Sunday, March 3, 2013

White as the driven snow

Our trip to Whistler was just grand, in every aspect. Nice village, terrific slopes, lovely people and excellent timing in terms of weather; it snowed when we drove up to B.C. and more snow fell in the afternoons and nights during our stay, filling the mountains with precious powder.

Anton and Patrik were practically in a state of euphoria after a couple of rides in untouched terrain, but for me the feeling was twofold. I don't have a lot of previous experience from snowboarding in deep powder, and consequently ended up being half-buried in the white fluffiness time and time again. Even more problematic were the steep slopes where large amounts of loose snow made turning difficult (or more or less impossible) for me. The result: quite a few unintentional somersaults and goggles filled with tears, not from pain but from frustration and anger. All this pristine snow, and I couldn't handle it! However, I eventually got the hang of it and enjoyed a few rides in the backcountry that must be considered being the best of my life, so far.

Anyway, less talk, more pictures! Let's start out with me and Patrik being blinded by sunshine and snow at the top of the Whistler Village gondola.


The beauty of the mountains can hardly be translated into two-dimensional images, but I made a few brave attempts. Taking photos is always a good way of killing time while riding chairlifts.


Anton getting ready for some action.


Lots and lots of nearly untouched snow...



...made Patrik a very happy guy.


The conditions sometimes changed very rapidly from sunshine and clear skies to milky mist. At times, the visibility was so impaired by fog that it became hard to tell up from down, skies from slope. It sure made some of the rides more adventurous than expected, judging from their assigned levels of difficulty.



But when the clouds passed, the view was truly stunning.



I really hope I get to go back to Whistler, or at least to Canada, sometime. The people there were just lovely! This sign sums it up quite nicely. (We were obviously not in the French Alps.)


3 comments:

  1. Ser helt underbart ut! Längtar nu ännu mer till helgen och vår tur att kasta oss ut för pisterna. :)

    Kram på dig!

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    1. Ja, snart är det vår tur Sofia! Fia och Patrik, ni ser rysligt nöjda ut på bilderna. Härligt! Man blir ju sugen på att testa de kanadensiska bergen, även om alperna också är pretty damn awesome.
      /ralph

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    2. Hoppas att ni får en dundervecka! Mycket snö, knas och tok. :)

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