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snousleBoy, do I feel like a lucky little otter these days. Got another day of fantastic weather for yesterday's Whistler trip. This will be the end of the snowboarding for the year, probably a good thing since it sure costs a lot. The lift ticket came to nearly a hundred Canadian - checking my credit card bill reveals a charge for about US $75, but sheesh, the triple-digit figure seems perilously close. On the plus side: underground parking! W00T! That's something I've never experienced at a ski area before.
Then again, what wouldn't I pay for a day like that? The place is rich with memory, and infused with childhood dreams. I was kind of a ski fanatic as a teenager, and my friends and I would actually design ski areas on paper in our idle moments. I do find it all a bit embarrassing in the sense that skiing was, and is, such a mark of privilege. It's a little weird being around so many wealthy people (they are, for the most part, crushingly boring) and the whole free-spending atmosphere ends up making everything shallow and sterile. But still, the sheer fabulousness of it all is impossible to deny. I would be completely happy with just one day like this every few years.
The expansion of the ski area is literally the fulfillment of my adolescent fantasies. When they first put high-speed lifts into Blackcomb, there was a post-season party held for the seasons pass holders where they flashed an image of their master plan on the screen, and it was breathtaking. And I remember about twenty four years ago when the first "quad monocable" lifts were being designed and ski magazines featured these things as the future of the sport. The new "peak to peak" lift is the first example of this I've ever seen, though that particular term seems to have fallen into disuse. It's sheer size is awe-inspiring; the thing is a monster, with gigantic towers and cars that hold something like 20 people. It's like stepping onto a flying carpet. To shuttle between the two mountains in just ten minutes is a crazy dream, all the more amazing for being totally frivolous.
Even cooler is the new lift up to the top of Piccolo. I used to hike back there occasionally, either coming up from the Singing Pass trail or riding the lift in the summer to start at the top of the mountain. And there were several memorable romantic encounters in the meadows above Chekamus Lake. To go there again without effort, whisked along on a chairlift, was just plain astonishing.
The whole area is just so huge now, it's almost too much! I could once boast of having snowboarded every single run on both mountains, but now I'll never catch up. Not a chance. So I picked a few special spots to visit. Like here:
The run goes through a tight little canyon and drops pretty much straight down. You can't see the steep part until you're right on top of it.
This was the first double-black run I ever skiied, shortly after they opened a long and scary T-bar up to the peak of Blackcomb. Nobody outside of backcountry hikers had ever seen anything quite like the area this new lift had opened up, and for the first few years hardly anyone went up there since the terrain was so difficult. You were pretty much on your own. That first year, a huge avalanche had left a four-foot high fracture line right at the steepest part of the run, and once you reached it there was no way out - you had to jump. I don't know how long I stood at the top of that trying to steel my nerves, but after that, nothing on the mountain ever scared me again.
The view from below:
Anyway, having for the first time properly prepared myself with a good swig of whiskey and a generous amount of actual pakalolo, returning here was a truly spiritual experience. I feel so fortunate that this is still part of my life that I was determined to give this run the grace and prowess it deserved. I don't know if it's a matter of better equipment, better fitness, or better attitude, but I am so much better at (and worthy of) this than I have ever been in my life.
I don't eat much when I snowboard, just a bottle of a pond-scum colored spirulina beverage at noon, so by the end of the day I was really hungry. I went into the Longhorn, where the indoor part of the bar was nice and quiet (compared to the apres-ski circus on the patio) and without looking at the menu, ordered nachos and beer. Boy did I ever want a plate of nachos. Little did I know that their only serving size was "super unbelievably huge" so I was somewhat alarmed to be sitting at the table with a plate the size of a large pizza and piled about four inches high. Kind of obscene, and although I could hardly eat a fraction of it I felt a bit of binger's remorse afterwards. But gods was that an orgiastic experience after a hard day on the slopes.
The only real downside to Whistler is having to return to Vancouver afterwards. The traffic here has gotten really fierce and the drivers have become even worse assholes than they were when I lived here. It probably isn't productive to do battle with people who refuse to wait when merging, but I muscled out a particular asshole who cut ahead and was trying to force his way in front of me on the Lions Gate bridge. Growing up in Vancouver gave me some really bad driving habits that way and it's bad karma all around. It's not a great way to end a great day, that's for sure, but after the three-mile, 30-minute crush of downtown at least it's over.
I'm going to spend today doing nothing at all. Maybe hit the Pumpjack for a bit in the afternoon (if anyone's there) and who knows what in the evening. Maybe something wet and steamy to help soothe my aching loins. ;-)
Then again, what wouldn't I pay for a day like that? The place is rich with memory, and infused with childhood dreams. I was kind of a ski fanatic as a teenager, and my friends and I would actually design ski areas on paper in our idle moments. I do find it all a bit embarrassing in the sense that skiing was, and is, such a mark of privilege. It's a little weird being around so many wealthy people (they are, for the most part, crushingly boring) and the whole free-spending atmosphere ends up making everything shallow and sterile. But still, the sheer fabulousness of it all is impossible to deny. I would be completely happy with just one day like this every few years.
