Day 12 - somewhat reasonable

After hymming and hahhing for two days about going up or not going up, we decided to take a few laps.  A Pineapple Express moved in at the beginning of the week bringing lots and lots of rain.  We heard mixed reviews on conditions throughout the weekend.

The good news is that the fresh snow was nice.  Light and fluffy.  The problem was the crust you could feel underneath if you weren't lucky enough to get the fresh track earlier in the morning.  We lasted about an hour and a half before calling it a day.

Day 11 - Fresh Tracks & First Gondola

Woke up to six inches of snow on top of my car.  I made plans the evening before to do Fresh Tracks with Sean and Libby.  20cm was forecasted to fall between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, but freezing levels were on the rise, so we wanted to get in and out as early as possible.  No one else had this idea as we lined up at 6am and were huddled nicely under the overhang at G1 as no one else was in line yet.  Once the doors opened, we were on the first gondola as well.

By 8am we were on our planks and shredding the powder.  We literally had a fresh line from the Roundhouse down to Emerald for three to four runs.  The snow got quite heavy about 2/3rd down Emerald Chair.  We found lots of knee deep snow off piste.  By 9:30am our legs were burning and exhausted.  The snow had been fairly chopped up by this time and we were quite wet.  We dropped below Emerald Chair expecting a bumpy ride down to mid-station, but to our surprise the snow was lighter lower down the mountain.  As we dropped in the Olympic Chair area, we had fresh tracks of knee deep light snow all the way past the gondola.  It was so awesome.  Surprisingly the snow was better from Olympic Chair down than from Emerald Chair up.  

It was also snowing/icing quite heavily throughout the morning.  The Alpine wasn't going to open due to high winds and freezing levels were rising quickly.  Our snow base is now 220cm.  Another 15-20cm is forecasted overnight but freezing level will be around 1600m.

Day 10 - share the stoke

I made plans to ride with a friend from work and I met up with her on Whistler around 9am.  No new snow overnight but I knew there would be pockets of good snow around here and there if you knew where to look.  While the groomers were soft packed, we decided to hit the trees and started with Star Wars.  We then made our way to Symphony via Harmony and found lots of soft snow down Chunky's Choice and then we dropped into Sunbowl.  We did a couple tree runs in Symphony where the snow was amazing as well.  A cloud came in so we headed up to Peak Chair and ventured out to BD Trees.  By now we were exhausted.  We took another lap through Star Wars then headed in for a coffee.  One more run through the trees off Whiskey Jack and finally had to quit!

Day 9 - sliding solo

Well the massive storm of 79cm never came to fruition.  But we did get 18cm overnight bringing the snow base above 200cm for the first time this season.  I unloaded Jersey chair around 11:30am and headed to 7th Heaven.  There were no lift lines on Blackcomb this afternoon, and it's amazing how quickly all that fresh snow can get tracked out, even when it doesn't feel busy.  I was able to find some fresh deep pockets riding from 7th back to Jersey Chair and I also found some nice soft snow through the trees off Jersey.  A Pineapple Express is moving in for Thursday into Friday but my fingers are crossed the temps stay cold enough to bring nice snow and not oatmeal.

Day 8 - up early for pow

 Pig Alley only measured about 4cm overnight.  Yesterday it measured 3cm overnight, but Irish said there was way more fresh snow out there, especially off Peak.  We unloaded Red Chair at 8:30am with winds gusting up to 50kph.  It snowed for most of the day.  Staying around Emerald Chair, it was easy to find soft, fresh snow … especially through the trees.  Winds stayed strong and visibility low in the Alpine.  Only Harmony had opened by noon.

Day 7 - Happy 50th!!

Low lying clouds in the Valley hid the ideal conditions on the peaks today.  Legit bluebird sky with very little wind.  Temps were noticeably colder.  It was a perfect groomer day as it didn't take long for the fresh snow from a couple days ago to get packed down.  We met up with Kalen around 9:30am and hit a couple of "must do's" -- Upper and Lower Peak to Creek was the run of the day.  Due to the lack of snow, I haven't ridden the entire 7km of that trail for a couple years.  We also took Kalen out to see the Blackcomb glacial cave.  We also took a couple laps in 7th Heaven where we enjoyed some amazing views.

Storm coming in for the next couple of days with fluctuating freezing temps.   Hopefully the freezing level doesn't get too high.  Snow Forecast is calling for 79cm by Wednesday!!!!!

