End of 2017-18 Season Summary

Since my last post, life kinda got on top of me. Crazy workload, trips to Europe, trips to Boston. There was time for work and skiing, and not much else. Hence here’s a brief wrap up of April and May skiing, more for posterity than anything else.

First stop was Whistler in early April. Great skiing, light crowds, hanging out with our  ski instructor friend Jess. It was funsies indeed, and a great way to belatedly hit 50 days for the season.

Friday 10,300m, Sat 11,300m, Sun 8300m vert

Saturday work meant we could only make the closing Sunday at Mission Ridge. It was the usual – great base, low crowds, Spring weather. Shame they closed.

Sunday 8000m vert

Work travel delayed the next trip until early May and a week riding Blackcomb. Despite the slightly limited terrain due to the new gondola construction to replace the Wizard and Solar Coaster chairs, there was some magnificent skiing. I love Spring at Blackcomb. Some GoPro footage of this week might emerge sometime if I buy a new laptop that can edit 60fps footage!

Sunday onwards: 6800m, 9400m, 11,000m, 8200m, 10,100m, 11,300m, 8600m vert

After a well deserved weekend at home we headed down to close the season at Mt Bachelor. The first 3 days were hardly Springtacular – the first day the lifts closed at 11.30am due to lightening (!) –  but the closing weekend brought sunny weather, silly costumes and lots of fun skiing.

3200m, 8200m, 6400m, 6300m, 6700m

Season Totals 63 days, 474,900m vert, 17 powder days

All in all, a decent season smattered with some truly wonderful skiing. Given the state of my knee on Sunday 7th January, I’m pretty pleased to still be able to churn out some decent vertical through the end of the season. The knee is far from perfect, but its manageable. Next challenge is biking season, with some long rides planned and serious training needed. If my knee survives that, there might just be some fun and games attempts to at least partially fix the bugger in early Fall.

Anything could happen.

Watch this space!

More Early December Whistler Pow

Not a great deal of snow had fallen at Whistler in the 12 days since we left on ThxGiving weekend. It had been cold though. Real cold. Perfect for filling in the mid and lower trails with gun pow. The whole place looked a lot whiter.

A skiff of snow fell Thursday night, freshening up generally firm runs and adding a little give to the off-piste. High cloud invited us to take laps on Harmony, where some of the bowls skied pretty well. Just before lunch we headed up the Peak Chair and as we did, in moved the weather. It was ski-by-braille on the top of the Peak-to-Creek. We bailed at the Big Red Chair, and stayed on mid-mountain ripping groomers for the rest of the day.

A solid 4 inches+ fell Friday night. Early runs on Blackcomb were fantastic. Warming up on the terrain park, smoking pow between jumps, was great fun. Then laps on Seventh Heaven where the trees near the chair were a bumpy soft delight. There was still time before lunch to duck over the top, grab a shot down Pakalolo and head back up to hike to the Blackcomb Glacier. It was a little rugged in places, but there were really nice fluffy turns to be had.

Whistler Village

7th Heaven

7th Heaven

Heading to Pakalolo

Jess in Bark Sandwich

‘Garbo’ chair

Jan

Jan

Peak to Creek

Sunday was a mild storm day. Snow overnight was topped up constanly by steady falls. The upper mountain was socked in all day, so we played mid-mountain on Whistler. Garbanzo was the go-to lift, with no line (it wasn’t busy anyway) and some excellent on and off groomed runs to be had. It was a very fine, fast day.

Friday 9500m, Saturday 8000m vert, Sunday 8500m vert

Season totals 8 days,  58,800m vert, 6 powder days

Footnote: This was our first trip with the S’no Joke ski club, which we joined recently. 80+ members headed to Whistler and stayed in the Listel and Aava hotels – fantastic locations and great pre-Xmas prices. Everyone carpooled up and we shared with another new member (from the UK!) who turned out to be a really nice guy. The downside of this was that we collectively knew no one in the club, and as we arrived 8pm-ish Thursday and missed the arrival drinks, we pretty much hung out together that night and skied together Friday.

