Whistler

Whistler was amazing. What a gorgeous area. The views were spectacular.

Well the day started at 5:30 am with a taxi to the Greyhound station to catch the bus for a 6:30 am bus ride to Whistler. The highway is under major construction in preparation for the 2010 Olympics. Some would say they are raping the earth as harsh as that sounds. Robert Young Construction could bring their crushers out here and work full time. Dad will be happy to know they are still using dynamite to blast the cliffs out. There will be all kinds of passages that will hang out over the cliff. The amount of money being spent is unreal. It is hard to believe it will be completed in time, but they say it is on schedule and budget.

So I arrived in Whistler around 8:30 am and was told where I was staying was only a 300 meter walk so I pulled my suitcase and carried by ski bag around the village for the next 30 minutes. Not so close. Finally got to the desk and the guy says your in a studio condo above the building with the seven eleven. A lot of the buildings have shops on the first floor and condos on the 2nd and 3rd floor. So I went to the seven eleven, saw the stairs and to quote Ricky, humped by bags up three flights of stairs only to find out that my room was a 100 meters down the hall from the seven eleven and that there was an elevator two doors down from my condo. My arms got a workout and are still a little sore.

Alright now I get skiing. I took the Blackcomb gondola to the top and did the run called homerun. It was spectacular, narrow, through the trees and I was making fresh tracks. I was the first person down that run and when I made it to the end of the run which went right into a condo complex I realized why. It should be your last run of the day. So luckily there was a road right there and a bus stop. So first run and off come the skis and onto a shuttle bus back to the bottom of the hill. Once arriving at the bottom (again) I took another gondola up and it stopped in the middle of the hill (mountain) for others to get on. So me not knowing got off and then realized it went further up, so I skied to the bottom and tried to make it to the top, again. It was great skiing lots of powder but reduced visibility as it was cloudy. It was hard to see the run well, and difficult to judge what was coming. I took the gondola again and two chair lifts to the top to find that there was tons of powder. It was to my knees. So as a Kirby and Devil’s Elbow skier (no powder, lots of ice) I had trouble turning and felt like I needed to learn to ski again. So now you can laugh at my expense (probably again) as I did a face plant into the snow and my face is still a little tender today, days latter. My goggles smashed into my face as well as my glasses. So the confidence was a little shot, needless to say I was tired I had already skied three full days in Banff and was up early that day. I did fall again, but it was not too bad.

My condo was much nicer than the hostel in Vancouver. It was small but had a gas fireplace, Murphy bed, great bathroom with a deep tub and a kitchen. I used the tub to soak my tired body. It was excellent. I did not use the kitchen, (surprise, surprise, my mom would say).

I met Dan McGillen, from high school for dinner and drinks that night. He works at the Four Seasons in sales and skis in his free time. He was able to fit me into his busy schedule each night I was in Whistler. It was great to hang out with him and he took me on a tour of the village.

Day two of skiing was excellent. The sun was out and you could see for miles and I avoided the deep, deep powder and did not fall today!!! I had gotten advice from Dan McGillen the evening before on where to go and I managed to do tons of the mountain. I did not take my camera up on this clear day because I was afraid of falling on it. I got my confidence back though and got the camera in the afternoon. I went to the peak and got some spectacular views. I closed the hill and ended up in Creek side (a separate village) and had to take the shuttle back to the village. Good thing they have a good shuttle system for those of us who take the wrong last run of the day, or first. It was amazing skiing, views and such a great village.

I went down the Dave Murray downhill run which is the proposed men’s Olympic downhill run in the 2010 Olympics. So that was cool. I will definitely come back to ski again. I will have to check and see if they have any teaching jobs here. I could get into that.

Mike the nice guy that he is arranged his business in Vancouver for the day that I would be leaving Whistler and it meant that I could sleep in and not have to catch the 5:30 am bus. Well Nora here is the Peterborough connection. I get into Mike’s truck and am met by Shane Duncan another St. Peter’s grad, Kelly Duncan’s younger brother. I used to play volleyball and basketball with her in high school and their step dad has taken me up in his plane before, as he was one of my good Home Hardware customers. So Nora’s boys will freak out that I randomly meet people I know even in Vancouver. He lives in Victoria and has just started to work for Mike.

Whistler was beautiful and I recommend that you visit.