Fantastic week here in Whistler/Blackcomb

[Endlessseason]

Eight of us are finishing up a one week trip here at Whistler/Blackcomb. May I say it's been a great trip.

It has snowed at least 5-10 cm's every single night since we got here last Wednesday. Of course it's nothing like when I was here last time when it snowed several feet, but it has been really fun nonetheless.
We're loving the half-price food. Saw the fire and ice show in the village. Some of us learned what it would feel like ski inside a milk carton while negotiating slush bumps, but we've generally been able to avoid the bottom two thousand feet of vert and stay away from that crap.
Report and pics to follow when I get home.

[The AD]

Wow, glad to here things are improving up there! Looking forward to those pics.

[Snow Dog]

Eight of us are finishing up a one week trip here at Whistler/Blackcomb. May I say it's been a great trip.

It has snowed at least 5-10 cm's every single night since we got here last Wednesday.

The W/B snow report says 16cm in the last 7 days. Bunch of liers.

[milkman]

Eight of us are finishing up a one week trip here at Whistler/Blackcomb. May I say it's been a great trip.

It has snowed at least 5-10 cm's every single night since we got here last Wednesday. .

Checked the report and was up there Fri, Sat, Sun.....That statement is just plain false....

[girlski0912]

Checked the report and was up there Fri, Sat, Sun.....That statement is just plain false....

I am thinking the same thing. Skied there on Saturday and yes it snowed...maybe 1cm. But it is good to hear that you had a goodtime anyway!

[KQ]

As they say "where you stand depends on where you sit" and if you've been sitting in Washington or Oregon, 1cm of snow in BC is uber fantastic!

[rippin]

I don't blame him at all--you know American & Canadian mathmatics throws everyone off. 20 centimeters of pow in Canada means 60 inches to Americans while one dollar Canadian equals 200 american dollars.

Its all in the exchange rate calculation.

[Endlessseason]

I don't know where you people ski (those of you who don't think it's been snowing here). It's very weird. Even after these good pow days, we'll ask people in the village what they think of conditions and they say the they're horrible. Many will say they won't even go up because the rain has ruined all the snow. They aren't even aware of what's going on a mile above. It's a strange phenomenon. We don't correct or argue, we just ski. Sticking to the top 2000 feet of the new Peak to Creek bowls has been AWESOME. The Peak chair opened the day we got there with 4 inches of new and it has snowed every day up there since. If Snowdog says the report says 17 or so cm's, I believe him. On a couple mornings we got the morning report and it would say 2 cm's overnight. We would get to Whistler Bowl and be skiing another 4-6 inches. Today was the best. It snowed all day without a break and we had calf-to-knee-deep in the gullies all day. Whatever. We'll be up there again tomorrow.

[ak_powder_monkey]

so what you're saying is my spring break won't suck?

[Superstar Punani]

so what you're saying is my spring break won't suck?

I'm saying that you suck it long, and you suck it hard.

[The AD]

If Snowdog says the report says 17 or so cm's, I believe him.

The recording station is at 1650 meters. The summit is, what, 2200 m or so? So, yeah, there can be a fair amount of difference in snowfall in those 2,000 or so vertical feet.

[Snow Dog]

I don't know where you people ski (those of you who don't think it's been snowing here). It's very weird. Even after these good pow days, we'll ask people in the village what they think of conditions and they say the they're horrible. Many will say they won't even go up because the rain has ruined all the snow.

One day long ago we drove to Creekside (from Vancouver). It was pouring rain and the snow board said rain to the top. People who had driven up from Vancouver were turning around and going home (this was before snow phones). What the hell. We broke through the clouds before midstation and it was blue bird and fresh snow and no people. All Day. Sweet. You just never know.

[ak_powder_monkey]

The recording station is at 1650 meters. The summit is, what, 2200 m or so? So, yeah, there can be a fair amount of difference in snowfall in those 2,000 or so vertical feet.

Why doesn't W/B have reporting stations at say base, midway and top like most places?

[Samwich]

Endlessssssss. Sorry I missed ya buddy, I wish I had known you were in town.

I just finished an avie course, so I've been running around in the b/c all weekend. It's been great. Snow has been boot deep in some places over a hard crust. There are reports of 2m of fresh over 8k feet (heli access only, pretty much. Top of Whistler is 6 or 7 k)

Also, even if it hasn't snowed all that much, you can find some deep places on windloaded aspects. With a strong enough wind, 2cm can turn into 20 on leeward slopes. If you know where to go, you can have a great time. It's a lot better than WA skiing. Even the slush bumps at the bottom are fun.

