From North Bay to Vancouver Part 3

Jason and Marissa Pichette with Evgeni Plushenko on Whistler Mountain. Photo Submitted.

North Bay residents and avid Baytoday readers, Jason Pichette and his wife Marissa are in Vancouver this week to attend the Olympic Winter Games. With tickets to both the preliminary and final for Aerials, they will be cheering on local product Steve Omischl all the way to Gold. All the while they will be providing readers with a glimpse of their experiences at the games.


The setting for 100 story book endings has been developing over the past few weeks as Canada’s athletes perform at their highest level. Everyone has their preference in what events they follow and I can not hide the fact that we are here for….Men’s Aerials. Today is the Men’s Aerial finals where North Bay’s Steve Omischl will fight for a podium finish. Although the Irish House did their best last night to drive us into complete exhaustion, neither of us could sleep well knowing that today is the day we have been waiting for.

As we get ready for a long trek up to Cypress Mountain for today’s event I will take you through 3 full days we will remember forever. Monday was the Men’s Qualifier for Aerials at Cypress Mountain located 20 minutes North of Vancouver. Getting to this event requires Sky Train, Sea Bus and Olympic Shuttle from one of the Olympic Hubs. With most of the events VANOC has shut down access to all events by personal transports and requires that you take their shuttle. Prices for the shuttle vary in price and we paid $25 per person to get to Cypress however prices to Whistler were in the $50 range. Once you arrive at the hill…or close to it…you have a 2 KM walk up the final stretch of road to get to the actual venue. Security was as thorough as the airport including x-ray and metal detectors which everyone must pass through. The “Smurfs” were very kind and supportive as everyone was required to remove baggy clothing to clear through inspection. I will share more about the aerials tomorrow which will include our experience from the finals tonight.

Tuesday was our longest day which led us up to Whistler for a ski adventure. With so many people in Vancouver for the Olympics we anticipated a full mountain of people, long lines and limited rental equipment. We were wrong! We started by booking through www.ridebooker.com which allowed us to book our bus, rentals and lift tickets all at once. ($395 for two people) Our shuttle left Vancouver at 6:30 AM and returned to the pick up point at 9:00 PM…it is a very long day! In order for you to get access to the Sea to Sky highway you must be a resident or have a special pass. VANOC has highway restrictions from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM however even travelling outside of this restriction does not mean you will get parking at the mountain. Taking a shuttle or bus was extremely efficient and removed the frustration of finding a parking spot. Once we arrived to the mountain we were shocked to see very few people skiing. We walked into the lodge at Blackcomb and within 20 minutes we had our skis, poles and lift ticket. My wife is an avid skier and is light years beyond any level I would hope to become. That being said she felt that Spanky’s Ladder would be a great warm up for our second run. For those that don’t know the mountain Spanky’s Ladder is a double black mountain bowl for EXPERTS and requires a self propelled climb over a cliff. I’ll save you the details beyond her apologizing for 3 hours after I survived the run.

We skied all day and did not wait for a single lift…all skiers think this is great… 250 lbs old football players think line ups and rest breaks are great. All day we could see athletes and coaches from other countries using their free time to take in the slopes as well. One particular athlete stood out as we watched him on short skis display incredible balance, spins and tricks. We quickly identified Evgeni Plushenko followed by a contingent of Russian coaches. We approached Evgeni with congratulations on his silver medal victory. Within a few minutes of conversation and quotes from his interview on the quad he was very happy to take a picture with us. His English was very good and his humor even better. It was a real treat to meet someone of his caliber.

Wednesday was Irish house… Marissa’s cousins Collin and wife Siobhan raved about the atmosphere and compared it to watching it live or at the Canada House. With Canada facing Russia in the quarter finals we wanted to be as close to the action as possible. Once we arrived at 1:30 PM (3 hours before game time PST), to see a full house filled with Team Canada jersey’s we understood why it would be a guaranteed hot spot. You may ask yourself what makes Irish House…Irish? Since I have experienced it first hand I can tell you that I have no idea. It had an Irish flag and sold $10 Guinness. Once you add 800-1000 screaming Canadian’s it doesn’t matter what house it was, it became Canada House!

Look forward to the next piece which will include Robson’s Square and Men’s Aerials.
Thanks for reading and following our adventure.

Jason & Marissa Pichette.