……by Gene Brouillard
The first thing a person would notice when arriving at Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada would be the weather. The expectations would be to see snow, the reality is that it was a warm 56 degrees F. and raining. After a two-hour bus ride we were at the Whistler Village and in the Blackcomb Lodge where all twenty-one members of the TSSC were greeted with more rain. A great thing about Whistler is that the village has lots of shops, restaurants and clubs and other distractions where the casual skier can wile away time looking about, shopping and taking in the international nature of the people vacationing there. There was also a lot of good snow up on the mountain. A good thing about the OVSC ski trips is they keep you busy with various gatherings of all the ski clubs in the council. First there was a welcoming party at Buffalo Bill’s where our crew enjoyed great food and drinks and socializing. Some of the other amenities were the picnic on the mountain, an Après Ski party, the Thursday Night Awards Banquet that was held at the Roundhouse Lodge. One other nice thing was the first tracks breakfast buffet on the mountain for those of us that like to start early eating or skiing. One activity a person can participate in is NASTAR racing. We had three people awarded bronze medals; David Griggs, Denny Sutton, Eugene Brouillard. Other members getting medals of participation were Marth House, Darlene Rhodes, Reza Mohammadi, Ron Mossberger and Steve Yancey. Steve proved that the fastest way down a race course is a straight line. Most people talk about Whistler but there is also Blackcomb Mountain to ski, it’s double your
pleasure to choose which Mt. you want to ski each day. Our lodging was so convenient that we could walk to the gondolas in five minutes. Both mountains have skiing for all skill levels with some very long ski runs. I enjoyed skiing some to the wide open bowls. This gave me a chance to streatch my skills and to perform astounding tricks, like full summersaults in the powder. Reza says that it’s not all powder, sometimes there are rocks but you have to get close enough to see them. Steve Yancey would add that anyone can have a Zen like experience learning to snow-board and falling down isn’t bad unless you see the same people go by more than once on the chair lift. There was also one brave soul that went Heli Skiing for a day in the backcountry. The new girls: Valery, Lisa and Gina tried Zip Trax, which was sliding down wire cable lines in the valley with climbing harnesses attached to wheels that moved down the cable. This western trip brought us six new members and it was great to really get to know Lisa, Martha House, Valerie Heath, Gina, Matt and Jim Shymanski. They added to the vitality of the club with their enthusiasm for skiing and camaraderie.
