Using the whole mountain
Early season is tough as mid mountain is not usually in. Often, however, there is good skiing all the way to the Village and sometimes Creekside. With all the Olympic Snowmaking machines, early season openings are much better nowadays. The Red Chair stays uncrowded longer than Emerald in the mornings. If you go over to Emerald consider the edges of the Terrain Park on powder mornings and the low angle trees between runs. When Emerald backs up cruise down to Gondola mid station or if the Gondola is crowded go to Garbonzo if open. You can always go as a standing single from Mid Station on the Whistler Gondola. The Olympic run groomer tracks stay intact longer than anything else on Whistler in the mornings.
Peak or Harmony will open in early December. Usually just one midweek, and then both on the Weekends. This gives us all a great chance to hike a little and find fresh midweek. Crystal helps with crowds once it opens, but the Alpine is the big deal at Blackcomb. Symphony opens later in December so you can also hike in and poach fresh powder often on groomer tracks if you play it right.
Harmony is a great chair and everyone knows it. Don't ski there in the middle of the day on Saturdays and complain about the crowds! Move over to Symphony and take a hike up Flute rather than wait in a long Harmony line.
Peak to Creek is a great crusier when open and Dusty's Descent is a fantastic ungroomed bump run when available. Check out at your own risk as it's often in poor condition.
On Blackcomb, Spankeys Ladder opens up a world of steep skiing if you know where to go. Be careful of riders right. Lots of large cliffs and if the steeps are icy - they can be very committing and dangerous. Don't go there unless you are used to skiing steep, icy chutes unless you are sure you have picked a good day and/or you have a good rider with you who is familiar with the area.
Couloir Extreme is a steeps testpiece, and lives up to it's name. Most people (myself included) drop in partway down and avoid the even steeper headwall at the top. The business is still in the 45 degree range, and is very exciting if firm.
The Blackcomb Glacier is another great feature of Blackcomb. The elevation is high, and the orientation is good. The snow stays good up there for a long time. from the runout you can look up and left and see all the stuff accessible from Spankeys Ladder. Be carefull on Glacier road as lots have accidents have happened there. You have some of the best riders in the world skiing the runout at over 50 MPH, and some beginners traversing back and forth on the trail and if you throw in some kids jumping in from the left, you can have high speed collisions on a narrow icy trail.
Have fun finding your own places. From double diamond trees, to perfect sheltered powder protected by ridgelines, there's lots of fun to be had here. Plan ahead, take the right people with you, think about the weather, and where you can find good snow and/or viability. It's always there someplace....
