GONDOLA ADDING EASY ACCESS TO BLACKCOMB

PISTE             6

ICY MORNING GAVE WAY TO AWESOME CARVING ON STOKER AND 7th HEAVEN

Blackcomb gets an A+ on the day of Christmas Eve.

I wanted to start out early to beat the mad rush to get to
Whistler for the Christmas Holidays, but I didn’t leave the house until 6:57
am. The Sea to Sky Highway was in good condition, mainly dry with some damp
sections. The que that starts around the 23 km mark outside of Whistler when
the long double lane section merges didn’t really happen.

There were  a lot of people driving to Whistler but the expected stall at Function Junction was nothing to really note up. I guess people were doing last minute shopping today and maybe packing in the morning and getting a late start for the Christmas at Whistler Blackcomb.

I had experimented with the one quarter tank and decided on one third so as not to allow that gas light to light up on the dash board during the long mountainous stretches in between gas stations. That light takes the fun out of driving when you do not know how many more kilometers to the next fill up.

The gondolas in the Whistler Village were already uploading at 8:15 am when I arrived in the paid mountain parking. I had decided the day before to upload on the new Blackcomb Gondola from the Upper Village.

The Blackcomb Gondola has minimal line-ups. I managed to upload by 8:45 am after a brief pits stop and found myself on the mountain with relatively few other skiers. People were there for sure but when I began snowboarding and looking back to make sure no one was going to torpedo my carving turns there was frequently no one there.

I rode Cruiser to Honeycomb and then to the mid-station of the new Blackcomb Gondola a couple of times to get my legs warmed up. The mid-station has a short line-up with the greatest challenge being fitting into the cabins with the people who had uploaded from the Upper Village.

The Blackcomb Gondola has a nice smooth speed, except when crossing over the towers when for some unexplained reason the cabin shakes with every roller. The Gondola is a great addition to Blackcomb, since before, (and people still can) skiers had to upload from the village, go to a mid-station and then off load further up to a lift before arriving at Rendezvous Lodge.

Once on top this morning, the sun had already begun to burn off the top layers of clouds, leaving a bank of fog about mid -station with the mountain tops blanketed white with fresh snow sticking out into the blue morning sky.

A thin layer of fresh snow covered most of the runs with the ice shield ever present. I was early, and the sun was not out on Blackcomb yet.

I was able to snowboard Cruiser to the Blackcomb Gondola
mid-station and then more or less just walk on to a gondola for the upload. I
was able to carve Stoker from Cruiser and then started carving Ross’s Gold before
veering left to carve Stoker.

I found that run exhilarating and once I find a run then a stick to it until it is no longer fun. I hate spending 90 minutes trying different runs only to find out that the run that you switched from early in the day was probably a better run than any run since then.

I had not been on 7^th Heaven so far this year, or
last year, and with the sun burning away the clouds I headed over to the south
side of Blackcomb for the early afternoon.

The connector trail from Rendezvous Lodge to the 7^th Heaven Express is so long and narrow and overcrowded that the ride often reminds me of a donkey path where every once and a while a corner is impeded by sheep.

The snow had softened in the extra few hours of sun and the riding was great down Hugh’s Heaven and then left onto Lower Panorama. The second time I started on Upper Panorama and took a moment to watch the skiers challenging themselves on the steep powder runs of Upper Cloud 9. This route has a couple of flat spots that are more difficult for snowboarders to glide through than skiers.

7^th Heaven has a breathtaking view as well as awesome
intermediate runs. Black Tusk was clearly visible today despite the layers of
clouds and the sun breaking through to the East.

This day was awesome with lots of vertical on intermediate runs while the peaks of the mountain ranges were visible with fresh snow. Just a beautiful day all around.

I rode out from 7^th Heaven to Rendezvous Lodge and then out to the Village for the day along Springboard to Mainline.