I had a great long weekend in Whistler catching up with Christopher (or Brownie as he’s now called, I was reprimanded several times for using his full name!), meeting his friends and remembering how to snowboard. My flights from Dublin to San Francisco and then on to Vancouver were uneventful, and the Delta airport hotel that Chris had arranged for me to stay in overnight before catching the 5am Greyhound up to whistler the next morning was one of the best rooms I’ve ever stayed in.
I arrived in Whistler at about 7:45am and met up with Chris, by the time we’d picked up the jacket and pants that I was borrowing from one of Chris’ friends, checked in to the hotel, had some breakfast and hired a board and some boots we didn’t actually make it up the mountain until about 11! We went up Blackcomb on Thursday, which was also Blackcomb’s first day of the season, and a popular one at that, by 11am when we got up there the fresh unmarked slopes were already heavily mogulled! Blackcomb and Whistler really are huge skifields compared to what I’m used to, we barely had to wait in a queue all day and only the lower half of the mountain was open! The snow quality was equal and perhaps even superior to what I’m used to, but according to the locals (ie. Chris) what we had was nothing compared to what it would be like later in the season once the real snow has actually arrived!
Friday saw us heading up Whistler mountain, starting with an entertaining Gondola ride with some of the local snowboarders. It was another great day of boarding, although I’m really not used to boarding in between trees and dealing with the deep powder that accompanies it. You have to keep up your speed to avoid sinking while also avoiding trunks that appear in front of you from the middle of nowhere! I seemed to spend most of the time in the trees digging my way out of the hole of powder that I’d fallen in to. The day ended slowly with a 1hr queue to get back on the Gondola to head down the mountain, as there is nowhere near enough snow to be able to board/ski all the way down to the base yet.
The rest of the time there I hung out with Chris and his friends, it was good to meet Dan and Paul who went on the Alaska road trip with Chris and hear all the stories again from different perspectives. They definitely had a great time and a very busy trip! I managed to get Chris to sit down long enough to sort through all the photos that he’s accumulated over the past few months and write them to a couple of DVDs, so when I get some time in the next week or two I’ll start uploading them to his blog for him.
I left Whistler just after lunch on Sunday, and made it back to Vancouver airport in time for my flight, despire the 2hr bus trip taking just over 3 hours thanks to the congestion from Vancouver’s Santa Parade! I can still say I’ve never missed a flight in my life although I was getting a bit worried at one point.
You can find all my photos under the Whistler tag, I’ve still got a few from yesterday that I will upload tommorrow, but most of them are there now.
I’m staying in an apartment in San Francisco, right down near the waterfront beside the Bay Bridge. It’s a very nice, modern complex, the only downside being that it’s just over an hour north of the main office in Mountain View. I’m currently on the shuttle bus heading down to work for my first day over here, the bus has wireless which works OK, although it’s a bit of a bumpy drive which makes reading from the screen somewhat unpleasant.
More news later once I’ve had a chance to get my bearings and decide what I think of California!
Comment from Gill on 2007-11-27
Thanks for news, reassurance all is well in Whistler and you are both still in one piece!