WHISTLER GIVEN GREEN LIGHT

TWO DAYS ENOUGH TO TEST CONDITIONING

By Peter Thomas Busch

Whistler gets the green light after several days of snow fall highlighted by the mountain opening the majority of lifts and trails.

I made my way on a Sunday after fresh snow over the weekend and found out what I had expected that a lot of other alpinists had the same ideas about skiing and snowboarding on Sunday.

The Creekside Gondola lineup was backed up down onto the village cobblestone walkway, but the upgraded gondola moved people along fairly quick once the crew got the gondola going.

The 30 minute lineup to upload at Creekside was not at Christmas time levels, when Santa Claus was being talked about or at pandemic levels when alpinists were only allowed to ride in the gondolas with people they knew.

The runs were good with some fresh snow ‘here and about’ lasting for a few hours anyway, which is pretty typically the way until the runs get skied out by the early afternoon.

The lift lineups were also not as long as Christmas when everyone talks about their gifts and gift giving, and the way the turkey turned out, but the line-ups were still substantial. 

The biggest problem with Sunday was getting out of town at the end of the day with all the cars exiting the parking lots at the same time and heading south down that one lane to Vancouver that winds by the three villages.

I was tired, and the waiting to get out of Whistler seemed to make me more tired.

I was tired after accumulating 5,914.95 meters of vertical by finding lifts with short line-ups and then just riding those runs until the line-ups got longer.

The highlight of the day for me was riding the Saddle three times in a row. I was mildly disappointed because the third ride was marred by flat light, and by then, I was then too tired to go back a fourth time to make up for the poor third run.

The wind was blowing hard, so it took a bit of work to get from the Peak Lift off-load point to the entrance to the Saddle with the first flat section being a problem riding into a strong wind, and then that uphill portion requiring some penguin steps on the snowboard to get up and over the hill after not accumulating enough speed into the wind to ride to the high point.

I was a bit concerned at the end of the day again with some throbbing in the knees that I was not accustomed to. But my legs settled down after a few hours, and they felt strong the next day without any pain issues.

I was nervous and a bit frustrated at the pain issue, nonetheless. So, I snuck up again on Wednesday, to ride the day with less people and less snow, just to test my legs out (and have some fun riding hard), with Wednesday being “anything can happen day”.

The snow had been falling everyday for quite a few days, but not the night before Wednesday. This lack of snowfall left some groomed runs for carving, with the groomers leaving some runs for mogul hunting.

The morning at Whistler went well with an upload at about 8:30 am after the new gondola seemed to whip people up that had lined-up from about 8 am. I got into the line-up at 8:15 am, and made my first run just before 9 am. I was pretty happy so far.

I warmed up a bit on Whistler, by taking the Ego Bowl into the Enchanted Forest and then around to the Garbanzo Express. I went on a few other runs before deciding to head over to Blackcomb for the first time this season.

I made the traverse by riding all the way down to the village passed the Olympic mid-station and then uploading on the Excalibur (Blackcomb) Gondola and then the Excelerator Express.

The highlight of Day 2 was three consecutive rides down into the Honeycomb.

I really enjoy the Honeycomb because of the ability to carve and bend and straighten with the contours of the mountain alpine trail.

Just enough topcoat remained from the snowfall the day before to prevent skids and falls on the ice, but I still had to hold back a bit because of the conditions.

So far, my legs and knees were holding out well. And I have self-assessed the pain being due to my leg muscles still gasping for breath after me trying to do too much all at once at the beginning of the season.

My pre-season training had not gone as planned, for one reason and one excuse of another. And I was pushing too hard for day 3 on the mountains. I was pushing like the day was day 10. That’s what my knees and legs have been telling me at the end of the day. “Slow down, and stop once in a while.”

So far, I have accumulated 22,870.06 meters in vertical over three days, with 9,474.4 on Wednesday alone. So things are improving, especially with no throbbing and pain at the end of the Wednesday, but just really tired everywhere, now from all the hard work.

I did stop at the Rendezvous Lodge for a bacon cheese burger at about 12:15 pm. I had been hungry since about 11:15 am and the lunch break was just enough to get me through the rest of the day. 

I had fun doing Catskinner twice before heading back down to the village.

I opted not to go to 7^th Heaven and the Peak on Whistler because of the difficult weather conditions and the lack of a view from those staging locations because of the snow clouds sopped in along the higher elevations.

I did find the Dave Murray Downhill in good condition, with some ice sections beginning to surface. But I was happy enough to ride the run and then upload one more time to ski out again to Creekside at about 2:40 pm.

The snow still falls at Whistler, just not on Wednesday, this week.