Whistler/Blackcomb…Day #1- Nov. 28, 2008
Written by Robyn on December 15th, 2008Do despite Whistler’s base being only 55cm Tyler, myself, and our friend’s Anthony and Ali decided to hit the slopes on Friday. I have a lot of weekdays off with my job but the other 3 ended up calling in sick or taking vacation time to go up to Whistler. We parked the car at Creekside and took the Creekside Gondola up Whistler Mountain. It was snowing pretty heavily in the village and on the mountain but not too much of it was sticking. On top of the mountain the snow was kind of sleet-like and beading water when it hit our jacket.
It was great just to be up on the ski hills and get the first runs of the season! Tyler and I were both excited to wear our new Smith helmets (Intrigue and Variant models) and try them out. However, it was CROWDED!!!. I think a lot of other people were also dying to hit the slopes and with only 6 actual runs open it was a bit nuts! The terrain on the website said it was ‘limited’…but this was VERY limited. The Green, Red, and Franz chairs were open but only a small selection of green and blue runs. The mountain would have been quiet if it were regular season and people were spread out but we were chatting with a mountain safety person and she said there were 4000 people just on Whistler Mountain alone!!!
Now…you may be asking, why didn’t you just head out of bounds? Well, Tyler and I were not wanting to break our legs on the first day of the season! The alpine base was so low while we were going up the chair lifts we watched various skiers and boarders get trapped in small creeks, left over summer season mouthiness biking structures, and LOTS of rocks. Also, with the limited conditions we figured it was not worth it.
All in all it was a great day, just to be outside and get our gear on and ride. I can’t wait for more snow which equals more terain!
