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With car trouble adding stress to what was already going to be a stressful 8.5 hour drive in the rain to Mont Ste-Anne on Sunday, Sasha & I cashed in some travel points and took a much more civilized route to Quebec yesterday.

We were able to book flights on Porter airlines for $69 (plus fees & taxes) each way the night before and flew out of the Toronto airport.  Besides being my favorite Airline for total experience and civility, the added advantage of flying out of the Toronto Island Airport was that we left our house just after 11am for a 12pm flight.

We were checked into our condo at the foot of Mont Ste-Anne by 2:30pm.

We even had time for a quick 30 minute run before grabbing some groceries for the week. The rain that was hammering Ontario (and some of our friends on the Level 3 exams at Devil’s Glen) finally found it’s way to Quebec around 7pm – the time we would have arrived had we driven from Toronto.

Last night was orientation for the Ski Test for Ski Press magazine which included a 45 minute product demonstration from Icebreaker and take home samples of next year’s Leki poles and Alpina goggles.

Stay tuned this week as we blog each day on our experience!

One of the advantages of being a Ski Pro free agent is that you can book mini-ski trips between contract work.

Having just finished my third Level 1 course at Earl Bales ski park I had a free weekend before starting my fourth course at Mount Saint Louis Moonstone (MSLM).

With Sasha busy running the Nancy Greene program at Alpine, I recruited my ski friend Harry Burke and did a road trip to Whiteface in Lake Placid – the site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics.

After nearly 7 hours on the road (including 40 minutes to get through the border), we arrived at the Olympic Village of Lake Placid.  Lake Placid has great charm and feels like a ski town from the 1970s. Lots of great restaurants (we enjoyed the Steak & Seafood restaurant) and the mountain was only a few minutes away.

Why Whiteface?

Boasting the longest vertical skiing drop in the east at 3,430 feet and peak elevation at 4,867 feet, the lure of long vertical runs was too overwhelming for us to ignore!

We skied our brains out on the first day – from the first gondola at 8:30am until the last one up the mountain around 3:30pm. We stopped only once for lunch – despite temperatures hovering around -30 at the top.

We skied until our legs went to complete rubber on day two – which was around lunch time and a good sign that we had sufficiently satisfied out thirst for vertical for the weekend.

Although Whiteface boasts more vertical than anybody else in the East, we found that a lot of the vertical is in the run-out down the middle.

Skiing the run-out is like skiing on the 401 – but with more ice. That’s great for intermediates, but not so great for advanced or expert skiers looking for long & steep terrain – like what we can find at Ste-Anne.

Having said that, their newly opened terrain on top of Lookout peak offers some of the best vertical consistency top to bottom. You won’t find anything that steep – but the pitch is consistent and winding so you can get about 2,000 vertical feet of high flying dynamic turns and feel some satisfying thigh burning by the end of it.

The resort is in the process of clearing out a few more trails off that same chair that promise steeper and more gnarly pitches.  The park received permission to clear those trails only because they used to be real trails – even though nobody has been able to ski them since the 1950s.

Looking around Whiteface you can’t help but think there is massive untapped potential to make this an even bigger destination. It could easily be the Whistler of the East if the State had the will and the $$$ to make it happen.

Two other things really surprised us about the mountain:

1. Snow coverage wasn’t that great compared to Quebec or even Southern Ontario. Although they have some snow making (and the snow guns weren’t protected by padding!), there was lots of exposed blue ice on many of the runs. The most interesting looking runs weren’t even open yet. They’re called the Slides and locals were telling us they likely won’t open until March. In fact we were surprised that at this point in the season only 85% of the mountain was open.
2. Grooming was inconsistent. I like long cruisers as much as the next guy – but first tracks on groomed runs were bumpy and dodgy – so we could never really let our skis just go down the fall line without fear of hitting a rut, big ice patch or uneven grooves.  It was big mountain skiing – which we really enjoyed, but we forget how spoiled we are in places where there is more emphasis on getting that right.

Are you a ski pro? We were really impressed by how they treated us. All we had to do was flash our CSIA membership card and we received 50% off the lift ticket prices… which allowed us to increase our budget for apres-ski.

Would we go back?

Yes – in fact I’m hoping to go back in late March (with Sasha) when all the terrain is open. Its close proximity to Toronto, small town charm and big mountain terrain makes Whiteface a good choice for those who don’t want to travel 10+ hours to go deep into Vermont or Quebec City.

About a month ago I was taking a leisurely bike ride through the Toronto trails and decided to head north to the DVP trail to extend my ride on what was shaping up to be a rare and beautiful Sunday afternoon.

I was first surprised by how narrow the path became in several sections and had to slow down & adjust my approach several times to avoid dangerous situations.

Unfortunately, I made one too few adjustments.

Approaching a downhill near pottery road on the DVP bike path, I noticed two mountain bikers coming in the opposite direction and taking up the entire path. They seemed distracted and oblivious to their surroundings.

I shouted ahead and applied my brakes 

Both bikers saw me and moved to the other side of the path allowing me to release my brakes and pass them on the downhill. What happened next was unexplainable – at the last second one of the mountain bikers drifted right into my path – forcing me off the bike path to avoid a head-on collision. 

Unfortunately I couldn’t regain control of my bike as I almost immediately caught a tree-branch with my right arm which sent me over my handle bars. Fortunately both my feet unclipped automatically from my pedals, but unfortunately I landed shoulder first on a boulder. 

Laying sprawled out on the pavement all I could do was curse.

My helmet was scratched, my knuckles were bleeding and I became suddenly aware that my shoulder didn’t feel quite right. 

As it turns out, I had separated my shoulder which l later found out is very different from a shoulder dislocation.

Although it doesn’t usually require surgery, i had a 19.2mm separation and the likelihood of regaining full mobility and strength would be small without surgery.

Here’s what it looked like before surgery: 

I opted for surgery and had a hook plate with 4 screws inserted into my shoulder to bring the bones back into alignment.

It’s been a few weeks since the surgery and although I’m still relatively uncomfortable and can’t yet sleep a full night, I’m seeing steady progress and have been cleared to start rehab so that I can be on Skis by early December.  

It will be a good six months before I mostly recover and at least one year before I go back under the knife to have the plate removed. 

Although the accident was completely avoidable, things could have been a lot worse and I’m thankful that I can return to a regular & active lifestyle soon. 

When I do get back on my bike and ride the roads again, you can bet that I’ll be avoiding the dual-purpose paths around the city. I’ve had too many close calls with people who walk without looking and in my specific incident, people who bike without awareness.

I’m thankful to have Sasha who has been unbelievably supportive.  She even took a week off work right after the accident to help me manage and even now after three weeks of restless nights she’s continues to be there for me. I was half expecting her to ship me out to my mother’s place after the first week of sleeping in 15 minute increments  

On the up side of the situation, I’ve been off the hook to mow the lawn, do the dishes, clean the house and take out the garbage. Maybe this recovery thing isn’t so bad after all…