Spring Is For Everything: Part 2

Words by: Brent Hillier   Photos by Brent Hillier & Chad Hillier

From left to right: Chad, Katie, Jen and Brent

---

Part 2 of my week long adventure with my brother, Chad, saw us heading to Whistler for some spring skiing. We made the necessary stop at Galileo Coffee and while leaving a "ski bum miracle" rolled into the parking lot. What should happen to park beside our fully loaded 1985 4WD Toyota Tercel but an identical make and model, fully loaded with four skiers and gear. The eight of us chuckled and compared wagons, then we were on our way.

The snow report was calling for 6cm of fresh. I was expecting a morning of dust on crust with some warm spring skiing in the afternoon. I had been looking forward to a fun day showcasing Whistler/Blackcomb and it seemed like the conditions wouldn't be half bad. What was posted as 6cm at mid-mountain was actually 25 to 30cm up top. A powder day on April 18th was the last thing I was expecting but that wasn't stopping us from enjoying it. Praise be to Ullr.

There's more to this photo than first meets the eye. In the background you can see Katie working through the learning curve of skiing powder for the first time.

The peanut gallery below was always ready with words of encouragement.

---

We hiked from the top of the Showcase T-Bar over to the Blackcomb Glacier and as we crested the top we found a bowl of untracked powder. We quickly dropped in and I had 10 of the best turns of the season.

Chad took a bit of a tumble at the top, but the "shit-eating" grin he skied down the bottom with was priceless.

The learning curve for Katie was a bit different, but by the end she started to get the hang of it.

It was a grand sojourn of Whistler/Blackcomb; we skied the Glacier, 7th Heaven, Whistler Peak and over to the Symphony Bowl. Not a bad day, especially for first timers Chad and Katie. We had worked up an appetite and it was time to carbo-load.

The key with a meal at the Old Spaghetti Factory is to talk a lot with your hands. To properly eat Italian, you must first try to be Italian.

---

The next morning we headed out to the Pemberton valley. On our way we stopped off at Nairn Falls Provincial Park and went for a stroll.

---

The highlight was our visit to the Pemberton Distillery. As soon as you walk into their tasting room the smells of what's cooking in the back envelope you. Owner and Distiller, Tyler Schramm, lead us through a number of delicious spirits.

Their Organic Potato Vodka, Organic Absinth, Aged Apple Brandy and Kartoffelschnaps were fantastic. Katie was partial to the Organic Single Malt Whiskey but we all agreed the Organic Gin was some of the best we had tasted.

After a quick lap around the Mount Currie community we took our bottles of Schram Organic Gin and headed back to the North Shore for some G&Ts at home.

---

Stay tuned for Part 3, coming out on Monday. Chad and I trade in our skis for mountain bikes and go for lap in the backyard on Mount Fromme.

If you missed Part 1, you can find it here: http://www.bikeski.ca/1/post/2014/04/spring-is-for-everything-part-1.html