Last Lift

Somebody once said that all good things come to an end and unfortunately they were right.  Friday was my last day in Whistler and at 3pm I caught my last lift of the season.  I did one last lap through the top section of the Spring park and then ducked under the ropes at the top of the gondola and rode the ‘closed’ ski-out with my buddy.  The ski-out has been closed so that they can prepare for bringing equipment up the mountain that they need for the new peak to peak gondola, which means that when you do the ski-out now you have the weird opportunity to board across the road is a couple of places (with just a slight covering of snow to stop the base of the board being shredded).  All in all my last day was fantastic, I rode the park in the morning and fresh snow (yes more snow fell on Thursday night) in the afternoon.  I couldn’t have asked for more.

Above is a photo I took on my journey to Vancouver.  In total my trip home managed to take 25 hours, but it did include going for dinner with my friend at the Cactus Club in Vancouver and also a couple of hours sorting out my car after I returned to collect it, only to find that (a) someone had scratched it and (b) the battery was dead.

My first full season has been everything that I had hoped for.  I passed both instructor levels that I went for, improved my riding exponentially, rode some of the best runs in the world, travelled to several resorts, rode the most amazing powder, experienced gnarly tree runs, learnt a bunch of new tricks, rode out of the ski area and most importantly made some friends for life.  If I had the option to start the season again now I would take it – but my body is probably glad that it isn’t an option as it needs some time to recover.

I have put a few more photos on my Picasa site if you want to see some more pictures of snow.

Thanks to all of you who have been following my blog.  I have to go and save money for next season so, for now, it is over.

My Season By The Numbers

1500 – approximate number of chair lift rides that I took during the season

987 – cumulative amount of snowfall (in cm) for the season in Whistler at the point that I left.

250 – approximate number of bus trips that I took

167 - length (in cm) of the longest board I rode this season

151 - length (in cm) of the shortest board I rode this season

101 – total days riding this season

100 – total number of days I spent in Whistler

85 – total days riding in Whistler-Blackcomb

48 – degree of the steepest pitch that I rode

23 – minutes that Whistler gondola takes from base to the top

22 – hours spent on planes

17 – days that I haven’t ridden so far this year.

15 – minutes walk from my house to the gondola station

12 – days riding in Banff

11 – different boards that I rode this season (Ride Decade, Burton Custom X, Burton Clash, Rome Agent, Burton Dominant, Atomic Pivot, Ride Society, Prior AMF 167, K2 WWW, Ride Agenda, Burton Baron)

8 – different bindings that I rode

7 – stitches that I needed

6 – different resorts that I rode this season

5 – different months that I rode (Dec – April)

3 – pairs of boots that I wore; days riding in Europe this season (Morzine-Avoriaz); different pairs of gloves that I wore

2 - exams that I passed

1 – trip to the doctor

0 – number of broken bones (that I know about); day’s riding missed due to injury/illness; number of bears that I saw

-5 – temperature at the peak of Whistler as I write this post

-19 – alpine temperature on day 3 of my level 2 exam (and yes, it was in April)

-21 – lowest temperature that I can remember riding in this season

 

100 days

Today marked my 100th day on snow this season.  The mountain rewarded me (and everyone else) with more new snow and so I am still getting fresh lines at the end of the season.  To be fair though the snow is nothing by comparison with earlier in the season.

There is a new park that is slowly taking shape now that all the winter parks are closed.  Each day they add new features and I am enjoying my runs though the park, even though several of the features are too big for me – including the main jump which would normally be found in a black park!  Saw someone smash themselves on it yesterday and they had to have a helicopter come and get take them down, so no fear of me trying the jump.  Maybe next season!

Not much else to tell you.  My flight is on Saturday so tomorrow is my last day of the season.  Unless I ride Saturday morning – and it is supposed to be perfect weather for park riding on Saturday.  Hmmm.

Passed.

I passed my CASI Level 2 exam after four hard hard days.  The standard for the level 2 is a LOT higher than the standard for level 1 and I needed to ride at my absolutely best to meet the grade.  Above is my evaluation sheet.  Below the badge (or pin) that I spent 15 weeks working so hard to get.

There were 7 people on our course, and only 2 of us passed, so I’m pretty happy that I was one of them.  Only 3 days riding left.