FOG FOLLOWED ME ABOUT A BIT

MADE THE BEST OUT OF DAY AWASH IN WEATHER

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Watching the weather these last ten days have been a bit like playing the slots at the casino.

Snow, overnight at the least, with partial clouds and sun the next day and then clear blue skies, three days in a row, is the best possible result, but not on the weekend. The weekend lift lineups diminish any benefits to the sunny day with overnight snow.

Snow was in the forecast followed by sunny breaks, but that combination kept on shifting over a few days. Finally, Wednesday came around, and I just thought, anything could happen today, today being Wednesday, so I headed out the door all cloudy but nice and early to catch my bus connection to Grouse Mountain for my third day riding this season.

I had been experiencing some knee pain almost like runner’s knee, so I adjusted my snowboarding bindings a bit while the bacon breakfast was sizzling. And I was pretty eager to find out if the new positioning would affect my riding at all.

I ride goofy, with my lead right foot pointed forward a bit. That inside right knee was giving me the most problems. So I straightened out that foot, and I also moved both bindings in a bit, and now in hindsight the bindings even now appear too far apart after four full seasons of riding with the same distance between the bindings.

I did change boards from one I found on Craigslist, with boots and even goggles that did not fit over my glasses, and a snowboard bag that everything fit into, including a helmet I picked up brand new.

I then picked up a second board for $100 at the beginning of my third season, a vintage Burton Royal, with well used bindings that quickly started falling apart. When I bought new bindings, I was intrigued by the extra performance I was getting out of new equipment, so I bought a new Burton Custom 156 after a few days into my third season.

Anyway, the point is, I have kept the same stance more or less on all three boards, except to have the lead foot pointing forward a bit, which was an invention of the mind when installing the new bindings on the new board.

The snow conditions seemed promising enough with 6 cm of snow within the past 12 hours and -1 C temperatures overnight, with the cloudy skies holding the promise that some fresh snow might fall from the sky.

To be honest, I was kind of ready for a three hour day, me having other things to do this week, and so I broke a lot of my own rules. I ate an extra snack before bedtime, and added a bit more for breakfast, adding an egg and an extra piece of bacon. I left the residence a bit thirsty already, and I was in too much of a hurry to catch the bus to take one last bathroom break.

I had worked out the night before in the gym, on my arms and chest. The rest over Christmas when the gym was closed due to covid really helped my body recover. And I am really enjoying a lot of progress now being back in the gym for about two weeks, and four sessions.

I had an issue with my right shoulder the last few years, after being run over by a car while cycling to work. The driver was heading into a parkade, obviously in a bit too much of a hurry, and did not see me cycling on the road close to the line of parked cars.

I had many close calls before, and so I had run the scenario in my mind several times, there being so much time to think while cycling 50 – 100 km, that goes something like this: unclick your fancy cycling shoes from the pedals and leap up and onto the hood of the car, and preferably over the hood, to avoid the sudden impact from the bumper.

I did, but because the driver was so close to exiting the street and into the parkade already, I landed on the sidewalk in a safety roll position, injuring my right shoulder.

When I went back into the gym last summer, my right shoulder was noticeably weaker. The right shoulder would also click now and then, no matter how much I warmed up first. But now, after about six months of weight training and a six week break over Christmas, my right side seems stronger than my left, and I got a lot of refiguring to do.

But anyway, all that new snow this morning had obviously been rained on in the early morning, like around 5 am, and everything warmed up to the possibility of melting away before the end of the day.

One of the benefits of this ski-in-ski-out arrangement is that if the day is a wash out, which the day can often be due to the weather and the snow conditions, I just get a few hours in and turn around and go home. This strategy can be more of a problem after driving to Whistler and investing the entire day there, only to find out that the -5 C in the Village is actually -10 C, and is actually translatable to -20 C in the wind while sitting on the Big Red lift.

I knew there was a problem this morning because the mountain staff person was not chatting about how beautiful the day was going to be for all of us early birds waiting for 8:45 am tram.

I was determined though, to at least test my new binding positioning, and take a few pictures for the make believe crowds.

I am also happy to announce that I have figured out how to dismount from the Cut chairlift without slipping and folding one leg behind my back. I simply sit on the far left of the chairlift, and then turn left on the off load exit with my back heal dragging as a brake.

The trick of the day was finding runs without fog or flat light. I tend to dislike flat light more than fog because at least with fog you give up knowing you are totally flubbered. But with flat light you get lured into the run as if there will be no visibility challenges.

With flat light, you can make a turn as per usual, and then discombobulate in a mogul because the snow all looked the same to the goggled eye.

I did have some good runs, finding good light on the black diamond, Hades, with the trail groomed but quickly falling apart with the new snow collapsing a bit into the hollows created by rocks covered up underneath.

Last week, I had tried the black diamond, Inferno, only to find the well carved trail literally as hard as ice in – 4 C after some drizzle moments during the previous two days.

Anyway, all good with another adventure.

P.S. I checked out the Phibbs Exchange bus for riders in North Vancouver, and those people travelling from Metro Vancouver. If you can manage, by the wing of an angel and a bit of prayer, to get across the Iron Worker’s Memorial Bridge, and subsequently find a parking spot, a public transit bus leaves the Phibbs Exchange for Grouse Mountain. Be warned though, the Phibbs Exchange is not a Grouse Mountain Express bus by any stretch of the imagination, but a slow winding commuter bus, that just so happens to end the line at Grouse Mountain.

Better luck with the snow and weather next time. All good, though. Cheers!