Normally I'd lie and tell everyone that it's just fucking awful up here, but no one is here anyway, so i don't mind telling all the WA people that it's definitely worth the drive. There is some great skiing to be had, but don't expect WB to look like it normally does in Feb.

[KQ]

Good to hear!! Glad you all have managed to find the goods! Keep up the good work!

[wizard604]

Nooo!... everyone keep away from w/b ..... I want it all for myself!

[Squirrel99]

Normally I'd lie and tell everyone that it's just fucking awful up here, but no one is here anyway, so i don't mind telling all the WA people that it's definitely worth the drive.

Gee, thanks Sam

Maybe see ya up there this weekend then?

[extreeski]

I've been on blackcomb when it snowed 3 cm. But was windy and the wind loaded the snow up on the far ridge above, I believe it was blackcomb glacier. All you had to do was hike a small amount (ten minutes) and had shin deep pow.

It's all about aspect and windload sometimes.

[Endlessseason]

This is all I have time to post for now.

This was the first day. Pleasantly surprised would be an understatement since
it was raining like a mutha on the gondy ride up:



Another from the first day. This is Chad in Harmony Bowl:




A couple days into our trip. It snowed every night up top and
rained every night at the bottom. This is Crash55 from the forum:




This is me off the Peak Chair. Viz was horrible, as you can see,
but it was sweeeeet, sweeeet turning all day...



Here's another great spot we lapped. It was pretty freaking bottomless.
I don't know what you people who complained that there was no snow
are talking about:




And here's where we spent a lot of time accessing the goods
all over the top of the resort. We ventured over to
Blackcomb and got some awesome pow in Jersey Cream
and Couloir Extreme, etc., but the new 'Peak-to-Creek'
terrain accessed by the Peak Chair kept our attention.

[iceman]

Those pictures are fake!

[skieast]

just checking out after week up here at w/b, and not too bad given the previous reports.

Last monday was right up there, amazing what 10cm at mid-mountain and high winds translates to up at peak.

28cm last night and snowing down here at creekside.

[Endlessseason]

Endlessssssss. Sorry I missed ya buddy, I wish I had known you were in town.

I didn't know you were there either, Sam. It would have been great to hook up. What a great trip! Next time...

Yeah, got a W/B Snow Alert e-mail this morning for what seems like the first time all season. Endless, I'm confused, W/B's snow report doesn't jive with your report. They're only saying 17" in the last week, 11" of which came last night. Trouble imagining W/B is underreporting, especially this year.

Big E, I know. Go figure. This trip reinforced some lessons for all of us:

Number 1: Ignore weather forecasts. If we had gone by the weather forecasts, we would have all canceled this trip a few weeks ago. Fortunately, we have a very seasoned and committed group--we've been getting together annually for years, regardless of forecasts or conditions. It was reassuring to know that no matter how grim the predictions, we could all count on each other to show up in Canada.

Number 2: Ignore snow reports. Especially on a big mountain. They measure snow on a plot about 1/1000 of an acre in size. We're talking about a resort with over 8,000 combined acres! Planning your day, or even your trip, on a snow report is ludicrous.

Number 3: Don't listen to locals. Or even workers at a resort this big. They cannot possibly know what's going on a few miles away. The peak is about 4 miles away from the base, and a mile straight up. I estimate that Whistler's Peak-to-Creek area is at least 8 miles away from the jewel bowls on the Blackcomb side. If the weather and snow can be so different at times from Snowbird to Alta (and they're only a couple of miles apart) how can anyone possibly predict what conditions are going to be like at W/BC?

Number 4: Don't necessarily even listen to people on the chairlift. Just for grins one day, we asked a few people on the chairs where the best place to ski might be. We got answers ranging from the Big Red chair (we already knew from experience that Big Red spent most of the week in a braille-skiing cloud) to the lift line runs directly under Emerald (we knew that this was a 20 minute wait in line in sleet that day). No wonder there can be so many differing views about a skiing experience.

All I can say is, it was unanimously the best pow trip we've ever experienced as a group. Crash55 from PA told me that in all the years he has spent skiing with me in Utah, California, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Oregon, back east, and Canada, this was the best powder trip he's ever had. Of course, I cannot say the same thing, but it was pretty cool to hear such an assessment from him.

I hope it continues to dump for you guys up there and you end up having a great season. We sure had a great time!

[wizard604]

Glad to hear you guys had a great time. I know what you mean about the weather & snow reports. It never tells the whole story when you're talking about a mountain the size of whistler/blackcomb. There is so much terrain and vertical that even with 60% open, there's more skiable terrain than most resort when they're 100% open.