Publisher’s note: Lake Tahoe News takes to the slopes where the Olympics will be in 20 days.

By Kathryn Reed

WHISTLER, British Columbia — Six hours of skiing. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that in one day.

Black Tusk from Blackcomb ski area. Photos/Kathryn Reed

It was made that much easier because of Susan Sommer. She took the five us all over Blackcomb Mountain today – for free. She couldn’t even

Guide Susan Sommer and LTN writer Susan Wood.

pocket the tip I slipped her. (It will go to the avalanche dogs.)

Blackcomb and Whistler mountains offer free tours of the respective mountains each day. Good thing because both are huge and I didn’t want to go down any double diamonds. (I did that unintentionally at Vail four years ago with my sister, Pam.)

But we did go out to Proposal Point – launching pad to some of the super expert terrain. No thanks. But the views are spectacular.

Too many runs to choose from for one day.

Whistler-Blackcomb had eye candy in every direction. I ran my camera battery down with all the pictures I was taking.

Looking out from Proposal Point.

Snowcapped mountains are everywhere. It is breathtaking.

At one point we were on a glacier. Other times we were on incredibly soft snow. Other times it was ice. Sometimes the sun was out, other times it was cloudy. Flurries were dancing in the air at the top of the mountain as we headed down. Sun greeted us as we took our skis off for the day.

One of the things that strikes me about Whistler is how everyone is so dang friendly – the workers, the people on the lifts who have come from near and far to ski these wonderous mountains.

Locals from Vancouver thanked us for coming here to enjoy their alpine oasis. I wanted to thank them for letting me be here.