Ravings of an Intermittent Fool

Over the winter break I had the pleasure of traveling to Whistler-Blackcomb and in this post I will try to detail my reactions to various aspects of the trip.

Air Travel
We intended to fly direct from Columbus, OH to Bellingham, Washington (about 45 minutes from the Canadian border) but we got caught up in the great Skybus cancellation fiasco of December 2007. We were giving a little over 12 hours notice that our flight was canceled. However, since our flight was scheduled for 6ish in the morning and I was planning on sleeping a bit before driving 2 hours to Columbus this means that we didn't have much time to make changes. Luckily we found a Southwest flight through Chicago that wasn't too bad (financially or time wise). The downside to this flight was that it was to Seattle rather than Bellingham or Vancouver. Flying into Seattle is less than ideal for Whistler since it tacks on a couple extra hours of drive time each way. However, that was really our only option for the last minute flights since there wasn't anything into Bellingham that arrived in the morning and Vancouver was significantly more expensive.

Ground Transportation
There are services that will shuttle you from the Vancouver airport to Whistler and that is certainly a bargain for one or two people but since there was 6 of us traveling (and 8 all together) it made sense to rent a vehicle. The change of plans to arriving in Seattle certainly screwed us over since every Seattle airport car rental place was out of minivans and SUVs. We ended up finding a 10 passenger van which turned out to be very successful. It was a pain to drive but it easily accommodated 6 people with all of our luggage with plenty of space to spread out.

Accommodations
We stayed at the Montebello which is a community of townhouses in the Village North section of Whistler. The place was very nice with a fully stocked kitchen, heated floors, four bedrooms, laundry facilities and a private hot tub. This place worked out well for us and wasn't too far away from things. I know that this isn't important but for all of the ski condos that I have been in, this one had the best craftsmanship and was high class all the way. Our unit was only a one minute walk away from the main road and from there it was only a block and a half to the free Whistler shuttle bus. Foregoing the bus resulted in only a 15 minute walk to the Blackcomb and Whistler gondolas. Supposedly we had access to fitness center and some other amenities but to the best of my knowledge no one in our group took advantages of that.

Food
Because we had our own vehicles we were able to stop in Squamish, BC (about 30-45 minutes from Whistler) and buy groceries there. This proved a very good idea as most things were cheaper here than the grocery store in Whistler. Squamish also features a 7-11 which has discounted lift tickets which saved us about $14/day. I did stop in the grocery store in Whistler to pick up a few missed supplies and it turns out to be a fairly well stocked gourmet grocery store (you could even buy Salmon in nicely crafted wood boxes). You just have to deal with the price inflation. We ended up spending about $75/person for the whole week which would be impossible if we ate our meals out.

As for on mountain dining and drinking, we really only stopped for a few beers and appetizers at the end of the day. Most everyone packed lunches that we ate on mountain or just ate granola bars while on the lifts. One day we did stop in the Rendezvous Lodge on Blackcomb to warm up and eat our packed lunches. It was very crowded and took awhile to find a table. Another day we stopped at Dusty in Creekside to eat our food. Several people in the group inquired about their food but it was going to be a 60-90 minute wait. The manager throughtfully suggested a Subway that was a short walk away. Another nice aspect of Dusty's was that they had water jugs and cups available which was appreciated. As for apres-ski, the Longhorn was the best that we experienced. The yam fries there were cooked to perfection (crispy on the outside, pillowy soft on the inside). The Dublin Pub across the courtyard from Longhorn's had a nice atmosphere with a live band but you paid for that dearly with beers that were $9/pint.

Rentals
I can't say enough good things about Summit Ski and Snowboard. We reserved online beforehand and they had the gear all ready for us to try out when they got there. I went with K2 Apache Crossfire 167s and was very pleased with the gear. They seemed to have a very broad selection of equipment and the staff was very patience, very friendly and knowledgeable. We used their location in the Whistler village that is literally across the path from Whistler Gondola (and thus about only 150 feet away from the Blackcomb Gondola). You can't get any better than that for convenience. This was also the first time I got to use a ski valet service. It was tremendous not to have to lug skis and poles around in the morning and evening. Everyday they are just waiting for you at the store. Couldn't be simpler. They also offered a boot valet service for $5/day (they would dry and warm the boots overnight) but none of us took advantage of that. What was very nice is that they let you keep your street shoes there during the day so no awkward long trek in ski boots for us. Heavenly. I would certainly rent from them again. My only quibble is with the person who thought that a ski rental store should be located at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. Who thought that was a good idea?

