Whistler

The last few days of Panorama were probably a bit less bittersweet than expected, mainly due to the frenzy of packing and cleaning. In the end, it was a nice way to farewell the season. I had the last few days off work, which was really nice, and took some of the pressure off getting things sorted before having to leave. I pretty much had everything packed before the staff party, which was huge. Almost everybody was drinking out in the Great Hall deck, and there was a bit of skiing and snowboarding on the bottom of the hill too. There were a lot of emails exchanged and a lot of goodbyes.

The day after had a very familiar feel to it. Walking around the village was eerily quiet, with primarily staff wandering the streets, much like how it was at the very start of the season when we had all gotten there. It had come around full circle, and was kind of appropriate considering how the season had gone. A ragtag group of Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and people from all over the world had come to Panorama to enjoy the snow. They had gotten that and much more, and the last day here was a reminder of just how that journey had started.

As the airport shuttle bus, which I had arranged for a handful of us, arrived at the staff lodging, it was time to say a final goodbye to the place which had produced so many memories, much of which will probably last a lifetime. A good 10 minutes or so passed after we loaded the luggage trailer as a huge round of hugs and farewells (and a few tears) commenced. It seemed for a moment that nobody wanted to leave, but once the van started, we knew that, at least for some of us, it was only the start of the adventure.

In my previous overseas trip, I had a small section to sum up each stop, and although I don't intend to do this for every single city that I visit during this trip, I decided I should bring it back, with some slight adjustments, for each significant leg of the trip. And so, without further adieu, I present you the new and improved travel stats section, version 2.0.

Panorama overview

Dates of residence: Dec 01, 2006 - Apr 17, 2007
Nicknames: Man-o-rama, Pano-drama, home
Days on the hill: 39 days snowboarding, 2 days skiing, 1 day Nording skiing, 7 days snowboarding at other resorts
Theme song/s: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here, Green Day - Good Riddance

Whistralia

After spending a night in Vancouver so that I could see Social Distortion, I headed over to Whistler to meet with a few of the Panorama crew, and it turns out that there are a fair few of us here. Another group of people that are featured predominantly in Whistler are the Aussies, hence the nickname Whistralia.

So far it's day 4 of my stay here, and it's been very enjoyable. The terrain here is just incredible, and I've been able to find some powder in the past few days. The unfortunate thing is that because Whistler is so well-known and well-renowned, it attracts a huge amount of tourists, meaning any run that is easily accessible is tracked out within seconds of any powder hitting it. You really need to look for the good spots.

Yesterday, I did some backcountry riding. It was great to get fresh tracks, but the 1 and a half hour ski-out/hike-out was more than a pain and a half. I was really exhausted by the end of it, and took it easy last night. It's about 12:30 right now and I haven't even decided whether or not I will go out on the hill today. I probably will, but not for very long.

Anyway, I guess that's it from me for now. I haven't had a chance to upload any new photos lately due to how busy it was before leaving Panorama, and the fact that there were a few power outages in that period that prevented Internet access. The next update will probably come when I hit LA or San Francisco.