Whenever someone finds out I’m from B.C. and designed for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, inevitably I get the response, Whistler….?” Actually, up until now the answer was no.

My credentials read like it should have been absolute:

• Born in Vancouver – check
• Raised in the B.C. interior – check
• Started skiing as soon as I could walk – check
• Skied Panorama, Silver Star, Tremblant, Phoenix, Red Mountain, Baldy, Apex, Bromont….  – check
• Seen Shaun White in the Aspen X-Games live! – check
• Designed for Far West, Concept, Valid and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics – check

Yet, up until this past weekend, I had never managed to make it to Whistler or Blackcomb.

Enough was enough… I booked a flight and met up with my buddy in Vancouver.

We had an early start to the morning and made sure to stop at Galileo on the Sea to Sky for some much needed fuel.

Finally we made it.

It was an authentically wet experience with rain on most of Whistler, but once we crossed over the Blackcomb things improved greatly.

It truly was a great ski experience. It would have only been made epic with a thick layer of fresh powder. None the less, the consistency of natural West Coast snow beats Eastern man-made snow any day.

The highlight of the day was an unexpected creek bed jump.  It was unmarked and I figure it was just a regular old jump, until I looked down while in mid-air. Fortunately, I knew I had taken a sweet take-off and would land well clear of the creek, so I enjoyed the air ride.  My only witness another skier who also took the jump by accident. We shared a nod to acknowledge this little awesomeness. Then I kept the misadventure to myself. … ‘Cause really you had to be there.