The expansion of the ski area is literally the fulfillment of my adolescent fantasies. When they first put high-speed lifts into Blackcomb, there was a post-season party held for the seasons pass holders where they flashed an image of their master plan on the screen, and it was breathtaking. And I remember about twenty four years ago when the first "quad monocable" lifts were being designed and ski magazines featured these things as the future of the sport. The new "peak to peak" lift is the first example of this I've ever seen, though that particular term seems to have fallen into disuse. It's sheer size is awe-inspiring; the thing is a monster, with gigantic towers and cars that hold something like 20 people. It's like stepping onto a flying carpet. To shuttle between the two mountains in just ten minutes is a crazy dream, all the more amazing for being totally frivolous.
Even cooler is the new lift up to the top of Piccolo. I used to hike back there occasionally, either coming up from the Singing Pass trail or riding the lift in the summer to start at the top of the mountain. And there were several memorable romantic encounters in the meadows above Chekamus Lake. To go there again without effort, whisked along on a chairlift, was just plain astonishing.
The whole area is just so huge now, it's almost too much! I could once boast of having snowboarded every single run on both mountains, but now I'll never catch up. Not a chance. So I picked a few special spots to visit. Like here:
The run goes through a tight little canyon and drops pretty much straight down. You can't see the steep part until you're right on top of it.
This was the first double-black run I ever skiied, shortly after they opened a long and scary T-bar up to the peak of Blackcomb. Nobody outside of backcountry hikers had ever seen anything quite like the area this new lift had opened up, and for the first few years hardly anyone went up there since the terrain was so difficult. You were pretty much on your own. That first year, a huge avalanche had left a four-foot high fracture line right at the steepest part of the run, and once you reached it there was no way out - you had to jump. I don't know how long I stood at the top of that trying to steel my nerves, but after that, nothing on the mountain ever scared me again.
The view from below:
Anyway, having for the first time properly prepared myself with a good swig of whiskey and a generous amount of actual pakalolo, returning here was a truly spiritual experience. I feel so fortunate that this is still part of my life that I was determined to give this run the grace and prowess it deserved. I don't know if it's a matter of better equipment, better fitness, or better attitude, but I am so much better at (and worthy of) this than I have ever been in my life.
I don't eat much when I snowboard, just a bottle of a pond-scum colored spirulina beverage at noon, so by the end of the day I was really hungry. I went into the Longhorn, where the indoor part of the bar was nice and quiet (compared to the apres-ski circus on the patio) and without looking at the menu, ordered nachos and beer. Boy did I ever want a plate of nachos. Little did I know that their only serving size was "super unbelievably huge" so I was somewhat alarmed to be sitting at the table with a plate the size of a large pizza and piled about four inches high. Kind of obscene, and although I could hardly eat a fraction of it I felt a bit of binger's remorse afterwards. But gods was that an orgiastic experience after a hard day on the slopes.
The only real downside to Whistler is having to return to Vancouver afterwards. The traffic here has gotten really fierce and the drivers have become even worse assholes than they were when I lived here. It probably isn't productive to do battle with people who refuse to wait when merging, but I muscled out a particular asshole who cut ahead and was trying to force his way in front of me on the Lions Gate bridge. Growing up in Vancouver gave me some really bad driving habits that way and it's bad karma all around. It's not a great way to end a great day, that's for sure, but after the three-mile, 30-minute crush of downtown at least it's over.
I'm going to spend today doing nothing at all. Maybe hit the Pumpjack for a bit in the afternoon (if anyone's there) and who knows what in the evening. Maybe something wet and steamy to help soothe my aching loins. ;-)
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:38 pm (UTC)Maybe we should consider organizing something for Ski and Snowboard festival in April 2010? I went up for a day last year and it was a nice vibe. We can get the private (2 bunk beds) room at the UBC Lodge for $80 a night, Including taxes.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:40 pm (UTC)BTW, if you are up for an impromptu lunch I'm heading out shortly and could meet you somewhere. Send email before noon and it could happen.
A 2010 trip sounds great, especially given the lodging rate. I would totally go for it.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 06:52 pm (UTC)Am working today out at the UBE so can't do lunch.
2010 it is--we'll touch base another time about that. I figure a couple nights on the weekend, maybe going up Friday morning. But I'm no double-black dude...
BTW next time buy your lift ticket at 7/11: they sell discounted ones. Dunno if it includes Peak2Peak though.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 12:06 am (UTC)I like about one or two double-blacks a day, otherwise I'm quite convenient poking around the easy slopes. There's so much interesting snowboard terrain on them that it's hardly a compromise!
no subject
Date: 2009-04-08 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 12:10 am (UTC)It helps to start as a teenager. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 12:33 am (UTC)But yes, the only way I go skidding down a snowy slope is on an innertube or something similar. Lying prone, or sitting down, so there's not much in the way of "falling" that can happen. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-04-09 05:00 am (UTC)TTLY