With two of my passes left from the 5-day Edge Card, I was looking at opportunities to return to Blackcomb (Whistler side closed on April 18). Raphael also wanted to go, and finally, the weather and schedule aligned for May 14.
Given the lifts don’t start till 10 am, we had an easy start and left from North Vancouver around 8:30 am. We parked at Parking Lot 7 (free) and got on the Excalibur Gondola.
For our first run, we went up Excelerator Express and did a combination of blue runs to access the Blackcomb Gondola.
From the top of Blackcomb Gondola, we skied down to the base of Jersey Cream Express and then spent some time doing different runs served by this chairlift.
Raphael watched me ski down and then shared tips on pole planting and making smooth turns. Even with some minor changes, I felt a difference in skiing.
First Double Black at Whistler
As the weather opened up, Raphael suggested we go up to Glacier Express. Later, when he asked me about doing Spanky’s Ladder and skiing down Ruby Bowl, I said yes, not knowing what those runs are. I am glad I didn’t know, as those are double black runs. My first at Whistler.
Once at the top of Glacier Express, we traversed via Spanky’s Ladder and then walked the last section to get to the top of Ruby Bowl. Raphael suggested I go higher up as it was slightly easier to drop down to the bowl.
It’s a wide bowl, and although physically it was exhausting, it was relatively easier than what I thought a double black would be on Whistler. Raphael was in the front, so that made it easier as well. Further, we took the Blackcomb Glacier Road (blue run) down to Crystal Ridge Express.
I had skied this area with Kavya a few weeks earlier, so I was familiar with the runs here. After doing a couple of laps here, we took the Jersey Cream Express and had lunch at the Rendezvous cafe.
We were planning to do a few more runs, but as the weather turned, we just did one long run to Parking Lot 7 and called it a day. We had done about 12 runs with a total distance of 30 km and almost 6000 m drop.
Most of my downhill skiing has been with Kavya, so it was good to ski with someone experienced like Raphael. It was an excellent way to wrap up the season. This season, I had about 27 days of skiing, including about 12 days of backcountry skiing. It has been a really long ski season this year, and I look forward to skiing in another six months.
Territory Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge that this trip took place on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the St’át’imc (Stat-lee-um), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Líl̓wat Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.
Source: Native-Land Pronunciation Guide: First-Nations.info
References:
First Nations: Squamish | Líl̓wat | St’át’imc
Whistler-Blackcomb: Resort Website | Epic SchoolKids | Edge Cards
Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not affiliated links.
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