schmitty34

We arrived at Whistler Thursday evening with rain in the village but the promise of snow up on the mountain. Sure enough, by the time Friday morning rolled around it was snowing in the village with reports of 3-6 inches of new depending on which site you checked.

We decided to ride Blackcomb and found some knee deep turns in the trees under Jersey Cream and nice groomers pretty much everywhere. We got lucky and jumped on Glacier express soon after it opened and got some fresh turns coming right down under the chair. After Glacier got tracked we traversed over to the Crystal Chair and hit the trees on that side which was sick.

The video posted below shows runs under Jersey Cream, our third run off Glacier, and then some of the trees to the rider’s right of Crystal. The camera ran out of memory right before we got to the really sick trees so it ends before that.

We hit 7th Heaven in the afternoon and still found knee deep turns in the trees. The wind was crazy up top and almost unbearable at times so we only hit that a few times before heading back Jersey Cream and Crystal where visibility was much better.

Saturday had crazy amounts of snow with another 7-9 inches falling overnight and HEAVY snow all day. Unfortunately most of the alpine chairs never opened and the crowds were big. Our first run was the best with completely fresh knee deep turns in the trees off the Emerald Chair (Whistler side). The trees were well spaced with a very mellow grade, but it was super fun to weave through the trees in the soft stuff. Unfortunately the line was crazy on that chair so we went elsewhere to find fresh snow with less lines.

Sunday didn’t have as much new snow and most of the alpine was closed again, but we found some great trees on Solar Coaster and Excelerator. The runs were very tracked but somehow there was still plenty of soft stuff in the trees. We were really bummed that 7th, Harmony and Symphony didn’t open that day, but it was still a great day.

Didn’t really get any good pictures because visability wasn’t great and the snow never really stopped, but here’s some helmet cam footage before the memory card filled up and then the helmet mount broke…wish we had more video to share.

YouTube - Whistler0311

PaoloSmythe

Hey we were up there for the saturday. basically we just found stash after stash from riding the Solar Coater the whole time.

The lineups were a bit mental, like Xmas time, but as soon as they opened Balckie's glacier, the lower lines vanished into nothing and we started charging it.

The tree runs by the easy out on Blackie were waist deep in spots; stepper and tighter than what is by the Emerald chair.

Good times! My legs are still aching a bit. Too bad that 7th dint open on the Sunday though; everyone we spoke to on Saturday said it would... but i guess the wind just kept blowing eh? Next time...

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schmitty34

Actually, I was wrong on my initial post. 7th opened for about an hour on Sunday. Once we found out we started working our way over but it closed right before we started the traverse. Talked to a skier that did one run and he said the wind was fricken nutso and the vis was terrible until about half way down. He said the snow was sick though. They closed it before he could do a second run.

quadcrazy

Me and my family are planning a trip to whistler next season. In your opinion when would be the best time to go? I was there this past december for my cousin's Make A Wish trip but didnt get the chance to snowboard, i was dying to though. When we were there they said some runs were a little icy but it snowed that night a bit. Do you think january is a good time? And why were some of the Alpine lifts closed when you went, just cuz of the wind?

Thanks!

baconzoo

love the 808 riding pow in the trees vid!