Seven days hitting Whistler Blackcomb

It was time, finally, to hit the slopes: eleven days of ripping up powder in Whistler and Mont Tremblant. On December 7th, I ventured out to Whistler, British Columbia for seven days with four close friends. We arrived in Vancouver before 10am and drove the scenic Sea-to-Sky Highway to the Whistler Blackcomb resort. I spotted at least ten spectacular bald eagles resting on tree tops and soaring the bluebird sky as we made our way through Squamish.

Little did we know, but we would be present for the grand opening of the Peak to Peak Gondola that spans the 4.4km distance between the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. The Guinness Book of World Records, along with hoards of media, descended on Whistler Village during the week prior to the Gondola's opening on December 12th--mainly because over three world records had been broken by this impressive engineering masterpiece.

I boarded on Blackcomb for two days and hit Whistler for three this week. Unfortunately, tearing up the snow for six hours every day took a toll on my lower back. I started flaring on my second night with terrible night sweats, stiffness, and back pain. I tried to suck it up and stick it out, but the stiffness worsened each day after that. By Thursday December 11th, I could barely stand up after strapping myself on my board. I had a noticeable difficult time walking...lifting each leg to propel me forward was met with significant stiffness and pain (the SI joint being the pivot point). Extra-strength Motrin took the edge off the pain a bit, but my mobility became progressively hindered. Needless to say, it's impossible for me to bend forward (friends help me don my socks and shoes/boots), and most mobilization requires some creative movements if I don't have friends nearby to assist. After five straight days of exploring the terrain on both mountains, I decided to give my body a break during my last two days here and enjoy the activities the Village offered: shopping, restaurants, apres, soaking in the hot-tub with friends and beer, and night life fun. I wanted to allow my body time to recover before leaving for Mont Tremblant on December 18th. With all of the snow Tremblant has experienced so far, I anticipated taking in some hardcore powder during my four day stay there.

The weather has been a bit wonky this week, with spring-like conditions at the base of the mountains, and a light foundation at the peak, resulting in the limited access to trails and runs on both summits and forcing every level of alpinist to share the track. There was a frustrating disorganized convergence of people from novice toddlers to professional racers. Everyone became either a target or an obstacle to avoid; I even overheard the mountain guides and safety patrol comment on the chaos. I was guilty of taking out a few people, and suffered the forceful impacts of others' uncontrolled speed. We relished the light dusting of snow on the peak on Tuesday and delighted on Friday when we awoke to the first snow gracing the Village (which meant that the peaks would have enough snow to conceal the icy 57cm snowbase for the morning crowd). Today was -25 degrees Celsius at the peak (with 57km/hr winds) and -12 degrees in the valley. The winds howled through the Village too. I was still struggling to mobilize my legs which forced me to walk slower than normal and endure the bone-chilling temperature. I was glad I was not on the peaks today. Instead, I spent the day shopping for snow-sport clothing, and the evening celebrating friendships over internationally-acclaimed fine dining at Araxi Restaurant and Lounge.

I'm LOVING the apres!!!