First, April 18:
It was a 6am start from home, and then we picked up two of Cory's Blue Streak teammates - Mark and Alex - it was a crowded car, what with skis and all. Maybe we should have bought an SUV after all instead of our Sonata last fall, but it all makes for a memorable day - "remember when all four of us drove up to Whistler with four pairs of skis in the car too?" we'll say...
And some video of our drive along the Sea to Sky Highway to Whistler, with the usual banter going on in the background...
This was to be a day of recreational skiing, no gate training, just enjoying a great day at Whistler, and using the new Peak to Peak gondola that now connects Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. It used to be a choice, either Blackcomb or Whistler, since both are so big that it would take an hour to get down one and back up the other. Now the Peak to Peak Gondola gets you from the top of one to the top of the other in 11 minutes, mind you that's at 1100 feet above the valley floor. A couple of the gondolas have a glass floor and we were lucky enough to be able to wait just a little while for it to arrive.
As a racer, Cory gets to spend a lot of time on skis, from January to April, Monday evenings on Cypress, then from about 11am to 8pm on Thursdays on Grouse, and Saturdays on Grouse from 8am to 2pm. That's a lot of snow time, but much of that is working on specific skills under the watchful eye of his wonderful coaches, on specific terrain best suited to racing, running through gates, and a lot of time spent waiting for teammates to gather and listening to his coaches' instructions. So free-skiing days are really special and they help to keep the fun in the sport - so that it's not all work.
We met up with Coach Paul from the Whistler Adaptive Snow Program who knows the mountain so well and began our day.
The Peak to Peak Station near the top of Whistler:
3 Blue Streaks waiting for the glass-bottom Gondola, Cory on the right:
Cory, Alex, and Mark:
The view through the floor:
The valley between Whistler & Blackcomb:
Cory really enjoyed the ride and had a smile on his face for the whole trip across, here he is getting as close a view as possible:
Some video of the ride:
This one shows a good view of the drop down into the valley, yet remaining 1100 feet off the valley floor. Shows how high Whistler/Blackcomb really are!
A couple more photos, with Blackcomb ahead in this one:
Whistler Village below behind the gondola:
Cory, Alex, and Paul near the top of Blackcomb looking down at some awesome snow!
And then, then I dropped and broke my camera!!
So Paul took these with his camera of us having some fun on a bump:
Cory's approach:
Kinda disappears behind the bump....
Then pops up like a slice of toast...
Now airtime is not a good thing when racing - slows ya down - but while fun skiing? You bet.
And with the camera now in Paul's hands, not mine, I get to indulge in posting some shots of me in action, perhaps there's someone out there who would like to see me again:
And now me on the bump:
Definitely airborne, but not quite as graceful as Cory:
Yup, I'd say that is the look of fear on my face...that's my 55-year-old knees coming up to ask me what the hell I thought I was doing!
So with a broken camera, that's about it for photos/videos from that day. We skied 3 out of 4 Saturdays on Whistler in April & May, and each one featured brilliant sunshine and great snow. What an amazing end to our season.
May 9, 2009:
With a new camera, we headed back to Whistler for one last awesome day, picking up Mark on the way and again meeting up with Paul from the Whistler Adaptive Snow Program.
The beauty of a gorgeous early morning on a quiet the Sea-to-Sky:
And signage announcing Whistler as the official site of Alpine Skiing competition for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games (and we'll be there as spectators on Valentine's Day 2010!)
Then onto our first chair ride up:
All smiles...
And why not? Pristine snow, clear blue sky...
We did get some cool video during the day...here are Cory and Mark on some nice rollers on a run called Ross' Gold (named after Ross Rebagliati, from Whistler and the first ever Gold Medalist in Snowboarding, in Nagano, Japan in 1998).
Cory is on the left:
Now it's great to have a local with us, Paul leading Cory and Mark to some brand new snow...
but a long ways up!
to ski on this...new glacial snow on a steep pitch, a bit of a new challenge for Cory and although this is not part of his training, doing this kind of skiing just adds to the confidence that he is building so that in time, no matter what kind of snow or terrain he may race on, he'll feel confident in his ability to tackle it.
A gentle start...
Easy now...
OK, time to go for it!
A nice rooster tail of fresh Blackcomb snow!
Now a panoramic video from the same spot:
And some fun on the T-Bar:
And a marvelous little video that Paul took of us skiing pretty much in sync on Horstman Glacier on Blackcomb, ending with me eating just a bit of snow...Cory on the left, Mark on the right, me in the middle:
Then, down Blackcomb Glacier and heading home:
And thanks for bearing with us...
Taken from the gondola on the way down, with a zoom lens!
See you again soon, we hope.
Cory participates in the Special Olympics Provincial Summer Games as a 5-Pin Bowler in Abbotsford, BC in less than 2 weeks (July 9-11). We'll update with photos & video then and we're also working on a review of Cory's story from the beginning. Besides, it's only 6 months till ski season!
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