Friday night was a fun social with tasty food. We got to know a few folks, but I especially was hampered by an evil cough, so wasn’t exactly on best socializing form. There was a pre-ski meeting Friday morning where we at least got to ride up the lifts with a few members and chat. The group quickly disintegrated when we got to the top but I did manage a few runs with a strong group of skiers. Promising.

Large, established groups are always hard to get to know, so it’ll take time, but hopefully we’ll meet a few good ski buddies downstream. If any turn out as good as out friends from the Desert Ski Club, we’ll be very hoppy indeed 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A very warm early May at Blackcomb

Summary of post for busy readers:

• fabulous Spring skiing for 4 days on Blackcomb
• It’s ridiculously warm and the snow is melting fast

This was 4 days of some of the best Springy goodness you can ever have on skis. Soft groomers early, dollops of corn by lunchtime especially around 7th Heaven, and epic lines to pick off in the afternoon off the Glacier chair.

The only downside is the temperatures are making the snow disappear very rapidly. The amount of melt in 3 weeks since Whistler closing weekend is quite staggering. This is a stupidly warm Spring. The runouts to the lower chairs were brown mush by the afternoon, and on Sunday rocks appeared on high traffic areas on 7th Heaven. The heat from the previous day did some serious damage.

Run of the trip was an 11am descent of the Blackcomb glacier. A short hike led to innumerable lines of heavenly corn snow down the full length and breadth of the broad glacier. You just picked your line and like Donald Trump on illegal immigration, let it rip without a care in the world. Below the glacier, the run out was slow, and in several places. bare. Walking required. It was worth it.

Blackcomb in Spring

Blackcomb – heading to the glacier

Blackcomb in Spring

Blackcomb in Spring

Blackcomb in Spring – Lakeside Bowl

Blackcomb in Spring

Blackcomb in Spring

Blackcomb in Spring – watch out for cougars!!

Blackcomb Glacier

Blackcomb Glacier

Blackcomb Glacier

Blackcomb Glacier stroll to lifts

On 7th Heaven, a lunch time push out skier’s left revealed high quality lines in Lakeside Bowl. Huge radius high speed turns were the order of the day while watching the pond skimmers try their luck on the melting blue edge of the glacial lake. It was all slightly surreal.

Pakalolo at Blackcomb

Pakalolo at Blackcomb

Overbite at Blackcomb

Hanging with the Blackcomb bears

Hanging with the Blackcomb bears

Blackcomb pond skimmers

As 7th Heaven closed, runs like Cougar Chutes, Pakalolo and Heavenly Basin delivered steep and soft turns. It was actually remarkable how well all the runs held up in the afternoon heat. Our standard last run of the day from the top of Jersey Cream down Zigzag was fantastic at 3.30pm-ish every day. High speed slush riding is epic fun. Just let those rockers ride the snow and hang on.

I hope we get some more in before this crazy hot Spring melts all the snow.

9,300m, 9500m, 8200m, 6900m vert

Season Totals: 66 days, 535, 700m vert, 23 powder days

 

Closing Weekend at Whistler

Closing weekend is a fine thing at Whistler. The crowds have gone, the snow is deep and the weather usually highly pleasurable, in a typical mixed up Whistler kind of way. We spent most of the weekend cruising all over Whistler, checking out the free demos at the Roundhouse – in my case, Prior demos. Prior skis are fine things.

Saturday was cooler and it even drizzled a little in the afternoon, which had the curious effect of speeding up the snow late in the day. The Peak fogged in by the afternoon, so we lapped sugary soft bumps on the lower runs down to Garbanzo. It was ripping fun.

Whistler

Blackcomb

Blackcomb

Blackcomb

Blackcomb Glacier hike

Blackcomb Glacier hike up

Blackcomb Glacier – Blowhole

Blackcomb Glacier

Whistler – top of Franz’s Run

Sunday was more traditional Spring, bluebird and a little warmer. We closed down the hill in style, with many runs off Harmony and the Peak chairs, as well a quick excursion to Symphony Bowl. The run down at 4pm was a hoot, fancy dress everywhere, and in one case, no dress at all above the (female) waist. That was a first for me 😉

Spring season started on Monday. It was more like Summer on Blackcomb, meaning early laps of 7th Heaven were the order of the day. As the hungover ex-Whistler employees rolled up by noon, we popped over the top and skied the Blackcomb Glacier. It was a little slow up high, but still a fine, spectacular ride. A shortened day meant we left before it got really hot. Hopefully Spring, and maybe even a tad of Winter, will return soon!