The skiing
Day One
For Day One we decided to ski Blackcomb which for us meant a trip up on the Gondola. We were advised by many to stay high on the mountain so we immediately took the Excelerator chair. At the beginning of the day, we did run into a 10-15 minute wait here but thankfully this was the only true lineup we had all day. After those two rides ups, we proceeded to ski some laps under the Jersey Cream chair. This was our first taste of what these mountains could offer and it was very good. The snow was powdery, the terrain was varied and the scenery was incredible. This was also our first experience at what a wide designation "Blue" has at Whistler-Blackcomb.

Next up was to take the Glacier chair (since it was next to the Jersey Cream). It was very cold and windy at the top of this chair and this coupled with out unfamiliarity of the mountain caused us to ski on the Blue Line trail. This is a basically a long, narrow traverse, high up on the mountain. It was immensely scenic but left a lot desired from a skiing point of view. This leads you over to the Crystal Ridge area of the mountain. I suggested in gest for a stop at the Crystal Hut for waffles but I was voted down. From there, it was skiing down Ridge Runner and Twist and Shout. The later having a bit of a mogul field at atop (that being my first bump run of the season caused me quite a bit of work to get through). All of the runs on this face of the mountain end on the Blackcomb Glacier Road which is an immensely long run out as we would find out a little bit later.

On the trip back up the mountain, a Whistler local suggested that we ski Blackcomb Glacier. So after figuring out the T-bars at the top of Glacier chair (it was the first time for all of us) we kicked off the skis and board and proceeded to hike up and over the ridge at the top of the T-bar. I don't see how the true back country people do this as this completely wiped me out. However, the view from the other side is magnificent. Its a huge wide open bowl at least the width of two football fields across at the top that swoops down into a valley with mountain peaks all around. There were hardly anyone back here (I think at most 3 or 4 people passed us on this run). When you stood still it was completely quiet which was very eerie. The snow here was very light and easily knee deep powder. My meager deep powder skills wasn't enough for this and I got my tips sunk into the snow and took a tumble. A word to the wise, loosing a ski in such deep snow makes it damn difficult to get clipped back in when there isn't anything firm to push back against. After making it off of the glacier (and skiing over a frozen lake!), you make it back to Blackcomb Glacier road. This was a lot of work and the snowboarder with us was cursing all the way due to the flat land. As mentioned before, the Blackcomb Glacier Road trail is extremely long, even more so when you ski the entire length. The one plus to this is you get to see what the bottom of some of the runs from above look like. For example, In The Spirit, a black diamond tree run looked like you would have to have some sort of Q*Bert like skill to jump from snow ledge to snow ledge all while avoiding trees. That is well beyond my ability. By the time we finished this trail, it was nearing the end of the day and my legs were shot, so I downloaded on the Gondola and got a headstart at the bar.

Day Two
Our next day was focused on Whistler. The Village Gondola line was crazy long but the Fitzsimmons Express Chair had no line at all. So taking that chair and then the Garbanzo Express Chair was an easy decision to make. From there we skiied down to the Emerald chair. This takes you through the "Family Zone" but don't mistake this for flat terrain. The pitch through here was good and it provided for some nice cruising. What was also nice is that there was several sections of bumps that were only about a quarter or third of the width of the slope. This let you get in and out of the bumps to practice without committing to a whole run of bumps. From the top of the Emerald chair, we took the G.S. trail to the Harmony Chair. G.S. was a lot of fun with twists and turns and lots of rolling terrain. Lots and lots of fun. Off of the Harmony chair, we took the Harmony Ridge trail several times with taking different runs at the bottom of the trail. We'd like to have tried some different lines near the top of the chair but an unfamiliarity with the terrain and some low visibility kept us on piste.

After a couple of trips on Harmony, we noticed that Symphony Amphitheater area opened up. Getting there means taking a green rated cat road (this was hated by the snowboarders). The Amphitheater itself is pretty stunning. Its very wide open area with a few cut trails and lots of tree. In particular I enjoyed Jeff's Ode to Joy which ends in a nice patch of trees that is pretty easy (even for me) to navigate through. After doing officially marked trails in this area a couple of times, a small group of us traversed out into Rhapsody Bowl which is accessible about 100 meters down from the top of the Symphony Chair. In this bowl, there was as much untracked powder as you could handle and it was easily hip deep in places. This area was stunning both in its sheer beauty but also that we had this huge area almost to ourselves. A word to the wise here, there were a few ridge lines that we entailed an uphill ski so you must keep your speed up or you need to two pole in deep powder...not fun and I speak from experience. At the bottom of this bowl we entered the Glissando Glades which was a really unique experience for me. Here the trail was 1 to 3 skiers in width and the path snaked and undulated though snow covered trees with the trail often forking and reconnected back up again. It was almost like a runaway mine car roller coaster through the woods. I haven't experienced anything like that before.

