Sunday, January 14th: The Second Ski Day.

** As always, head over to the gallery from Whistler Blackcomb - January 2018 to see all photos from my adventures! **

Somewhat adjusting to the Pacific timezone (or maybe it was just how much the skiing wiped us out), my Dad, brother, and I all got a full night of sleep on Saturday night. I'm pretty sure that I was knocked out within 5 minutes of my head hitting the pillow. The few beers had the night before probably helped the process as well. We woke around 6:30 AM (with Shawn waking at 7 when I pile-drove him into the bed to get him up) and made breakfast. Today was to be our first full Whistler Mountain day. We got our gear on and headed to the basement to get our skis and snowboard out of the locker that we were provided and required to keep our gear in. We ventured outside the Lost Lake Lodge to the shuttle stop located at the end of the driveway and hopped on the free shuttle to get to Whistler Village. **Side note...the entire lodging operation was seamless and made getting our gear and travelling to the mountain extremely easy and accessible. I would highly recommend staying at any place near Whistler Village that has access to the free shuttle. Many of the lodges/hotels are independently run but majority have great accessibility to all of the Whistler Blackcomb amenities. ** We arrived at the same base near the Excalibur Gondola that we had taken the day before to get to Blackcomb. This time, we took the Fitzsimmons Express chair lift to access Whistler Mountain. There was the same cloud cover over the village as the day before. We were quickly learning that there seems to always be some form of a cloud layer or fog in the pacific northwest valleys - more times than not it seems. Luckily, the forecast called for breaks of sun with some clouds. Looking back at the village from the chair, we were able to see a break in the clouds and noticed the distant mountain peaks illuminated by the vibrant morning sun. Little did we know the sweetness of the bluebird treat that we would soon be served once we broke through the bottom layer of clouds.

A peek through the clouds at the bluebird skies waiting above the clouds

The sneak preview turned out to be right. We would soon find out how right it would be. Once we got above the base layer of clouds, there was NOT A CLOUD IN THE SKY. We got to experience early morning skiing with views more expansive than anything we had ever experienced before. We strapped in and geared up, ready to soak in the sun and the views during a day we would never forget.

Strapping in and gearing up - our first blue-sky view of the Canadian Rockies

We had the Whistler Peak on our mind and wanted to check out the Whistler bowl at some point on this day. We made our way up another lift and got over to the base of the Whistler peak chair.

Whistler Mountain backbone glistening in the morning sun

We would go on to ride the Whistler Peak chair to get to the top of the world. This lift became the most terrifying, awesome, and adrenaline-pumping part of the entire trip. The chairs were normal chairs with just a single bar with foot rests restraining you. The lift passes over two cliffs at which you are 100 or more feet in the air (this may or may not be accurate...but I can tell you that you get UP THERE to the point where falling off would be painless). I was white knuckled hanging onto my poles and the restraint bar. I felt alive. See the photo below that shows the height of the first cliff that the chair climbs. In the ski day 3 blog and photos there are some great photos of the whistler peak chair from alternate angles, so be on the lookout for those.

Whistler Peak chair

Once we reached the summit, our amazement peaked. The views were breathtaking and I was speechless. The Whistler Mountain summit left an impression that will forever be tattooed into my memory.

Canadian Rockies from Whistler Mountain Peak

At this point,