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One good picture is worth a thousand words, though.  So - that was four trips to the top, on top of the ski up to the basin.  Pretty studly!

Any word on when Crystal will open?  Are they already grooming around the lifts?  I'm thinking of heading that way Friday.
Don
Guest Relations on the left side of the Whistler Village Gondola line up.  (Note that the lines for passes and lessons are often long, but "Guest Relations" is a specific line in the middle of the other two, and often is much shorter).

Pass was about $41 CAD after tax ($37 before, I think).  You sign something ageeing that it is only to get you to your BC destination and that they can fine you $500 if they catch you doing anything else (i.e. lift skiing laps).
did you guys buy a one ride pass to get up to the alpine?  How much and where?
thanks for the report!

I was wondering what was happening up there.
It's ok Telemon.  There will be other days...

Telefore, thanks for your contribution on the pictures.

And Volcanogrrl, awesome blog/ TR you wrote there.
Yeah alpentalcorey is definitely correct on this one- right after or during the Mexican "rainy season" is the time to go about skiing (Sept-Nov).

We read a report from a group that had been up two weeks before us and got around 3000' feet of vert from the summit, which we interpreted as being able to ski the Labyrinth section, to around 15,500'.  But this is still not anywhere near the hut, which is down at 13,900'.

We're already looking...
author=MW88888888 link=topic=8292.msg33181#msg33181 date=1196224401]
Congrats on the altitude ski record!

So what's the scoop, guys, how good would the skiing be in the spring? Could you get all the way back to the huts? Lower?


In Mexico it's not really a winter/spring kind of thing.  There's the rainy season (more or less the summer and into fall) and the dry season (most of the rest of the year).  In t...
Jayme, Thank you for great movie & photos, and guiding us to sweet slope.
Volcanogrrl's, your photos are really cooll too!
It was nice meeting you. I enjoyed the time and tele with you.
See you soon at next bc tour!
Nice job, mates.  I used to eat that Cascade powder in first grade; teacher called it library paste.  Now I ski on it and it's still yummy.
You speak nothing but truths Scotsman:

I am excellent company and the pass is closed.


http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/PassInformation.aspx#chinooklink

CHINOOK PASS
  Elevation: 5430ft / 1655M

Temperature:N/A

Conditions & Weather:
Chinook Pass is temporarily closed from milepost 57 to milepost 74, Crystal Mountain Boulevard to Morse Creek, due to increased snow depth and avalanche potential. //

Restr...
Thanks Travertine for your great plan.
Thanks all for sharing such a wonderful time.
I really enjoyed my first visit to Whistler with all of you.
I'm looking foward to seeing you at next bc tour.

I uploaded some photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/telefore/071124WhistlerBC?authkey=kXK2Kr1nX28
Way to go guys and gal!

As a wise man once told me earlier today; "It sure beats sitting on your couch."

Not to make assumptions about your couches.  I am sure that your couches are fine it is rather to illustrate that instead of idly ..........

Good show. ;)
My "signature" hat is strictly for the summer months when I want to protect my thinning pate from the sun's rays without cooking the gray cells within. It sounds like I would have needed one of my traditional Canadian toques to keep warm. ;D
Congrats on the altitude ski record!

So what's the scoop, guys, how good would the skiing be in the spring?  Could you get all the way back to the huts?  Lower?
Telemon -- yes, Savegondor was calling them "robbers", probably a more appropriate term to use in my blog.  :)  I felt "little shits" really captured their aggressive and mischievous ways though.
Yup, we missed you, though I didn't have a funky hat to have you autograph.  Idda been mad if we met and I didn't have a hat. 
Once again I am publicly admitting that I made a mistake when I didn't go with my original plan of joining you guys. Come back for a return trip on your next long weekend. I enjoyed the various TRs and photos. btw  Volcanogrrl, those "little shits" are also known as campfire robbers, whiskeyjacks, grey jays, and Canada jays. (I think they are also known as Oregon jays in that state.)
Nice work!!

Thanks for the TR,
Looks like conditions were a little better for skiing than when i was there round this time last year.
Is Popo looking like it could be skiable? They probally still have it closed off though.
I'd love to see some more pics!
MMMMMMMMM. Well the WSDOt drivers where going around every  car telling everybody that it would close tonight at 8.00Pm as their avy people had declared the starting zones on the major  slide paths loaded.
Maybe we'll get  a repreive. Here's hoping they where wrong but thats what they told us. :)
Website is still saying the road is open

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/PassInformation.aspx#chinooklink

CHINOOK PASS
Restrictions Eastbound:
Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.
Restrictions Westbound:
Traction Tires Advised, Oversize Vehicles Prohibited.
Updated: 05:47 PM, Nov 27, 2007
OOPs , meant East Facing Slopes above lower toilets!
the covered sapling down and left of the skier looks like a tiny cross