Day 6 - fresh tracks and powder

With 16cm recorded at Pig Alley, Kalen in town, and Kev not having to go to work until noon …. how could we not do Fresh Tracks???  Well worth the early morning wake up call as we managed to get fresh snow all the way down to Emerald Chair twice!  Then another two runs down Dave Murray.  Symphony was just as amazing.  Clouds blew across the sky most of the day making for some sunny periods with light winds.  It was the best day I've had in a couple of years.  : )
Current snow base is now 183cm with another storm coming over the weekend.

Day 5 - glacier cave

January is shaping up to be a dry month.  A high pressure system has been leaving us with sunny weather for the last week.  13cm was recorded a week ago.  Runs are still mostly machine groomed with Blackcomb being icy on the usual high traffic spots.  Went on an adventure to the glacier cave today.  It was pretty cool.

Day 4 - inversion

Temps have been cold in the Village and warmer up top as the sun has been shining with an inversion since Monday.  Fresh snow is hard to find but trail conditions remain machine groomed and are not yet hard packed.  A constant stream of traffic traveling south on the Sea to Sky this morning indicates many people have decided to leave before the weekend ends.  A snow base of 171cm is holding up with not much snow coming in the forecast.

Day 3 - Machine Groomed

Sunday was the last day it snowed.  Whistler recorded 10cm overnight bringing the snow base to 177cm.  This week is nothing but sun, which means colder temperatures and an inversion forecasted for the weekend.  Monday's skier visits were over 27,500.  Today was a bit more chill as lift lines were noticeably less crowded.  I'm guessing most people who are visiting for the week decided to take a rest day today.  Runs were machine groomed and still soft packed.

Storm blew in

Saturday's storm blew in 37cm overnight.  Friday recorded another 5cm.  Needless to say, Sunday was insane conditions as it snowed all the way to Village level.  I had over a foot of snow on my car Sunday morning.  Irish lined up at Creekside around 8:30am and reached the gondola over an hour later.  He said it was worth it!  Snow base is 177cm with a total of 392cm cumulative.

Sightseeing

Went up the gondola for some sightseeing today.  The snow has been amazing this season and I'm sad/frustrated I'm missing it.  People all over social media have been posting nothing but epic pow days.  Current snow base is 162cm with 20cm overnight and another storm hitting on Saturday into Sunday with projected snowfall of another 56cm with decent freezing levels.

Unofficial Snow Report

Looks like I'm out!! …..  and just before the storm blew in.  With a broken radius in my right wrist, doc says I am not to snowboard eight weeks post op.  Bad news for me as Whistler is getting hammered with some sweet powder:  55cm / 21.6 inches in the last 48 hours.  Rumor has it, it's not oatmeal either. It's actually nice powder filling the snow base to 128cm as of today.

Day 2 - back to the Winter job

American Thanksgiving.  A great day to eat turkey and watch football.  Or, if you live in Whistler, a great day to get your ass back to work.  Whistler Kids opened today and we started off the holiday weekend with 20 kids in Snowboard School (18 kids, 2 Lil Rippers).

The sun was shining today with a bit of an inversion so the snow guns have been blowing like crazy trying to get the ski out ready.  The snow base is holding steady at 80cm.  I was assigned level 3 and had four of them.  We spent some of the morning at the CLC and then took a couple laps down Olympic Chair.  After lunch, we headed up to the Roundhouse and alternated between Whiskey Jack and Ego Bowl.  First day of work was way better today than last year.  : )

Day 1 - Return Staff Training

It was Saturday, November 21 - 2015 // the sun was shining and temps were around 40°F … I rode my mountain bike 11 miles on hero dirt.  I'm not ready to give up my summer.  I'm still in bike mode and I still want to ride my bike.

But summer doesn't last forever here in BC.  Winter has shown it's face and snow has begun to fall.  Whistler Mountain has been open for five days and I finally had to put the bikes away.  I dusted off my snowboard and headed up the gondola for Return Staff Training.

Everyone has their fingers crossed for an epic snow season.  The snow base is 78cm, about 40cm more than this time last year.   There isn't much open for trails right now, the usual green runs down to Emerald Chair and Red Chair.  I have to admit, it was fun to get back on the board……    

Opening Day Thursday Nov 19, 2015 !!

Whistler opened today with a 71cm base!  It was a cold blue bird day.  The early snow was good but it didn't take long to get a bit crusty with ice in some spots.  Emerald Chair and Red Chair were the only two chairs running.  By 8am, the queue for the Village Gondola reached Sushi Village/Showcase Snowboards.

