Critical mass

Skiing on Monday was simply amazing. I will be coming back to whistler for a ski trip in the future. The weather was clear blue skies and not a cloud to be seen. Temperatures were very mild and I was taking advantage. Annie was nice enough to give me her workforce lift pass so I didn't need to spend the $90 on a lift ticket!

One of the best things about staying at the Westin is the location. I booted up in my hotel room and walked to the gondola lift. Now that I can get used too! The hill had gotten several 20cm dumps of snow earlier in the week so the runs were in good condition. Most of the groomed stuff was icy because of the thawing and freezing on the sunny sides of the mountain. The steep and shaded faces were in very good condition and still had great snow. Guess where I went to play?

My first run took me right up to the top of the Blackcomb mountain. I hiked up from the top of the lift about 100m through a section called Spanky's Ladder. Through that pass lies a double black playground of fun! For anyone who knows Lake Louise it's much like whitehorn 2 but just so much bigger! Another benefit is that because there is hiking involved no large crowds go up there and the view on the backside is simply gorgeous. See the pictures to get an idea of the view. The run is probably a 45 to 50 degree incline, which may not sound like much, but it can be quite intimidating if your not used to that terrain. The way back to the front was a beautiful little ski out similar to the Sunshine village one only far more visually stunning and faster as it's a blue.

My next run took me down Pakalolo, which is another double black near the glacier express chair. Someone was even taking pictures of my run from the chair. I had to laugh as I'm definitely not good enough to be a camera skier! Now it was time to go take a ride on the peak to peak gondola.

The gondola connects the peaks of Blackcomb and Whistler mountain. Both offer amazing terrain but Whistler was far busier because of the Olympics. The Gondola takes 11 minutes to make the trip across and is the longest unsupported span in the world! Here are some technical details, and I find them fascinating:

• Speed: 7.5 meters per second.
• Ride Time: approximately 11 min
• Frequency: one cabin departs every 49 seconds
• Total Distance: 4.4km (straight line)
• Length of Unsupported Span: 3.024km (straight line between the two towers that are furthest apart)
• Highest Point: above the ground is 415m over Fitzsimmons Creek
• Number of Cabins: 28
• Capacity of Cabins: 24 seated, 4 standing
• Capacity: 2050 people per hour each way
• Number of Towers: 4 (2 on Blackcomb and 2 on Whistler)
• Height of Towers: 35-65 meters
• Track Ropes: the two stationary ropes that the cabin rides upon-each rope is 56mm in diameter. Total length of the track rope with the sag is 4600m
• Haul Rope: the single rope that pulls the cars along the track ropes is 46mm in diameter. Total length of the haul rope loop with the sag is 8850m

Then I hopped the peak chair on Whistler and got some great turns down Whistler bowl. Also got some more pictures and one of a very well trained avalanche dog named Hecter. He was so cute! I want a dog! The patrollers were also super nice and fun to talk to. That was pretty much the highlight of the skiing day. I will be going back as there is so much if the mountain I didn't even get to see much less ride!

Now back to medical stuff. Judy the nurse we have on staff brought us some interesting souvenirs. Condoms from the athletes village. Apparently there were some 17,000 condoms brought in to give out during the Olympics. If we think about it; we have several hundred athletes, all staying in the same area and cordoned off from the general public. They are all in peak physical condition and all in their early 20's (give or take). This results in a critical mass of sexual proportions apparently!

The other really funny fact I found out (I thought it was funny) was that we happen to have "Plan B" stocked in our med trailer. For anyone who doesn't know; plan B is the nickname for the morning after medication. Basically its an emergency birth control for someone who happened to make a bad decision the night before. What I can't seem to figure out is why we would stock it in the medical trailer at the Olympic venue. I knew we had good medical coverage at Creekside but I didn't know it was THAT good! Ready for anything I guess.

Dinner tonight was a recommended spot from Tisha one of the medspec crew. There is a burger place in town called Splitz grill. Probably one of the best burgers I have had. It was operated like a Harvey's but so much better. The toppings were varied and fresh, and from the meat right down to the bun it was quality all the way. Not a bad way to end a long day.