Around 1988, I was living in the Okanagan Valley. Ski bumming it for 2 years when I was done going to school. On one road trip to Whistler in my VW van I had no where to stay. I pulled into Dusty's in Creeekside, rolled my Van to a stop around 1am on the notion that 'Rob the Blob' Anderson would still be at work. The lights were on and there were a few people shooting pool. After rapping on the window, I asked for Rob. His hair was down to his shoulders back then. He was the head chef of the resturaunt. A bowl of soup and a beer and we off to Emerald Estates. This was my second visit to Whislter ever and for the next week and half spent skiing and sleeping on his couch; I met life long friends: Rob, Brian Atikinson (BA), Mike Lind and Tim Croucher.
Why would I tell you this? Well, 23 years later I was able to do that all that over again: I've met 'life long' friends and I'll be at Dusty's for breakfast tomorrow morning at 2am!!!! The final race is apoun us. The Men's crew is assigned to a 2am breakfast, 3am load. My turn!
After a nice morning in Pemberton taking my time to get ready, I hit the hill at about 11am. I grabbed my LR (lunch remote) ticket and headed up the gondola and onto Red chair. I took a warm up cruiser and headed to the glacier Tbar. The Peak was closed. They pull all the chairs off this lift in this kind of weather. The cable is empty. For what ever reason the TBar was closed, even though I had seen people on it from the Red chair. So, I caught one more run behind the Roundhouse and downloaded back to the creek to meet the team for our 2pm load. Greg was back from work so Elizabeth, Greg and myself joined Randy's team and headed up the gondola to mid station. This was timed to be exactly at the end of the Ladies slalom. We all assembled in the tent (which leaks all over). I decided to upload a video of this tonight. Goes along the lines of the Andrea Janak speach. She was sitting behind me at the time. My closest connection to the Olympic "Brain Trust" gave our final marching call. As the days have been winding on, these events have becomeing fewer and furthor between, so it was a nice inspirational speach. Kind of like giving you thanks in advance of the work you are about to do.
Our group headed down to our section which was Muirs Hop. From there, we were given the task (from Willy) of slipping out the section before. We did the 'one arm snow plow' (only words I can think of now) where one ski runs straight and the other does a snowplow. We were essentially 'slippers' and did about 4 or 5 laps (cycles via the gondola) of this. Kills the 'glutts' like you've never felt. This was a nice change to the shovelling we all did the day before. Plus, most of the ladies crew stayed after their race to help us. Snow blowers were in aboundance. After about 4hrs of this we headed to the tent for some hockey and to see the intence outcome of the ladies curling match against Sweden. This would be a short stay, since the mens crew were due back at 2am. So, I boarded the bus(es) to Pemberton pronto.
I made the executive decision to 'stay up'. I heard talk of this and I know that Walter (former crew member) did this earlier during the downhill early starts. What the heck. Could I really sleep for 3 or 4 hours while the final 2 days of the Olympics were on! I got to Pemberton around 9pm, started doing the pictures and this blog entry, and will be leaving here in about 1.5 hours from now. The next 24 hours will be very interesting.
My original crew chief Dave Willis is due back on the hill. I wonder if he is coming for breakfast. Unless he's been following the ladies start times for the last 3 days (4am, 2am, 2am), he will sure be suprized!
Go Canada GO
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment