CREEKSIDE A DAY ALL BY ITSELF

PISTE             10

SUN SHONE AWAY ALL THE DARK SPOTS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The morning moon lit the highway during the darkened morning of the first day after the super wolf moon – and the day was brightly lit as the sun shone ever so brightly.

The day had personal landmarks beginning the day at Whistler Creekside for the first time this season.

I didn’t just park at Creekside, I snowboarded Creekside the entire day beginning with the Creekside Gondola and the Big Red Express that took me to the Roundhouse.

I couldn’t reach the top of Whistler right away. I had to snowboard down a bit before taking the Peak Express to the utter top where I could look south down through Garibaldi Park and the Volcanic Arc.

I snowboarded the Peak to Creek trail for the first time ever, down from the very top to the very bottom at Creekside.

The trail is wide and deep – well within the park boundaries – rolling more than a few times with steep descents.

The trail was a bit tricky with no new snow for a few days resulting in the ice shield being ever present and even more so at the end of the day when the run was skied out riding out to Creekside by 3:05 pm.

Even if I could have taken the gondola one more time to mid-station, I was more or less done for the day after managing to ride the Dave Murray not once but twice.

I also snowboarded the Upper and Lower Franz’s run to Creekside for the first time this season.

I cannot wait to duplicate the day when the mountain gets some fresh overnight snow.

I spent a lunch hour taking in the panoramic view atop of the Peak Express with Black Tusk and the narrow valley surrounded by jagged white mountain peaks in magnificent light.

The rest of the day disappeared all too quickly with the long runs to Creekside.

Next time, I’ll take in Symphony Bowl and Whistler Bowl rather than just riding the Saddle out.

A bit icy today but with the sun shining in the majestic setting of a cloudless sky, just an awesome day again with no line-ups to speak of on this Monday.

The Epic App gave me the “I Have a Dream” pin for snowboarding on Martin Luther-King Jr. Day.

Two months into the season, I have 14 days in and 278,575 vertical feet with the best one day total of 25,941 vertical feet.

And I am basically riding free for the rest of the season with the cost of the season pass all but worked off.