WHISTLER DAY 7-January 13 : Page Seven

“With a foot of new snow from the night before, [Skiing photographer] Eric Berger’s morning was interrupted when he had to take aerial photos of the Peak-to-Peak gondola for Whistler-Blackcomb’s marketing department. But afterward, Berger and skier Austin Ross were allowed to get a heli-drop at a location of their choice. ‘It was one of the best days of the season,’ Berger says. ‘The sky cleared just before we got out there.’”

-Skiing Magazine page 3, January 2010.

...And then God reached down from the heavens a week later and said, “Screw the good weather. Let the rain flow like beer on a college campus.”

Not that I am complaining. But you just never know what you’re going to get on a ski vacation.

My experience in the Canadian Coastal Mountains was far different than the accounts in magazines, ski films, and others that have been there. It rained. The mercury climbed higher than 50 degrees, on the summit and in the valley. At other times, I sat frozen on a chairlift after being soaked with sheets of rain, only to go up a few hundred feet and be confronted with pelting winds and tiny ice particles.

Some locals would say that, “these conditions only happen twice a decade.” Some were apologetic to us once they realized how far we had traveled to be here. “It’s an El-Nino year,” some would say. The general consensus was that Whistler-Blackcomb was more like the accounts in Skiing magazine than those found in this Blog.

Yet, at times, the conditions were so perfect once you got off the lift that you would get the urge to keep skiing into that rainy abyss below...just because you wanted to see what the mountain would challenge you with next.

You see pictures of this mythical place. You see the rock faces, the wide-open snow fields, the coniferous trees, and the snow. None of the pictures justify standing in the middle of glacier settled in a canyon 6,500 feet above the sea.

You will see on TV the Olympians become masters of the Dave Murray Downhill in a few weeks. Alpine warriors going faster than cars on the freeway jumping distances half of a football field in length at a time. I challenged the trail in my own right, and of course, the mountain beat me. I had to stop for a breather on one of the last steep pitches before the finish area. You will see it. I did it. The weather was bad at times, but it is truly a spectacular place.

On my first trip to the summit of Whistler, I stood at the top of a steep rock face—un-skiable, no matter who you are—and looked down. 1,000 feet directly below me, skiers and snowboarders danced like Etch-A-Sketches making lines in the snowpack as they crawled down the bowl floor and into the treeline. Some of them danced to the Peak Chairlift that I had just rode up to this cold, windy and alien place. I looked straight ahead, and the panorama is overtaking. You loose the sense of safety. Nothing is guarding you from danger. You almost over compensate trying to balance yourself upright.

For me, this was a moment of triumph, and the continuation of my endless curiosity. When you stand on top of a peak, there are choices on how you get down. The trails are suggestions to your descent, but it’s up to you and your style, your interpretation of the terrain, to get yourself back to earth. Whistler Blackcomb marked the farthest west that I have ever been. It is the culmination of the pursuit for the new, the challenging, and the exciting. Something that never stops for a skier who goes out just to feel free.

“If you don’t do it now, you’ll be a year older when you do.”

WHISTLER DAY 6-January 12 : POWDER! (ish)

I found what I came here to find.

It rained all night in the Village, but by now we have figured out that the weather in the Village has nothing to do with what is going on up top. We caught the first chair on the Whistler Gondi for our last day of skiing, and walked out of the top house to find all of the un-groomed trails completely un-touched.

This was Whistler's version of a powder day. Heavy, wet snow about a foot deep was everywhere. They groomed some of the easy slopes leading down to the base, but for the most part, you made your own path today.

It felt like skiing in powder--leaning back, rolling your knees in the turns--but I found it hard to keep my speed up even on the steep pitches. Sometimes, I would stop dead on the middle of the hill. Guess it's better to just bomb the powder runs and leave out the turns all together.

Unfortunately, the weather down in the valley crept up the mountain throughout the morning, and by mid day, the rain had washed away any hopes of us skiing the afternoon. There is only so much of being soaked through 4 layers of clothing I can take while skiing. Our last turns on Whistler-Blackcomb ended a little earlier than expected.

Tomorrow we board a bus back to Vancouver. Later Whistler.

WHISTLER DAY 5- January 10 : Crust is for Pizza, Not for Skiing

I woke up to the thunderous sound of avalanche cannons high up on the mountains, tearing down any loose snow that may cause a snowfall.

