Whistler!

January it was time for a ski trip. This year the destination was Whistler! Fortunately for us, it was the only place in North America that has been getting good snow. For most of us, it was our first turns of the season. We were painfully sore afterward, but had a great time.




The first stop we made was Vancouver. It is one of the last major North American cities I've wanted to visit, and it lived up to they hype. I was amazed at how many people lived on the island. It seemed like most of the high rises were residential. And as everyone always says, it's really clean for that many people. We made the trip through Stanley park and learned it was named for the same Lord Stanley as the Cup. It is certainly a town I need to visit again. My two favorite things I heard were "A deck of smokes" from a kid wanting a pack of cigarettes; "Harmonized Sales Tax" to explain the combined Provincial and National sales tax.



But the snow was calling. The sea to summit highway is amazing. As Aaron says, it's like driving along a fjord of Norway. Along the way Mallory and I stopped off at the Shannon Waterfall, one of several in the glaciated valleys. There were some awesome locals there and the falls were more impressive then expected.


There were 7 of us sharing a house. The best part of which was the hot tub. Nothing better then soaking in hot water after a hard day on the slopes. Well other then a shot-ski. A shot-ski is simply shot glasses drilled into a ski that encourages group cohesion. 1, 2, 3 Shot ski!




The skiing was awesome. The first day we were out it snowed 4 inches the night before and kept snowing through the day. The top of the mountain didn't open for awhile so there were some long liftlines to start. Once they opened the top, the snow was gorgeous. We had a few amazing runs on soft powder that skis would just glide through. It was like floating on a cloud. The next day was clearer so we had better views of what was around us. Our first run of the day was a 6.5 mile 2000 foot loss down a glacier. Pretty sure that's the first time I can say that.




Later in the day we took the famous Peak2Peak gondola between the mountains. There were some great views. Then we stopped by the village and saw the olympic rings. I could hardly walk the next day, but couldn't take the smile off my face.