By: Shaun Gillis
“No Friends On a Powder Day”
We all know the saying, now I think this motto needs to be adapted to the bustling nature of Whistler Blackcomb.
The Code of Conduct should consist of:
- Friends don’t make friends wait on a powder day
- Friends help friends with lift lines. You see a buddy passing outside of the corral and you’re a three on a four-seater invite him in.
- Friends understand that if you fall in bounds there are life guards everywhere; ski patrol will get to them.
- Friends don’t get upset because they are snowboarders or skiers and they travel at different speeds, we just understand and wish our friend a great day.
- Friends can be too many friends. If the group is larger than a chairlift, refer to rule one
If you find yourself riding solo there are some games that can help you sort through lift lines as well. Be aware that one side of the line might be more loaded than the other. Lining up the singles line is sometimes a good option, but if the singles line is long then smingles is your next best bet. Smingles is a great game and is played by the best pow hounds around, you have to use Jedi mind tricks for this to work. Basically you go into the group line and find threes and twos to bump your way through the line to the front. Some will get offended if you don’t smingle in the correct manner and your progress will halt. When someone blocks you from gaining more ground accept this as your chair.
Remember we are not hurting other locals by helping a friend out. There would still be the same number of people ahead of you when you get on the chair, and I would rather see the precious snow be flattened by my friends than a tourist side slipping the snow away.
So no friends on powder days attitude should change to friends helping friends on powder days.
There only a limited amount of powder days per year and we should maximize the amount of quality vertical that we are skiing or riding.