HOW CUTE!
Hot damn! So there is snow somewhere in Colorado at the moment.  I've been down in Mexico for the past week and I could have sworn we had received a whole mess of the stuff by all that was on the ground at DIA when we landed.  But it looks as though we may still need to treck north to collect on it...
Welcome,  John.
There's some good lines in there.
I would just like to clear the record here: If anyone reads Volcanogrrl's blog next post up, I would just like to say that I only witnessed one or two faceplants by this hardcore newbie.  The rest of her turns were pure grace... well almost...
And I've added a tr to my little blog:
http://backcountrytr.blogspot.com/2007/11/whistler-bc-back-country-phrase-of-week.html
I was also up there on Friday 11-23.  I think I saw you guys and your tents on my ski descent.  Hope you guys had a great time.
I'm learning that carpooling with great company always pays off.  Carpool + No lift ticket = Cheap.
Your welcome, my pleasure  and yes I  do take bribes.
While this is up top again. I got a email address wrong for a Joanne who was at the Skoog show in tacoma. We still want to ski with you. please send me email through this site or my email is in the tacoma section of mountaineers.
Bring on the snow !
Hey- that was a great trip, Robie- thanks for sharing your expertise and energy.  I never would've thought that that favorite "kids and visitors" hiking trail would lead to such a fantastic, sun shielded bowl of fluffy hoary crystalline delight.  Next time I am bringing you an anchovie, goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato sandwich for sure!
So, bllitz, your theory is that there is little snow 'cuz Scotsman is out in it unemployed all the time?  Makes sense to me.  Put him on a chain gang somewhere!  But let him out on weekends to still play w/us.
Wowsa!  It sounds like a great trip!  I can't believe I opted not to go.  Nice work, and hope to join y'all up there next time when the funds permit. . . :D
I'm glad the day ended better than it started. Quite well preserved cold powder anywhere that was shady. That crust and sugar combo could be of interest after this next storm....here's Jen and Chris tearing it up


I'm all for keeping the stash secret but could we narrow it down just a little? Sweet pics.
Thanks for the report. I was thinking of going up there Sunday but passed and went to T-Line. From Portland, St Helens looks real good.
Bluebird day and warm temps in preceding days meant nasty trap crust, lucky for us there were nice north facing slopes to terrorize. Still quite rocky out there so beware, hopefully with this next system lined up and ready to dump that I won't have to worry about core shots from the rocks.

Good day out folks and looking forward to next weekend! Let's hope that Scottie keeps working and the snow keeps falling :) Just kidding man, wish you were there with us.

Pics...
Nice work - Tumalo is a fun ride on the backside bowl.  I'm suprised there was that good of a base up there.  Thanks for the report.

Matt
author=telemack link=topic=8237.msg33024#msg33024 date=1195883858]
"The pursuit of happiness" is only mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, alas.  Sounds like a good day with educational snow conditions.


"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, a...
Telemon and Scotsman- I too have found it most enjoyable to Ski Sunday and know I have the option of coming back and doing it again on Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., etc.
Adjusting to unemployment is easier when the snow is falling.
Took me about a week to come to terms with the fact I am officially a ski bum as of Nov. 1st.
Robie showed me enough options up around Chinook to keep me busy for awhile. But right now it is snowing outside my door so I may not have to travel far tomorrow...
We were able to ski about half way down, so it really was only about a 20 minute walk down.  The moonlight and headlamp skiing from Symphony to the Gondola midstation was very fun, because in addition to the views we got fresh groomed slopes all the way.  Your lift ticket dollars at work.

Please come up for Baker some time, and let me know if it would help you to stop over in Bham coming or going.
Jayme, great to meet you in the middle of the alpine on a very cool day, and good fun pictures and video.  Thanks for posting it.  Hoping for more adventures soon.
That kinda looks like Cayoosh Peak, but BC is a very, very large place...
Those are some beautiful pics.  What part of BC are you in?
Didn't make it to whirlwind due to lack of experience in the area...or a partner with said experience.  But it got tracked up and it looked really good.  From as close as I got, Fissile didn't look ready quite yet...

-J
The first time I skied Hood it was through the Pearly Gates. I wouldn't recommend it really. To find it in skiable conditions meant going in the fat part of the year. This also typically means hundreds of people a week are climbing it (I'm talking late April-Early june). The bootpacks are sooo deep, it's a whole new objective hazard. Not to mention the piles of death cookies from the melting rime off the cliffs. To get it filled in would mean a lot of recent snow, therefore back t...
Nice work.  Shows good coverage on the glaciers
I would like to say/think that i would still turn around. if it had slid, than there would be a real possibility that a secondary slab/p.r. could cut out, endangering any rescuers.

However it is often hard to turn around once one is "in gear" and an exuse to justify turns (such as haveing a beacon,,(but did they?)), I may have kept going, especially if I had'ent skiied it before. The reasoning of ambition is often irrational.

Nice turns out in the Never Summ...
Levitation?  Sharp horns?  Stash worthiness?  If you weighed 10 lbs. I could swear you were a little demon...hence the lucifer reference...lol!
Wow!  so 3am at home checking and writing TR's.  Hardcore!  Thanks for the company, I had a great time!

And just for the record, Volcanogrrl's pack was way heavier than mine!!

_J
Fascinating report, Dan, thanks for sharing, especially about the turn around in the old chute.  So for discussion purposes, do you think you would have ignored the shouts of the on lookers if you had a beacon?  I'd like another solo skier's thoughts on that one...