February 26, 2021 Best ski day ever?

The Big Boarder smiled at his friends as he pushed away from the top of the Ridge Rocket express. The snow was covering his boots and he looked at his friends as they whooped in delight. It was another day of fresh snow and deep powder. Unexpectedly, Big Boarder and Barrman were back on the slopes.

It was a day that they invoked the twenty-centimetre rule. The two friends bailed on work and the so-called real world. They met two other of their bubble friends at the bottom. To these four adventurers that disembarked the chair, this was the real world.

“Where should we go?” Braffster looked over at Robin, Barrman, and Big Boarder. He smiled with a look that embraced the excitement they all felt.

“It won’t matter! The snow is amazing and there is no one here!” Replied Barrman as he turned his skis down toward the fresh powder snow enveloping them.

“Woohoo! Follow me!” Shouted Robin as he pushed off toward a stand of trees surrounded by deep untouched snow.

It was a race and everyone was winning.

The four snow-riders cruised the deep snow on another epic day of deep champagne powder. The high-speed quad chair and the six-pack Snow Ghost express were surprisingly quiet for a powder Friday in the Coronaverse. One week before Big Boarder had found himself standing in line for over 20 minutes waiting to ride the Ridge Rocket. The group of friends lapped up the goodness of the conditions and slid right back onto the lift. Everyone wore masks and looked like they were dressed to rob the mountain of its light and white treasure.

“That was awesome!” Barrman gleamed as he looked over at his friends. “It’s incredible how deep the snow is today. I am sure glad my customer said it was OK to come Monday.” The fifty-year-old child giggled as he watched the terrain sweep below.

“Man I know, glad my wife was able to understand how awesome it is for me to have the chance to come up here on days like today.” Big Boarder smiled in response and the two buddies fist pumped in celebration.

“Let’s head for the T-bar and go to Fa…” Robin began to say as they slid from the top of the chair.

“Shhh, don’t say it too loud, we don’t want anyone else to know.” Braffster grinned as he interrupted Robin.

They all knew where they were going. It was going to be like heli-skiing in bounds.

Barrman and Big Boarder grabbed the T-bar and allowed the lift to slide them towards the heavens.

Heaven on earth.

“Dude this is amazing! I am so stoked we escaped real life and came to the mountain today.” Barrman grinned at his buddy. He surveyed the untouched lines of snow that swept by the T-bar. It was eleven in the morning and hardly anyone had skied the top slopes of Big White.

“Man, this is real life. We need to re-program ourselves to think that way.” Big Boarder looked down at his ski buddy and flashed a brilliant smile.

On top of the world, the riding buddies surveyed the slopes in front of them. The sky was full of clouds and visibility was poor. Yet they all knew this was the perfect conditions to find the untouched steep and deep snow they sought. With low cloud and poor visibility, few people had ventured to the top of Big White. They had an open buffet of delicious untracked snow to digest.

Barrman looked at his buddies and chose the path least traveled. He pushed hard and went high.

His extra work was rewarded.

It was like a living dream. The untouched landscape that opened up in front of the intrepid skier was a field of powder dreams. Steep deep untouched snow caressed his thighs as he careened into the bowl of champagne pow.

“Whoohoo! Yip, yip, yippee!” Powder screams echoed through the air.

“Yee-haw, yai, yai, yai!” Came the ecstatic reply.

The riders slid down and into the next lift-line. Everyone was breathing hard and smiles were glowing through the masks that barely hid the joy on everyone’s face.

“Best day ever!” Braffster gleamed and the rest nodded their heads.

“Wasn’t the last day the best day ever?” Laughed Big Boarder in reply.

“Every day like this continues to be better than the day before.” Robin’s eyes smiled back at his friends.

The group of riders carried on with the amazing day of powder turns and no lift-lines. It truly was the best day ever. At least it felt that way in the moment. Alas, the outside world took over and the friends departed from each other.

Big Boarder and Barrman looked anxiously at the clock when they reached the bottom of the Black Forest chair. Fresh off more untracked terrain in the trees the two buddies knew when they saw the time, that it would be their last run. The snow-boarder needed to get to town to get his kid to work and the skier had to get his truck. Both wanted to be down to Ktown before 3 pm, just so they didn’t have to rush.

“One last run through the trees, let’s go this way.” Barrman pushed away from the top of the lift and headed across the mountain toward the forest.

‘I really have to remember it takes snowboarders an extra few minutes at the top’. Barrman thought to himself as he stopped at the edge of the trees and waited for his snow-boarding buddy to catch up.

“Let’s go go go!” Big Boarder carved his board into the trees and found another untouched track. The riders weaved their way across the hill through the deep pow and found another hidden stash of fresh snow in the trees. They were on the wrong side of the run and headed into more glory.

“Dude I think we have to cut out now or we will miss the turn into the condo to get to the truck.” Barrman cut hard and popped out of the trees just in time to get back.

Big Boarder wasn’t so lucky. Was it luck? Maybe the luck was the deep snow he found himself in.

“Do we need to do another run?” Barrman shouted to his buddy in the trees.

“No, I think I can make it out.”

The skier stood waiting for the snowboarder to reappear out of the trees. He saw a flash of blue and at that moment knew they would have to do another run.

It was a first-world problem.

Barrman grinned and turned his skis back into the trees and immediately found some untracked snow. The two buddies giggled and hollered once more as they raced in the deep snow and headed to the bottom of the Snow Ghost for one last run.

It was after 2:00 pm and the riding friends found one last line of amazing glory on their way home. It was another best day ever. For one day the real world became the next turn in knee-deep snow and an unforgettable connection with a paradise called Big White Ski Resort.

·* All names have been changed to protect the “innocent”