Monday’s conditions on the mountain were less than stellar. A couple people went up early to scout it out while the rest of us lazily got ready. The texts back to us said no visibility and a couple inches of snow on top of ice. That group soon came down and joined us for the day. So Monday was relaxing, hang out, movies and poker kind of day.
Tuesday was my last day on the mountain before I had to drive back to Seattle. We made it up relatively early with our group…everyone recovered who had missed riding before. I hooked Karmel up with riding the 155cm Never Summer Evo R so she could try out a rocker board for the first time.
Making our way up the mountain
Yesterday it snowed most of the day in the village, so today there were freshies up on top of the mountain. We made our way up high without any crowds on the mou
ntain. It was quite empty for 10am.
Mixture of clouds and sun
T0 get up to the glacier you have to take the T-bar and I hate t-bar’s as a snowboarder. But we managed to get up. I had the T-bar in between my legs which was fine for the entire ride.
Matt riding the T-bar up
A group of us waiting at the top of the T-bar
From there you hike across a ledge to get over to more terrain or you can drop in through a chute to get down. I chose the chute option.
Hiking the ledge
On the upper part of the glacier, it was freshies on top of choppy icy chunks of snow…so really bumpy and deceiving.
Joe on his skis
Karmel coming down on the NS Evo R
She got the perfect conditions for trying out a rocker, once in pow she just floated with it.
But when the terrain opened up, it was smoother and some good powder turns to be made. Our group managed to make fresh turns down the glacier and we didn’t even wake up that early.
Kendra making turns
Jamie enjoying some powder
Making sure everyone is ready for the traverse back to the chairlift
Matt coming down
The group of us
At the bottom of the glacier is the 4.8 kilometer cat track that takes you back to excelerator chairlift. We had some fun treating it like a race and passing each other on the way down.
Treking our way across the flats
Last run of the day with me, took the shot of the group with our bases of the boards. It’s always fun to ride with people who all ride different boards, each person has their own style of riding and the board that suits them.
After that run, the clouds came in with low visibility on the glacier so we stuck to the Excelerator chairlift and making laps.
Mark flexing his Venture snowboard
Joe tempted to pull this one off
I took off from the group at noon and made the drive back to Seattle getting in around 6pm. The construction on the Sea to Sky Highway took the most time getting down but it’s looking good with the Olympics rapidly approaching for Whistler in 2010.
Overall I had a really fun time in Whistler, met new friends, rode with people from all ability levels and got to ride 2 new companies while I was there.
Anonymous
April 20, 2008 at 6:23 amLooks like you had an awesome trip! I wish I could visit Blackcomb/Whistler, the Holy Grail of snowboarding one day.
Also, I saw in one of your pics that Karmel, who you hooked up with the NS SL R had a bright neon base with a blue NS logo. I was wondering if this came as the standard base for the 09 SL R, because in 08, the SL had the black base with green logo. (I would much prefer the green base, cuz the reflection just kills it on the snow)
Would you happen to know which ones coming standard for the base? (green or black base?)
Shayboarder
April 22, 2008 at 7:44 pmThe trip was awesome, Whistler/Blackcomb really offers everything for the snowboarder. I hope to be back at Telus next year.
I actually wrote down the wrong board that Karmel rode. She took out the 155cm Never Summer Evo R, not the SL. Sorry about that mistake.
As of right now, not sure what the bases will look like. Next time I talk to NS I will ask and find out.
I am a fan of the neon green base as well and on my evo that is the base…but it’s uncertain whether that will be the base for production.