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Sunday, January 14th: The Second Ski Day.
** As always, head over to the gallery from Whistler Blackcomb – January 2018 to see all photos from my adventures! **
Somewhat adjusting to the Pacific timezone (or maybe it was just how much the skiing wiped us out), my Dad, brother, and I all got a full night of sleep on Saturday night. I’m pretty sure that I was knocked out within 5 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. The few beers had the night before probably helped the process as well. We woke around 6:30 AM (with Shawn waking at 7 when I pile-drove him into the bed to get him up) and made breakfast. Today was to be our first full Whistler Mountain day. We got our gear on and headed to the basement to get our skis and snowboard out of the locker that we were provided and required to keep our gear in. We ventured outside the Lost Lake Lodge to the shuttle stop located at the end of the driveway and hopped on the free shuttle to get to Whistler Village. **Side note…the entire lodging operation was seamless and made getting our gear and travelling to the mountain extremely easy and accessible. I would highly recommend staying at any place near Whistler Village that has access to the free shuttle. Many of the lodges/hotels are independently run but majority have great accessibility to all of the Whistler Blackcomb amenities. ** We arrived at the same base near the Excalibur Gondola that we had taken the day before to get to Blackcomb. This time, we took the Fitzsimmons Express chair lift to access Whistler Mountain. There was the same cloud cover over the village as the day before. We were quickly learning that there seems to always be some form of a cloud layer or fog in the pacific northwest valleys – more times than not it seems. Luckily, the forecast called for breaks of sun with some clouds. Looking back at the village from the chair, we were able to see a break in the clouds and noticed the distant mountain peaks illuminated by the vibrant morning sun. Little did we know the sweetness of the bluebird treat that we would soon be served once we broke through the bottom layer of clouds.
A peek through the clouds at the bluebird skies waiting above the clouds
The sneak preview turned out to be right. We would soon find out how right it would be. Once we got above the base layer of clouds, there was NOT A CLOUD IN THE SKY. We got to experience early morning skiing with views more expansive than anything we had ever experienced before. We strapped in and geared up, ready to soak in the sun and the views during a day we would never forget.
Strapping in and gearing up – our first blue-sky view of the Canadian Rockies
We had the Whistler Peak on our mind and wanted to check out the Whistler bowl at some point on this day. We made our way up another lift and got over to the base of the Whistler peak chair.
Whistler Mountain backbone glistening in the morning sun
We would go on to ride the Whistler Peak chair to get to the top of the world. This lift became the most terrifying, awesome, and adrenaline-pumping part of the entire trip. The chairs were normal chairs with just a single bar with foot rests restraining you. The lift passes over two cliffs at which you are 100 or more feet in the air (this may or may not be accurate…but I can tell you that you get UP THERE to the point where falling off would be painless). I was white knuckled hanging onto my poles and the restraint bar. I felt alive. See the photo below that shows the height of the first cliff that the chair climbs. In the ski day 3 blog and photos there are some great photos of the whistler peak chair from alternate angles, so be on the lookout for those.
Whistler Peak chair
Once we reached the summit, our amazement peaked. The views were breathtaking and I was speechless. The Whistler Mountain summit left an impression that will forever be tattooed into my memory.
Canadian Rockies from Whistler Mountain Peak
At this point, my Dad was skiing off by himself while Shawn and I were exploring on our own. We had intentions of skiing the Whistler bowl in the morning but found out on the first run that the bowl was semi-icy and unforgiving due to the warmer temperatures the day before and the cooler night. Typically, the area received We made our way back to the path more traveled and ventured back to the Whistler peak chair, avoiding the bowl for the time-being. We decided that it’d be best to stay on trails and bowls in the sunlight, as they were softer and better to carve into. We made our way across the peak over to the Symphony area (still on Whistler Mountain, just a different ski area on the mountain) and rode the Symphony lift a few times and enjoyed the sun. The lift lines were quite a bit longer due to the beautiful and warm weather. Although the lines were longer, they sure were entertaining thanks to some bird friends. I’m unsure what species of bird resides in the trees near that lift, but they were out in numbers and would fly into the lift lines and land on people’s helmets, hands, and poles in search of granola. Some people would lure them in by giving them granola while others would hold their hands or poles in the air. I tried to snap a selfie when one landed on my helmet, but I didn’t react quick enough and the bird flew away. I was able to capture one that landed on a ski pole, though. See below.
