Skiing with Matthew

The ski season started for us this year in January, when Matthew started his lessons on Mount Seymour. This is his third year of lessons and he has improved a lot. The weather during his lessons was less than optimal with some very wet snow. We were fortunate that it never rained, but snowing when the temperature is above freezing isn't much better.

Jocelyn came with us a few times. I think she is glad that Matthew is old enough to ski with me and she doesn't have to go anymore. Her loss.

Matthew is almost fearless on skis but now that I have taken him all over the mountain he has a pretty good idea of his limits (and so do I). This is Unicorn - which he is quite proud about skiing down. Notice the black diamond shape on the sign on the tree. His lesson group went down Unicorn on his last day and he couldn't stop telling me how he was the only one who had been down it before.

We arranged to go to Whistler in February and stay at Jocelyn's Uncle's condo with some of her family. There were going to be about seven of us in total until they began to cancel. We were the first to get there and figured out the next morning that no one else was coming. We still had a good time anyway - maybe better ;-).

Matthew and I skied two days, one on Whistler and one on Blackcomb, and Jocelyn joined us the first day on Blackcomb. The photo above is from the top of Seventh Heaven on Blackcomb - you can see Whistler behind Matthew and way off in the distance is Black Tusk.

According to the signs it was -22c at the top of the mountain - which is part of the reason that everyone cancelled, but we dressed warmly and the cold didn't bother us at all. It was a beautiful day.

The second day Matthew and I went up Whistler. The mountain hasn't changed much since the last time I was up there - but what is up with Whistler Creek? They have underground parking! The weather wasn't as cold the second day and you can see that it was generally overcast. This is Matthew on Harmony Ridge.

Matthew and I went all over the mountain and he is a solid "blue" skier. As he put it, "Some of the runs are a darker blue", but he skied them all without problems - almost. Our last run was down Peak-To-Creek which, as you can guess, runs from the top of Whistler Peak down to Whistler Creek. That is a long run - 1.5km of veritcal on an intermediate run. Let's just say it took a while to get down. Matthew did great until we got near the bottom where the snow turned to ice. Here we are taking a break two thirds of the way down. The bench is adjustable for really tall people - or for varying snow depth.

Matthew and I have gone up Seymour quite a few times this year. Now that he has all his equipment and a pass we can be up there within 45 minutes of deciding to go. Here is Matthew on Seymour with Kiyo and Tika.

This is part of the view from the top looking down over the parking lot and off to Burnaby, Richmond, Delta, and even the USA. That peninsula in the top left is Point Roberts, just on the other side of the border.

Taking a break in the sun on Seymour.

I don't know when the local mountains are going to close this year, but it is probably soon. Hopefully we have a few more days left.