This is the 3rd (or 4th) year in a row that I have stayed home on New Year's Eve opting instead to ring in the New Year feeling great on the mountain. Historically (at least in my experience) this day receives a dumping of snow and there is not that many people on the mountain because everyone is hung over from the party the night before.
Friday morning I woke up at 5:00am got dressed and headed to pick up my friend Bryan. We met up with my other friends Rich & Jules and the four of us were on the road by 6:00am.
It's so funny how technology has changed the world, I remember when I was little we would wake up and call the snow phone from home before making any decision on heading to the mountain now we were already driving there and we were all in the car checking our sources for the best snow report for the - twitter, facebook, Whistler website, snow phone, weather network - you name it we checked it. They all echoed a similar story - POWDER!
We made one quick stop at McDonalds in Squamish to fuel up (note to self - nothing is opening at 6:00am on New Year's Day).
Shortly after leaving Squamish it started snowing but the roads were in really good condition. We arrived at the base of the mountain just before it opened and were able to make first tracks which was our goal.
We decided to ride Whistler instead of Blackcomb just because we normally ride Blackcomb. The winds were pretty high so some of the mountain remained closed but it didn't affect our experience too much. I bought myself a new pair of Burton boots which were heat moulded to my fit using Burtons "TrueFit" technology, this was the first time I've used them. I'm really like them they super reactive and still comfortable not too stiff.
By 10:00am we'd already managed to get some awesome riding done; mostly on untouched runs and they were virtually no chair lift line ups. The fresh snow was knee deep in places! And it was still snowing heavily.
I was also able to meet up with my friend Sheryl who was my companion last year on for New Year's Day snowboarding. She has just returned from a fabulous month long trip to New Zealand so she has able to warm my mind with her amazing stories on the chair lift.
We stopped for a brief lunch and then headed back out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I was so full from lunch that it hurt to put on my bindings, but the warm food felt so good going in my tummy.
By the afternoon the snow had gotten a little heavier but it was still really nice. The best thing about a day like this with so much new snow is you feel fearless. I tried out lots of jumps without fear of falling and hurting myself, we did tons of runs thru the trees which is my favorite terrain to ride in and we ripped down some black diamond runs to get our fill of speeding. All in all a great day on the slopes.
There was mad traffic on the highway heading back to Vancouver, so we went to a friends place on Green Lake for some tea to warm up and then went to Earls for a tasty dinner. Looking forward to more powder days on the mountain in the coming weeks!
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