WINTER RIDING SEASON BEGINS

MOUNTAIN FRESH AIR AND A BUNCH OF RULES TO PROTECT VISITORS

By PETER THOMAS BUSCH

Day one of season four of snowboarding could not have arrived soon enough. I missed opening week for employment reasons. And I only managed to sneak away yesterday because of a heavy work schedule next week as well. 

I just could not wait until the week of December 21 to get my first day of riding in on Whistler Blackcomb.

I have been jogging since early October as some sort of preseason conditioning. I was a bit surprised how difficult that was to begin jogging again, because I had been road cycling quite a bit since the start of the pandemic when the mountains closed early for the season on March 14, 2020. 

I was having a great season last year with a new snowboard that I had purchased as a Christmas present. I had 17 days in on the mountain with vertical feet each day in the upper twenty thousands. And I usually ride until the mountain closes in late April.

So you can imagine the difficulty in facing an entire winter under lockdown. Fortunately, Whistler Blackcomb opened up under a reservation system, like the entire place was now magically some swanky hotel overbooked year round that skiers and snowboarders had to wait in que for. Even season pass holders have to pre-book on-line their day on the mountain.

This reservation system seemed like some sort of trick that I really did not want to face right away.

There are more rules too once you get there. Everyone has to wear a mask unless actually snowboarding or skiing or snowshoeing. Then if you arrive alone, you have to stay alone when riding the lifts and gondolas. And if you get hungry, you have to reserve a table at one of the three lodges like magically the cafeteria style lodges had become Michelin Five Star Restaurants.

This season seems like a season of magic tricks like how to get out of bed early enough in the morning to be first in line for the lift at 8:30 am.

I do not know if you wear glasses, but I do, and they instantly fog up when wearing a mask. I came up with a trick that I would take along an absorbent cotton cloth to wipe down the glasses and goggles before the start of each run. I did not take up anything fancy, just a white cotton cloth.

I had a good breakfast. And I took energy bars to snack on the mountain. I also ate properly the day before.

I arrived at the Creekside Parking lot at about 8:15 am. I geared up and headed to the gondola. I was able to more or less walk right into an open gondola cabin. 

Only the top half of the mountain was open, and the snow that was there was a bit crunchy. The first few days of the season are a bit tiring anyway, so the continued closure of runs in those lower sections is not all that critical, and having to download on the gondola is not so bad.

I bought new snowboard boots. The boots were a bit tight in the store, pinching my big toes a little bit. I wore them at home for a few hours; and, the boots seemed to pinch the big toes even more. I was a bit worried, but unlike ski boots, snowboard boots have a soft shell, and the inside is all pretty soft as well, with a soft insole and a soft boot tongue.

I was relieved to find that the boots warmed up and loosened up with use just enough to not really notice the size problem anymore.

The Burton Photon BOA snowboard boots come with a lot more padding, and tightening knobs, whereas my last pair of snowboard boots just had bootlaces.

And the old boots got pretty sloppy after three seasons. I really wore out my old boots to the point that I seemed to almost be slipping out of them if I got into some unexpected heavy riding. I also rode one day in the rain, and my boots started to talk from the front toe piece. I still have them. And I intend to magic glue them back together in case I have a visitor that needs boots, or whatever may be, it is always good to have backup equipment.

That first run on the first day of the winter seems so fragile, as if you would forget everything you had learned up until the end of the last season.

But magically everything was just as l had remembered, the skill level was still hard wired into me, despite the pandemic and the long shoulder season between last and first rides.

I rode to Olympic Mid-Station for most of the day. Every once in a while, I took the Garbanzo lift to top of the Dave Murray Downhill.

Upper Franz’s was marked off as ‘not really ready yet.’ You can ride Upper Franz’s anyway to Big Red, but the run is not getting groomed and you may hit a rock or two.

The best run was the Terrain Park, with the long rolling course wide open without the bars and jumps set up yet. The run was perfect for carving.

I accumulated 28,849 vertical feet for the day. And I felt pretty good in the morning after a double espresso.