**I am still working on getting the full Gallery up and running so please bear with me as I get it going! I’ll be sure to make it known on social media when I have the gallery up.**
Friday, January 12th: Travel Day.
This trip had been on the radar for over a month and the anticipation of exploring new terrain and a new ski culture had me in an unfocused frenzy. My Dad and I had planned a three day ski trip to the holy land of skiing in North America – Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia back in December and the trip was finally here. Oh…and we were bringing along my youngest brother, Shawn. The three of us packed up Thursday night and they were ready to pick me up in the morning en route to the Rochester International Airport to catch our flight out. We were originally going to fly from Rochester to Toronto and then Toronto to Vancouver. Friday was the day Rochester was to get pounded by rain which would then turn to snow as temps plummeted from 50 degrees (all temps are in Fahrenheit) to 15 degrees. Around 9 PM on Thursday night, we are emailed a notice that our flight from Rochester to Toronto had been cancelled. we were able to reschedule for earlier in the day. Thinking that we would be set, I continued to pack because my Dad and brother were going to pick me up at 4:30 AM to catch our 6:30 AM flight. It was now around 11 PM (remember that this is the night before a morning flight) and Air Canada canceled the new flight from Rochester to Toronto! My dad calls me in a panic and I got on the phone with Air Canada. We eventually settled on driving to Toronto to catch the same flight we rescheduled to, which was departing at 9 AM. This meant little sleep was to be had. We began driving to Toronto at 3:30 AM and made our flight to Vancouver. It was a hectic 18 or so hours of rescheduling, driving, and flying to get there, but we eventually made it to Vancouver around noon on Friday January 12th.
Whistler Village Street
We arrived in Vancouver to 40-50 degree temperatures and an overcast drizzle. This was not the ski weather we were hoping for but as we drove the 85 miles north into the mountains to Whistler, B.C., the rain changed to snow in the mountains and all was right in the world. We checked into Lost Lake Lodge right near Whistler Village (which I would highly recommend) and took the free shuttle down to the village. The village streets extend out at the base of Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains and are lined with shops, restaurants, and bars – all lively with people and music. The streets were lined with Christmas lights and the snow was lightly falling onto the snow-covered paths, which created the perfect ski village atmosphere. To the left is a photo of one of the light-lined streets that we walked down. We settled in at a bar called Beacon Pub & Eatery and chowed down in anticipation for our first go at Pacific Northwest skiing.
Saturday, January 13th: The first ski day.
Still on Eastern time, my Dad and I woke far before the alarm and were wired and ready for action at 5 AM. Shawn probably could have slept until noon…even with the time change. We eventually got up and ate breakfast as we awaited our time to hit the shuttle such that we’d be on the lift when it opened at 8:30 AM. We decided that we would do mainly Blackcomb Mountain on Saturday, Whistler Mountain on Sunday, and a combination of our favorites from both on Monday.
View from Excalibur Gondola
The mountains received a few inches of snow the night before and the temps were unseasonably warm (30s), eventually making for a day of heavy carves into the white canvas. We got to the Excalibur gondola to take us up the first link of Blackcomb and rode the car through the first layer of clouds. We would eventually jump on another lift that would take us most of the way up the mountain. To get to the highest ski-able terrain on Blackcomb you’d have to take an additional lift, T-bar and then hike further up to access the Blackcomb Glacier, which we would eventually end up exploring. To the left is a photo taken from the gondola looking back at the village. At this point we had no idea how expansive the terrain in. As we would soon find out, we were in for a treat. After getting off of the Excalibur gondola and getting on another chair lift, we moved out of the bottom layer of clouds and found ourselves in a pocket of visibility. It was at this point that we realized the extent of the accessible terrain provided by Whistler Blackcomb. We couldn’t even see it all and it was still incredible. Below are two photos of the view above the bottom layer of clouds and below the upper layer. This is how the weather remained for the rest of the day.
Views at the Top of the Excelerator Express Chair
We had yet another lift to get near the peak of Blackcomb to the base of the T-bar. As seen in the below photograph, we were entering ski-able terrain more open than anything I’ve ever skied. On the east coast, majority of the mountains that I’ve skied have trails between the trees from top to bottom. We now found ourselves with an open playground and access to wherever we wanted to ski. The lower layer of clouds acted as a sea and the distant mountain peaks emerged as ships sailing it.
Mountains Floating as Ships in a Sea of Clouds
We skied (and Shawn boarded if we are going to get specific…) down to the base of the same lift we just rode up and got back in line with the Blackcomb Glacier on our mind. We took the T-bar and hiked to the drop-in point to the glacier. We had to get a photo next to the “Avalanche Hazard Area” sign to show our adventurous spirit and the thrill we were about to encounter.
