catch-up. Michelle and I then did some shopping in the village before going back to the Keg for a steak dinner. Michelle bought me a stuffed Quatchi, one of the Olympic mascots, as a thank you for staying at the condo I traded for and using the lift tickets my work suppliers provided . Quatchi is not only my favourite but judging how he is the most sold out of the mascots, everyone else's as well. Maybe Quatchi will go skiing with us tomorrow. They are calling for up to 20 cm of snow so it is going to be an early night.

Blackcomb - Sat, April 11

[Photos above: Amy + Shane - should we or shouldn't we?; Peak 2 Peak from Blackcomb]

After beautiful weather Friday, I was determined to dress in less layers today. The sun shining in the village bore out my decision. So light and free we ascended Blackcomb from the gondola to Excelerator to Glacier Express. As we rose higher it got colder and stormier and I was reminded that the big mountain experience is a little different than the east where what you see at the bottom is what you get on top. From the top of Glacier Express we took the Crystal Traverse, which was wind-swept with really poor visibility, over to Ridge Runner. At Ridge Runner everything changed. There was about an inch of fresh snow on this beautiful run that winds its way up and down rollers. No one else was around. It was perfect. We made our way down from it to Blackcomb Glacier Road and back to the top of the gondola. By this time I was quite warm but given the variable conditions decided to download to pick up some diffferent layers I had left at the base. It worked out perfectly as Shane called when we were in the gondola so Michelle and I made plans to grab a hot chocolate at Second Cup and then meet up with him and Amy in the village and go back up together. Shane is one of my old Voyageurs ski buddies. He and his girlfriend Amy now live in Coquitlam so it was great to reconnect and share some turns together.

We spent the day on Blackcomb starting with Trapline by the Crystal Chair. The visibility kept changing making it a challenge to try to find areas of the mountain where we could see better. A highlight for me was when we raced each other down the dual slalom at the Pontiac Race Centre. Shane gave me great competition. I only beat him by 2/10 of a second.

We then hiked into Blackcomb Glacier. The entrance is much wider than it used to be. A guide told us they had blasted it out the previous year at a cost of $100,000. It definitely made for a more pleasant entrance than the ridge I remembered. There was a lot of fresh snow in the bowl. That, the poor visibility, and my wobbly legs from the day before, made it a lot of work but well worthwhile. We had lunch at Glacier Creek Lodge before heading over to 7th Heaven to do Cloud Nine. By this point Michelle's and my legs were calling stop so the two of us did the ski out as Shane and Amy went up for more.

Back in the village at 3:00 we did our part by holding a table on the patio at GLC. We were to meet Shane and Amy as well as Gord, another former Voyageur who know works at Whister, at 4:00. Unfortunately Gord was not well and had to cancel. The rest of us had a great time there before separating to go back to our condo and grab our stuff for evening. Michelle and I then joined Shane at the hot tub at the Westin where he and Amy were staying. Very nice. We didn't leave their hotel for dinner until 9:30 pm. We ended up on the second floor in a pub-ish place in the village. We didn't get home until 11:30 pm so it will be interesting to see if we are as bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow as we have been so far this weekend.

Whistler - Good Friday

[Photos above: me in an Inukshuk; Michelle doing her Easter bunny impression]

We had an uneventful journey to Whistler last night which is the way I like it. Air Canada even deemed fit to deliver all my luggage. Our shuttle was fast and easy and the bus driver gave us a little tour on the way up. Dave's condo is nice - comfortable, clean, a similar size to mine, and conveniently located in Marketplace.

Today dawned bright and clear. With the time difference Michelle and I up were up early and raring to go. We took the shuttle to the village and began our day on Whistler. I don't remember ever having a day so bright and clear here before. It was beautiful. For our first run of the day we went up the Peak chair as any other time I've been up it we have not been able to take advantage of the view. From it we skiied down to the bottom of the Big Red Express. We got into the shadows there which wasn't as nice as the sunny Saddle. Plus the conditions were very much Ontario hard pack. At least we were used to skiing it! We then made our way to Harmony Chair and skiied Harmony Ridge. While Michelle stayed on the trail I occasionally headed off into the ungroomed sections then linked up. Off-piste wasn't all that great in the morning as it was frozen over from a previous thaw and thus pretty rough. I still had fun playing in the smallish moguls. We eventually figured out how to get to Symphony Bowl, a new section in Whistler. It was really cool - wide open bowl at the top and some runs that lead into spaced out trees with really good snow near the bottom.

Surprisingly we weren't hungry for lunch until noon BC time. We had hoped to stay on Ontario time in order to beat the lunch crowd but were just having too much fun to stop before lunch. As we had lunch at the Roundhouse it was a perfect opportunity to take the new Peak 2 Peak gondola when we were done. We waited for one of the two cabins with a glass floor to get the full experience. The tall evergreen trees became specks as we rose above the valley floor. The gondola moved quickly and smoothly. It felt strange to be at the top of Blackcomb minutes after leaving the top of Whistler.

At Blackcomb we skiied down to the Glacier Express and then to the Horstman t-bar to get over to 7th Heaven. Unfortunately by that time the light had turned flat so we only did the Panaroma run before doing the incredibly long, incredibly breath-taking, ski-out to the village.

Once back we took the shuttle to our condo as I had to get out of my ski boots! They held up well today but at that point my feet had had enough. We are now going to hit the outdoor hot tub while we decide what to do tonight. I have a few friends I should call to see if we can hook up this weekend. Tomorrow I want to spend more time on Blackcomb and do the glacier. I can't wait!