Eighteen months ago, I capped off the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing by taking an extra day to get out and visit the Great Wall. There was no question that we'd do the same in Vancouver, this time heading up to Whistler for some skiing, not to mention the terrific views. 
I've learned that the one thing you don't want to do after a major sporting event is fly out of whatever city you're in the next day. In this case, they were saying it was the busiest day in the history of the Vancouver airport and they were warning all travelers to arrive at the airport at least four hours before their depature. Thanks, but pass... Instead, Mike (my colleague and good buddy from Atlanta) and I scheduled our flights out for Tuesday morning and decided we'd take full advantage of our first day off since the Olympics began three weeks earlier.
The media buses were still running from the Main Press Center in Vancouver to the Whistler Media Center, so that made transportation easy. We decided -- okay, Mike decided -- that we'd suck it up and catch the 6 am bus with our other colleague, Dave. There was only one other guy on the entire bus, so it was easy to stretch out and get some extra and much-needed Zzz's.. As I've written about, the drive up to Whistler is one of the most beautiful you'll find, but with the sun not quite up at that early hour, getting more sleep was the top priority.
We arrived in Whistler just before 8 am and headed right to the rental shop -- Dave and I to get skis and Mike to give the snowboard a whirl. Those two guys headed right up the mountain, while I took a little extra time to put my contacts in and talk to the fellas at the information stand about where exactly I should start out. It had been a good 10 years since I'd last been skiing, up in Killington, Vermont, and I wasn't feeling real confident. So they directed me to take the Village gondola, get off at the first building, then head across to the Olympic chairlift and take the relatively tame Olympic run down. That seemed only fitting, so I did that several times to get my ski legs under me once again; It wasn't quite like getting back on a bike, but I got the hang of it and didn't injure myself.
Mike got on the snowboard for the morning before switching to skis. I considered it very briefly before coming to the realization that spending the entire day just learning how to remain upright didn't sound that appealing...
Ah, the Inukshuk at one of the lower summits. Talk about terrific views. Was a perfect place to take some photos of the entire surrounding area -- I even helped Mike climb up to take a picture sitting on top of its "head". The views were truly breathtaking. While skiing, I'd stop repeatedly throughout the day just to soak it all in...
I've learned that the one thing you don't want to do after a major sporting event is fly out of whatever city you're in the next day. In this case, they were saying it was the busiest day in the history of the Vancouver airport and they were warning all travelers to arrive at the airport at least four hours before their depature. Thanks, but pass... Instead, Mike (my colleague and good buddy from Atlanta) and I scheduled our flights out for Tuesday morning and decided we'd take full advantage of our first day off since the Olympics began three weeks earlier.The media buses were still running from the Main Press Center in Vancouver to the Whistler Media Center, so that made transportation easy. We decided -- okay, Mike decided -- that we'd suck it up and catch the 6 am bus with our other colleague, Dave. There was only one other guy on the entire bus, so it was easy to stretch out and get some extra and much-needed Zzz's.. As I've written about, the drive up to Whistler is one of the most beautiful you'll find, but with the sun not quite up at that early hour, getting more sleep was the top priority.We arrived in Whistler just before 8 am and headed right to the rental shop -- Dave and I to get skis and Mike to give the snowboard a whirl. Those two guys headed right up the mountain, while I took a little extra time to put my contacts in and talk to the fellas at the information stand about where exactly I should start out. It had been a good 10 years since I'd last been skiing, up in Killington, Vermont, and I wasn't feeling real confident. So they directed me to take the Village gondola, get off at the first building, then head across to the Olympic chairlift and take the relatively tame Olympic run down. That seemed only fitting, so I did that several times to get my ski legs under me once again; It wasn't quite like getting back on a bike, but I got the hang of it and didn't injure myself.Mike got on the snowboard for the morning before switching to skis. I considered it very briefly before coming to the realization that spending the entire day just learning how to remain upright didn't sound that appealing...Ah, the Inukshuk at one of the lower summits. Talk about terrific views. Was a perfect place to take some photos of the entire surrounding area -- I even helped Mike climb up to take a picture sitting on top of its "head". The views were truly breathtaking. While skiing, I'd stop repeatedly throughout the day just to soak it all in...I have to say, I think I did pretty well on the slopes. I vividly recall my first-ever skiing trip, when some buddies who will remain nameless figured it would be good to send a guy who had never before been on skis down an intermediate Killington run called "The Header." Needless to say, it wasn't long before I was hurtling down out of control, crossed the tips and did a header that left me with a red welt on my forehead for the rest of the trip. I improved afterwards, but it's hard to shake the potential disaster-realization of that first experience. But no bumps, no bruises, no falls, no broken bones... I'd say that's a success. My thigh and calf muscles were sore for the next few days, but it was well worth it.
In late afternoon, we hopped on the Peak to Peak gondola from Whistler Mountain to Blackcomb Mountain. Mike and I were actually the last people to get on before it closed, and we were very glad we were able to catch it. Talk about a cool ride. As you can see from the sign above, it's a record-setting gondola -- an 11-minute ride that crosses a massive valley. There is a gap of almost 2 miles between the last two suspension towers on each side of the valley, so in between them, the cables hang completely unsupported. For people with a fear of heights, I could see how it would be a little nerve-wracking... But talk about a view.
Both of these photos were snapped from the Peak to Peak gondola.. So being that we were the last people to catch the ride across to the other mountain, where they also shut down the lifts just after 4 pm, we were basically the last people at the summit. Talk about a cool way to end the trip -- we were essentially closing down the mountain! I will say this, some of the tougher intermediate runs in Whistler seemed to be like the black diamonds in Vermont.. It especially seemed like it at the end of the day, when I was just totally sapped after a day of wall-to-wall skiing. I also think I started to get hit by dehydration, getting lightheaded and fatigued -- my leg muscles were totally shot -- so I had to stop numerous times on the way down. The only folks we encountered on our final descent were the ski patrol, who were shouting "Last Call!!" for anyone still out there, and the guys in the Skicats that were grooming the trails before darkness.
It took over 40 minutes to get down from where we had gotten off the gondola on Blackcomb and it wasn't until about halfway down that I realized that the rental shop was supposed to be closing at 5 pm. I frantically called with an almost-dead cell phone and fortunately got someone at 4:56 who said there should be someone sticking around until 5:30 or 6 pm to close up. Big relief, since we had left our bags with our computers, etc. in the storage lockers in there... Was definitely an exciting way to end the trip. Just an amazing day. We couldn't have possibly packed more in. I loaded up on lots of fluids and then we caught the 6 pm bus back to Vancouver, where we snagged a few more souvenirs on the way to the hotel. And of course, we finished things off with one more awesome meal -- I had to go for a surf-and-turf finale at "Coast" with filet mignon, crab cakes and sushi..
Yeah, all in all that was a pretty good way to cap off the trip.
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