Not impressed with Whistler/Blackcomb - Page 4 - Snowboarding Forum

SnowboardEve · 03-17-2012, 12:08 AM

Sorry about the bad trip but you really picked the wrong time. It's spring break plus the weather is really random around here. Luckily the few times I've gone to Whistler I got lucky and the weather was really nice. Not sure why some people were rude to you, I always make new friends at Whistler and I'm not even a people person. People from whistler are the coolest people I've met. Hope you still had fun despite everything because it's really beautiful there and there's many other fun things to do besides just snowboard.

marcdeo · 07-07-2012, 09:42 AM

You were grossly mislead if you went to Whistler looking for "The best snow on the planet". this is simply not the case - the proximity to the coast makes for precarious snow conditions. A little research would reveal that you go to whistler for the experience, not the snow. Im not saying that whistler doesn't get good snow, but it's pretty common knowledge the snow quality is average at best (certain times notwithstanding).

and whistler is BUSY. Any busy resort will lead to tracked out trails. A dumping of 3 feet overnight doesn't stand a chance with thousands of people tracking out the trails - the pow is gone by lunch. If you want mega snow, untracked, there are better options (resort wise - becasue there's always Heli)- look for heavier lighter snowfall in different regions and resort which arent as busy. If I wanna party I'll go to whistler. If I am looking for deep untracked pow - Revy is a good option. Fernie too. AK, japan..... ok now im getting ahead of myself... my point is The further you get away from the west coast and travel inland (or elsewhere) the less likely you'll be traversing the "West Coast Cement".

grafta · 07-07-2012, 02:14 PM

Well done dude. You just said the same thing everyone else did... months ago

marcdeo · 07-07-2012, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grafta

Well done dude. You just said the same thing everyone else did... months ago

Right. It was redundant (I read it quickly and replied without seeing others post). Yet as pointless as it was, it still managed to grab your attention, and elicit a response from you. Well done dude.

Nolefan2011 · 07-07-2012, 04:52 PM

Shit, I don't care if it's too months late, because hopefully people are using the search function to answer their questions anyway, since there is a wealth of info out there, so I'll add to it.

I did a Kicking Horse / Revelstoke trip. One of the best experiences I have ever had on a mountain. I did see you mentioning enjoying trails - which I would say can be limited here, as it's all about making your own trail. But for sheer powder, varied terrain, and endless possibilities, these two resorts were amazing. It would dump, and you would still find stashes 3 days later, and you didn't have to know the mountain that well to find it.

poutanen · 07-08-2012, 01:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nolefan2011

I did a Kicking Horse / Revelstoke trip. One of the best experiences I have ever had on a mountain. I did see you mentioning enjoying trails - which I would say can be limited here, as it's all about making your own trail. But for sheer powder, varied terrain, and endless possibilities, these two resorts were amazing. It would dump, and you would still find stashes 3 days later, and you didn't have to know the mountain that well to find it.

This is like Fernie to me... I'm still a Fernie noob (did 10 days there this year I think) but even I can find stashes days after it's dumped.

I'm stoked because I have a season pass for Kicking Horse this coming year! (and Fernie, Kimberley, Nakiska and Lake Louise) SHAZZAM!!!!

grafta · 07-08-2012, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcdeo

Right. It was redundant (I read it quickly and replied without seeing others post). Yet as pointless as it was, it still managed to grab your attention, and elicit a response from you. Well done dude.

Sorry dude my tone in that post was uncalled for

blunted_nose · 08-09-2012, 02:44 AM

damn it, went to revelstoke mtn. in BC last year for 5 days. I did the same mistake and watched every, and i mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, video of pros riding pow there and actually bought a gopro for it aswell. Needless to say it was that one week that it was a warm week after a pow week. i almost cried. took me 2 years (im 18 now but only now did i get a job before it was every penny i could get i saved for that week) to gather that money to go with friends and we even timed it so we would hit a storm. The stom hit the resort one week early and all i got was run down moguls with sweaty temps. We hiked to get 1cm of slushy pow and since it was so slow we had to hike out of the runout aswell.... i think i lost about 20 pounds that week... im going to stick to mtn's i can get to in about 2 hrs, incase theres a pow day i can just jump in the car at 5 and catch the first chair...

Alt_Reality · 08-13-2012, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blunted_nose

damn it, went to revelstoke mtn. in BC last year for 5 days. I did the same mistake and watched every, and i mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, video of pros riding pow there and actually bought a gopro for it aswell. Needless to say it was that one week that it was a warm week after a pow week. i almost cried. took me 2 years (im 18 now but only now did i get a job before it was every penny i could get i saved for that week) to gather that money to go with friends and we even timed it so we would hit a storm. The stom hit the resort one week early and all i got was run down moguls with sweaty temps. We hiked to get 1cm of slushy pow and since it was so slow we had to hike out of the runout aswell.... i think i lost about 20 pounds that week... im going to stick to mtn's i can get to in about 2 hrs, incase theres a pow day i can just jump in the car at 5 and catch the first chair...

Man that was painful to read. Don't be discouraged forever though - the more trips you take (esp to Utah), the more you increase your odds. You'll make more money to do that when you get older.

Alt_Reality · 08-13-2012, 10:39 PM

So yeah, it's a few months late like grafta said but heck, I'm gettin the itch to ride early and just happy to talk about this stuff!