 

11900, 11600, 6800m vert

Season Totals: 58 days, 466, 600m vert, 23 powder days

Whistler at Thanksgiving

Oh how I love Thanksgiving traditions. Whistler open already, Blackcomb opening day, Sushi Village for dinner. Deserted runs. It’s heaven. OK- not quite your traditional Thanksgiving traditions, but seemingly almost as reliable.

My rule-of-thumb is that if the snow depth reported on the Whistler Web site at Pig Alley is 1m, then the mid and upper mountains are in pretty fine shape. It hovered around 80cm on this visit, so I was a little reticent about the cover. There was no real worry though, as cold weather had turned the mountains into something akin to Killington, with fresh gun pow making sure the groomers were fun and fast all weekend. Off groomed was variable, but there was great fun to be had as long of you carefully hopped over occasional shrubbery, logs, rocks and open creeks and, ahem, crevasses.

The Roundhouse

Catskinner bumps

The crew

Crevasses!!!

Top of Solar Coaster

The crew on Blackcomb

Greg-zea

Whistler doing a Killington impression

Blackcomb base

By Saturday Whistler was open top-to-bottom, and the Blackcomb ski out was groomed and ready to roll, making it rude not to hit apres at Merlins. This seemed a suitably magical way to end some fine November skiing!

Thursday 8000m, Friday 9400m, Saturday 8500m very

Season Totals; 4 days, 31,900m vertical

We’re off – 2012-13 Season Kick off at Whistler

This is our 10th Thanksgiving in the Pacific Northwest, and our 8th in Whistler. All have delivered fantastic November skiing, and this was no exception.

A calm, clearing Thursday was great for warming up legs that hadn’t clicked into boots and skis for 6 months. It was Blackcomb opening day, so we skipped the mayhem and as a reward scored first tracks on an immaculately groomed Franz’s (glacier) run. Even seeing grooming on that run, rather than hard packed death snow, is a rarity. this was a true pleasure. By noon we were ripping in something approaching mid-season style, turns flowing down the hill on the mostly deserted Whistler groomers.

And then it snowed a foot Thursday night, all the way down to the village. Back on Whistler for the morning, we saw Franz’s in a very different light – deep, virtually untracked pow, delivering the first face shots of the season. We managed 4 or 5 runs down that side of the mountain, pushing wider out towards the old Franz’s chair to keep picking up fresh lines.  It was even possible to ride down to the GLC at the base for apres beers. This was too good for November.

By Friday afternoon, benign and increasingly sunny, cold weather moved in. For some reason, the snow on Blackcomb seemed to remain in fantastic condition, more mid-winter than November. So we stayed there for 2 days, skiing mostly soft bumps, powdery remnants and the occasional groomer. Catskinner bumps into Freefall was my pick of the weekend, providing late afternoon Solar Coaster laps that turned legs to jello. Until you sat on the chair. By the top, it was all systems go for another …

4 days: 7900m, 8000m, 9000m, 7500m vert

Season totals: 4 days, 1 powder day, 32,400 verts

Closing Winter 2012, Opening Spring at Whistler Blackcomb

Closing weekend at Whistler is basically the place to be. This year, deep, top-to-bottom snow, cool but bright conditions, a festival to keep everyone partying and not riding, free demos all weekend  – it all adds up to the skiing equivalent of a Silvio Berlusconi Bunga Bunga party, for the whole family, of course. From the peak to the creek, Whistler and West Bowls, and some manicured mid-mountain groomers, there was amazing terrain and snow to rip from open until close. I even met my new Prior Husume skis – it was love on first run, so to speak, and perfect Whistler Bowl descents consummated the relationship.

