The second day of skiing was even better than the first. I was a little apprehensive after putting my feet back into my ski boots—they were still drenched all the way through from the day before. Jay had some time off work, so he came along and acted as a superb tour guide.

We headed off and started directly on Blackcomb instead of Whistler where I was the day before. After taking a gondola and another lift to get to the midway point, we did a few runs before they opened up the alpine area. I was a little apprehensive about going up. If I were alone the signs in front of the lift would have scared me off. They said that the lifts were for advanced or expert skiers only.

After waiting in vain for the Glacier Express lift to open we sidetracked to the 7th Heaven lift instead. They both access the same area, just on different sides of the mountain. Once we entered the cloud on top I lost it. Visibility was very limited. It didn't help that my goggles had fogged internally, between the two lenses that were glued together. I guess enough moisture from the day before got in.

Jay was nice enough to trade goggles with me, since he already knew the area quite well. The snow was really deep. There was a lot of fresh powder, since it hadn't warmed up enough to melt any over the previous week. We were also among the first people up there. I had no idea how to ski in this stuff. Actual powder... at least a foot deep.

Halfway down the glacier the trails turned into regular wood-lined runs. We were also out of the clouds, so visibility was back up. I liked this part the most. Everything was fast and smooth. I think I liked the blue square runs the most. Challenging, but not so much that I was fearing losing control.

We took a lunch break at the Rendezvous after a few runs, where I did some surgery on my goggles. There was a glove dryer that I used to separate the two layers of my goggles and dry the insides. It was still hot enough to fuse them back together after. I was quite pleased.

After a lunch break they opened the Glacier Express lift. We weren't able to get access to the glacier in the back where Spanky's Ladder is, but we still had access to a huge number of runs. We mostly went around the Ridge Runner, which took us around the outside and wasn't too challenging. There were some nice runs like Twist and Shout that branched off it. That is where I reached my peak heartrate - 190! That was a little insane. I thought it was an all-time high, but I forgot I hit 196 once. But still... that's the highest it's ever gone without me feeling like I was going to puke. Awesome! Whoever said alpine skiing isn't much of a workout?

It was on that run that my foot started to hurt. I probably could have gone for another run or two, but I was completely satisfied with what we had done so far. Maybe I was just a little tired too. On the way down to the bottom everything completely clicked. I remembered what I had watched the night before on this site, and I tried to keep my arms forward and back facing the top of the hill. I was bending my knees a lot, and almost reaching forward with the poles to get the rhythm down. It all made sense. It was a zen moment. The last run of the season is where it all came together.

It didn't hurt that the last run had a vertical drop of over 5000 feet and took over a half hour! To put that into perspective, that's more than two and a half times the height of the CN Tower!

Click the map (or here) to view the stats and to watch where I went. If you've got Google Earth, then use this link. I can't stress enough how beautiful Google Earth looks in the Whistler area. It's VERY high resolution, you can even see individual trees. There's one part where you can specifically see where I went around a couple!



After all that time spent skiing I was exhausted. I passed out as soon as I got back to the apartment, and after waking up long enough to eat I passed right out again until I had to get ready to come home. Crazy! I can't wait for next winter. In the meantime I've got some cycling to train for...