Egon gets some
Submited By Egon Spangler On 2007-12-22
Egon looses his seasonal virginity in Whistler. A day of soft fresh snow, and reacquaintance with forgotten muscle groups.

I'm going to forget about the fact that I'm still living out of Rubbermaid containers in a garage. I can ignore my monstrous cost of living. I'll be working about 10 hours a day, every day, for the next three weeks, but that doesn't matter either. My ski season has finally begun in earnest.



Even though the mountains opened a month ago, coinciding with my arrival in town, I had yet to ski a day. Every day I was going to work to fix other people's skis (and the occasional snowboard), but mine were sitting finely waxed and tuned in the corner of the shop...and in absolutely no danger of receiving any damage. I knew this would change, and that I would make up for lost time in short order once I had my pass, but that's cold comfort when you're watching the snow fall and know that you won't be out playing in it.



The first day of the season approaches being a sacred event for me. Summer is just time to kill until the next season, and Fall is when I usually sit around and get out of shape for skiing. Being out on my skis for the first time in winter is almost akin to getting laid after six months of enforced celibacy. I find I'm not as good at it as I thought I was, but it's still a huge relief.



Last Wednesday was finally go-day for me. My volly pass was going to happen, and it was a staff ski day to boot. Whistler had been receiving regular snow fall for most of the past week, and the mountains were improving daily. The words "early season conditions" don't have much meaning anymore, especially when your base is already solidly mid-winter in size to a regular patron of the Rockies. I headed over to the shop first thing in the morning, grabbed my skis, and made the five minute walk to the Creekside Gondola.



As skiing goes, it was a good day. In addition to the new snow already on the ground, another 15-20cm's came down during the day. Not really knowing the mountains, I was all over the place. Up the Creekside Gondola, then the Red, then down to the village to find some of our staff, up Blackcomb...I'd love to say what my best runs were, but I have no idea what anything was called, and it doesn't matter much anyway.



By 2:30 I was trying to navigate my way back to work in the foggish low light of the late afternoon. My legs were toast (along with a host of other muscle groups I would become aware of the following day), but my smile was still going strong. It'll be a long season out here, and the snow is dumping again even as I type this, but I'll look back well upon my first day of 07-08 throughout the hundred-whatever to come.