So this is Whistler

SnowSeekers' Director of Photography Brandon Boucher managed to get some runs in amidst all the Olympic chaos. WILL COLFORD/SnowSeekers

RICK MACDONNELL

- Feb. 28/10

It's embarrassing, but today I finally got in a ski on Whistler Mountain. In my defense, the frickin' Olympics are kind of going on right now, so don't start building my cross or anything. Realistically, I can ski any time I want and I may never experience the Olympics first-hand ever again. Not much of a toss-up, in my opinion.

That's what I thought.

Oh my God! This place is incredible! I am such an idiot for waiting until the second to last day to hit the slopes here. On my second trip up the chair I literally sulked.

On my own

Like a child who's played with his own toys for a week before realizing his friend's toys kick so much more ass, I pouted my way down the mountain for the rest of the day. I hate to even think of what I must have looked like riding the chair lift.

"Dude, he is okay?"

"I think his girlfriend just broke up with him."

"Ahhh."

Luckily, we all brought our snorkels for the day. The pow was DEEP. WILL COLFORD/SnowSeekers

The original plan was to ride with Doc Pow and our Director of Photography Brandon Boucher for the afternoon, but on our first ride of the day  – our first ride – I lost the boys amidst the fog of Whistler Bowl and that was that.

It kind of worked out, though, as it allowed me to explore a bit of this behemoth on my own.

My job is stupid

It hit me at one point that, just six months ago, I was a little boy from Nova Scotia with next to no skiing experience. Now, I'm busting down Boomer Bowl on Whistler. I still shake my head at it.

I'm shaking it right now as I type this. It's straight-up stupid that I do this every day, that I get paid for this stuff.

What really surprised me about the hill was how empty it was. It's not that there aren't a lot of skiers and boarders out there, it's that the mountains are so HUGE, dude.

No matter where you go, it's almost like you've rented the hill for the day. It's incredible, considering that it was a Saturday afternoon during Whistler's busiest month ever.

Thankfully, we'll be hitting up first tracks tomorrow before heading to Merlin's for "the game." One afternoon wasn't nearly enough. Hell, a week isn't enough.

Something tells me I'll be back though.

And by "something," I mean Doc Pow.

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