PISTE

LATE SNOWFALL LURES ENTHUSIATES FOR LAST WEEKS OF SNOWBOARDING SEASON

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The prospect of new snow, snow and more snow lured me to Whistler Blackcomb, and also the prospect of my 10 day pass expiring with a few unused days.

Monday being St Patrick’s Day was extra special as an unofficial public holiday for my fourth day this season. I am not sure what happened to January and February, but riding in March has peaked my interest, especially with the mountains receiving in March the snow that February usually gets.

I prepared myself for these next weeks of riding by tuning up my snowboard.

First, I cleaned the surface with a citrus based cleaner. I then scraped all excess wax off, that I might have missed last time. I checked the edges for burs and a bit of rust that has developed from storage. The home made weld over a core shot was holding. I topped off the weld with fresh p-tex, and then allowed the weld to cool before waxing the entire board.

I melted the wax against the iron, applying the new wax in sections. I spent more time ironing the wax on the entire board than the last time, including over the weld, after shaving off the extra p-tex that had cooled over the weld. I waited for the fresh layer of wax to cool, before scraping off the wax and buffing the surface.

I had expected an overcast day, on Monday, but the cloudy day sky broke over Whistler, and the hard packed groomed runs and a topcoat of snow that made for an excellent carving day.

As well, the cold stabilized the snow conditions for most of the day, even when a blizzard blew in over 7^th Heaven and the upper sections of Blackcomb.

At one point, Ross’ Gold looked well groomed under the flatlight of the quickly moving snow clouds, but I soon found out that the trail had been skied up a bit already.

In the morning though, Upper Ptarmigan, normally closed off for use by the ski teams, was open with some remaining powder under a clear sky. The powder was not as nice as last year when I rode the competitive course, but enjoyable enough nonetheless for two runs into Lower Ptarmigan.

I had afterall been expecting to just be warming up for the Saddle in this early morning, but when I found the gates gone from Ptarmigan, I could not resist.

From Ptarmigan, I swung over to the Garbanzo Express and then did that all over again before heading to the Big Red Express from the Upper Dave Murray.

The Saddle had also been groomed. And apart from an ice patch that I normally carve around anyway, the Saddle was the usually exhilarating run. The adrenaline began building already heading to the Big Red Express and riding down to the Peak Express.

Hanging on to the four person chair of Peak Express only created more adrenaline, as did the gusts of wind that push and pull along the way over Mathews’ Traverse to the top of the Saddle. Whistler has taken out a bit of that flat section and incline along Mathews’ Traverse, which had made it necessary to unstrap from the snowboard bindings and walk a bit before descending to the start of the Saddle.

Unfortunately, I still managed to catch an edge on the icy track as the Traverse was an unpredictable mix of topcoat and ice with a strong wind blowing in at sections.  

I was able to, as I like to after going through all the effort of warming up, and getting the adrenaline levels up, make three passes over the Saddle. The strength training on my legs over the winter really made a difference to the point that I could have gone a few more times over the Saddle, whereas in previous years, I had been pretty done after three rides.

But on Monday, I did not want to gamble with my luck on St Patrick’s Day.

The Saddle is a shared trail with all levels of skiers getting lured there only to sometimes find the descent too challenging but also too awkward to turn around.

As I usually do, I headed to Fish Eye and Upper Franz’s after my last ride of the Saddle. I tipped over once when I unexpectedly caught an edge in a soft snowbank, instead of the expected hard packed powder on the rest of Fish Eye.

I decided to head to Creekside down Lower Franz’s, when I found the run groomed. And I was happy to find the challenging trail groomed, as much as the trail can be, but definitely ridable all the way down to the gondola.

From Creekside mid-station, I headed over to the Whistler Gondola, as I wanted to get lunch in, before heading to 7^th Heaven. The sun seemed to have broken over 7^th Heaven, but by the time I got there, a blizzard had swept in over the high alpine and upper Blackcomb.

So, I rode out of 7^th Heaven as quickly as possible. And then I rode the Lower Sections, enduring the bumps under the flatlight of a partially skied out Ross’ Gold just to get to the trails where the sun still appeared.

By now, though, I only had a couple of hours left of the day before catching the bus home to Vancouver. And so, I was happy to find Honeycomb in good condition, with good visibility. And I decided to just ride out the rest of the day there, under mixed cloud, sun and flurries.

