Jan 12 - Caramba !

I found out, when reading the menu at last night's restaurant that Caramba means Wow ... and of course that was the name of the restaurant as well. Between my blog and Quicken, I can see where we ate last year and where we might want to repeat. Caramba was a) inexpensive and b) excellent, so what more could you ask for ? I had their Split Pea Soup and Asian Fettuccine and Sandy had the House Salad with Fettuccine Natasha. The cooks were only a few feet away from us in an open-style kitchen. Everything was good, and fresh. We'll be back.

I know that I'm describing the day in reverse order, but oh well.

After a few runs on the Whistler side down empty runs to the Emerald Chair as well as to the Garbanzo, we went in for coffee and decided that we were both hungry so we ate our sandwiches. We could see that Blackcomb was starting to clear so we took the Peak-2-Peak gondola over and skied much of the day on 7th Heaven where conditions were nothing short of wonderful.

While we were sitting at Pika's eating our sandwiches we were watching them training avalanche dogs. In a large area they had built up mounts of snow and people would hide in them and the dogs would race around, find them and drag them out of the holes. It looked like a great game for the dogs but it's serious business. They closed the Glacier Chair and T-Bars at Blackcomb fearing that the sun might trigger a snow slide, and it did. Right up by the Horstman Hut, apparently, there was a snow slide -- not large enough to call it an avalanche, but certainly an indication that the snow layers are twitchy.

All morning we could hear the explosions as they did avalanche control on Whistler. I don't know whether that means we'll see Harmony or the Peak open before we leave; that remains to be seen. We will see warm weather though -- today's forecast is similar to yesterday's weather but warmer. A layer of fog will sit in the valley bringing drizzle to anyone down there and to us as we ski down at the end of the day. Sunny with cloudy periods is the forecast for the alpine so we'll probably head over to Blackcomb again to stay in the sun. Right now, at 5:30 local time, it's +2C in the valley; -4C at mid-station; 0C in the alpine (the restaurant level); -5C at the Peak. Of course we cannot get to the Peak at Whistler, but we can at Blackcomb.

Today the alpine temperature is supposed to warm to +2C, which will make for spring skiing conditions. Tomorrow that's supposed to hit +9C -- that's warm enough for biking !! We won't be surprised to see people skiing in shorts. Slush and mush ... that's going to be the story for the 2nd half of our 8 days of skiing.

We skied down Blackcomb after our time on 7th Heaven with one run on the Jersey Cream before heading down. Again we went down the Lower Gear Jammer only this time it was groomed -- soft and spring conditions. It's a great run when it's in good shape. Again we took the Fitzsimmons and Garbanzo chairs back up Whistler; Sandy went to the bottom on the Downhill while I did a run on Raven and Ptarmigan before following her down. There was almost no-one on the hill -- I literally skied from the top of the Downhill to the top of Bear Paw before I saw anyone. Traffic was light and anyone who was skiing was either in the sun at Blackcomb or in the sun at the Emerald Chair on Whistler. Everyone wanted to stay above the fog and drizzle, not a big surprise.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... I see that while we're skiing in +9C tomorrow there will be a deep freeze at the cottage. Lows of -33C; -37C; -35C are coming. Remember my comment about propane not turning into gas at -44C ... hmmm. Propane that stays liquid does not heat the house ! It's due to warm up slightly as we go back, but it will still be a heck-of-a-lot colder than we've experienced. I hope that the X5 starts after sitting in the parking lot at the airport for a week ! Toronto won't be quite as cold, but it will be cold.

Onward ...