Life in the village is certainly starting to get a bit more crowded. This weekend is the start of the Christmas holiday season and already it feels like the number of people doubled over night. This means two things. First, I am going to get a lot more work.. which means more income, that I kind of need due to the lack of early season work. Second, the slopes are going to get a lot busier.. so time already invested in finding the hidden spots should hopefully pay off! Can't do much about lift lines however.
If you've wondered where I have been the last couple of weeks, the biggest bit of news is that the alpine has finally opened here. I am once again in my comfort zone, and happy to be back on the steeps! The first day that peak chair opened I didn't stop riding until the lift closed.. then had dinner at 3:30pm, as there was no way I was waiting for lunch, and a much needed beer. I didn't take the camera with me that day (bad decision), but I did want to focus on my skiing and make sure I would be comfortable in the conditions here.
With my confidence up, I also managed to get in to the zone which I have been looking at ever since I first looked at a trail map for Whistler. It's called 'Spanky's Ladder', and if you ever get a chance to go up it, the description is apt. The climb is almost vertical at points, but thankfully short. This gets you access to some fantastic bowls and chutes on top of the Blackcomb Glacier
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| The trail map of Blackcomb Glacier |
This week when the sun came out, I had two fantastic days up in this region with plenty of fresh tracks, fun snow, and air time. Some great footage was taken, but I have yet to put this together into an edit.. so for now the stills will tell the story.
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| Blackcomb Glacier (Main Entrance) |
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| Awesome pow turns |
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| Pretty quiet out here! |
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| Gladed Tree's on a blue sky day |
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| Discussing line choice at the top of Spanky's |
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| Lower entrance to Diamond Bowl |
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| Believe it or not, there's skis in there somewhere! |
Hopefully the multitude of photos this update makes up for the lack of them earlier. If you want to see more just check out my Facebook page as I regularly put photos up.
Another highlight of this week is that I was lucky enough to take part in the 'Slide for Hunger' charity event. Although you may think this sounds skiing related, it's not! In fact it involves sliding down an icy tube at speeds up to 100km/h about an inch of the ground wearing nothing but a helmet on a small sled. It's called 'Skeleton' and if you watch the Winter Olympics (or the video below) you will see what i mean! I wasn't allowed to take the video camera with me, but I think the others reactions sum it up nicely.
Some of you may have noticed that I track my days on the mountain using an application called 'Alpine Replay'. I've hit a number of milestones over the last couple of weeks. Over 1000km total distance travelled this season, a new top speed of 95.4km/h, and the top of the leaderboard worldwide for vertical drop for the season thus far!
Last night I got to see all the extended family on Mum's side for a while as it's her birthday today (Happy Canadian birthday mum!), and also opened my care package from home. Thankfully I am now well stocked with many Kiwi chocolates, cookies, candy, spices and Maggi cook in the pot! I'm trying my hardest to ration them all.. but it will be difficult.
The snow is falling thick again outside, and this storm could well bring us another 70cm+ over the next 5 days or so, and as the peak didn't open today it could mean a big pow day is set for tomorrow! I have the next 2 days off.. so here's hoping they will deliver. Until then, I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas build up, and are being good to each other!
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| Does it get much better than this? |
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