The glacier was INCREDIBLE!!! So expansive and extremely humbling. The drop-in was intense and we had our choice of any route that we wanted to take down. More photos will be posted to the gallery and on the Day 3 blog post (Shawn and I went back over there on Day 3), but here is one of the top of the glacier. You are seeing the photo correctly…those small specs in the middle of the photo are indeed skiers and boarders (to give you some reference of the scale of this bowl).
View of the Blackcomb Glacier from the Top
As we skied down, we came across an area on the right that was both really cool and extremely eye opening (after talking to some locals). There was a massive ice cave along the right side of the valley that we obviously had to explore. I took these two photos to give the scale of the cave. The upper photo shows Shawn at the base of the cave (closest to the cave) and the lower photo is of us actually in the cave. The eye opening part of this cave is that it typically is hidden and non-existent to skiers, but due to climate change and warming temperatures, this cave has been getting exposed more and more each year. This is according to a local that I talked to on the chair lift. The feature was still incredible to see and a cool stop along the way down the glacier. I find it fascinating to be able to look at ice formations that have likely been in place for thousands of years.
Views of the Ice Cave on the Blackcomb Glacier
For more glacier photos, see the gallery once uploaded! At this point, we were into the early afternoon. After skiing down from the Glacier, we made our way over to the peak-2-peak gondola, an engineering feat that is impressive to say the least. I’ll go more in depth on the peak-to-peak in my day 3 synopsis, but below are two photographs – one of the view at the landscape from the gondola (the gondola reaches a mad height of 1,427 feet above the valley floor) and the other through the glass floor. Yes, you read that right. There are a few cars that you can wait for that have a glass floor that allows you to look down upon the valley floor. Incredibly nerve-racking!
Views from the Peak-2-Peak Gondola
Once reaching Whistler Mountain (Peak-to-peak drops you off somewhat near the peak, but you still need to take a peak chairlift to reach the actual peak), we made our way over to the lodge and posed on Olympic Pedestals. Dad’s quote after the photo was “you wish it went like that” (talking about who was in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd).
On the Olympic Pedestals. Left, Shawn. Center, me. Right, Dad.
We skied a few runs on Whistler knowing that the following day would be our day to fully explore the mountain. By the end of the day, we were beat and humbled by the mountain. We all realized that we weren’t as strong as we thought we were – especially in the legs. Throughout the whole day as we carved down the heavy snow, our legs burned. Although the burning led to many breaks, I’ve never felt more alive. After we called it a day, we eventually made it back to our lodge and cleaned up for dinner. This was not before we all got split up on the last run of the day. I somehow ended up at the Creekside Village, which is a ways down the road from the Whistler Village – which is where we were all supposed to be. I quickly found out that Dad and Shawn made it there but I was stranded at Creekside. As they went back to our lodge, I began to make my way back by catching the shuttle. As I boarded, I saw people swiping a card of some sort, so I got out my credit card (confused because all of the shuttles that I had ridden thus far were free shuttles). The bus driver exclaimed “they were swiping a monthly bus card…do you have any cash?” I replied positively asking how much the trip would be. He said that it was $2.50. I forgot that I only had a few American singles and pulled them out and tried to put them in the machine. He reaches over and stops me, looks at me with the eyes of Canadian judgement, and tells me that there are no free shuttles from Creekside and to get to the back of the bus. He must have been thinking “these Americans are clueless…” Needless to say, I was sure to not make the mistake of ending up at Creekside by the end of the day for the remainder of the trip!
For dinner and beers we ended up driving 6 miles down the road to Whistler Brewing Company. I would recommend this place to anyone and everyone!!! The bar and eating room has a great mountain character and the service was great. They also make very good beer and we found that our favorite was their Honey Lager. Overall, this brewery has their operation on par. The bartender was hilarious as well. He asked where we were from and we said upstate New York. Thinking about New York City, he went on to say “they need to invent cars without horns down there!” We were all laughing hysterically. He then went on to say how the east coast and west coast have amazing landscapes and features but the center of both the US and Canada is boring and flat. He told us that there is an old saying that goes “If a man were to lose his dog, he’d still be able to see it walking away 2 weeks later”. The service was great and they certainly kept us entertained. After the brewery, we made our way back to the lodge to prep for ski day 2 (Sunday).
If you have any comments on this post or any questions, feel free to leave them by using the comment feature below the post! To leave a comment, you’ll have to click on the actual post on the side-bar and scroll to the bottom (you can’t leave a comment from the home screen right now). Thanks for reading!!!
**Ski days 2 and 3 will be made as separate posts and I’ll also do a final Whistler Blackcomb summary. As stated before, bear with me as I set up the photo gallery. There are lots and lots of photos I’d love to share with you!**
-Ryan
