2nd Annual Whistler Blackcomb Trip

December 2023

Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the town, every creature was stirring, hoping the snow would come down.

My memory of 2022 in Whistler, BC, was of frigid cold and massive dumps of snow. I spent hundreds of desperate dollars last year buying heated ski boots and extra wool layers in an effort to avoid frost bite. To my amazement, the conditions are vastly different this year. Highs were in the upper 30sF, even at alpine elevation, and there was no snow below mid-mountain. My painstakingly researched and reserved “ski in and ski out” accommodations, up the hill from the Blackcomb gondola, was neither ski in nor out. The hill was a grassy muddy mess, and the hike up the damn hill in ski boots at the end of the day was a cardiovascular stressor.

And yet the 2nd annual Whistler trip was a festive delight, despite the rain. They say that there is never a bad day on the mountain, and they’re right. Decent snow at the top of Blackcomb, with stunning views of “rivers of cloud” between the peaks. We took Evie (the Rivian) on her first long distance trip. Charging infrastructure is getting better and better, although the competition is also getting more fierce with all the electric vehicles on the road now.

My brother and his ski-loving friends joined for a few days en route to the powder highway, and one of my best friends timed her family’s ski trip to overlap with ours. Fun times were had! Including the day some of us skipped skiing altogether in favor of the Scandinave spa.

Skiing is a metaphor for life. The mountain can present you with all sorts of conditions: slush and rain, ice and powder, steep slopes and unexpected uphills. Like many learned behaviors and coping skills, what is successful for one situation, is not helpful in another. I have honed perfectionism from the crib, a child of immigrants and a girl trying to be the main character in a world where girls are supporting cast. The neurotic, high-control behaviors have served me very well. Except now, the mountain of life is different, and it’s time to let go a little. In skiing, sometimes you let yourself fall forward, and in doing so, the skis keep you upright. You lean down the mountain and embrace the speed, relinquish control to keep your center of gravity, which counter-intuitively (for me) keeps you in control.

Equanimity is a balance, a composure that comes from knowing when to take control and when to let go, a stability between pulling back and leaning forward. For the new year, may we find more equanimity, on the mountain and in life.

December 23, 2023