White Christmas Anyone? (Wednesday 25 December 2002)

There can't have been many places with a whiter Christmas than Whistler this year. The fresh powder on the mountain was deeper than any of the Riders had seen before, and resulted in amazing scenes: most skiers and riders were submerged up to their chests and the shorter ones appeared as heads or helmets sliding down the slopes. Some even took to using snorkels!

The day began impressively early for the Riders, who made it to the Blackcomb base for 08:30. The lifts had opened at 08:00 for the first time this season, so the queue had shrunk and the Riders uploaded on Wizard then Solar Coaster.

Even on the way up the Wizard chair it became obvious that something special was happening. The runs down to the village, which had previously been very rocky, were completely covered with snow, and the higher it got, the deeper the snow became. As the Riders took Solar Coaster they began seeing people flying through enormous fields of powder, buried up to their waists.

Most of the lifts were closed when the Riders arrived at Rendezvous, so they set set off back down to Solar Coaster. Although the main runs were becoming tracked out, there was still a huge amount of powder off-piste. Venturing into it was difficult and dangerous: riding through it was no easy matter, and falling over often resulted in a mammouth 20-minute struggle to get up and running again.

After a few runs Andy and Jon noticed that the Crystal chair had opened so they set off as fast as they could and radioed everyone else. As they sat on the lift they saw the first skiers and riders coming down, although all there was to see in most cases was a head. Those coming down the slopes were yelling and screaming, and soon the people on the chairlift were cheering as each new track was made.

Neither Jon nor Andy had ever experienced anything like the conditions they met on the Crystal descent. The steep runs which would normally require at least a little braking could now be straight-lined, and those which were normally straight-lined were now perilously slow.

Bob and Dom soon met up with Jon and Andy, and the four of them spent the rest of the day dishing out Justice left, right and centre. Leaving the steep runs proved to be a bad move, and the Riders all experienced massive walks when they bailed on the slower pistes. The steeper runs remained in great condition all day though, and the huge Christmas Day crowds, which some had predicted, never materialised.

As the day wore on, calls grew to officially recognise the day as "Day of Justice II". No decision has yet been made, but it was definitely the most amazing and memorable Christmas Day experienced by the Riders. Christmas lunch was postponed as a result of the conditions, and the Riders eventually sat down to eat at 00:30 on boxing day.