Third

Ski days two and three* have happened, without the glorious weather and conditions of our first ski day this season.

That pineapple express has much to answer for.

Pineapple express, you say? It’s a non-technical term for a meteorological event which brings rain and warm temperatures from Hawaii to the Pacific coast of North America.

And it spells bad news for snow, which melts and/or is washed away.

At Whistler Blackcomb, the initial base of 208 centimetres became 120 centimetres, and the surface became icy and crusty. As I type this, the base is now at 138 centimetres.

We skied Friday and Sunday, and really, the conditions were not ideal with wind and low visibility. While the mountains were officially all open – unlike our first ski day with limited lifts and ski runs open – the conditions meant the high alpine was still off limits.

The wind, especially on Sunday, meant the lifts actually operating were running at low speed.

The photo at the top was taken early in the day on Sunday, when Jersey Cream was one of the few chairs operating on Blackcomb, hence the lines.

We skied laps of this chair, which feeds a number of blue runs. My skiing was fine, given the conditions, with a major fall on our first run. My body was in the wrong position, I was on an ungroomed part of the run, and over I went. Face forward, if you must know, losing a ski and my poles as I fell.

A saw it happen, and he asked how I was. “I’m fine”, I said, lifting my head but not standing up. I then asked him if the fall was good, or a bit clumsy.

“Clumsy,” he answered, a bit too quickly.

A note on falls. It happens, and most of the time, you’re on the ground before you realise. Sometimes you might find yourself sliding downhill, which means then desperately digging in a pole or ski to halt your progress (ahem), and wondering if all your equipment is still attached, or at least nearby. And anyway, not falling means you’re not skiing fast enough.

Back to Sunday. The visibility worsened as the day wore on, as you can see with these next two photos. With the photo on the left, normally you can see much, much more from the patio at Rendezvous Lodge, like Blackcomb. And admittedly, the photo on the right was taken inside the Peak to Peak gondola.

These next two photos were taken on Friday as we downloaded in the Whistler gondola. Downloading is still mandatory, and there was even less snow lower down than opening weekend.

Three final points.

Today is three years since we arrived in Vancouver. Happy Cana-versary to us, and these are my posts about our one and two year Cana-versaries.

The smell of the mountains is really something else. I’ve now spent three ski days inhaling deeply, even if A says he can’t smell anything.

This is A, marking the runs he’s skied at Whistler Blackcomb. I believe his goal is to ski all the runs, well maybe not all the double blacks.

With our various skiing visitors, I’ve encouraged the kids to do this, to see what they’ve achieved by the end of their visit. We’ve skied with our friends, the Read family, at Whistler Blackcomb and Steamboat Springs. When we arrived at Steamboat, Grace had barely said hello before she had her map out.

* While I’ve previously named skiing posts for ski instructors, I won’t have many lessons this season, so I will count instead. And third is also appropriate given today’s Cana-versary.