A bird perched on an extended ski pole searching for food
Symphony was a great area with some incredible views and awesome tree skiing.
View of the tree skiing from the base of the Symphony lift
As the sun rose above the Whistler bowl, we made our way back over that way to experience the challenging terrain that we were sure it’d offer. We made a quick pit-stop at the Whistler top lodge to sit on the viewing deck and eat our PB&Js and refuel. After we were ready to go, we rode the peak chair and made our way around the backside of the peak to access the Whistler bowl. To get there, we skied on a short trail that was probably about 20 feet wide with no fence and a steep cliff drop-off on the left. As we approached the drop-in, it looked like we were approaching the end of the earth (trust me…I know the earth is round but you get my point). We dropped in and enjoyed some incredible mogul skiing and stunning views. We ended up doing a few runs down the bowl to close out the ski day.
View of the top of the Whistler Peak chair from the bowl drop-in
Whistler Bowl
After a few times down the Whistler Bowl, I sure was wiped. My quads were on FIRE. I was beat and so was Shawn, we made our way back to the base and caught the shuttle back to Lost Lake Lodge to meet my Dad and catch the end of the Minnesota Vikings playoff game – a game that would have an ending more insane than any that I can ever remember.
After the game, we made our way back into the village for dinner and beers. We explored the shops before dinner and looked at ski apparel. We also had to get our tourist fix and bought some pretty sweet Whistler t-shirts. My favorite is this retro-looking shirt that has a design straight out of the 1970s or 1980s. I love it. Let’s bring back the retro. We also walked into a Helly Hansen outfitter and I am pretty sure that I was convinced right there on the spot that, when I get my next pair of skis next year, I should also get a bright jumpsuit. They had this bright orange jumpsuit hanging on the wall and I was mesmerized. HOW FREAKING SWEET AND SWAGGY WOULD A JUMP SUIT BE?!? Not necessarily bright orange – that’s just what they had. I’m like 75 percent convinced. That’ll be a blog post itself later this year if it happens. Jumpsuits deserve our undivided attention. Jumpsuits are a way of life. Alright…enough of this jumpsuit rant.
We made our way back to the area near the base of the lifts because there was this Irish restaurant that we wanted to check out. As we got there, there were people gathering and some light shining at the base of the mountain with snowcats pushing some snow around. They were making a sweet jump! We looked up what was happening and Whistler hosts this event every Sunday called fire and ice. They make this jump every week and bring in professional skiers and boarders and have them launch off a jump through a ring of fire while performing flips and twists. Watching this was so so so cool! The jump that they created had a 300 foot span and some of the guys were even getting as far as 400 feet. The video below is the finale, in which all 6 professionals launched consecutively with fireworks and fire everywhere. It was insanely intense and impressive.
After the show, we raced over to the Irish pub to snag a table and managed to beat the crowd. We enjoyed some beers and dinner (and had a very, very pretty waitress which made the experience even better). We finished around 9:30 and we were definitely fatigued and ready for bed. We made our way back to Lost Lake and called it in. We needed our rest for day 3 of skiing and we had learned of the importance of rest from the previous two days. These mountains wipe you out! But it’s all totally worth it. Whistler is a magical place you’d think only existed in heaven. Looking back at day 2 of skiing, I find an appreciation for the opportunity to have blue skies and great visibility. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the pros fly through the air and loved experiencing the village for an extended period of time.
Stay tuned for the third and final ski day post and overall impression post! Also be sure to check out my galleries that are now live! I have the first two ski days up as of this post. The galleries do seem a bit slow to load too, so please be patient…I am working to try and make the site as user-friendly and smooth as possible! I am still working on formatting the galleries to make them easiest to navigate so please bear with me as I continue to develop the site. But I did want to just get content out to you so that you can see how incredible of a place Whistler is! Feel free to leave comments, suggestions, and share!! I truly appreciate you for reading all the way through and checking out To Summit Up! I hope to form meaningful relationships with all of you such that we can inspire each other to push our boundaries and experience the world.
-Ryan
