Whistler Stoke and Conditions - 2010/11

[Boonshackle]

Man I was so focussed on staring over the edge of that cliff when you ripped past behind me and skipped over those hidden rocks it scared the shit out of me.... straight up thought I was gonna get taken over the edge for a second haha. Thought you were gonna hold on out the bottom though....next time

I'm batting 2 for 3 on that line. I was so gung-ho on ripping it top to bottom on the GoPro I didn't think to speed check at the entrance. Figured trying to hold on out the fan would be better than killing both of us Props to Kalisto for prodding the snow near my crash. Lap 3 didn't turn up the camera, anyone have the number for the metal detector dude?

Today was even better. Finally skied the high entrance into Sapphire, it's little more than a fun rock-skip right now, and the reward was sharing the entire bowl with two other (slow) skiers. Got back up Whistler in time for a couple Peak laps, skied the Coffin for the first time. What's up with chairs heckling people standing at the top of it? Yell some stoke at me or STFU. Capped the day off with Mondays to waist-deep p2c trees. I'm still shaking from the adrenaline/endorphins.

[khyber.pass]

After seeing a cat digging out the bottom of Harmony today I'm betting the Whistler Alpine doesn't open till thurs.

BZZZZZZT, you lost the bet. Buy this thread a round of beer?

Today was the second day in two weeks I've hiked up Harmony with open AC clearance before they get the chair running. I think we need to provide mountain staff with some amphetamines to get these gates cracked a little earlier. That said, I do like my gun barrels before the hordes swarm & fall over each other.

Spring break is definitely here. Lots of domino action from the scared shitless.

[Spark]

Now that was a powderrrrrr wellness day

[point it]

I'm batting 2 for 3 on that line. I was so gung-ho on ripping it top to bottom on the GoPro I didn't think to speed check at the entrance. Figured trying to hold on out the fan would be better than killing both of us

I appreciate the consideration! yeah that was my first time ever being up there I did not expect it to be so rocky but i guess theres one way to find out

[gramboh]

Yesterday was great, spent the morning in Ratfink/Chunky's and a few VD, then lucked out and saw patrol flipping the signline about 30min before the T-Bar actually started. Bootpacked up Pika and was the only one traversing over to Boomer/Gun Barrels. Felt spooky with literally zero people around, but damn good being second track down after a patroller . Ended up getting 5 more t-bar laps before calling it a day.

Today was a bit of a gong show, got up late and went right into peak line-up. 2 hours later finally loaded the chair. Epic run, one of the best of my life, down Million Dollar (or maybe Khyber? I don't know), deep fun pillow lines and the snow didn't get manky until the cut block. Had to bail to get back to the city for a meeting, normally I'd be pissed about a one run day, but god damn was that fun.

Also want to throw some props out to the Creekside lifties, somehow my avy beacon fell out of my pack yesterday and I didn't notice until this morning. Put the word out and it was waiting for me at guest services on my way down. Could have easily been pocketed, so I threw a case of beer their way.

Why didn't Showcase open today if they opened Spanky's? Or was that a lightboard screw up. Also is Excelerator fixed or still on back-up diesel? I heard the motor died.

[Shaggy]

Whistler was awesome today, but the hordes were out in full force for sure. Harmony had crazy lines, but also crazy deep pow to make it worth it.

[Boonshackle]

Why didn't Showcase open today if they opened Spanky's? Or was that a lightboard screw up. Also is Excelerator fixed or still on back-up diesel? I heard the motor died.

There's been a lot of days this season where Showcase/Glacier opens a day after everything else. Stupids bootpack was closed, too. Excelerator's still on diesel. Dunno if "parts are coming from Germany" is truth or sad joke anymore.

[Shaggy]

Why didn't Showcase open today if they opened Spanky's? Or was that a lightboard screw up.

They probably don't want people that far up the valley - I think the ski out from the bottom of the gemstones is relativily safe from slides from the other side of the valley, but Backcomb glacier's ski out passes through the run out zone of Husume which needs to be heli-bombed. No heli in the air = no showcase opening.

[t.odd]

wicked day, still grinning like a fool from my last lap through khyber....buncha vd's first thing, line up shennanigans at peak....couldn't believe the mega douchebag who was fastballing snowballs at people from basically point blank, so they started giving it back, although pretty gentle, he got hit once and lost his shit, this is minutes after he smoked the lady beside me straight in the face, what an asshead! mega hucking gong show, on my third lap there was a ski on the edge of the second drop of jordan and someone attempting to get back up to it, while another guy tomahawked off it, so much carnage! got a frontside in, then a monday's which was really really good....last lap I hit khyber totally untracked and it was just perfect, even rolled up on to my favourite feature on the flatcliffs, nice drop to 'chute' right by the hike, poached the punter aussies who had their boards off looking at it, "outta my way, jerkass!" suckers! so much fun rippin' orange trees with just one other guy, high speed pillow launches to deep pow! this is the winter that keeps on giving!

