Whistler Finale

By the fourth day of our adventure I think we were both feeling pretty satisfied. Sure, we still had some runs left in us, but the skiing itch had been scratched most effectively. We talked it over and decided that rather than ski for a while, have lunch, and ski for a little more, we'd take our lunch break at the beginning of the day and then ski straight through. So, I spent my 'lunch break' reading the paper and drinking coffee while Aaron watched 'Enter the Dragon' (so we got our pop culture exposure as well).

Since today was about quality over quantity, we decided to head back to the Flute Bowl and make some marks on the mountain. We started with a couple of runs down Jimmy's Joker and then hit the Peak Chair. It was another bright and sunny day, so we were not surprised to find clouds and driving snow when we got to the top. We snapped a shot of a family in front of the 2010 Olympic Symbol and they returned the favor by taking a picture of us.

We skied to the entrance to the bowl and herring-boned our way up to the start of the trail. From there it was time to sling our skis over our shoulders and begin the hike. With the blue skies, untracked snow, and the single-file, one-step-at-a-time nature of the climb it definitely felt like we were attempting an assault on some exotic summit. At the top, we plopped down, pulled out the powerbars, and took a breather. The run down the hill was pure sweetness; fresh tracks in knee-deep fluff.

The run-out from our hill led to tracked snow at the bottom of the bowl into a flat icy trail and finally into a glade run. So by the time we reached the lift I had had a complete workout. Our natural impulse was to do it again. So we did. Up the lift, down to the gate, off with the skis, start hiking. People at the bottom of the bowl would occasionally point up at us and wave or take pictures, but no one seemed inclined to make the hike, so it was our hill.

By the time we reached the lift after the second run, it was 2:20. The left closed at 3 and there was no other way out of this area, so we had a decision ahead of us: Try for one more run? Our first two runs had each taken almost an hour round trip, but we had taken leisurely stops after the hike. We decided to go for it.

It took 10 minutes to ride the lift and another 2 for us to fly down to the bowl gateway. We popped the skis and started trudging. I beat Aaron to the top; mostly because it was a single-file track and he couldn't pass me. But at my age I take the victories that are handed to me. We estimated that it would take 10 minutes to get down the hill and back to the lift, so we paused until quarter 'til and then hit it. We made it to the lift with 4 minutes to spare.

On the ride up you could see our hill in the late afternoon sun. Pristine, but for eight sets of tracks. One set had been there when we first arrived, one belonged to Aaron from yesterday, and six were ours from today. We made our mark and now it was time to go.

This was a great vacation for the two of us. I've always known that a day would come when Aaron would be a better skier than me, but I've assumed that we'd be at parity for awhile. Nope. 2008 - Aaron's a better skier than me. Much better. Period. I'm just glad he let me keep up this trip.

But he's got a ways to go to catch me at surfing. Hehe.