Day 96 - four days short of one hundred

I was on the schedule to work and assigned to level threes today.  With only 6 kids signed up for lessons, I was happy to work but I was also happy to not get work.  Between the amazing snow conditions and a new bike sitting in my living room, I knew I could find more fun things to do.

Once all the kids signed in and were sorted, it turned out there were no level threes so I was off for the day (and the season).  I headed up to the Roundhouse to take a quick lap.  If I was smart enough to bring my ski jacket, I would have easily spent much more time up there ripping around in the best pow of the season but the only jacket I had was my uniform and I didn't want to ride in uniform.  So I dropped into into the powder from Whiskey Jack and enjoyed a soft packed rip down Olympic where it was fresh corduroy the entire way.  I met with Georgi a half hour later and ripped Tunnel Vision on the new steed.  That's it, that's all for 2014/2015.  Pray for snow in 2015/2016!  

Day 95 - winter arrives

Whistler Blackcomb reported only a few centimeters of new snow fell overnight.  It snowed all day.  In fact, it was a blizzard for most of the day at the CLC.  In the last 24hrs, we received 10cm of snow but I think that is a highly conservative number.  I was at the CLC all day but I overheard people, who had an opportunity to ski up top, say that the snow was amazing and it was a proper powder day.  The snow base is officially 207cm,  the highest its been all season.

Ten kids came into snowboard lessons today and I had two from England who were never-evers.  They were both 12 year old high level skiers wanting to give snowboarding a go.  I thought they would do well and I was correct.  By the end of the day, they were both turning down the Covered Carpet.  The day went by quite quickly for having level ones.  Both kids were quite athletic, highly intelligent, and very engaging.  I enjoyed teaching them.

Day 94 - final weekend of Club

Cloudy and cold with snow.  That was the weather today.  7cm of snow fell overnight.  It's the final day/weekend of Club and a bunch of Instructors dressed up again.  We also did another "team" run down Ego Bowl.

Jessie and Teppei were stoked to ride some powder today.  They are low level 4's so I knew I couldn't take them into Harmony or up the Peak so I had to do my best to get them off the groomers and find some soft snow.  The Whistler Park is now relocated by the tbars so the entire area of Green Acres is wide open and there was lots of soft snow and fresh tracks to be found exploring through there.  The funnest part of the day was riding down the moguls just outside of Marmot Trees.  We ran that run twice, each time the boys were jumping off anything they could find.  They had a blast!

I'm scheduled to work the next two days, however numbers are low, so I might not be getting a class.  Destination had four Riders in lessons today.  Tomorrow there are nine signed up already.  It's suppose to rain all day so I'm hoping to get the day off.  Stay tuned.

Day 93 - April is the new Winter

17cm of snow fell overnight and the snow base is 196cm.  The sun disappeared Thursday evening and the rain rolled in on Friday.  I only have four more days of work and Winter seems to have finally showed it's face.  Another 23cm of snow is forecasted to fall between Monday and Wednesday.  Weather today however was a mixed bag:  sun, clouds, snow, fog, and high winds.  It was even snowing in the Village around 4pm.  Kind of annoying since it's been so warm and sunny lately.

Because it was the last day of Club, a few of us Instructors dressed up in one'sies.  Riley let me borrow a kangaroo.  Only three out of my five Saturday Club kids came for the last day of riding.  Jack, Charlotte and Dylan were excited for a powder day.  We dropped into the powder off Whiskey Jack to Ego Bowl where we found it to be knee deep in spots.  On our second run, we headed into Green Acres.  By this time, Charlotte had to pee so we headed down to the CLC where the kids decided to call "early lunch" so we only got two runs in before lunch.  I was a bit disappointed in the team as I knew the snow was getting chopped up fast and we probably lost our chance to find any fresh tracks in the afternoon.

After lunch, Jack wanted to drop off Whiskey Jack again so we did that and then we headed to Harmony.  In Harmony, we ended up off the left side of Gun Barrels where the snow was really deep and really soft.  There were no fresh lines but the snow was still amazing and fun.  We then traversed into the Gun Barrel area and ended up having to skate a bit back to the chair.  By this time, the kids were exhausted, especially poor Jack who is only 6 years old and tiny.

Gunner had planned a snowboard group run from the Roundhouse around 1:30pm.  All of Snowboard Club took a run together down Ego Bowl to mid-station.  Between all the groms and Instructors dressed as animals, we were quite a sight.  And it was pretty fun.  We finished the day with a big group photo at the CLC and then downloaded the gondola to finish Saturday Club for the season.