Opening Day

Well the day is finally here, opening day. Whistler opened 5 days early today, even though the cover is particularly thin, the snow-making crews have made good progress with some low temperatures. The lead up to opening day hasn't been particularly eventful, but there were a few points of note.

Work has been particularly quiet, we only spent 4 days in training before about a weeks break, and then yesterday we set up a majority of the shop. With Blackcomb mountain not opening until the 22nd, there isn't much more work until then. Thankfully the mountain is open to keep me entertained!

During the time off I've been doing a lot of hiking about the area. You can really see how this place could be an adventure sports playground, with heaps of mountain bike tracks and some wicked rivers.

There are heaps of falls like this around the area

This train wreck has been turned into a mountain bike playground

The Lost Lake

A great way to spend a day is also at a place a quick drive from town called 'Bounce'. It's a trampoline center that includes a number of large tramps and a foam pit. My back wasn't particularly hapy the next day, but it certainly was a lot of fun. Didn't manage to land any of my numereous back and front flip attempts, but got really close.

Lincoln Loop attempt

To say that it's wet at the moment is an understatement, but at least it means that it is snowing good and heavy in the alpine. It's set to last throughout the week as well, hopefully getting a bit lower as it does. Given the wind and snow I was hesitant about heading up, however I'm very glad I did. The conditions are best described as wet snow on a hard crust, and we were not allowed off-trail due to the limited cover, but I still managed to find the odd stash. Really looking forward to Monday when the crowds leave and we get some more fresh overnight.

The queue the night before for opening day

I leave you with the only quick video I took today. I was more focusing on getting my bearings on the first day, and testing out gear. Learned that I certainly need some good glove liners (fingers are finally warm again!), and my skis could do with a wax. Hope everyone back home is enjoying the sunshine!