My last week in Whistler

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After nearly 3 months in the Whistler "bubble", I'm on my way home tomorrow. I really can't believe it's gone so quickly! Despite some less positive points, I've really enjoyed my stay here - the first time I've properly lived in another country. I even joined the library 😊

Our last week of ski school was a free ski week again and Matt and Chris came back to join us which was great. John wasn't available on Monday or Tuesday so had asked Scott to sub in for him. I didn't actually ski on Monday (taking a call from the UK, of which more later) so missed out as Scott was then nabbed by another group on Tuesday! Not to worry as we got Petra again, our instructor from the very first week. She was very keen to see the progress we'd made as she hadn't seen us ski for 10 weeks. I really hope she wasn't disappointed...

Wednesday was video and race day. When we first arrived back in January, we were all videoed coming down a particular slope on Blackcomb. The repeat run would then hopefully show massive improvement... Only I nearly stacked it in spectacular fashion so it really doesn't look very good! Ah well, at least the save was impressive. And despite that, John's view is that Marie and I are the 2 most improved on the entire course 😊. Of course we did start at a fairly low level... A quick trip down the race course (26.3 seconds - soft snow so not a fast course) and then we were off tree skiing with John for the rest of the day. Great fun but exhausting! I think I have now skied all but 2 of the gladed runs on Blackcomb...

Thursday was our last day of school and even Maria came back to ski with us for part of the day - so of the original 7 we were only missing Nicole, which I guess is excusable given the broken leg! We started on Blackcomb for some reason but soon headed over to Whistler on the Peak 2 Peak - a rather exciting ride given the high winds... My knees were really hurting so I was going to give up at lunchtime but the boys persuaded me to stay. A good thing as we had a great afternoon with lots more tree runs and some fun powder. My favourite was the slope that Matt and Chris went down only to fall and flounder in the powder at the bottom - Marie and I stood at the top for ages trying to decide if we should go and help Chris find his ski... I eventually headed down to do that at precisely the moment that he found it! Not to worry, I got down and out of the dip without incident before either of them freed themselves 😉 To be fair, I hadn't launched myself off the top, but I still claim the victory. And then we were done. All over 😞 Early apres at Merlins followed by dinner and lots of beers at the Brewhouse (similar to the welcome evening we had way back in January).

Friday was miserable weather and everyone had skied so hard during the week that the entire house stayed in all day! Well, almost all day - Callum and his friend Dean, Kerry, Greg and his wife Di all went to Pemberton for dinner but I was exhausted having had 3 late nights on the bounce (Marie's birthday and St Patrick's Day at the Brewhouse on Tuesday, quiz at the Brewhouse on Wednesday, then Alltracks Farewell at the Brewhouse on Thursday!). So lots of lazing, reading of book and watching rubbish TV (something I really won't miss when I leave here!).

Saturday, my birthday, was supposed to be my initiation into snowboarding... unfortunately with all the rain on Friday, the snow conditions weren't the best so Amanda and I reluctantly decided it wasn't a good idea. I will try it someday, I promise. But it was a beautiful sunny day, so I called home, had my leisurely breakfast at Wildwood (which I managed to get for free as I shared a table with the manager and shamelessly told him it was my birthday!) and then took my camera for a wander around the Fitzsimmons Trail and through the village. In the evening I finally managed to have an evening out with Alison! It's only taken us 10 weeks to organise... A few too many beers at the GLC with a bunch of Alltrackers and Al, followed by pizza at Avalanche and an abortive attempt by Callum and Tiarnan to stow away on the Vancouver bus... actually only abortive because they chickened out!!

Having not managed to get up the hill for two days I was determined to ski Whistler and Blackcomb before I left, so that's what I've done - tried to visit my favourite runs on both mountains. Yesterday (Whistler day) was lovely as it was another bluebird day and the snow was fabulous - had a couple of trips down Dave Murray (having to rescue a learner on the first circuit!) but sadly didn't make it right across to Symphony. Today (Blackcomb day) was not so good - visibility was pretty poor but Marie joined me so we had a few good runs before calling it a day. So now I need to pack away my skis and boots and get myself ready for the long trip home 😞 I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at home, but it is sad to be leaving as well. Not that my body could stand much more punishment! I may be a hypochondriac but I'm seriously considering getting my knee x-rayed to make sure I didn't actually crack it on the backcountry trip...

So what next you may ask... Well, as I've told some of you, and hinted at above, I think I've landed myself a short-term contract to work for an old boss of mine at "a well-known travel company". Starting after Easter, I will be living and working in Stockholm for up to 3 months... The blog will continue, but it may be a little different in content 😊

Well, I'm going to sign off for now - I'm heading off to the Crystal Lounge for a few beers with the rest of the course. Packing can wait until tomorrow...

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Photos

In cloud
Our last trip up the Solar Coaster

The instructors
L-R: Petra, Guy, John and Chris

Birthday at GLC
L-R: Amanda, James, Alison, me, Greg, Callum, Mark and Tiarnan

Kerry, Greg and me
Our last trip up the Solar Coaster

Comments

[Emma]

Whistler's loss is our gain - looking forward to seeing you!