My last few days at Whistler have been, to be honest, a somewhat mixed bag. Moments of glory mixed with an uneasy truce with conditions that, while incredible for April, have not been exactly what my knee needed. I’m still too wary of re-injury to really let go in fresh deep snow, although the moments when I do make it all worth it.
Friday was the first day that really felt like the spring skiing that I remember from 2008/9. Blue skies, sunshine and real warmth in the air from mid-morning onwards. 8cm of new snow, just enough for a light coating on the groomers and some deeper pockets in the trees. The first few runs on the easy stretch under Emerald felt like sliding on silk.
By mid-morning on Blackcomb the new snow was soft-packed and perfect. It was exactly what I needed: no wrestling with conditions or fear of a spill, just slopes and slopes of snow begging to be carved hard and fast. And carve hard and fast we did: by the end of the morning speed limits were forgotten, and we raced from Solar Coaster down to the village in a bare couple of minutes of adrenaline-charged flight. After lunch we hit up the aptly named Heavenly Basin, did the full run to the village again, and then headed back to Whistler for some easy cruising and a quick blast on Dave Murray before we took the slushy ski-out back to Creekside.
Friday was exactly the day I needed. I don’t know that I’ve ever skied that fast before; with conditions where I could trust myself completely, there was no holding back. It’s this that brings me back to the mountains, that makes it all worthwhile: that sensation of perfect speed, perfect connection to the snow, the wind on my face and a backdrop of towering mountains against a blue spring sky. There’s nothing else like it.
I want more. I want every day of my life to be like that one. Oh, my knee still creaked and twinged and reminded me that I have a ways to go to get back to being the skier I was, and further still to go to be the skier that I could become. But on Friday, like those first couple of days back at Whistler and the run through the glacier, I could actually touch it. I don’t want this to stop. I don’t want the season to end.
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