For Robyn and I the 2009/2010 Winter season has finally come to a close and we couldn’t be happier with the time we had up on Blackcomb. The sun was out in full force, the lift lines were practically non-existent and the snow was better than we expected. Robyn also said this was the first time she has ever seen 7th Heaven open during the spring. We must attribute that little gem due to the huge amount of snow Whistler/Blackcomb has received this season, over a whopping 1450 centimeters!
We decided to leave from our heavenly place of the West End at roughly 7:30am, in hopes to get early enough to the Base II parking lot to snag a spot. Last time we went up for spring skiing/riding and parked at Base II we were lucky to find a spot; it quickly fills up. We arrived at Base II a little over 9:30am and the Excalibur Gondola was uploading.
We arrived at the top of the Excelerator Chair, I strapped in and we headed down to Glacier Lodge via Wish Bone so we could hit up Jersey Cream as 7th Heaven was currently closed.
We headed down Jersey Cream a few times. The snow in the sun was great, better than what I was expecting, though the snow in the shade was icy but of course that’s expected.
After the third time going up Jersey Cream, Robyn noticed that 7th Heaven was open. So took off over to 7th Heaven and Robyn was excited as she’s never known it to be open during spring season due to lack of snow. It definitely did not have a lack of snow!
The top of 7th Heaven offers one of the most spectacular views of the near by coastal mountain range. From there you can see the various mountains in the Garibaldi Provincial Park, the infamous Blacktusk as well as Whistler and it’s terrain. Too bad the Whistler side is closed, looks like there is enough snow to keep Symphony and Harmony both open for a little longer. It was also the first day that Whistler was open for the Mountain Bikers too! I’m sure the village was crazy busy.
We hit up Cloud 9, Hugh’s Heaven and Panorama a bunch of times. The snow was great, and riding was smooth and enjoyable. There wasn’t very many people either, which is great as we never had to wait in a chairlift line. We also haven’t seen the lifties so happy either! Wearing shorts and t-shirts, what a great time to be up on the mountain.
The above photos might help explain why my forearms are burnt. In fact they are burnt all the way around too. I guess the sun reflection off the white snow played in that part.
Of course I had to get a photo of Robyn “smelling the status”.
Perhaps a pre-cursor of things to come?
Robyn and I believe this has been our best session this season. We went solid for 4.5 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Even on the way back down while on the gondola, Robyn saw something cool!
It’s hard to see, but that black round shape on the left side near the little shack is a black bear, fresh out of hibernation and only a few hundred feet away from the Base II gondola station. Thought about going closer, as we saw a bunch of people nearby, but we just wanted to get home.
It was truly a fun and epic day on Blackcomb and it was the perfect way to end our Winter season.
I had Robyn play around with my Canon 7D as I came down Cloud 9. Camera was in AI Servo on highspeed and told her the closer I got for her to just hold down the shutter button and let the camera rip. The above sequence is of the photos she took and I threw them together into a little video clip.