A little Walk with Jodi

Yesterday Jodi and I went for a short hike into the Blackcomb Backcountry and skied a mellow powder field back into the resort. It was Jodi's first "backcountry hike and ski" in Canada, and she enjoyed it--- the hiking and the powder!

Velcro-like skins on the bottom of our skis allow us to go up the mountain without our feet sinking into the snow

View from the top

No new snow in 2 days, but fresh powder if you hike to it!

Whee!

Later on our way down we saw some younger guys that built a jump and were doing tricks. I've been practicing with my new camera (which shoots fast-- 8 frames per second.) Here's a couple shots from one of the guys' jumps. Don't worry, we won't see Jodi (or me) doing tricks like this!

Takeoff

Landing - on the second cartwheel!  (the jumper wasn't hurt)

Hey, the sun!

Today was our 2nd full sunny day since we got here. It's been that snowy! Kinda cold today but nice to have some visibility. Here Jodi pauses from shredding to do some ski modeling. :-)

Jodi Shredding some New Snow

Jodi getting into the action too!

67 inches in 72 hours

The snow just keeps coming! Both here and in Minneapolis--- we've got ice dams at a rental condo back home, apparently. Go to it, Property Managers, we have skiing to do! :-)

The tops of Whistler/Blackcomb haven't opened in three days now due to high winds and so much snow. I think tomorrow they will partially open up, and then open fully the next day. Even though we have 28 inches in 24 hours today, we're staying down to rest our legs because the next few days up higher will be even better.

Here's a few shots from yesterday--- deep!

Powder and more powder

It's been snowing like crazy here, and it keeps coming!   We don't have the 10+ feet of snow that Mammoth is getting, but it's good snow!   (And, not the floods in California - I guess it's good we bicycled there last December and not this year!)  The last three days averaged 6 inches a day, and they're predicting 12 inches a day for the next few!    It's different snow than in Minnesota - a bit wetter, and when you step on it, it sounds like styrofoam crunching.   And, it's super sticky so all of the trees have these beautiful thick piles on each branch!

On the "ski home path"

Holiday lights at Blackcomb base

Beautiful Mountains!

For anyone who watched the last video and saw the "avalanche" part of it - Jodi, the chicken one just wanted to put it in context.... we aren't skiing in areas that are super-dangerous. It's kind of like riding in a car: you wear your seatbelt just in case (or in this case, carry avalanche beacons, etc.) but the few areas that are really high risk don't need to be the ones that are skied. There are tons of beautiful places to ski around here, and between the resort bombing away the risky areas and the really nice wet snow they get out here, it's pretty safe. Here's an awesome picture from Chris's hike and ski today that he did with two buddies.  I'm (Jodi) looking forward to getting a bit more experience on skis and slopes before I try this area!  I took a class and met some other skiers like me, and had a fun day with my new friend Orla from Ireland, who's living in town until April!

Video of our first week oif skiing and goings-on in Whistler

French, Genius

Many of you may know Chris? Chris Axel who had a second major in French, and lived in France for 9 months in college, and over 5 months after college? I've been regaled with stories of recent years when he has bumped into and talked with French people at a bar, or stayed up talking French with Ingrid when she was in town - almost as if he can still speak the language.

Almost.

The toaster in our condo worked a few times, but then died. So, on our run to Walmart, we decided to buy a cheapie toaster. As it turns out all of the toasters on the middle shelves were $40-$60. We're standing there thinking we'd really like a $10 toaster. Looking for a cheaper toaster, Jodi kneels down and on the ground and finds this great box for $12 on the bottom shelf.

To which Chris says, "no, we can't get that - that's a 'Grill Pan' ".

To which Jodi says, "uh, that's the French label, genius."

We are in Canada, afterall. Grille = Toast. Pain = bread. The toaster works great!

Skiing and .....

Fun day on the mountain today - some skiing with new runs opening (powder!), and a whiteout through the mid-mountain clouds on ski on the way down... and during lunchbreak from our mountaintop chalet table - a game! (yes Sheila, it is Bananagrams!)

Home Sweet Home, for a while!

After a long spring/summer/fall landscaping season, we're so excited to be in Whistler "ski bumming" it for a while this winter!

We drove out here - a 28 hour continuous drive to Seattle, and a few more hours the next morning, where we arrived during business hours to check into the condo that we've rented for the time we're here. It's a great little condo, especially for a ski town - furnished with a basic mini galley kitchen, separated living area and one bedroom... and the complex has a hot tub and outdoor pool which our sore skiing muscles are enjoying!


After a few days of trying different random snow paths around here, we've found a pretty nice "ski in" route that cuts more or less downhill between the other condo buildings and gets us around 30 yards from our front door, and a similar different flat trail to "ski out" if we want to ski the Blackcomb runs, or only a 15 minute walk to the Village for the Whistler gondola and stores, restaurants, grocery.


We've been joking that we've almost had more social outings on our 6 days here in town than we did all of the last couple months at home: 4 days skiing together on the mountain, Chris hooked up with his backcountry buddies from when he was here in 1998 for a day of hiking/backcountry skiing, Jodi found fun volleyball on Monday and an open pottery class on Tuesday, and tonight a date out with another couple for sushi out on the town.


It's been snowing like crazy the last two days - 16+ inches up high, and 16-24 more to come. But, the coastal weather is still having early season fun - down at the base it's been raining and today up top it's so windy they only have 3 lifts open. Whenever this storm blows over, it should make for some great skiing up top!