Whistler was crusted over after all of yesterday’s rain. We took two warm up runs off the Whistler Gondi, where it was so icy that we had to abandon ship. Time to head back to Blackcomb.

We took the Peak-to-Peak once again (it never gets old) and made our way to the 7th Heaven Chair on the western side of the mountain. We skied this area two days ago and found the conditions to be near perfect. Today’s conditions, while foggy, was just the same.

Skiing in fog is just weird. When you’re totally socked in, it’s like standing on one of those big exercise balls you find in the gym. You lose your balance, your depth perception, your speed perception, and your style. All you can hope for is that you find your way out of that soup, and you don’t hit anything big.

Luckily enough the snow remained loose and powdery on the Blackcomb Side. I rented some wider skis for today in hopes of finding some of that infamous powder. There was maybe an inch or two on top of the base and the skis responded well to the snow. It took a little to get used to, but once I mastered the craft, there was nothing stopping me from making my favorite deep, fast carves in the snow.

After lunch, we went back to the Glacier to do some more steep terrain. On the ride up, we saw some brave souls hucking it off the top of the headwall, about 500 feet above us. All I could think about was the sound of the avalanche cannons firing earlier this morning. I hope they got all of the loose snow, for their sake.

While Dad took to the cruisers on the Glacier itself, I decided to challenge myself on the steep face that splits the glacier from the other chute on the mountain face. The trail was lined with natural mounds of hard pack, followed by soft powdery pillows underneath. Some of the drop offs were over 6 feet tall, but with the comfy landings making the turns a little easier to complete, it made for an almost easy run.

With burning legs and a victory over two double blacks on the Glacier, we made the long trek down the mountain and back to the village. Hard to believe the last day of skiing is tomorrow, followed by a day in Vancouver.

WHISTLER DAY 4-January 9 : Why Did The Jets Have to Win?

Skiing and rain do not mix. It just sucks. Royally.

It rained all night, into the morning, stopped for a few hours, then picked back up around noon. We tried to stick it out for a while. It wasn’t the fact that we were soaked to the bone, but the snow turned into slush at the top and ice at the bottom. It is just impossible to keep your stamina skiing in such thick snow. It quickly becomes just a venture to stay up on your skis and not topple over by losing an edge.

The rain and conditions meant an early day back in the hotel. It’s a lot more enjoyable to swim in a heated outdoor pool in the rain than ski in the rain. Throw in a little hot tub action and you almost forget about the weather.

What did not help the situation was the fact that the Bengals sucked today, so the New York Jets stole another win, putting them up against either New Orleans or Indianapolis.

BUT, for the first time since I’ve been here, I was able to enjoy an authentic Canadian craft brew at one of the restaurants in the village. Aptly named “The Brewhouse,” they offered four original brews: a Red, Pale, Lager, and an IPA, which I liked the most to my surprise. I usually don't like IPAs.

Good beer to wash away the rain, and a few prayers to the snow gods for better weather tomorrow.

WHISTLER DAY 3-January 8, 2010 : Glaciers & Cougar Milk

We started off taking the Whistler Gondola from the bottom. It is one of the longest lifts I have ever been on, from its start in the village to the Roundhouse Lodge and the Peak-to-Peak Gondola, a ride time of almost 20 minutes and 4,500 feet in vertical lift.

Unlike the first day of skiing, today’s weather was cloudy and warm. Clouds commonly form in the village and shoot up the mountain face, virtually erasing any visibility. In those conditions, you have to trust your feet and hope they land on snow.

Whistler was pretty skied off by the time we took a few runs on some Blues underneath the Big Red Chair, so we decided to take the infamous Peak-to-Peak Gondola over to Blackcomb.

There aren’t very many words that can justify the experience of the P2P. You just have to see it yourself. It’s a cable car style Gondi that rides down into the valley between the two mountains, but stays almost 500 feet above the valley floor, allowing for a terrifying, yet awesome view. It’s a panoramic experience, with alpine lore all around. Snow covered Douglas Firs and Balsams line the floor, with the mammoth Coastal Mountains to either side and in the distance. Whistler Village exists only as a tiny speck far down the valley.

At the other end of the Peak-to-Peak is Blackcomb Mountain. It is about the same size as Whistler, but has more open terrain. It does not, however, allow lift service to its peak. The trail map says it’s out of bounds. Sounds like more of a formality. Skiers do it anyway.