After this run (and I wish we could have done it again but man it was tough getting to the Glades) we tackled more of the heart of Whistler Mountain. After returning to the Harmony chair via the Burnt Stew Cat trail from Symphony (the snowboarders hated this...a very common compliant) we took it up and skied over to the Saddle on the front side of the mountain. The Saddle run takes you down a glacier in a wide open bowl with rocky crags to your left as you descend. This was a lot of fun...good skiing and jaw dropping visuals.

The other major highlight of the day was the famed Peak-to-Creek run. The Peak chair itself is quite a ride as you get up close to and then go over the rock walls that make up the Whistler peak. From there to the skiers' right, its a very long journey down to Creekside base. The top part of this run is a bit treacherous because the visibility is poor, the run is relatively narrow and lots of people try out this run. With that said, after a few hundred meters, things clear up and the crowds spread out tremendously. I just wish my legs were fresh at this point because that would be the only way to make this better. A few friends took a side trip on Big Timber which they reported was a black trail of over a kilometer that was entirely moguls. Thankfully my legs made the right choice to skip that.

Day Three
After a day of rest, the third day of skiing was back on Blackcomb. We spent the morning in the 7th Heaven area. We had read that this a top notch section of the mountain and it did not disappoint. Essentially the top two thirds of this section of the mountain was wide open-pick your own line type of skiing with lots of powder and the bottom third was a series of about a half dozen cut trails in the trees. By far our favorite of these runs was Upper and Lower Cloud Nine. There was tons of powder to be had up top and the cut trails through the trees were just the right pitch to rock some sweet fast GS turns all the way back to the chair. We did experience one long line here (maybe 10-15 minutes) but otherwise the lines were manageable (and the rest was good).

The afternoon was spent skiing the terrain serviced by the Excelerator and Solar Coaster chairs. For the most part we were alone with a few runs where we didn't see anyone at all which is surprising considering how close we were to Rendezvous Lodge. We ended the day with a trip down ZIg Zag where we saw a kid jump off a 15 foot cliff (quite spectacular) followed by skiing down to the Blackcomb base.

Day Four
Our last day of skiing was on Whistler Mountain. Once again the Village Gondola was crazy busy so we took the Fitzsimmons and Garbanzo chairs. This conveniently drops you off at the top of the Dave Murray Downhill which is the course for the Men's Downhill for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This is going to be quite the thrill to see that event on television in two years knowing that I was able to successfully ski down this course. With that said the course wasn't too difficult at the speeds I travel. There was only one tremendously steep part and I can imagine that most of the competition skiers will probably be jumping down at least part of it. The course was perfectly groomed which made for easy skiing. What does strike you is how long the course is. I can't imagine the amount of strength needed for them to go all out for that distance. A word of caution here though is to probably avoid skiing down to the bottom of the Downhill course in the early to mid morning. We violated our own advice and was greeted with a long line at the bottom. This is after all the only lift available for everyone staying at Creekside so you can imagine the back log. After lunch this line was much, much smaller.

The rest of the day was mainly spent riding under the Big Red Express and taking one more Peak-to-Creek run. With fresh legs, the Peak-to-Creek was an absolute blast. My last major run of the day was Bear Paw off of the Dave Murray to get me back to the Village. This was a very fun, narrow, twisting and undulating run. I am not sure why it was rated black. Just goes to show you how subjective some of the ratings on this mountain are.

Summary

• Whistler is huge.


• The mountain really absorbs crowds as long as you avoid the bottom of the mountain


• 7th Heaven is as good as everyone says


• The Yam fries at the Longhorn are excellent


• The Fitzsimmon Chair from the Village often has no line while the Gondola 75 feet away has a 45 minute wait


• The Blue trail rating is very broad in terms of the challenge the run presents


• Get your legs in shape for some really long, wonderful runs


• Even the Village North area isn't too far away from everthing that the Village has to offer).


• Good lift ticket discounts are available at the Squamish 7-11.