Justin

Whistler opened on Thursday, a week ahead of schedule.

We skied on Saturday – it was glorious.

The day was not without a false start however. A’s colleague Paul was driving us to Whistler, but on Friday night while getting his gear organised, he locked his keys in his storage cage.

Instead, we hired a car and drove ourselves.

Only part of Whistler mountain was open. The gondolas from the village and Creekside, the Red, Green and Franz chairlifts, and the runs associated with them.

It was busy-ish with locals, staff and Vancouverites excited about the early start to the season.

You couldn’t ski to the bottom of the mountain, but that didn’t mean there weren’t people ignoring the closed signs to do so. Officially, they were out of bounds.

I did a lesson with a great instructor called Justin. Yes, I’ve named this post for him, but if we’re going to ski as much as we plan to, I’ll run out of words for snow, skiing etc. (And yes I know the Eskimos have many words for snow, but I’m not going there).

Justin was pleased with my progress on the day, and I was too. I was also relieved I hadn’t gone backwards during the summer, or lost my confidence.

Remember this post? Well I spoke to that instructor on Saturday, telling him I’d progressed beyond that fateful day. He remembered me.

My new jacket (the red one) and boots (with white inserts) had their first outing, and they were the goods. Fortunately.

If I’d had a bad day, that would have jinxed them forever. This is the reason I’ve worn the same brand and model of running shoes for many years. I just buy a new pair when necessary.