The Life Aquatic in Whistler, BC

Written by Adam

Sunday, 24 January 2010

For a die-hard skier, an extended forecast of “100% chance of rain” for your local ski area is infuriating. This was the forecast I was facing, so it was time to leave again. Where to this time? This was going to be a solo mission so I didn’t feel like driving halfway across the continent myself. Most of the ski areas in Washington were facing the same soggy mess that was plaguing Mt. Baker, but maybe Whistler would be high enough? A few quick phone calls confirmed that the conditions up there were better, so it was time to hit the road for three days in my old hometown. Compared to the sleepy backwoods town of Glacier, Whistler is like Las Vegas. It’s a winter wonderland of people, lights, and general craziness. Whistler is also going to be hosting the Winter Olympics in a few weeks, so you could tell the town was getting ready for a bigger party than normal. There is always something going on in town and I just happened to time my arrival with the Deep Winter pro photographer shootout slideshows. Before the show started I spent some time with the lovely ripping ladies of the Rad Boob Club who were selling calendars to support breast cancer research. The images presented by the five photographers were definitely impressive and I went to sleep with powder dreams. When I woke up the next morning the dreams became a reality… sort of. It turned out that the warm freezing levels followed me up to Whistler, but at least the upper mountain was still good in relatively good shape. My hosts Sheldon and Jay took me into some of the more interesting zones on Blackcomb Mountain, including C.B.C. trees, which had been thinned out by a forest fire over the summer. Of course in order to get to C.B.C. trees you might as well hit up Mr. Belvedere on the way down, and the tree jib on the way back to the lift. We also explored the higher alpine zones in Spanky’s Ladder. The conditions were not all-time but it was soft enough to find little contrived pocket airs. All of this skiing left us with serious appetites, and the candy bars we consumed during our mid-mountain break in the hut only scratched the surface of our hunger. This was typical dirtbag cuisine in a true ski bum location, but we could surely do better while in Whistler, right? Luckily, Sheldon happens to work at Sushi Village and knew the lunch specials would not disappoint. We made it just in time to put in our order before the lunch shift ended. The following day was slightly warmer which made for a bit stickier conditions, but we gave it our best shot. Sheldon and I managed to time our arrival at the top of Jersey Cream chair with the opening of 7th Heaven, which also happened to coincide with the only clearing of the day. We managed to catch a nice line in Reservoir Trees before the clouds opened up again. We were making the most of the wet conditions, but by mid-afternoon we were both feeling as fishy as the main course at Sushi Village. Sheldon had to work so I called up Rad Boob Club member Holly Walker who joined us for some tasty treats. Sheldon provided the sake margaritas and Masa made us a wonderful platter of dead fish and rice. Good times were had. The forecast for the following day was grim, so we decided that we might as well continue the party with our friends at the Crystal Lounge, the Longhorn, and Maxx Fish. Further details of the evening are hazy. While this quick trip wasn’t a super powder paradise extravaganza, the mission was most definitely a success and will hopefully be repeated in the future. It was also interesting to notice that the usually crowded ski areas were virtually deserted. I knew a lot of people were avoiding Whistler because they were afraid that the Olympics would make the town a mess, but this was probably the least crowded I’ve ever seen the place. The only mess we encountered was in the day lots, where some people can’t seem to park within the lines. Finally, these last-minute trips require the assistance of many people to pull off, so MVP awards are awarded Sheldon Steckman and the other dwellers of the Wooded Tree Area for the housing, and Ryan Proctor for granting access to the mountains.