January 7,2006, Whistler

Avalance and visibilty issues prompted the decision to change our backcountry plans to Whistler's Flute Bowl bc.So my son, Gabe and two friends that I hadn't skied with since last spring, Ted and Patrice, arrived at Creekside arround 9:00.The Pineapple Express Lite that had passed through the previous two days had washed the snow off the trees below the gondola, but there was snow down to the parking lot.<br><br> We thought that we would warm up on a few groomers before heading to Flute. The snow conditions had pushed most of the skiers to the mountain top resulting in longer lineups, even for high season. The bottom sections of Emerald and Harmony had adequate coverage, but the snow was unpleasant, watersaturated pavement.The lower off-piste sections were even worse. However, the Little Whistler and Camel Back areas were tremendous.<br><br> The Flute Bowl was still looking kind of ominous at 11:00 so we thought that we would try the West Bowl. We meet up with telefriends, Colin and Ian,in the long lineup for the Peak Chair. The heavy snow in the Bowl reminded me of frequent conditions in Baker's backcountry; it definitely was tiring.The next run was into the Whistler Bowl which had a difficult entry but decent snow in it.I enjoyed the ride down the Shale Slope. As usual, the best snow is on the peripheral sections. The Saddle skied ok but changing visibility made it less than great.The photo below shows our last run down to the Raven midstation.<br><br> We never did make it to Flute Bowl, the extra weight in my pack affected my skiing aggressiveness, the snow flurries and flat light didn't help our technique,and the lineups were often long, but we still a good day. It was raining hard as we left Whistler with temperatures dropping. The forecast is for cooler air this week, which bodes well for all of you Americans taking advantage of your long weekend.<br>