Whis. Day #4 - FSO Orientation

So today was my First Seasons Orientation.  I'm glad it was in The cabin because that is literally a 5 minute walk away from staff housing.  Nothing much really happened today; orientation only ran until 1pm.  It was two employee experience officers that ran us over core values and a lot of general stuff that we should apply to as an employee.  During this interview I reflected upon some of the things they emphasize and will put up a short essay later in this blog about what I thought was interesting.

Anyways, it was really boring orientation they talked a lot about the previous stuff I mentioned and then some stuff about safety, actions, and employee perks.  I got off at 1pm and headed back to residence.  I found out about the White Bike Program for employees that allowed staff to rent out bikes for free in a 24 hour period.  So I headed down to the Administrator building of Blackcomb and requested one.  However, the lady at the front counter rejected the request cause I didn't have my Staff pass with me (the pass we use that have our employee ID + use to access lifts).  Not wanting to argue with the lady, I decided to head down to Springs building to try also.  This time, it worked, I got my bike and as soon as I got on I realized something.  It's like a fixed gear bike where the brakes are back pedal. Hoho, Whistler is full of rolling hills so this was going to be tough.  Luckily my uncle has taught me a bit on how to ride these back-pedal brakes bike and it took me only half an hour to get use to stopping.

I grabbed lunch at Fat Tony's pizza and headed up to residence.  The journey up the winding roads were ridiculous and I find my self exasperated by the time I reached my building.  I rested for an hour and then decided to go hit the gym.  The first time I blogged about the gym, that was down at the village and costed me a whopping $13.  Not wanting to pay it this time, I decide to bike all the way to Meadows park sports centre and workout there for $5 instead.  Below's a map of distances:

Orange A: My place; Green: The Core gym; Red A: Meadows Park gym

 

As you can see here, things get a lot harder since I have to bike all the way to the Red A.  No matter, I decide to try it anyway and it was the best decision I've ever made.  I wasn't quite sure how to get there at first.  Trying to remember the steps taken on Google maps, I found myself lost right beside the Sea-to-sky highway.  I know all it took was to ride down the highway to get there but there was so many cars and really narrow bike lanes that I wanted to avoid it completely.  I wasn't able to find a decent trail so had to ride that out for a bit until I finally arrived at the place

 

 

 I went in, worked out and then bathed in the hot tub for a bit.  Everything was great and it was time to head back.  I asked the front desk on how to get back to Blackcomb without the highway and luckily, they had maps of local trails and pointed me in the right direction. This time the trek was much farther in terms of length but worth it so much more.  I will attach pictures below.  I got back home, ate and chatted a bit with my apartment mate.  End of a great day but I am pooped out.  I get tomorrow off so it's gonna be back to the gym.  I just can't wait for Saturday for glacier skiing to open!

Below are pictures of the nature valley trail: