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| New Snow | 14 cm | 7 Day Snow | 31 cm | Snowbase | 143 cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Temp | -2 °C | Valley Temp | +1 °C | Conditions | Powder ! on a Hard base |
Today was SWEET ! I managed to get 3 ‘fresh tracks’ runs from the top of Red chair down to Creekside – 1 via the Dave Murray and 2 via Lower Franz. Epic skiing all the way to the bottom ! The snow was perfect – light and fluffy yet still had a slight ‘substance’ to it which assists in the flotation. At 14cm it was just the right depth for my level of skiing, especially on the ‘not so steep’ runs. It was great being on the Prior skis again (my ‘fat’ skis although not very fat compared to what you see some people on).
After that I did a 2 runs on Garbanzo chair – one on each of Tokum and Bear Paw – both of which were in great shape (they must’ve been groomed fairly recently, but not since the snow came) – then another via the Dave Murray back to Red chair to have a early lunch at the Roundhouse.
After lunch, I came outside just in time to watch the lightboard flick over to show 7th Heaven and Glacier Express on Blackcomb mountain had just opened. Since the alpine on Whistler was still closed, I took the Peak2Peak over and ripped some really nice runs on 7th all afternoon.
The main problem was the visibility – with Blackcomb (and Whistler , by what I could see) alpines areas covered in layers of cloud and fog. The Horstman glacier and (I presume) the Blackcomb glacier were really foggy and I made my way back to 7th straight away. The top of 7th was also foggy, with poor visibility (most of the time) at the top. Once you reached the treeline, the visibility vastly improved (not great, but good enough) and the rest of the run was brilliant. 14cm of perfect powder – with lots of untouched snow all day long.
My legs are definitely feeling it right now……
The only other low point for the day was the rising freezing level – which led to the snow becoming heavier and heavier as the day went on (making my legs hurt even more and more!!). It wasn’t that bad, except it made the ‘cat tracks’ a real edge-catching nightmare. The lower mountain also suffered a bit from the rising freezing level, while they were perfect first thing in the morning, the ski out was a bit of a struggle (although that is partly because my legs were tired).
The upper runs were in good, fun shape until last lift and I saw plenty of smiling faces with a lot of ‘WooHoos’ all day long.
Overall, a fun, fun day ! If only I could ski powder as well as I can the groomers !! 
I heard that Symphony chair broke down in the afternoon (electrical fault) and that it had to be evacuated. I bet that would have left a few people very upset, especially those lower than the ‘Burnt Stew Trail’ as they would’ve had to hike back up to it, in order to ski out ….. Ahh, the good old days before that chair was put in, and we had to hike out after skiing Flute Bowl.
Looks like tomorrow is going to be sunny and clear, which means we will be able to shred whats left of the powder. I will definitely be hitting up the Blackcomb glacier, because even if people did brave the fog (unlike me), there will be plenty of untouched snow back there.
I’d love to see the stats on the Symphony Chair – it seems to break down more than any other chair – and it’s the newest one…..
Agree with Greg…an awesome day I think will be hard to beat. We hit up Whistler today and spent the morning skiing powder on runs around Big Red and Emerald. They were pretty crowded due to the snow and everything up top being closed, but doable. Plenty of powder to be found all over.
After lunch, it was game on, as Harmony/Peak/Symphony opened. We headed over to Harmony and the visibility was pretty bad up top, BUT the powder over there was ridiculous. 30cm easy in spots and well over that in the windblown area to skier’s left right after the first lip coming down from the top of Harmony chair. The snow up top stayed good through most of the day and was great if you had a break in the fog.
Heading up on Symphony for the last run of the day, the lift stopped and we sat there for a good hour and a half. Ski patrol told us they were going to evacuate, but about a minute afterwards the lift started moving and they were were able to offload everyone using the backup diesel motor. So, who knows if it will be running tomorrow.
Not the best finish to the day, but overall still fairly close to epic in my opinon.
What a difference a day makes !!
Cant wait now on my to the airport maybe see you in the bar tonight for a beer.
It also looks like nice weather till Friday then potential for upto 1m falling Friday night through till Monday – hope they are right.
Gary
Oh my god. That’s so crappy about the symphony chair. I’m going to write something about it on my site, I’ll reference this page for sure.
Thanks for the heads up!
Phil, sorry to hear you got stuck on Symphony. I had heard about it while Patrol was getting ready to do an evac, but didn’t hear that they got it going again on the back-up. Good thing they did, as not many people like having to be lowered off a chair in ski gear (bad enough in normal clothes).
10am right now, and I am about to head up, but according to the website, Symphony is still closed….. (although it normally doesn’t open until around this time of day anyway)
Gary, yup 1 day can make a big difference, like today I expect most of the mountain to be average at best , due to the freezing levels being so high again …… I am not too sure where you are hearing about 1m of snow over the weekend (must be the WB PR machine ?) I have seen various reports stating maybe a dump or two of 10-15 each – I would happy with that right now !
Hey Nick, cheers for the mention on your site. I had a quick peek, and you must have a decent readership if someone donated a SLR camera to you !!! (is Erin a volunteer Patrol this year?)
No worries, these things happen and kudos to Ski Patrol for making sure everyone was OK. They also kept Harmony running well after closing time to make sure everyone could get out conveniently.
We also got vouchers at Guest Relations so overall I think they tried to make the best of a situation that no one could help.