We hung around for the first 3 days of Spring skiing at Blackcomb. Variable weather, including a mild Pineapple Express on Wednesday, meant you had to be ready for anything. In between some bursts of wild weather, we found some fine Spring conditions lurking in the mid-mountain trees and bumps, and even more surprisingly on the runs down to the village, which were Gortex-like with their rain resistant qualities. While it wasn’t the best Spring skiing ever, the compensation of Whistler Village, bargain top quality food deals (e.g $30 for 5 courses at Araxi – a total steal) and fun bars made it all rather bearable. Spring at Whistler is simply the best.

5 days – 10 200m, 10,000m 9100m, 10,400m, 5200m

Season Totals: 62 days, 519,700m vert, 28 powder days

More new videos from last season

Various clips from around the Pacific Northwest during 2010-11 ski season:

Blackcomb in May

Trip report format from Snowheads. Read on …

Date: April 30th-May 7th, 2011

Our mob: 3 addicted skiers

Website : here

Basics : Whistler closes one of its mountains at the end of April, and keeps the other open until, this year, May 30th. It’s Blackcomb’s turn this year. Access is via the Blackcomb gondola from Whistler  and the majority of the mid and upper mountain lifts are open every day. For Edge Card holders, a $79 Spring Season Pass is available. Yep, 7 days skiing for $79 bucks on this trip 😉

The skiing: It’s been a record-breaking La Nina year at Whistler, and the snow depth was still like mid-winter, with skiing all the way down to the village. When the weather was good, the place to be was up high in Glacier Bowl and off 7th Heaven. The mid mountain runs got slushy later in the day, but rarely sticky, rather with fun, sugary snow prevailing all the way down the village. Groomers like Cloud 9, Ridge Runner and Zig Zag were at various times in perfect condition, fast and carvable. In the alpine, Pakalolo, Cougar Chutes and the bump runs off the Jersey chair were epic as long as you timed it right. The only downer was 3 foggy days, occasionally reducing the visibility to levels similar to Donald Trump’s credibility for President. This was the time to hit the tree runs, with Bark Sandwich, In the Spirit and Outer Limits being places to lay tracks in great spring snow.

Lift lines. Er … none.

Off-piste : There was so much snow you could basically ski anywhere. We had runs off Spanky’s Ladder, which were superb, and explored some precipitous lines off the cat track just past Heavenly Basin. Again, as long as you were smarter than the average bear with your timing, there was some really great off-piste skiing. Talking of bears, we saw some pretty big tracks in the trees below Crystal Chair 😉

The resort : Whistler Village is fantastic in spring. It’s not too busy, even at weekends, and there are bargains galore to be had eating, drinking and shopping. I invested in a new Salomon jacket for half price that should suffice for next season. So many bargains, so little budget ;(

Food : We deliberately explored new eating options, and exploited a few of the many special deals available throughout the village. Huge prime rib and lamb shanks for less than $20 each were excellent at Wildwood. We had good food in the Aubergine Grill, respectable bar food in Earls (perched at the bar watching ice hockey), and, the discovery of the week, great Japanese ‘pub food’  at Izakaya Harajuku. There’s some genuine, excellent Japanese food in Whistler, and Harajuku is up there with the best. A special 3 course menu for $19 per person was a great deal. So good, we went twice.

Hotel: We booked a 2 bed/2 bathroom condo in Bear Lodge from ownerdirect.com for C$900 for a week. What a bargain. A 5 minute walk to lifts, spacious and comfortable, and entertaining views of the (small) crowds outside Garfinkels at weekends as a bonus!

Costs: A helluva lot cheaper than in winter. Get the weekly paper and follow the nightly specials in all the restaurants and bars, and there’s serious money to be saved.

Conclusion: I love Whistler in spring. The skiing is still extensive and superb, the slopes are quiet, prices low, and the weather generally excellent (less so on this crazy La Nina year though, where spring skiing everywhere is as elusive as an Alex Ferguson apology).  One day I’ll spend all May there. One day …

Skiing stats:

7 days: 11900m,  7900m,  10200m,  12200m,  8900m,  9200m,  7900m vert

Season totals:

70 days, 23 powder days, 605, 000m vertical