We drove from Big White to Whistler on the high pass to Merritt and then on the back route from Merritt to Pemberton. The latter was narrow, windy, very slow, and beautiful. This time there was no snow on the route (as there has been on previous trips), and I saw my old touring area near Joffre Lakes and the back-country hut. At Whistler on the 10th it was raining at the base and snowing all day and that night. We got free lift tickets using our Mountain Collective passes. They received 7” and it was and is still blowing. We started at the Creekside Gondola because we knew the crowds would be HUGE at the village base. The lifts start loading at 8:30am. We got there at 8am and joined a large group - the singles line is the only way to beat the lines. There is no skiing to the base as it is absolutely bare. It was snowing with flurries and sun breaks. The Big Red Express already had folks skiing the untracked powder; there were still some nice lines but we saw a lot of people (boarders and skiers) who'd taken a tumble in the snow. The previous base was firm and the new snow was 7” to zero because of the wind which left everything wind affected. The wind was still blowing and the upper lifts were on “hold”. The masses were heading for the Emerald Express which we avoided. We skied 3 runs that were groomed with 4-7” of new snow on top. It was nice not to have the masses on the trail for a couple of runs. Then after 2 hours Harmony and Symphony Express lifts opened and the majority of folks went there. The upper terrain was wind affected, the lower terrain was better, and the treed terrain even better. It's tough enough on a powder day, but it was the weekend and World Ski and Snowboard Festival week with events, bands, and ski and snowboard reps with all their new equipment... Very crowded. After spring skiing it was different to ski in winter conditions.