Unless I missed it, I'm surprised nobody has really said that a 3 day trip is not a good enough sample to judge a mountain. A few points:

All mountains are susceptible to bad conditions at any given time, even Alaska. That's the risk you take with a short trip.
It sounds like you (original poster) stuck to groomers and like some of the others said, they'll get tracked out on a powder day. The good stuff can often still be found in the trees or really high up on the mountain where temps don't flex into high temp/low temp cycles (which causes the crap conditions)
Hope I'm not unfairly judging your skills but it sounds like you haven't ridden big mountains much which means if there was pow, it coulda been a challenging situation for ya. So in some ways, on a short trip, hardpack can be fun - avoid the crowds by getting on the steeper slopes, bend those knees, get high up on edge, lean downhill into your turns and watch the magic of your sidecut do the work! Or point it straight down and blast away. On mountains the size of WB, you can often find a different way to enjoy it in many different conditions.

My overall point is that I wouldn't want peeps getting discouraged from Whistler or any other mountain based on one very short trip and I did see some others posting something to that effect. Just go and pray for good weather!

08-13-2012, 10:39 PM	#40 (permalink)
Alt_Reality Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New Jersey Posts: 35	So yeah, it's a few months late like grafta said but heck, I'm gettin the itch to ride early and just happy to talk about this stuff! Unless I missed it, I'm surprised nobody has really said that a 3 day trip is not a good enough sample to judge a mountain. A few points: All mountains are susceptible to bad conditions at any given time, even Alaska. That's the risk you take with a short trip. It sounds like you (original poster) stuck to groomers and like some of the others said, they'll get tracked out on a powder day. The good stuff can often still be found in the trees or really high up on the mountain where temps don't flex into high temp/low temp cycles (which causes the crap conditions) Hope I'm not unfairly judging your skills but it sounds like you haven't ridden big mountains much which means if there was pow, it coulda been a challenging situation for ya. So in some ways, on a short trip, hardpack can be fun - avoid the crowds by getting on the steeper slopes, bend those knees, get high up on edge, lean downhill into your turns and watch the magic of your sidecut do the work! Or point it straight down and blast away. On mountains the size of WB, you can often find a different way to enjoy it in many different conditions. My overall point is that I wouldn't want peeps getting discouraged from Whistler or any other mountain based on one very short trip and I did see some others posting something to that effect. Just go and pray for good weather!

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03-17-2012, 12:08 AM	#31 (permalink)
SnowboardEve Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 17	Sorry about the bad trip but you really picked the wrong time. It's spring break plus the weather is really random around here. Luckily the few times I've gone to Whistler I got lucky and the weather was really nice. Not sure why some people were rude to you, I always make new friends at Whistler and I'm not even a people person. People from whistler are the coolest people I've met. Hope you still had fun despite everything because it's really beautiful there and there's many other fun things to do besides just snowboard.

07-07-2012, 09:42 AM	#32 (permalink)
marcdeo Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Toronto, CA Posts: 185	You were grossly mislead if you went to Whistler looking for "The best snow on the planet". this is simply not the case - the proximity to the coast makes for precarious snow conditions. A little research would reveal that you go to whistler for the experience, not the snow. Im not saying that whistler doesn't get good snow, but it's pretty common knowledge the snow quality is average at best (certain times notwithstanding). and whistler is BUSY. Any busy resort will lead to tracked out trails. A dumping of 3 feet overnight doesn't stand a chance with thousands of people tracking out the trails - the pow is gone by lunch. If you want mega snow, untracked, there are better options (resort wise - becasue there's always Heli)- look for heavier lighter snowfall in different regions and resort which arent as busy. If I wanna party I'll go to whistler. If I am looking for deep untracked pow - Revy is a good option. Fernie too. AK, japan..... ok now im getting ahead of myself... my point is The further you get away from the west coast and travel inland (or elsewhere) the less likely you'll be traversing the "West Coast Cement".

07-07-2012, 02:14 PM	#33 (permalink)
grafta Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,752	Well done dude. You just said the same thing everyone else did... months ago

07-07-2012, 04:52 PM	#35 (permalink)
Nolefan2011 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 344	Shit, I don't care if it's too months late, because hopefully people are using the search function to answer their questions anyway, since there is a wealth of info out there, so I'll add to it. I did a Kicking Horse / Revelstoke trip. One of the best experiences I have ever had on a mountain. I did see you mentioning enjoying trails - which I would say can be limited here, as it's all about making your own trail. But for sheer powder, varied terrain, and endless possibilities, these two resorts were amazing. It would dump, and you would still find stashes 3 days later, and you didn't have to know the mountain that well to find it.

08-09-2012, 02:44 AM	#38 (permalink)
blunted_nose Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Posts: 862	damn it, went to revelstoke mtn. in BC last year for 5 days. I did the same mistake and watched every, and i mean EVERY SINGLE ONE, video of pros riding pow there and actually bought a gopro for it aswell. Needless to say it was that one week that it was a warm week after a pow week. i almost cried. took me 2 years (im 18 now but only now did i get a job before it was every penny i could get i saved for that week) to gather that money to go with friends and we even timed it so we would hit a storm. The stom hit the resort one week early and all i got was run down moguls with sweaty temps. We hiked to get 1cm of slushy pow and since it was so slow we had to hike out of the runout aswell.... i think i lost about 20 pounds that week... im going to stick to mtn's i can get to in about 2 hrs, incase theres a pow day i can just jump in the car at 5 and catch the first chair...