2020 - Kelowna: Big White, Silver Star

After uneventful travel, met up in Kelowna to check out two new resorts-big white and silver star. Forecast looked great with recent and continuing snow and moderate temperatures. Drove up to big white, Canada's family playground which boasted 7500+ acres, where we were greeted by huge snowbanks and a decent condo. Thursday brought 9cm of fresh. And zero visibility-freezing fog continually obscuring our googles. Even finks new $280 ones. Great snow but day only rated a 6, even with decent sub $10 (Canadian!) lunch. The next day started the same (with 14cm) overnight but with gem lake chair open, and clouds lifting, had a great morning amongst the snow ghosts in fresh powder. After a harrowing drive down the mountain, we swapped out our jeep for a car with real winter tires (should've seen this coming after getting stuck in the driveway in the morning) and drove to our faux castle in Vernon. No new snow at silver stat, but lots of hardpack steeps on the backside. Found some good powder in the snow covered trees in the afternoon, then spent an hour with fink thinking about his 2nd helmet of the trip, and what discount to offer mark on the first $200 one (which hurts his ears).

Day 4 was Aussie day - after which we were back in the woods, and some nice runs off comet chair. And, a first — Mark took the day to go XC-skiing. Silver Star boasts the largest groomed XC network in Canada, and the snow was lovely and soft. Of course, this wouldn’t have happened if it was a powder day or if Mark didn’t have a week upcoming at Whistler. Frankel departed for home via shuttle, while fink and mark headed onto whistler, for lots of powder, and segment 2 of Mark's sabbatical. As usual, Fink picked good restos and mark scored with accommodations. Good trip!

Coda: Fink and Mark trip. It’s not often Jon Frankel goes back to work while Fink and Mark continue to play… So here’s a summary of Part 2 of the trip. Fink and Mark drove the 5+ hours from Vernon to Whistler (actually, Pemberton, just outside Whistler, which Mark knew about having visited his daughter Jay there this past summer, where she was working at Plenty Wild Farms). A gorgeous drive, half of which they got to do daylight. The area around Kamloops is desert-like, with large ranch lands, before getting back into the mountains near Lillooet. Note: DO NOT do the drive via Lillooett in bad weather or without a decent car/tires. You won’t make it. Arrived Pemberton for a delicious 8:30 dinner at the Pony, where Mark flirted a bit with the waitress (who Fink called ‘Jenn 2’). Checking into the Pemberton Meadow Lodge at 10:30 p.m., Mark unfolded the hide-a-bed to reveal mouse droppings. Lovely. Creepy front desk guy took his time finding another room. Monday and Tuesday brought that rare combination at Whistler — good snow and decent weather/visibility. It was quite mild, bringing the usual Whistler thing of crud and mush below mid-Mountain, but Mark and Fink had a great day Monday getting some freshies in the Alpine and 7th Heaven (and were lucky enough to be among the first to ski Blackomb Glacier when it opened). Monday night was a return to the Pony restaurant in Pemby (guess why). Tuesday, Fink skied with some of his friends there for Whistler Pride Week, while Mark did a rinse and repeat of Monday, with ~10 cm of fresh. Then, Fink upscaled to the Fairmont to welcome Blaine and a $400/night hotel room (this would not happen on the Mark/Jon/Jon trip), while Mark decamped to the HI Whistler Youth Hostel, in the former Athlete’s Village from the 2010 Olympics. The $90 (Canadian) private room was surprisingly nice and clean, and the hostel boasted lots of backcountry boarders wearing wool toques and drinking craft beer. Wednesday brought 15 cm+ of fresh snow, with free refills all morning. The brooms were out. The Alpine was closed but there were some nice freshies in the woods and some great runs on Seppos off Garbanzo Chair. Whistler T-bar opened for an hour in the afternoon, allowing for some fresh tracks in Harmony Bowl. Thursday was leftovers from Wednesday for Mark, while Fink went snowshoeing with Blaine. The Alpine opened for a couple of hours, which meant some fresh in Harmony and Symphony bowls. Toward the end of the day, Mark for stuck for 45 minutes on Symphony Chair as winds exceeded 100 km/h. Friday awoke to pouring rain in the Village and a howling blizzard at mid-Mountain, with the freezing level (a key metric at Whistler) steadily creeping up. Mark got on first chair for a couple of decent runs, before ‘Goggle Malfunction’ and change to rain plus mashed potato snow that could be a season-ender made him call it a day at 11 am. That’s where the pass is worth it! Mark spent part of the afternoon at the Fairmont fitness center/jacuzzi courtesy of Fink’s extra key. Friday night brought another ski trip record (on top of Fink’s $500 helmet/goggle combination, $400 hotel room, and $200 snowshoeing expedition): Most Expensive Meal Ever. Mark joined Fink, Blaine, and 6 of their Pride Week buddies at Hy’s Steakhouse, whose main objective apparently is to have the entree prices match the walk-up rate of a lift ticket. Saturday was a beautiful drive on the Sea-to-Sky highway into Vancouver. Fink and Blaine had a quick visit with Jay and got to meet Mia at their 'Berkeley-on-Cambie' place across from Queen E Park. Dad took daughter and GF for a great meal at Locust on Main, where dinner for 3 plus drinks, tax, and tip, incidentally, cost less than the price of ONE entree at Hy’s. Finally, hewing to the Frankel maxim of ‘one good trip…one bad trip’, Mark’s red-eye flight home turned into a bit of an odyssey. Note: Mark’s maxim of ‘avoid New York Airports’ is now being extended to 'Avoid Customs at Pearson'). But he did get some in time to watch the Super Bowl with Jenn and the in-laws.