Powderhound Session 2008.7

The East Van express left at 7:45am heading North on the sea-to-sky highway. The highway runs along the Howe Sound which is essentially a fjord. The views are spectacular - islands, mountains and forests provide a wilderness epic backdrop.

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A quick pitstop in Squamish for cheap ski-passes and coffee we continue onto Whistler. The drive is around 2.5 hours - well worth it. Whistler has 2 mountains to choose from - Whistler & Blackcomb. We headed up Blackcomb with 7th Heaven being the major attraction.

Visibility was great, the sun came out and we had a blast all day. My boarding skills have advanced for sure this season.

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Later in the day we got adventurous and headed around the back of Blackcomb to a huge bowl and glacier. It's a little dodgy how to get there - first up is a climb up a snowhill (not much fun) followed by a traversal on a chopped 'path' along the wall of a vast snow shoot (yikes! - why am I doing this?). We get a round the back and the clouds roll in. Ace! We're on a glacier, in the clouds, in unfamilier terrain and we can't see the run. Fortunately some kids slide by and point on the run is configured. We descend joyously below clouds and get a spectacular view of the back mountains... stellar!. Ripping down the bowl then around the side of the mountain we arrive at a highpoint which is the entry to a epic valley .. Blackcomb on the left... mystery mountain on the right. We pause, check out the sheer beauty then slip down the valley feeling like the weary gods we were ... this is exactly why I snowboard ... getting in the mountains and being exposed to epic nature.

The day dumped into 1's & 0's ...