Check out trip photos from Bill Vahary

 

Our Whistler trip started early for a select few. Due to airline restrictions, four from our group had to depart Bloomington early Saturday morning while the rest of the group caught a late morning flight. Many thanks to Rich and Jo Knable, Shirley Brantingham, and Nan Donleavy for being good sports as they waited for several hours at O’Hare while the rest of us slept in. After a couple last minute dashes back home to retrieve forgotten passports and John Potter’s bags being temporarily confiscated by Airport Security, we did eventually all meet up in Chicago and had an uneventful flight to Vancouver. I’m not sure how many people were still awake but our 2 hour ride to Whistler included almost non-stop commentary from our bus driver.

 

We were greeted in Whistler by several inches of new snow and by Ken Etcheson and Wanda Carmack who had driven up following a Seattle vacation. With 2 mountains, over 8000 acres and 5000 vertical feet to be explored, many skiers were up and ready to go early Sunday. We found some phenomenal slopes, fantastic snow conditions and had a great day exploring and getting oriented. Sunday evening included a “Fire and Ice” show with professional skiers and snowboarders doing various jumps through a ring of fire. Dinner at a nearby Irish Pub capped off a great first day. Whistler offers a special “Fresh Tracks” ticket that allows a limited number of skiers to ride the lifts early, have a buffet breakfast on the mountain and then hit the slopes before the lifts open for the regular crowd. This was the plan for Monday for many in the group. A good weather forecast turned radically overnight and brought strong winds Monday morning. Much of the upper mountains were closed due to the high winds so several people enjoyed the breakfast, called it a day and went back to the Village to enjoy shopping and other activities. A few brave souls ventured into the storm and found that the skiing was actually quite good. Although much of the mountain was closed, with the small crowd there were no lift lines and still plenty of slopes open. Throughout the rest of the week people split into groups and explored the vast terrain and the many other activities that Whistler has to offer. Carolyn and Bruce Sutter, being a couple of the more adventurous skiers, tested many of the more challenging areas but even they balked when one of the runs started with a 5 foot drop off a ridge. Some of the group favorites included beautiful runs through the glades of the new Symphony area, the Peak to Creek run which features 5100 vertical feet of intermediate skiing, and of course the soon to be famous Dave Murray Downhill Run. Timing however is everything. Lee Templeton counts the Peak to Creek one of his lowlights as he and David Zschau tried the run on a day when it was icy and carved up. They finally made it down after two hours and a mini-lesson from an ex-ski instructor along the way. The next day with new soft snow it was one of the nicest, longest runs I’ve ever done and compared favorably with the

7 mile run from Zermatt down in to Italy. Many members enjoyed skiing the Dave Murray Downhill Run which will be featured in the Men’s Downhill race in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

 

Another trip highlight included Eric Legner’s day of heli-skiing. I can’t fully describe the experience. You have to see Eric’s video to appreciate what a great day he had!! I understand another video we need to see is Jo Knable’s video of their Zipline and tube park rides. The Zipline proved very popular as Ken and Sandy Baurer, Eric and Amy Legner, Rich and Jo, Shirley, Dawn Dieckgrafe, John Wegman and Sara Smith (and perhaps others that I’ve forgotten) all gave it a shot. As Shirley says ‘It was a unique experience to feel like one was about to be impaled on the top branches of very large pine trees.’ Other members including Curt Johnson, Shirley, John, and Sara tried out the cross-country and snow-shoeing trails near our condos. A gal’s day at the tube park was described as “boobs on tubes” until afterwards when they called it “ice cubes on tubes”.

A group that included Steve Parke, Ed Eickenberg, Curt, Rich and Jo, John and Sara, John & Nayda Zschau, Adam Zschau, Shirley, and Dawn took a day trip back to Vancouver to explore the sites. They visited Shannon Falls, Stanley Park, Robson Street, and several fine local restaurants. The road between Whistler and Vancouver is undergoing considerable construction in efforts to widen it for the upcoming Winter Olympics. Boy do they have a lot of rock to move!! While time consuming, the drive was quite interesting with our resident engineer, Ed, along to explain a lot of the construction details. We had our traditional “Catch Phrase” parties including one game with 14 people playing. This trip’s instant classics included “Dawn the torpedoes” and “Boring house”. A few new people including Eric and Amy, Patrick Northcutt, and Dan McGurk got a chance to join in on the rowdy fun.

A group dinner on Thursday evening gave the entire group a chance to get together. Roger Gingrich, Tom Kaskubar, Joel and Esther Hellman, Gary Good and Bill Vahary along with others mentioned above met for an evening of dining and an opportunity to catch up with each other. Our only injury of the week turned out to be Patrick’s broken wrist which happened when he slipped outside the condo and jammed his hand into a waist-high snow bank. Just seconds before, Lee had commented to Patrick about having no injuries on the trip. Jinx? Lee claims innocence because he was referring to “skiing” injuries. Sounds like a technicality!

 

After a great week of skiing and fun, it was finally time to return home. Everyone was packed and ready, the bus arrived early and we actually got on our way ahead of schedule. That turned out to be a good thing because upon arrival at the Vancouver airport we were informed that our flight had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. With everyone’s considerable patience and the cooperation of some surprisingly helpful United employees we were eventually able to reschedule everybody on various flights back to Chicago or Peoria. From there, we rented a number of cars to drive ourselves home. We managed to get most everybody home that day, albeit for many of us, not until 2:00 a.m. in 2 degree weather, but at least we were home. This time Joel and Esther Hellman drew the short straw and got rerouted from Vancouver through Dallas, overnighting in Chicago and arriving in Bloomington the next day. Our big group had big fun at the biggest resort that we could find. If you haven’t been to Whistler you really need to put it on your list. It was a great time with a great group. Thanks for everything and I hope to see you all again on a trip next year.