As an Instructor, I have the benefit of taking all day training sessions with other WB Instructors. Some of the sessions offered are: Training for whichever level of certification you need, All Mountain Freestyle, Park & Pipe, and newly added this season --> Steeps Trees & Drops.
Pip and I signed up for STD. Whistler has received over a foot of snow in the last couple of days and we figured it would the perfect session to take advantage of the fresh pow. Pip was running a bit late in the morning, so while we were waiting for her in the Alpine Hut, the rest of the class started talking about going for a hike. There was one other female in the group and about five guys. I was starting to doubt whether or not I should be taking this class. The longer we waited, the more they talked about hiking and out of bounds and the more I started losing my self confidence about my ability to keep up with these guys. I started texting Pip in a panic. She reassured me that everyone would be super chill and there was nothing to worry/stress about. I think if she wasn't signed up for the class with me, I probably would have chickened out and missed out on a great day of exploring and riding.
Peak Chair was closed so the only way to get to some terrain off of Peak was to hike to it. We were headed to McConkey's Trees and traversed past Franz Chair and hiked up and over past Frog Hollow. The hike wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. It was certainly easier than hiking up to Flute. It wasn't a straight hike, there was lots of traversing combined with a small amount of hiking. I'm going to estimate it took us about a half hour to get to our "starting point". Because we're all layered up for the cold weather, by the time we got there, I was a big ball of sweat! I also wish I could have taken photos of the cliff traverse along the way but holding my camera while snowboarding on the side of a cliff was a bit out of the question. *(note to self -> think about renting a GoPro cam)*
Once we got to the top of McConkey's, the guys headed towards a cliff drop, while the three girls and one other guy, who was nice enough to stick with us and show us the way to go, went around the cliff drop. The tree run itself was relatively easy and the pow was amazing through there. The tricky part is getting there and knowing where to go once you're in there. Of course, with the hazards of tree wells, it's best to go with people who know where they are going. Technically we weren't out of bounds but McConkey's Trees isn't on a trail map or in the Whistler Blackcomb Guide Book.
Once atop Red Chair, we dropped down to the Tbars and headed up to Harmony. Once again the guys headed for some cliffs off the cat track and the girls dropped down into the powder avoiding the scary cliffs. The first thing we noticed was how empty Harmony was. The second thing we noticed was nobody was on the chair. We all got super stoked planning on lapping this powder run again and again and again. Only to quickly realize the chair had come to a stop and had officially closed! BUMMER!
We made our way back to green chair where most of the group went their separate ways. Pip and I decided to take a run through the small park but the freezing level had risen to Chic Pea level and the snow was pretty wet and crappy. Not to mention, it was raining. We took one lap through the park and decided to call it a day.
Pippa dropping a line through McConkey's Trees.
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