On the eastern end of Blackcomb is the Glacier. It sits between two giant rock faces, with year-round snow lining the top of the crawling ice. The terrain is unlike any other that I’ve skied; just a constant steep pitch from the headwall all the way to the glacier valley, where the lift takes you back to the top.

Near the Glacier, the Jersey Cream chair takes you to just underneath the Jersey Bowl. It mostly services intermediate skiing, but a few steep pitches with natural mounds can be found there and offer some more challenging terrain. Dad, meanwhile, stuck to the Cougar Milk trail. He seemed more amused by the trail’s name than the actual trail. Probably the only time in his life he’ll ever get cougar milk.

Soggy day of skiing all around. The snow is heavy, and hard to push with your skis. Rain in the forecast means more of the same for tomorrow. But for now, Avatar is showing at 8:00 in the local theater. I’ve heard good things about the film.

WHISTLER DAY 2-January 7: Corduroy Never Goes out of Style

The global scene here is ridiculous.

Apparently more than just the Americans and Canadians know about the skiing up here. Everywhere I turn, I see more Australians, Japanese, Korean, and Eastern European people than North Americans. The Asians mostly wear flashy pop style outfits, and the Aussies & Europeans rock it more trendy than we do.

Style is a representation of your culture, but one style that everyone can agree on is what the slope wears in the early hours of the ski day.

I’m talking about those magic little grooves in the snow, the endless roads cast with tiny shadows from the corduroy that spans the trails. And trust me, corduroy never loses its appeal on any type of skier, from the beginner to the advanced, American to Aussie. One local put it best: “Corduroy never goes out of style.”

We found plenty of the velvet for the first half of our first day on the slopes. So far we’ve only stuck to Whistler, where more skiers tend to gravitate. A few test runs to start off and we boarded the peak lifts, where the air got warmer and the skies got sunnier. It is a playground in the clouds, and for a skier from the east, the endless acres of wide open bowl skiing make Sugarloaf’s snow fields look like a snot hanging off a nose.

One of my favorite runs of the day came on the Little Whistler Peak, standing just under 7,000 feet. The Harmony Ridge is a saddle that ridges Whistler’s borders, and different drop offs lead into the rather small snow field that channels down to the Harmony Chairlift. Pefect soft mounded snow line these ridges and chutes. Soft enough for me to bust through with my skis.

Unlike the east, the alpine temperatures out here are commonly inverted, meaning it is warmer on the summit and cooler in the valleys. It is definitely something to get used to. The bowls were sun kissed all day while staying at about 35 degrees. Unbelievable.

More day one skiing to come. Maybe doing a little bit of Blackcomb to end the day. Hope our skis are still at the rack.

WHISTLER DAY 1-January 6: Planes, Busses & Stirfry

For the next week, I will call the Canadian Coastal Mountains my home.

It took all day to get here. We left Portland at 5:30 in the morning, connected at Dulles and Seattle, an hour long customs ordeal, then a three hour bus ride from the airport, through downtown Vancouver, and finally into the mountains.

I am skiing the mountains of Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia. It’s the equivalent of the Superbowl of skiing on the North American continent. If you have ever carved your edge into a corner of prime powder real estate, you know what I’m talking about. People come back from Whistler with tall tales about snowdrifts taller than the chairlift poles, bigger vertical than two Sugarloafs, or more beef than a McDonalds’ Quarter Pounder...whatever that means.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see the mountain we’d be skiing on for the next week, but a walk through the village was enough to make me imagine how awesome the skiing is going to be tomorrow. Whistler-Blackcomb is not one mountain. They are two distinct peaks that are separated by a valley that descends to Village altitude. They have common base areas, but because the mountains are so large, the quicker way to get from peak to peak is, properly named, the Peak to Peak Gondola. It is just over a year old, commissioned in December, 2008.

While the food here is ridiculously overpriced, we were able to find a bargain at Mongolio Grill, where you compile your own stir fry dish and watch them cook it. Leave it to the Canadians to come up with this awesome concept. It’s so simple: you know what you’re putting in your dish, you see them make it in front of you, and if you don’t like what you’re eating, it’s your own damn fault (from someone who’s worked in the restaurant business for the better half of 10 years, that means a lot when it comes to disputing over comping a meal for some unappreciative douchebag).

Tomorrow is skiing day number one. Our goal is to not get hurt, and more importantly, not get overwhelmed with the sheer awesomeness.