Black Tusk

This is a report from yesterday (Friday 3rd), which was an excellent sunny day with awesome snow on the majority of the mountain. While not a powder day, which is what we really want, it was the next best thing.

Top of Glacier Express

In the shade was good ‘winter’ snow – perfect for carving, while in the sun it was a bit slushy. Slushy snow is also a lot of fun, it just requires a slightly different skiing technique. I spent most of the time cruising the groomers at high speed, with my eye out for the different snow conditions and had a LOT of fun. There were some bumpy sections, but overall the runs were quite smooth.

This weekend looks like more of the same, just be aware the Peak to Valley Race is on – so some of Whistler mountain is roped off.

View from 7th Heaven

Horstman Tbar Line

Anyone know where this lean to is?

Lean to

Dean's Adieu

I am not 100% positive but I think the face in the photo above is called Dean’s Adieu – can anyone verify?

I haven’t skied much lately but I managed to get up this afternoon to enjoy some powder skiing in the sun

Showcase Tbar

The temperatures have been a little on the warm side lately, resulting in slightly heavy snow – but at least we have been getting some. The base is now reported at over 2 and a half metres, and overall the coverage is pretty darn good.

Today the mountain was empty, at least while I was up there (after lunch), and I skied straight onto every chair. The snow on the Blackcomb glacier and in the Crystal zone was great, as mentioned a little heavy but still a lot of fun. Apparently the morning was a bit foggy with only patches of sunshine, but by the time I got up there the sun was out in full force and the visibility was perfect. Definitely a fun day, especially when it’s been close to a week since my last.

A couple of photos to finish: Stupid East, Surfs Up and Double Rubble (lookers right of Surfs Up)

Stupid East

Surfs Up

Double Rubble

The Peak chair had been closed the last few days, but the snow had kept on falling. This resulted in some deep powder (~40-50cm) to celebrate Australia’s national day. A brisk 15cm overnight left the snow excellent all the way to the valley, so we decided to do some laps via Million Dollar Ridge —> Big Timber down to Creekside. Definitely some of the best skiing of the season – deep, light snow with plenty of fresh lines to choose from.

It wasn’t even busy

Each year on January 26th, plenty of young Australian lads and sheilas dress up to show their national pride. This year was no different with most opting for the usual Aussie flag being used as a cape trick. Some are braver (or drunker) and ski around showing a lot of skin, with my personal favourite being the 2 girls in essentially thermal pants and bikini tops. They looked hot but I bet they are paying for it now, as today was pretty cold up top. Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of them. There was even some guy in an Australian flag spandex suit, I guess he was at least covering the skin…..

The best powder was in the trees, but we didn’t stop to take any footage. The video below was taken on Big Timber during our second run, which wasn’t as fresh as the first, but the conditions were still epic. Thanks to ‘Straightline’ Freddy, Eric and Joel for being today’s subjects.

What a great day! We were in line for Wizard chair just after 8am, it cracked around 8:15 and we were skiing deep powder soon after I could name a couple of ‘runs of the day’ but I guess our first lap through Spankys takes the prize. Luckily it opened just as we were getting to the top of Glacier chair, and we ended up skiing a line we call ‘Nicole’s Line’ (not shown on map) – it was steep and deep and fresh

Before that, we had around 5 laps of Jersey Cream, a couple through Crystal zone, and they were all essentially fresh lines. The snow was awesome quality; light, deep and virtually no wind effect (minor in a few places). Lift lines were a little large before the alpine opened, but once it did the lines shrank dramatically and it was mostly <5 mins for all chairs.

I tried to take some video today, but due to cameraman error, no video to show!

Saturday - I skied a couple laps in the morning, but came down early for reasons not associated with skiing. They were good laps, but the day was apparently a gong show in the end due to a few lift issues, the alpine remaining closed, and a huge crowd up from Vancouver.

Sunday - Didn't ski, but according to Laura it sounded pretty busy too. The alpines did open, although Blackcomb’s was shut earlier than usual due to high winds.

Thank you Laura for those comments.

Mike

Yet another excellent day skiing, with little to no lift lines. The weakening inversion meant the village was still a bit cold but the top was a perfect ~-5C. A new system is coming in, and it was starting to snow pretty heavy just around lift closing time. Pity tomorrow is Saturday, I’m going to have to get to those lifts early instead of my sleeping in the last few days

We had plenty of great lines, with lots of fresh, which is why I wasn’t that keen to do my least favourite hike on Blackcomb (Chimney) – but that’s what we did and the snow was epic.

Once again there is some decent snowfall in the forecast, and this time I think it is actually going to come true! The rising freezing level gives it away….. The truth of the matter: the upper mountain is awesome and the FL isn’t going to rise anywhere near enough to harm it. Snow is falling and it is supposed to continue all night and most of tomorrow.

Edit: 9pm- The upper mountain was getting pretty warm, but the temps seem to be dropping again now. Went for a walk outside, and there is quite a bit of light snow on the ground
If you are driving up from Vancouver, there is the possibility of freezing rain for you, and for us – so be careful on the road – all the way

Here is a video of Mike riding some pow in the Crystal trees.