Olesya Chornoguz
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I got a chance to go to Whistler for cancer immunotherapy conference (my field of research) and I went a day earlier on my own dime to ski some more. I signed up for Extremely Canadian steeps clinic and spent a whole day in the clinic today. Extremely Canadian clinics are not really lessons, they are guiding expeditions with some ski tips and tactics. These clinics are recommended for advanced intermediates and up - linking parallel turns and skiing black diamond terrain is required. IMHO it's really for people who want to challenge themselves safely and ski some untracked powder hopefully.
There was one other student in my class, though usually the groups are 4-5 people. The clinic was amazing, the guide we had is great. We hiked Spanky's ladder twice, skied Ruby's bowl, also hiked up the Blackcomb's glacier, don't remember the names of runs there. Skied some beautiful untracked powder (run called Swiss Cheese) after a terrifying long traverse over the cliffs, but it was worth it. Also skied Cougar's chute which is quite steep and was icy on top, so that khm-khm "exciting" , the saving grace was it was fairly wide. All in all amazing day, no stops for lunch, ate granola bar on the lift some bathroom and water breaks but that's it, skied from 9 to 3:30 non stop basically. Lot's of bumps, steeps, powder, little to no trees though, but that's ok. I skied on my 94 mm DPS Pagoda piste which did well in untracked powder despite being only 94 mm underfoot. Great day overall.
If anyone is considering taking the Extremely Canadian clinic here are my thoughts:
Prepare to be challenged and take out of your comfort zone safely, follow the guide instructions precisely and listen to their tips, be sure to specify if you are up for hiking and make sure you discuss you ski level and terrain aspirations with the guide.
There was one other student in my class, though usually the groups are 4-5 people. The clinic was amazing, the guide we had is great. We hiked Spanky's ladder twice, skied Ruby's bowl, also hiked up the Blackcomb's glacier, don't remember the names of runs there. Skied some beautiful untracked powder (run called Swiss Cheese) after a terrifying long traverse over the cliffs, but it was worth it. Also skied Cougar's chute which is quite steep and was icy on top, so that khm-khm "exciting" , the saving grace was it was fairly wide. All in all amazing day, no stops for lunch, ate granola bar on the lift some bathroom and water breaks but that's it, skied from 9 to 3:30 non stop basically. Lot's of bumps, steeps, powder, little to no trees though, but that's ok. I skied on my 94 mm DPS Pagoda piste which did well in untracked powder despite being only 94 mm underfoot. Great day overall.
If anyone is considering taking the Extremely Canadian clinic here are my thoughts:
Prepare to be challenged and take out of your comfort zone safely, follow the guide instructions precisely and listen to their tips, be sure to specify if you are up for hiking and make sure you discuss you ski level and terrain aspirations with the guide.
