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| New Snow | 0 cm | 7 Day Snow | 16 cm | Snowbase | 145 cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Temp | +7 °C | Valley Temp | +2 °C | Conditions | Mainly Medium to Hard Packed |
Another beautiful day to be skiing – slightly overcast / cloudy but still plenty of light so the visibility was awesome. Still really warm, with the temps well above zero. Hard to believe it is supposed to be winter….
It seems colder than the quoted air temperatures, with the snow staying in really good shape. However, you definitely heat up due to the exertion of skiing. In the sun, you get warm in a hurry, but in the shade it feels quite cool.
I only did a couple of runs today, basically I just wanted to see how Harmony zone is looking now they have accessed it via the T-Bars. Overall it is pretty good, with decent coverage. The only downside, which will change fairly quickly is the layer of ‘slab’ snow on top. The top 5 – 10 cms of snow has formed a ‘slab’ of snow, which I, for one, find really hard to ski on / through. With traffic, this will be broken down more and more and be less of a disturbance.
They have obviously only allowed us to access the lower half of Harmony zone, with no hiking up into the bowls, horseshoes or ridges allowed. However, it is still possible to ski right below the horseshoes and across into Boomer bowl and McConkeys area. While I didn’t check for 100%, all the signs I saw at those access points seemed to be ‘Ski area boundary’ and not ‘Closed’ …. but make sure you check for yourself before proceeding near those areas, as I may be wrong, or they might change their minds and replace with ‘Closed’ signage.
The forecast is for continued sunny and warm weather for the next week 
We want cold and snow !!!
Tomorrow is Saturday, the busiest day of the week, and generally I take it off. So expect my next update to be Sunday night sometime (although I am going to Vancouver during the day, after skiing the morning, so I might not get a chance to update). Update: I might go and check out a FIS cross country event tomorrow at the Callahan Valley, I think it is the ‘combined which includes a ski jump component. If I do, I will try and get some photos to share.
Attn US readers: Apparently selected Shell gas stations have a promotion running, when you buy 10 gallons of gas you get a voucher that allows you to ‘buy 1 get 1 free’ lift tickets for Whistler Blackcomb and a whole bunch of other ski resorts. There are certain dates the vouchers can not be used, so make sure to read the fine print etc.. For more info check out this website.
Sounds like its not as bad as it seems when you look at the weather reports. Snowforecast are calling for a return to 1000m freezing level from thursday. Lets hope its true as i arrive on the 31st, LET IT SNOW!!!
We arrive on Jan. 25th. Can you give us an idea of how many blacks/double-blacks are open on each mountain? I can’t get an answer from the Whistller staff (they say it changes daily and they can’t guarantee anything and they seemed to hint there weren’t many at all). I really don’t want to be limited to groomed runs and hope that is not the case. I’ve never been up there before but skied Vail/Beaver Creek last year. The comparison was something like 5000 – 8000 acres in skiable terrain in favor of Whistler. Any guess as to how many acres are actually skiable right now?
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Greg,
Just a quick thankyou for all the posts and keeping us upto date.
We’ve just got back from a fantastic 11 days, we had an excellent time with a couple of fresh snow mornings, far far better than any european resort we have ever been to. From the liftys to the bars to the wings in Crystals Bar, hot hot hot ! lol , we’re already looking at booking for next year.
We managed to get on 7th and do a few other runs on Blackcombe, i had a peek at Where’s Joe, about my limit but declined the offer !
Anyone going over from the UK whos never been take the time and thigh burn to trudle down the Green ‘Easy Out’ on B’combe , its worth the views.
Thanks again Greg for all the reports, what a fantastic resort you guys have to play in, hope you keep the site going , i’ll keep an eye out for UK posts and add anything that maybe of use.
Best Wishes
Andy & Tracey
Dan, most of the expert alpine terrain is closed because of the avalanche risk.
Get out a trail map. Unless its accessed by the Peak, Harmony or Symphony chairs it’s basically open on Whistler.
On Blackcomb the Glacier is closed and as far as I can tell so is Jersey bowl and the runs leading into and around that. Lakeside bowl on 7th heaven has the derbies of a big avalanche in it and was shut as of two days ago.
Jersey Cream /Chainsaw Ridge have been open (per Greg), so there’s some expert terrain. Also, it looks like Harmony is open today, so that’s good news…hopefully the snowpack stability will continue to improve
Yeah, Harmony did open today.
I didn’t go up today but some of the people I’m staying with did, and they came back with good news regarding Symphony and the Peak.
