POWDER WEEKEND

JOINED LONG WAIT FOR SATURDAY FUN TO BEGIN

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Snowboarding on Saturday presented with certain challenges, such as waking early morning after Friday night and that everyone else might have the same idea to head up to snowy Whistler on another rainy weekend in Vancouver.

The commercial bus to Creekside Village in Whistler was already full by early Friday, likely because there was overnight snow in the forecast after a few days of little or no snow.

So, I had to book tickets on the bus to Whistler Village, instead.

I immediately became concerned as I was being forced out of the routine of an early start at Creekside to a number of unknowns at the village, mainly the higher volume of skiers at the village, and would there be a large enough locker available for my snowboard bag, runners, backpack and extra clothes in case of the big chill.

The bus left at 6:20 am from Downtown Vancouver, and as in previous cases, there was no public transit bus to take me to the pickup location that early. So, I had to spend $7.20 on a cab to get me to the bus, that cost $42 roundtrip, and then another $3.25 on the public bus on the way home.

Of course, being the weekend, and everyone else seeming to have the same idea, I had to wait until about 9:45 am to find out what the Village was like for solo travelers arriving on the commercial bus.

I always had my doubts about Whistler Village being service friendly since the village is ramped up for the hotel guests and overnight guests staying in private accommodations.

Back in the day of driving up in my own car, when I started out at Whistler Village, I usually geared up at my car and made a b-line from the paid parking or the free parking higher up to the gondola line-ups, thereby avoiding anything that was or was not going on in the Village.

When they finished installing the Blackcomb Gondola, I would often walk the extra distance to Blackcomb and use the washrooms at the lodge before joining the gondola lineup.

The bus stops at the Gateway Bus Depot. And a separate washroom facility is next to the depot. I was not the only one with the idea, after drinking a couple of cups of coffee at 5 am to wake up and then travelling for almost four hours since leaving home.

The motor vehicle traffic on the highway was at such a volume that a number of traffic stalls were created, the first one coming at Lions Bay, and then again and again until the last one at the intersection for Function Junction.

Carleton Lodge also facilitates Whistler Village visitors with a large locker room area and several dozen paid lockers and, most of all, public washrooms. On the way to Carleton Lodge, I spotted another washroom facility slightly off the beaten path, without a line-up, and I used that one before gearing up at the lodge and stowing everything there for the day.

Another $20 went to renting a large locker for the day.

I was concerned about the value in the day with the late arrival and still having to wait in long line-ups for uploading, but the singles line on the Whistler Gondola moved rather fast and I was able to make my first run at 10:15 am, all geared up and just having to tighten the snowboard boots and line-up the music on my iPhone 13.

I was just getting started at 10:15 am when I was normally at the same spot no later than 9 am.

As I looked over to check whether the Peak Express was running yet, often stalled in the morning due to high winds and the need to wait for avalanche clearance in the high alpine, my resolve of still getting value from the day was to ride the Peak to Creek run from the top all the way to the bottom at Creekside for the first time this season.

With the overnight snow of 17 cm already getting heavy and compact, I wanted to first get in one or two warmup runs. But I found the line-ups at Christmas holiday levels, and the struggle really became getting back up from mid-mountain to be able to upload on the Peak Express.

The Garbanzo lift line was too long as well so I moved over to the Peak as quickly as the line-ups permitted, since I had to ride down to the Big Red Express from the top of the Garbanzo. 

After another long lineup at the Big Red, I was able to ride the Saddle, but the upper Saddle was fogged in and beginning to be skied out with the overnight snow getting heavy instead of staying powdery. Powder is a misnomer on the best of days on mountains in the Pacific Northwest.

The next option was, to instead of turning left at the Peak toward the Saddle for a second run was to turn right for the Peak to Creek run. With 17 cm of overnight snow, the 25 minute ride was expected to be a good one.

The wind had swept and continued to sweep the new snow off the top portion of the run but after the first big dip, plenty of fresh snow covered the trail although the snow gradually got heavier the closer to the bottom at Creekside.

The time was getting into the lunch hour, so the Creekside Gondola line-up was rather short. I headed up to the Big Red and took a lunch break at the Raven’s Nest, enjoying their signature vegetarian chili and a sports drink.

Before beginning the Peak to Creek, I had already planned to head over to Blackcomb by way of the Lower Traverse. This plan became galvanized by the site of the short line-up for uploading at Creekside, the thinking being that there would also be short line-ups at the Whistler Village.

I headed down toward the Olympic Run and followed the Olympic Run into the Village. The Olympic Run is often overlooked by skiers and snowboarders, and as a result, is a good ride to the bottom.

I quickly uploaded to Blackcomb, and then rode the Honeycomb three times, taking less than about 17 minutes per run including uploading on the Excelerator Express. 

By 2:40 pm I decided to begin riding out with everybody else, as I needed to be at the Gateway bus depot by 4 pm , and my legs got pretty burned out after the Peak to Creek and the heavy chop of riding on the skied out, heavy fresh snow.

As it turned out I still had time after riding out down Cruiser, picking up my gear and changing at Carleton Lodge, and I could very well have kept riding right up to the last upload at 3 pm.

At the end of the day, even with the late start in the morning, I felt satisfied, and after arriving home to a wet Vancouver, I began to appreciate that I had again obtained good value from my Saturday.

I decided not to wait for the exact public bus, and took a bus that arrived right away, but resulted in me having to briskly walk four full downtown city blocks to home as I gave my legs a good stretch after sitting for two hours during the long bus ride home.