BLACKCOMB OPEN FOR CHALLENGING VERTICAL DROPS

PISTE             2

PISTE ON BLACKCOMB A GOOD DAY TWO

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Piste on day two didn’t arrive soon enough. I had a busy work schedule during the week, but I managed to keep Friday clear for getting in some piste time.
I have driven the Sea to Sky Highway many times perhaps, if I would guess, over 200 times most of which before the Olympic upgrade. The drive after the Olympic upgrade is much easier compared to the road let’s just say in 2000, but the drive is still challenging.
The highway has a double yellow line for a reason as the road alternates from two, to three and four lanes wide, all the way from West Vancouver to Whistler. I would stay away from the yellow line as far as possible without drifting off the roadway or into the slow lane since many accidents occur when cars are clipped by vehicles in the oncoming lane.
The easiest approach to the drive is to leave plenty of time for the trip and then just keep on the speed limit to the right, allowing all the other people to pass on the left. The single lane turns are often at a reduced speed and the car really has difficulty at those turns even at the posted speed, as the highway will sharply turn to the right and then turn to the left and then turn back again to the right.
Tourists and outdoor recreationalists compete for the  road with transportation buses, logging trucks, freight vehicles hauling trailers and when the snow starts, road maintenance trucks. These slower competing vehicles can all be passed in a double lane section which are frequent enough where small cars can gun up hill to pass larger vehicles in the right hand slow lane who are less interested in getting to the ski destination in world record time.
I left the house at 6:30 am and managed to arrive at the destination resort paid parking lot around 8 am, which gave me plenty of time to gear up and find a freshly baked muffin for a quick snack in the village before the lifts opened at 8:30 am. Uploading will often start early at around 8:15 am.
Season pass holders can quickly get into a routine that saves time. I intend to snowboard at least once per week, so there is no need to put the equipment and clothing into deep storage after each trip. The snowboard goes into a bag with the boots and helmet. I could even fit the gloves and scarf in the snowboard bag if I wanted to, there is so much room if you really try.
I do not have a roof rack because the back seat flips down and allows me to store the snowboard inside the car through the trunk.
I also have a duffle bag for the snowboard jacket and pants, goggles as well as extra clothing and accessories in case the weather is colder than it used to be or if I decide to stay for some après ski activities. Whistler does have a 24 hour destination resort mentality and has over the years tried to develop an entertaining after ski experience.
The Whistler Film Festival is currently playing as it always is at the beginning of the winter season.
If you are on a fixed budget, you can stick some snacks in the duffle bag as well as some water bottles or sports drinks. I tend to snowboard to workout so by the end of the day my electrolytes need recharging.
A sports drink can cost about $4.50 a bottle on the mountain. The chocolate chip muffin cost $4.
The snowboard bag fits in one hand and the duffle bag fits in the other hand making for an easy one trip to the car in the morning.
On the return trip I put everything back in the two bags so I can quickly unload the car and head inside for dinner, unless I have stayed for dinner at Whistler and then driven home, in which case I head inside pretty tired and ready to flop on the couch and have a couple of beers.
Everything is taken out of both bags to thoroughly dry before I pour the first beer into a frosted beer glass kept in the freezer for such occasions. If you leave the snowboard in the bag, the water from the melted snow will rust all the metal parts including the metal edges of the board.
If you do not use the bags on the way home, and just throw everything anywhere, then your car will smell like well used hockey equipment after a while. Also, all your clothing will start to smell like hockey equipment if you do not thoroughly dry them out as soon as possible.
Piste on my second day of the season was pretty good. I started off on Blackcomb by uploading on the Excalibur Gondola from the village and then the Excelerator Express at midway station.
Creekside to the south had been closed on opening day so I just headed to the village on my second day as well, but Whistler reports that the Creekside Gondola is now open for uploading.
The Jersey Cream Express and the Catskinner Express were open, providing access to a few long rolling runs. Of course nothing compares to when the mountain has enough snow to open all the lifts and all the runs, including a  number of the bowls.
Eleven of the 26 lifts are open, but both mountains still require mandatory downloading.
The open piste on Blackcomb provided the type of riding I like, which is carving through dramatic drops with lots of vertical that give a freefalling sensation.
I hope to try the half pipe when the mountain crews construct the terrain parks later this year, so I was practising for the jumps a bit by squatting on the board and touching the snow as I rode.
For lunch, I had an above average cafeteria beef burger with cheddar and bacon at the Rendezvous Lodge. The kitchen staff make the burger as you wait, which takes only one or two minutes by the time the order is placed.
The half hour lunch time break was split between the Rendezvous lodge and the Peak 2 Peak Gondola.
Since Blackcomb and Whistler became one legal entity a large gondola was installed to transport people at the top of the mountain from Blackcomb to Whistler. Before, people had to ski down to the village and then upload to the other mountain.
The large gondola cabins have 22 seats and just as many standing room spots in a large safe cabin. On an overcast day the trip adds a bit of adventure into the alpine experience as the gondola cabins enter and exit various cloud banks along the short journey.
Whistler had opened additional lifts since piste on day one, with Big Red Express and the Peak Express adding to the Emerald 6 Express, and Franz’s Chair.
Snow conditions on both mountains had deteriorated a little bit since opening day, with not so much fresh snow fall causing the ice shield to surface in a number of spots. The resort is frantically trying to make snow during a current cold snap of about -5 degrees Celsius with all the snow making equipment operating full throttle during the ski day, and one can assume all night as well.
This snow making operation makes for a bit of noise and also reduces the visibility on the runs with a fine mist of manufactured snow continuously falling directly overhead.
All in all an excellent second day on piste.
The Epic Mix app states that I had more vertical feet than on day one with 21,974. The Friday week day experience meant fewer people on the mountain and shorter line ups at the lifts than on the weekends and holidays. I was thoroughly fatigued by 2 pm after about a 9 am start, with only a half hour lunch break.
So I headed to the gondola on Whistler for downloading at about 2 pm.