Apparently all the tracks into Symphony and off the Peak at the top of Harmony are freshly groomed at the ski patrol guy at the top was telling people that they are almost ready to open limited runs of both. The problem is that there are still large areas of terrain that would be accessible from both lifts that have an unacceptably high avalanche danger and management are not prepared to risk another avalanche incident when some moron skies into the would be closed (but easily accessible) areas. Apparently he said they are using the opening of Harmony today to test to see how many out of bounds skiers/boarders they get and based on that they will make a decision about the two unopened lifts. He seemed to hint at a Monday opening after the weekend crowds die down.
Its all heresay but hopefully there is a grain of truth in it.
Simon, the conditions right now are actually really good for skiing, the only bad part is we can’t access the steep terrain. Still, we want a lot more snowfalls !
Dan, everything on Blackcomb except for Spankys, the Blackcomb glacier and Lakeside bowl is open. This means there is a lot of terrain that is open – but as you suspect a lot of it is ‘blue’ terrain. That being said, some of our ‘blue’ terrain would be considered ‘black’ at a lot of other resorts (not sure about comparing to Vail).
There is still quite a lot of ‘challenging’ terrain that is not quite steep enough to be classified as ‘black’.
As far I know, the only ‘double-blacks’ that are open are the Couloir Extreme,Pakalolo and Cougar Chutes, all on Blackcomb. I believe Chainsaw ridge is also open, which has a few ‘runs’ of it that would all be considered double-blacks. Hawaii 5-0 is a well known ‘triple-black’ off Chainsaw ridge, and right now it is nearly vertical and I doubt anyone has skied it (it also has a big rock band right at the top)
Whistler has a lot of terrain open, but not much steeps.
Today they re-opened Harmony chair on Whistler, so depending on what accessible areas they opened, there might be some steep runs to be had there. (Horseshoes/Sun Bowl/Gun Barrels and the list goes on – IF they are open).
Then again we also have the Dave Murray Downhill which is a groomed black run that is around 1000m of vertical goodness.
Hi Andy and Tracey, glad to hear you enjoyed yourself despite the sub-average conditions – I hope you manage to come again and sample how good Whistler really can be.
As for the comments regarding Jersey Cream Bowl / Chainsaw ridge – I am 99% sure it is open, I have skied Couloir Extreme recently and it is a part of JC Bowl. I have also seen some Extremely Canadian Clinics and Ski Schools come down ‘Bushrat’ which is off Chainsaw ridge. I am pretty sure those clinics/schools are not allowed to ski runs that are beyond the ski area boundary (for liability reasons).
Steve, thanks for the comment about what you heard regarding Symphony and Peak – lets hope they open up !!
Is this the weirdest place in the universe ?
Its 9.15pm Sat 17th Jan and its PLUS 11 degrees C
at the top of Whistler Blackcombe.
Its colder at Thredbo, Australia at the height of summer at exactly the same time!!!!!
Caught Creekside Gondola today with WB ski team locals who said this temp inversion happens regularly????!!!!!!
Yes Harmony was open today and it was impossible to ski and full of insane maniacs.
Skied here in Jan 2007 – a totally different skiing experience.
WB hospitality however, remains 10/10.
Inversions do happen here regularly, but normally it is a case of something like -8 in the valley and -2 at the top (numbers made up, but you get the idea).
Arrived in Whistler on the 14th. Not the best condtions but some good skiing/boarding to be had (great fun boarding on the slush).
Missed out on riding the Sympony Express today because of the weekend crowds but hopefully will remain open for the next few days…..what do you think Greg?
Anyone coming out here in the next few weeks who may be a tad worried about the lack of snow please dont fret. I thought the same but the amount of terrain is so vast there is fun to be had, you just have to find your favourite spots and enjoy!
All in all this place is awe inspiring and the lack of fresh snow doesnt ruin the experience (some freshies would be more than appreciated lol).
Fingers crossed a new front will bring snow in from weds onwards…..if not I will be planning the next trip for Whistler 2010 as soon as I get home. It really is sh@t Hot here…enjoy!
Greg, If it dumps before the 28th would you be willing to show a couple of ntermediates some nice runs?
Cheers
Great Work Greg
Hi Dan – thanks for the donation !
Firstly, Symphony is yet to open, but the Harmony chair has, and hopefully it will continue to stay open – in which case I would expect Symphony to open fairly soon.
Whistler is a huge resort, and you can always find some decent runs on any given day. I always feel let down when I visit other resorts, they just don’t have as much as we do.
You are not the first person who has enjoyed skiing here, even in this less than average season. Wait til 2010 when you come back, it will have to better !!!
If you want me to show you a few runs, regardless of the any fresh snow, drop me an email and we can organize a meeting.
Also, I have now been made aware that this weekend is the USA Martin Luther King long weekend. So expect it to be pretty busy until Monday.