Monday, December 14, 2009

Whistler Day 2

Our second day at Whistler was forcasted as being a clear sunny day so Mr. Missouri, his eldest daughter K, (who we'll call Stella), and The Mr. and I, decided to spend the day on the slopes! According to the website for our condo, we were only about 100 yards from a Blackcomb ski lift, but we couldn't figure out how that could be true since we couldn't even find any directions on how to get there or any information about where the hill was located compared to where our condo was.

Our section of condos was beside the Marriott hotel in the upper village, so I just decided to call their concierge desk, as they were probably going to be a whole lot more helpful than the condo after hours help-line. Well, they were amazingly helpful even after I told them we were actually staying across the street and couldn't get any help from our own contact numbers. It turned out that their hotel actually backed up right onto Blackcomb mountain and all we had to do was walk across the street and behind their hotel and we would be on a ski run. We were very excited that we were not going to have to drive down to the village in the morning and park in the crazy public lots because that would mean a lot of walking.

The next morning proved to be beautiful! We geared up, headed out the door, crossed the street, walked past the Marriott and there it was just as promised, a ski run! Full of crusty, icy, rocky, grassy "snow!" My heart fell in my chest. It was so disappointing and sad to see a ski run in such a sorry state. We limped down the ski run, some boarding, some skiing, some using their snowboards as toboggans (Stella and I to be exact.)

When we got on the ski lift and headed up the mountain the snow we saw beneath us got thicker and softer and by the time we reached the top of Blackcomb several lift rides later, the snow was awesome! We were so relieved! Whistler Blackcomb is so huge that we would never need to go on any of those nasty runs near the bottom of the mountains and there were several "tiers" of runs full of beautiful snow before you would even reach the bottom icky ones. At the end of the day we could even download on the Blackcomb Gondola and not have to touch those icy runs again.

The higher we got on the mountain, the nicer the snow!

Looking behind me at Whistler Village. It was strange to see the lakes and town like this, usually it is frozen and snow covered but we were so early in the season this year that it was quite the change.



Stella thought it was great. :)

A close-up of her new helmet, purchased in The Village the night before. What this photo doesn't show is the huge plastic magnetic security tag on the strap. The employees at Showcase forgot to take it off and she had to wear it like that all day! We tried several different stores around the mountain and no one could take it off for her.

The Mr. is the guy to the left on the board, Mr. Missouri is on the right on the skis!

Taking the Peak to Peak. I know I have listed the stats on here before, but they just amaze me so I will do it again. The span is 2.73 miles straight across, (but there is some sag obviously), and 1.88 miles of that span is UNSUPPORTED. There are only four towers, two on each mountain. Two would be behind me in this photo and two would be on the mountain ahead. The towers are 100-213 feet tall each.



Looking out the side of the cabin.

Looking straight down. At this point we are just about at the highest part of the 11 minute trip- 1427 FEET above Fitzsimmons creek.


Stella


Me







4 comments:

  1. Amazing. I feel sick after looking at the pictures of the "peak to peak" though. I was never afraid of heights and lifts until I rode to the top at Jackson Hole with Ezra when he was 2. It was in the summer and there wouldn't even have been snow to cushion a fall. Now I freak out even thinking about it : )

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  2. So much fun, you got lots of great pictures! And even included your self in a few this time! Wow that peak to peak ride looks fun and a little scary. What happens if you get stuck in the middle!?

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  3. Fun! I was never the slightest afraid of heights, until I got preggers with Kiki, and got vertigo at the slightest height. Now I can usually muscle through it, but it makes me a little queasy... :-) I would love to go up there, we have friends who mountain bike during the summer... looks gorgeous!

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  4. You're brave! We've been up Blackcomb but never on the peak to peak ride. I don't know if I'm brave enough. What a breathtaking view and gorgeous scenery, tho!

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