POWDER DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

WINTER FINALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS AFTER LONG WARM FEBRUARY WAIT

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The days are now longer. And the mountains actually have snow. A lot of snow.

The mountains seemed to have more snow on Monday, the sixth day I snowboarded this season, than all previous 5 days combined.

But there the winter was, after waiting until February for the snow and getting started despite the obvious lack of snow the resort could not even deny, the season had finally begun.

The day ahead, with 50 inches of snow fall the previous 7 days, was so exciting to look forward to that I nary got any sleep at all, which just added to the bonk effect at the end of the day.

I was able to get home okay, using the extra hour of daylight to walk home from the bus drop off in Downtown Vancouver. But after dinner, I was done.

The day had been forecast as overcast, which is a scary prospect because of the flat light effect that can minimize all the enjoyment from a run, especially with the fresh overnight snow mounding and sorting itself out as the run becomes skied out with the mad rush of skiers and snowboarders making fresh tracks, even after the overnight powder has  been cut up and carved up a bit.

The euphoria of fresh tracks set aside, really by no choice of my own, I managed to upload onto the Excalibur Gondola Lower by 8:30 am. I had breakfast at home, and just needed to gear up in the locker room, and put away my snowboard bag, backpack and sneakers after arriving in Whistler just before 8 am.

With an overcast day predicted, the sun rises on Blackcomb first, and so on the coin toss, I uploaded in the Village onto Blackcomb as opposed to Whistler.

Boy Genius or what, because the clouds broke over Blackcomb all day long, making Springboard and Ross’s Gold and Catskinner just fine with some powder and a thick topcoat of fresh snow in any event.

I rode the Honeycomb a couple of times, but not as in-sync with the rolling pitch of the mountain as when well-groomed and set for carving. The powder can often change the dynamics of a run. But Honeycomb was a good ride without the hard ice of early February.

And then the Glacier, which was just wonderful with at least 6 inches of fresh snow, making for a pillowy ride back and forth a bit like gliding in a halfpipe. I made three runs with three passes down the Bite toward the Glacier Express.

The hard core extremist had begun a line, waiting in turn to hike up into Spanky’s Boot Route. A few adventurists had begun the hike up the Showcase toward Blackcomb Glacier after finding the Showcase T-Bar not operational.

I had carefully chosen not to take the trip to Whistler last week because of the trouble the mountain crews would likely have had opening trails and lifts as the snow fell heavy and deep overnight and throughout the day.

Two years ago, I was there on just such a day during a week of heavy overnight snow when the drifts of snow were so all-consuming, that if you went off the groomed trails at all, you would get stuck in this thick snow meringue, which was funny, but tiring by the time of the third or fourth meringue.

Anyway, on Monday, I was able to ride one or two of my favorite runs, such as Stoker on the way down to the Blackcomb Gondola Mid-Station.

I enjoyed Springboard again. I found a line with powder that had not yet been skied out too much. And I ran that run for most of the afternoon.

I also tried the halfpipe three times, although the halfpipe had not been prepared for use. And so, I got my edge caught in a layer of heavy powder that prevented me from turning. Anyway, maybe next time.

The day was so enjoyable the first two hours was spent very quickly. I knew I would be tired at the end of the day, so I had to purposely stop for a lunch break, especially after having an early breakfast at home, what seemed like a long time ago by then, at around 5:30 am.