Today was my last day of downhill skiing.
A sign on Blackcomb Mountain or as it has been referred to as "The Dark Side" had advised Whistler Mountain better for beginner skiiers due to heavier slushy conditions. Whistler Mountain has more "fluffy" snow. My favourite Mountain is Whistler and I tend to ski more on it as it has a direct gondola from the village to mid station (Olympic Station) and onto the Round House Station connecting it to the Peak to Peak Gondola with an easier download if you get tired whereas Blackcomb Mountain you need to take the Excalibur Gondola from the village to Mid Station to about 2/3 up the mountain to connect with another chairlift (I think it is the Solar Coaster) before connecting onto the Peak to Peak Gondola making downloading a little more difficult. Maybe this will all change when a planned new direct gondola replaces the old gondola connecting to the Peak to Peak for the next ski season.
Ok so I probably didn't mention that I had a bit of an equipment failure on the mountain skiing on my way down Whistler Mountain from Mid Station on Monday - it pays to test your equipment before doing a full run from the top of the mountain as it is a very long way down! The base of my skis got stuck in the snow and huge chunks of snow where forming and sticking firmly to the base of my skis forming solid ice block's and preventing me from moving. I had to scrap off these chunks of ice and managed to continue skiing down to the village. I tried to wax the base of my skis with a block of cold bees wax I had in my bag (an experiment I was doing on my shoeshoes to prevent the same thing happening ) but it didn't really help - not recommended by the way despite what you read on the internet.
Today I did the same run but this time my skis just would not move and it wasn't just because the snow was sticky. I had just uploaded to mid station therefore had to downloaded back to the village where I had to find a waxing place. I went downstairs to Carlton Lodge where there is a ski tunning centre in the basement of the lodge. I got a quick wax which made a difference. It was a free wax just as it was quite a few years ago when I had the same problem. (This end up only being a temporary fix as my skis started to stick to the snow again towards the end of the day skiing my last run back down to the village.)
Back up the mountain but I decided to go to "The Dark Side" mid station and ski down to the village to test my newly waxed skis. Better first run. Next was another ride up Whistler Gondola but not to Mid Station but straight up to the Round House Station and straight onto the Peak to Peak Gondola for the ride and photos. Visibility was so poor I could not take any photos.
Back on Whistler Mountain I decided to ski all the way down from The Round House via Upper Whisky Jack past the Emerald Chair onto Lower Whisky Jack and past Mid Station all the way down to Whistler Village.
It was very late - I stopped too many times and took too many photos. It was 3.30 pm by the time I reached the base of the mountains in the village. All the lifts had stopped operating by 3 pm. It was peak hour for skiers skiing down to the village.
I actually sat in the outdoor hot tub downstairs in my apartment block for what seemed like hours - I was aching all over! It started to snow again.
End of downhill ski day 2.
Photos attached Chicpea and even a little bit of blue sky peeking out!
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