PHOTO |ERICBERGER
After only a few days in BCwe felt likewe had been away for a
month,yetour tripwas, inaway, justbeginning.EnterWhistler,which
hadexperiencedoneof thedriestwinters inhistory.Wehadallheard
the harried stories of thin snowpack, unusually exposed rocks and
early seasondownloading. The consensuswas that wewere crazy
for bookinga ski trip toWhistler Blackcomb thewinter of 2015, but
weknew thatwhatever theconditions, as longas the fourof uswere
togetherwe’dhaveagrand time.
I’d like to think itwasagift fromUllr, theNorseGodof snow, thanking
us for returningwithour spawn to theplace that hadmoldedus into
thepeopleweare today. It snowed35cms thenightafterwearrived
andat 9am thenext morning it was —10°outsideand the skies had
cleared.Byallaccounts, itwasunprecedented insanity: handsdown
thebestdayof theseason.Wehookedupwithmy favouriteskibuddy
ofyesteryear,myolderbrother Luke,alongwithhis fiancéRobynand
hit themountain.Hard.WithNekohappilybooked intoWhistlerKids,
weskieduntracked runafteruntracked run.Our littleOntarioski racer
Jasper surprisedusallwithhisability toadapt to thewest coast pow-
der,which typicallygetsheavier throughout theday. By fouro’clock
weallpiled intoa familiarboothat theGaribaldi LiftCompany (GLC)
with jugsofWhiskey JackAleand relived thegloryof theday. Even
Nekohadhilarious stories toadd—mainlyabout “Broccoli” (Brock)
her ski instructorand theadventures theyhad together.We spent the
rest of the evening swimming in thepool at theDeltaVillageSuites,
which issocentrally locatedwecouldscope the lift lines fromourbal-
cony.My, how times have changed— frombasement apartment to
four-star hotel in10years.
PHOTO|MARKGOING
89
AUTUMN
/
EARLY WINTER
2015
|
ESCARPMENT
®
TRAVELS |
playing tourist
