April 15-16, 2006 Whistler Pow!

OH MY GOD IT WAS GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! Who woulda thought it would be winter in Whistler in mid-April? Well, as jdclimber said in another post, it was a powder-filled weekend. A huge storm on Friday dumped about 8-12" of light, fluffy Cheney powder. We hit opening chairs on Blackcomb and nailed some serious freshies-the Blackcomb Glacier was EPIC. We also hit Couloir Extreme, Quasar, Secret Chutes, and more...all treated us to untracked steep pow While in the village on Saturday night, we were treated to half-dollar sized flakes falling from the sky-no kidding...it was crazy.

Whistler mtn on Sunday was also amazing...we actually managed to hit the opening of the Peak Chair which was also untracked and deep. I also had a very amusing unexpected mandatory air off of a windrift on the Saddle that threw me pretty darn far-a blast and a decent landing, even though I screamed (thought I was going to nail the rocks). Oops. Harmony lift and the Horsechutes were a ton of fun....hit Horsechute # 4 before anyone else-vis was pretty bad at that moment and we couldn't tell how far the drop off the cornice was. A small pile up of male skiers and myself peered over the edge...as the boys retreated, I exclaimed, "Well the GIRL'S going for it" and proceeded to take off over the edge. Funny what a little peer pressure will do. They all proceeded to follow (it was REALLY good).

It was an amazing weekend-even the concerts in the Village were good for the festival. Sorry....the snow was WAY too good to stop and watch any of the competitions. WAY TOO GOOD....

Hope some of you TAYers got up there to get the goods! No photos to post...didn't want to stop skiing.

~Lara

Thanks for the good report. I've gone up for The Telus Champs the last four years. The snow is always good on the upper mountain at this time of year. . I remember one time , it rained all night in the village. But to my surprise the upper mountain was coated with fresh snow.

How was the Sea to Sky ? Any closures or delays?

Heading up April 21

No problems with the Sea to Sky at all...in fact, there are new lanes open on the south end of it which makes the trip more enjoyable as you pass up all the slow folks

I was up there too on sat and sun....hit whistler saturday then blackcomb sunday. Expected to be skiing in a t-shirt, what a pleasant suprise to have freshies both days!
Whistler, West, and Bagel bowls were all closed around 1:30 on saturday due to an in-bounds avalanche, never heard anything more about it so I'm hoping that no one was caught in it or hurt.
On the ski down to the village saturday afternoon right around the gondola mid-station we crossed paths with a very cute, sleepy lookin black bear wandering next to the ski runs.

No road closures or delays on the sea to sky, driving up friday afternoon and back sunday night we didn't see any construction going on...took about an hour to get back across the border though.

Alas, it had to come to an end. Off piste today was downright unkind. Saddle, to Fisheye to Toilet bowl was ok, spotty vis and icy in spots. Plan was to tour, but that got derailed thanks to poor vis ability. West Circ to X-mas trees was rather unpleasant despite easy entrance. However, forcast is for more powder tonight and tomorrow, hopefully that will cover up some of the seasonally appropriate unpleasantness. Back at Dusty's by noon, which seemed like a good call compared to the other options.