OPENING STAGE TO FOURTH SEASON

COMPLETE FIRST CYCLE TO SNOWBOARDING SEASON

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The opening stage of the snowboard season has completed with a pair of days for carving.

I managed to get in six days over the holidays at Whistler Blackcomb.

The snow fell heavy after a slow start in November, often leaving 10 cm of fresh overnight snow on the runs, and then continuing to fall throughout the day.

The westcoast powder created a lot of physical strain, but the rare powder conditions in the winter holiday setting made everything quite wonderful.

The line-ups were up to 90 minutes to upload from the villages, but once on the mountain the lift lines were not nearly like those waiting times normally expected over the holiday season.

And the Creekside parking lot was full by the time I arrived at Creekside from Vancouver at about 8:15 am. So I had to park in the paid lots further up the road at Whistler Village.

This week the line-ups on Monday and Thursday were typically short as one would expect midweek. And I was able to park at Creekside.

I had taken two weeks off from riding because of work commitments. And this rest seems to have paid off as I have much more stamina for riding. My legs were now able to tolerate the longer runs with less pain.

On Monday, I attempted the Dave Murray Downhill on Whistler without stopping first thing in the morning. But I did not warm up enough, so my right quad burned quite a bit.

On Thursday, I warmed up much more by gradually increasing the length of the runs in the morning. 

I started with Ego Bowl and the Enchanted Forest to the Emerald Express. And then I went through the Terrain Park to Emerald Express. The Terrain Park is not set up yet on Whistler yet, so the rather wide, rolling runs that form the park made for excellent carving conditions. 

The freestylers are over on Blackcomb’s Terrain Park next to Catskinner, where Olympic size jumps have been set up.

I was able to ride the Dave Murray Downhill three times in a row, each time without stopping. The normally icy surface of the Lower Dave Murray Downhill had a thin topcoat of machine made snow, easing the burden of carving through the tremendous natural acceleration that occurs on these sections.

Over the holidays I explored a bit more on Blackcomb, even taking on the challenging Black Diamond Catskinner with 10 cm of powder on ungroomed mogul surfaces. 

This week I rode over to the Harmony Express to upload to the Saddle. I normally take the Peak Express. The hill on the west side of the Saddle had collapsed a bit, leaving some heavy snow on much of the bottom portion of the trail. So I left a repeat of that run for another day.

On Thursday, after warming up and working hard on the Dave Murray, and then refueling on vegetarian chili at the Raven’s Nest at the top of Creekside Gondola, I headed over to the Saddle, and rode the Saddle three times before taking the Peak to Creek.

The Upper Peak to Creek was very fast even with a thin topcoat of snow, and the Lower Peak to Creek was marked off as expert/ungroomed. This signage is sometimes over stating the situation, but not on Thursday.

Lower Peak to Creek appeared not to have been groomed all season with a carpet of deep moguls covering the run from side to side, which is pretty difficult to traverse on a snowboard.

I did not want to end the day so discouraged, and with the clock showing only 1:30 pm, I headed back up to the top of Creekside Gondola and then Big Red.

I rode through the Terrain Park and around the Emerald Express to Olympic Mid-Station, and then down to Whistler Village.

I uploaded to the Roundhouse by about 2:15 pm, and then skied out down Franz’s Run, taking Lower Franz’s to Creekside.

On Monday I took 19 lifts for 32,038 vertical feet. On Thursday, I took 20 lifts for 37,090 vertical feet.