[ddsnake]

This is a long shot , but worth a try . Is anyone on here a Blackcomb instructor or know one ? At 4:00 pm I was skiing under the Peak to Peak and smashed into the lift tower .
I had passed an instructor with 2 people right before the crash and they were still above me .The instructor said something , I got up and waved , said that I was fine , and took off . I was shaken up and lucky to not be seriously injured. About 1 minute later I discovered I had lost my Gopro in the crash , skied to the chair and they were nice enough to let me back up . I went back to the tower and dug for my gopro until patrol came and told me it was time to go . Skied to the bottom and Guest Relations was already closed . I will check tomorrow morning.
I'm hoping the instructor might have picked up my gopro after my crash . I'd like to get it back.
So , if anybody on here knows someone who instructs on Blackcomb , please ask if they saw someone hit the lift tower and if they found my gopro . If they found it , I have beer for them . Thanks .

[powder11]

So many teletubbies losing their camera's these days! You'd think there would be a better mounting bracket for those things. I'm going to walk up to air jordan in the summer and fill a hockey bag full of cameras. Then I'll edit all the crash footage and make skiings version of destroyed in seconds. It used to be that the only people who hit air jordan were the few who could actually stick air jordan. No stick=no claim.

[t.odd]

a couple was walking back up the khyber road asking if I had seen their GP as I whizzed by shrugging.....could make a mint this summer, toby! actually made the same comment about Jordan to someone today too, can't believe how many people are hacking it up these days, never seen so many tomahawks off it!

[LeeLau]

It's really easy to rig a tether to the GoPro but that would require forethought. Or use a Contour on a goggle mount like so - footage from first few runs today

[Clownshoe]

Nice footage Lee!

Another day of looooong tree laps! I'm out of adjectives.

[Snow Dog]

Someday I hope to ski as well as Lee.

[LeeLau]

the pressure was on for me to hang with powder11 for longer than 1 second. Not easy task

[skibum_jr]

Nice vid LeeLau. I like that i can see where you are skiing the whole time, not just your ski tips like everyone else's pov's.

Also, I'm jealous of all of you that were out there today. I was in the middle of pouring beers when i was told the alpine finally opened

[LeeLau]

More - keeping the vids short and sweet. Contour mounted forwards and back

[powder11]

It's really easy to rig a tether to the GoPro but that would require forethought. Or use a Contour on a goggle mount like so - footage from first few runs today

nice Lee, that actually came out better than I thought. I like all the definition from the trees and me skiing out in front. Like someone else mentioned, that makes it way more entertaining to watch than just looking at someones tips as they ski. Next time we'll step up the terrain a little bit!

[shirk]

Who wants to bet both mountains are dead today? Just tourists. Everyone else can finally get a day of rest and caught up after a great storm cycle.

Great day yesterday, our timing was good all morning getting everything we wanted fresh and untracked.

[Schemeboat]

....couldn't believe the mega douchebag who was fastballing snowballs at people from basically point blank, so they started giving it back, although pretty gentle, he got hit once and lost his shit, this is minutes after he smoked the lady beside me straight in the face, what an asshead!

How about when those two hero's dummied him and he came charging through the line!

[skieast]

How about when those two hero's dummied him and he came charging through the line!

I'm guessing we were all standing about 5 feet apart. I liked when the ski patrol escorted the gate crashing boarder out of the corral. At least the goings on kept me amused during the wait.

[gramboh]

Nice vids Lee, as everyone is saying, people in frame gives a nice contrast, especially like the Blackcomb Trees Mar 16 one.

Peak lineup was funny yesterday, was glad to be in singles out of the fire zone, just watching that one dude punching snowballs and getting tripped plus the two guys trying to jump in line just getting destroyed. According to Mike D, someone stopped on the Air Jordan ramp and retrieved that guys missing ski, then jumped down, didn't see it but heard really loud cheering on the way up.

Looks like it might be Sun/Mon to get some sun and explore a bit.

[skiingnow]

Who wants to bet both mountains are dead today? Just tourists. Everyone else can finally get a day of rest and caught up after a great storm cycle.

Great day yesterday, our timing was good all morning getting everything we wanted fresh and untracked.

Blackcomb was pretty dead today. They didn't open glacier chair until 10:30????? 7th and Horstman tbar were open. After skiing down the rescue road the reason was probably because they groomed out all the doubles and made it twice as wide! There was also a HUGE avi off poop chutes, debris almost to the road, look out a stand of trees.

Mountain safety were at the top of the rescue road with a counter. 100 people in the last 10 minutes they were standing there... and yes, that was on a slow day...

[Maximus Farcisimus]

Definitely lots of wind affect.

Scoured entrance to DOA, alright after the choke, good on the apron.

Very little activity.
The usual 1.5/sluff off the back of the Spearhead, Corona great all the way out.

Avy that came down off the last Poop chute looked about 2m crown/70m wide. Took out some large trees, and looks like it ran right up(10m) on to the road before being cleaned up by a cat.

Only tracks on that whole aspect were from the 3 patrollers, no on going to stairmaster as of 1245.

Looks like a good patch of bluebird coming up.