Backpacker Buzz

Even during the Olympics, the mountains are about white gold – POWDER!

I’m not always a morning person, but sometimes there’s a great reason to wake up at 6 am and the thought of fresh, untouched snow has to be one of the best. With the hostel situated on the beautiful Alta Lake looking up to the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains I was up early for a 10-minute taxi ride to town….

It was raining. In fact it had been raining for hours as I’d heard it through the night. The mountains were shrouded in fog and I could only see their lowest sections. This might put many people off the thought of getting up and going up the hill, but not me, SkiClub PR Manager Betony Garner or new Chum Luke “The Snowman’ Bines….

Photo - Very happy Luke and Betony in the sunshine!

We had purchased “Freshtracks’ tickets for 10 dollars, making us a trio among about 50 people stepping into the Whistler gondolas at 7.15am to go up to the roundhouse restaurant for breakfast. As we rose higher the rain stopped and there was light snow in the fog…. Climbing to the top we cleared it all and sunshine streamed into the giant windows of the restaurant. But we weren’t there for the pancakes, fruit or fried breakfast options, we were waiting for the sound of the Cowbell. This 8.15am signal is a trigger allowing the excited throng out on the slopes way before the regular opening of the mountains.

Photo - getting above the cloud and fog below!

There is a rule on the hill – there are no friends on a powder day, but there was plenty of boot deep fluff out there to be grabbed. Our aim was to fit in as many runs as possible through the fresh snow before the lifts opened for general skiing admission.

Photo - Luke and Betony on ridge above another clean line..

The mountain had not received snow for around 9 days, but now it was transformed – everything was covered in a light and super-floaty new coat. The trees were beautiful, the sun was out and we had freshtracks to make! We hit tree lines, bump lines, wide open powder fields and steep technical slopes. Light, dry powder allows you to really play with the mountains and we dodged branches, jumped bumps and took the occasional tumble for our efforts. We probably looked like loonatics with massive grins across our faces, but we didn’t care, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE POW-DER!!!!

Photo - Luke 'The Snowman' Bines with powder spattered legs

We were able to get 5 stonkingly good runs pretty much alone on the snow before more people slowly started to appear, but at this point the higher lifts also came to life…. we headed up top and hit the fresh open bowls, dropping off the occasional cornice, skiing through our own snow slough and flying down slopes with other skiers woop woops echoing ours in the distance. It seemed like we were leading the pack and wherever we went others soon followed – the main thing was that we were usually out front!

Photo - Betony leads the way through the trees under the Peak2Peak gondola

There is something magical about powder that for most folk brings out bigger smiles than any other skiing and we hit clean fresh lines all the way to lunch time…. After this interlude to the fun and games we were joined by a motley crew from the BBC Sports coverage team enjoying a few hours break from filming the Olympics. Even at 2 in the afternoon we were able to sneak around the hills to create our own fresh lines and those all important s-shaped tracks in the powder – Amazing!

Photo - We hook up with the BBC film team

Whistler mountain has GREAT skiing; I think our happy group would all confirm that fact. The area is huge and designed to have only a few pisted areas leaving a maximum open area to explore and discover yourself. This is definitely one of my favourite things about Skiing in Canada and the USA; if you are within the ski boundary you can pretty much go wherever you want. Yes, there are signs and names for the run areas, but there are very few poles or fences stopping you skiing every inch of the mountain. If you want to cut through the trees, you can. If you want to ski wide open slopes, you can. If you want to jump off a cliff, no one is going to stop you; they simply put up a sign saying ‘cliff’ and make it your decision; brilliant! Plus the ski patrol check everything within the boundary and will blast off any dangerous snow before it’s opened. It’s a big difference to France where the powder skiing is all ‘off-piste’ which means you really need to know what you are doing before you venture into it.

Photo - Luke admires our line off the ridge - through the far right chute past all that open space..

My 6am start, the taxi fare and the freshtracks ticket were all worth it…. Skiing epic lines from 8.15am through to 3.45 is pretty hard to beat. We came off the mountains with fixed grins and well-worked legs; it was time for a much deserved beer! It just happened that we were able to catch the 3rdsession of the Womens Canada vs USA ice hockey final on the big screens and we celebrated with a full pub as the home team won yet another Gold Medal!! What a fantastic day all round!!

Just to make life even better, we then had a day of snowfall the next day too…. Nope, I’m definitely not bored of all this, my life right now is just perfect, and now it’s time to see what Banff has to offer…. Woohooooo!

Photo - more powder anyone?