Climbing back into the saddle.
Climbing back into the saddle. Having not skied since my experience with an Avalanche back in April I set off from my home in Victoria BC with a little trepidation.
From Victoria to Whistler as the crow flies is probably not more than 100 miles. But the route traveled is a little more circuitous. A short drive from Victoria to Swartz bay Sidney to catch the 8am ferry to Tawassen just south of Vancouver. The ferry ride through the Queen Charlotte Islands is rather spectacular.
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Vancouver traffic was a predictably bad as ever. Ok not London rush hour bad but not fun. From here on up to Whistler is the twisting Sea to Sky Highway. The first half being the sea. Steeply below to your left and the mountains vertically above to the right. After the village of Squamish. The second half being the ski as the road winds it’s way continually uphill to the gates of Whistler.
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I felt a little strange wandering through the crowds around noon as they were headed hiking, biking, and horse riding or zip lining. Me in my ski gear. Two Chairlifts, a bus ride and another chairlift and I was stood at the Horstman hut at the top of the Horstman glacier.
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Couloir Extreme was looking decidedly un–extreme, more shale and snow patch than anything else
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Clicking into my binding with butterflies in my stomach wondering can I still ski? Will my knee hold out? I was on my shortest, softest skis. Being 180 Volkl explosives with Touring bindings are far from short, soft or light for that matter. The entrance to the ski area was a porridge like slush covered cat track laden with rocks. Not the nicest place to make my first turns in 3 months but it would do fine. With forward, pressure both skis and they turn. What a relief. The first hairpin almost caught me out, sinking in almost a foot.
http://www.tetongravity.com/usergall...s/horstman.jpg
The skiable area on Blackcomb mountain in summer, whilst larger than certain Midwest ski areas and bigger than any dryslope is not very big. There are two T-bars in a bowl and off to one side there is half pipe. To access the half pipe you have to hike over to it and hike back. There is a park area and a bump field both of which are used by training camps during the morning.
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Blackcomb Glacier looked nice but I didn't fancy skiining back up
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The sun was high in the sky and before the lifts closed both the loading areas were in danger of becoming puddles.
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The views afforded by being this high are great. Back behind to Blackcomb glacier, further over into Garibaldi national park and across the valley into the Costal Range and beyond.
On the long ride back down the mountain, search as I might I couldn’t spot any black bears. They must have been hiding from the bright sunlight and high temperatures.
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To avoid driving through Vancouver I opted to take the Horseshoe Bay to Nanimo ferry route and drive south on Vancouver Island. Watching the sun go down over horseshoe bay was nice.
From Nanimo to Victoria involves quite a lot more driving than it would have on the mainland. Even after midnight they were doing road construction. I got home late.
Late home, exhausted, pleased and relived.
