Whistler, April 3-5 2008

Amazing coverage still at Whistler. The only clue that it is well into spring during this time was that the snow on about the bottom 700' was mighty sticky after 3PM. Great packed powder for cruising almost everywhere, and Whistler's army of grooming was good about beating any icy patches into corduroy submission every night.

We missed the previous weekend's powder dump and the leftovers were pretty quickly devoured, with healthy moguls built in places where you'd expect 'em (Couloir Extreme, all of Whistler Bowl and Shale slope, Boot Chutes etc.)

It was interesting to see how this much snow combined with late season trends affected the entrances to various double diamonds. Couloir Extreme was pretty tame, as were at least 3 of the Harmony Horseshoes. But Glacier Cirque, (Peak) Couloir, and West Cirque were each a bit tricky. Couloir particularly had a scary mandatory sideways straightline. Didn't make it into Spanky's Ladder but from a distance Sapphire entrances looked alarming also. Whistler has enough hardcore skiers though that everything gets done by someone, no matter how sketch it looks. For instance, there were a group of 12 yr old girls, and a 70 year old, dropping into CE right behind me. Funny to think about that, given the history of that run and the "Extreme" appellation.

Tried the Symphony chair for first time, gets thumbs up from me (maybe gets thumbs down from the locals for same reasons Northway gets mixed reviews, but I am usually with nontouring friends when I go to Whistler.) Whole skiers right of the chair is a vast bowl where you can go anywhere. Watched various parties embark or return from Spearhead. Those heading out Sat. might have had some poor viz to deal with, but perhaps some nice new snow.

Just like our areas, the Whistler side of mtn has a close date that seems like on basis of snowcover is totally unnecessary - they close Whistler side Apr 24, even though could prob be running Emerald and Harmony side into May if they wanted to.

RossMac and I played in many of the same places as you a couple days earlier.The only thing that held us back was the visibility at various times and places. As you didn't mention that you were going to add any photos, I took the liberty to place a couple in.

While we did have to protect our faces from shots, the need to protect ourselves from snow snakes proved to be unnecessary.

stealth message to net surfers......Crystal is good....