I was a bit sore this morning getting up out of bed, which means I had a good day snowboarding.

PRESEASON WORK MADE RIDING GREAT ON DAY ONE AT WHISTLER BLACKCOMB

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

What a journey since September to get to my first snowboarding day of the season.

I did everything I wanted to do in terms of preseason training. I went into the gym to strengthen my muscle groups, especially my legs after having this sudden realization after road cycling season that my legs were no longer strong enough.

I had moved my residence and no longer bicycle commuted up and down a hill every day all year long. The first year did not really impact my leg strength, but when I started to get injured, I realized I needed additional strength training.

I joined a gym and got on various leg machines. And when I thought I had them where I wanted them, at a kind of Max Q, I tried also to increase my level of cardiovascular fitness, after taking a long rest from road cycling, by playing drop in basketball once or twice a week. I got to three drop-ins a week last week, and felt good enough to go snowboarding on the first sunny day.

I was so sore after my first basketball session, I felt like I had been run over by a military-style civilian vehicle.

Friday was to be a Blue Bird Day at Whistler Blackcomb, and I just happened not to have any business appointments either. And it’s a long weekend in the United States, with Martin Luther King Jr Day on Monday, January 20, which is also, by coincidence of time, US President Elect Donald Trump’s Inauguration.

I get to Whistler from Downtown Vancouver by commercial bus, which charges this year a bit more, but probably the same as the cost of gas if I had taken the passenger vehicle, which I no longer own.

The first day of the season always has me tossing and turning the night before, this uncontrolled fear that I just will not have the same skills and ability this year as in the previous year, at season end.

But the first run of the day was rock and roll. And I immediately noticed an added ease in carving with the increased leg strength. I had also been working on increasing my flexibility by doing low knee squats during warm up. Basketball also helped with flexibility as I practice rebounding, with all my missed shots.

I was also able to ride the long runs without stopping, which I have never been able to do on the first day of the season. I usually need at least two or three days, maybe four to 10 days, into the season to complete the Dave Murray Downhill without stopping.

I was able to do the Dave Murray Downhill all the way to Creekside without stopping, not once but twice.

I then stopped for lunch at the Roundhouse Lodge, with poutine and shredded pork chilli, and a large glass of mountain fresh British Columbia tap water that is available in the Lodges on Whistler Blackcomb. 

I then took the Peak to Peak Gondola to begin the late afternoon on Black comb. I was pressed for time with the lifts closing at 3 pm.

I had scheduled a later bus back to Vancouver at 5:30 pm, instead of 4 pm, so I could ride out the day all the way to the lifts closing, and then have a pint or two of lager with dinner in the Village, before heading back to Vancouver and arriving in the Downtown at 7:30 pm.

Just a note, for all those people waiting in line for a table in the main Whistler Village square area, the restaurants behind the first set of restaurants and hotels and pubs have lots of tables available.

I had a great day with some tweaks in my knees after an active preseason training. It is not ideal to start the season with any aches and pains, so I had a hot bath with some bath salts the night before, which really helped. It wasn’t until my right calf muscle turned back into a pumpkin, after a couple of hours of riding, that I started to have problems again with mobility in my right knee and right leg.

I had a great first day with 26,227 of vertical feet recorded over 13 lifts on the Epic App. I double checked the lifts, and I had a few more lifts at the end of the day that went unrecorded, on the Excelerator Express as I moved over to my favorite run, the Honeycomb, from the top to the bottom of the Excelerator Express.

No hard feelings though, I will just add a few thousand vertical feet as the app has my last ride at 2:15 pm, but I watched the clock because of the closing time, and reached the top of my last ride around 2:47 pm.

So, the only question remains is, do I have tendonitis or tendinosis, and will I make it through the 10 days on my ten day pass, and recover before road cycling season.

A little too much weights on my legs too soon, and a bit too ambitious basketball, too early, like I was 16 years old all over again, but with an entirely different body and physical recovery cycle. 

I remember playing a pick-up game with friends in the middle of the summer at the age of 16, after being inactive for several months, when we were transitioning into senior high school, I was so sore the next day. This time, recovery may take a few weeks, and perhaps even months.