RIDING FREE WITH PASS PAID FOR REST OF SEASON

PISTE             8

FOLLOW OWN GOOD ADVICE NEXT TIME

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

The day of a New Year’s Eve was a day on the hill during which I should have followed my own advice.

I tested the theory of the mountain traverse in Piste 7 by turning the daily plan upside down. I got an early start from Whistler Village and uploaded to the top by 9 am on a cold day with no new overnight snow.

I made one run down through the Enchanted Forest before connecting to the Emerald 6 Express back to the top and then down all the way to Creekside.

The Upper Dave Murray was not so bad, but once I rounded the corner by the Big Red Express the run quickly became vacant of all but me.

And for good reason. With no new snow the run from here on down was pretty much the way the World Cup downhillers like the runs: hard, fast and unredemptive. Once I realized the conditions of the Lower Dave Murray Downhill, I gave the run all the respect it deserved and pretty much puttered down as if I had just learned to stand up on a snowboard.

The day was not without success as I earned the Superfly Pin from the Epic Mix App for riding 175,000 vertical feet in a season after snowboarding out to Whistler Village and then uploading on the Whistler Gondola. The lineup was about 15 minutes in the regular line, but just five minutes in the singles que.

You cannot do that type of vertical in nine days without something getting sore. The inside of my rudder knee, on the leg that I use to give direction to the snowboard, was sore the night before, and all throughout the riding day. Normally any soreness or stiffness would go away after a few runs, but not on this day.

Fortunately, despite a nasty spill before Christmas that stretched everything from the inside of my left groin down to my left shin, I have been able to keep riding. Athletes are always battling with one injury or another, and so the task is to just soldier on until the end of the season.

I rode out to Whistler Village four times in total for the day. After working through the crowds along the Upper Whiskey Jack, I took a right down the Lower Whiskey Jack before merging back with the crowds heading to the Emerald 6 Express.

I was passed by an under the age ski team heading to the Ptarmigan where a slalom course had been set up for them.

I kept going onto the Upper Olympic to the Olympic Mid-Station. I like to take a short break here. If you have built up an appetite already, you can grab a grilled cheese sandwich at Ollie’s, a mountain snack shack off to the right just before the gondola station.

The Lower Olympic gets a bit crowded because the mountain promotes the Olympic Mid-Station as the beginning point for learners. The Lower Olympic to the Village is still a good run for Intermediates with rolling hills off to the left away from a lot of the crowd.

Of Course, after 2 pm everyone from toddlers to experts are skiing out for the day, which dramatically reduces the ability to do any carving.

I uploaded one more time from the Village about 1:30 pm and then took the Peak to Peak to Blackcomb for riding out for the day down Ross’s Gold and then Springboard.

The Peak to Peak Gondola has a few cabins with glass bottoms. You have to get in a separate line for the glass bottom cabins that arrive less frequently. The day being New Year’s Eve, a lot of people were at the mountain top just sightseeing before participating in New Year’s Eve celebrations that evening at Whistler Blackcomb.

So the line-up for the glass bottom cabins was substantial but not all that long. I like to measure the crowds at Whistler by the number of skis and snowboards in the racks outside the mountain top restaurants.

On this day, the racks were completely full with some people starting a row beyond the racks by placing the equipment one after another in the snow. Uploading from the Village was not so bad though, although there was always a line-up, which doesn’t normally occur.

The ticket windows also had a line-up throughout the day with people arriving at Whistler Blackcomb for the New Year’s week.

Lift tickets were $178 CDN for the day with discounts for buying multiple days at one time.

I managed to pay off my Epic Season Pass before the New Year. Last year, I went to Whistler Blackcomb three times, each time buying my day ticket on line for about $130 CDN.

I had a season pass for Cypress Mountain last season, but by April I had decided to buy a Whistler Blackcomb pass. I put down a $50 deposit and paid the balance in September. If you multiple my 9 days so far by $130 I more or less paid for the season pass, and I now look to reduce the daily cost by adding days during the next weeks when there are better snow conditions.

Snowboarding one day a week during January, February and March should make the daily cost more reasonable. Last year, Whistler Blackcomb was open to late April, so all the more discounts.