Men's Downhill Course
About two weeks to go, but this is the last weekend of “normal” life in Whistler.
Changes have been evident already. We don’t have our normal ski-in/ski-out access to the mountain for we are next to the race course, so we’ve been driving to Creekside to get on the gondola. Otherwise it has been a quiet January.
But come Monday morning the Creekside gondola closes, all of the parking lots are taken over by VANOC and our lives on public transportation begins. We’ve rented a locker in the village so we don’t have to carry skis back and forth, but what is normally a short walk to get going becomes two bus rides. And while there are grocery stores further away accessible by car, bus is the only viable transport to the nearby Creekside Grocery and the adjacent BC Liquor Store. We’ve been stocking up. And on Thursday security of the venue steps up a notch and the vehicle checkpoint on the road up our hill is established.
Most of our complex is empty as is typical except for weekends and holidays. Upstairs has been occupied for a couple of weeks…IT managers for VANOC. Our next door neighbor, one of the few permanent residents, is off to Florida soon and his place will then be occupied by two members of the Canadian women’s alpine team. Otherwise we don’t know what to expect. What is certain is that the underground parking in our complex has 26 spaces for 16 units and we all have two parking permits but only one assigned space. We’ve planted one car in one of the unassigned spaces and will then use the assigned space for comings and goings.
Stance and Balance 