Blackcomb TR – Getting the Tour – Mar 2-3

**Huckwheat** · 03-04-2012, 03:48 PM

The Crew: 6 of us headed to Whistler for a long weekend. 2 from Boulder, 3 from Denver, and me from Reno. It was my CU Boulder crew, and was to celebrated a bachelor party (round 2).

The Conditions: W/B has epic base this year, and the past few weeks have gotten hammered. The last real snow was a few days past, so we were looking for scraps.

The difference between good and great: POWDER11s. TG for TGR. Cannot say enough here, Powder11s offered to meet us Friday (our first day) and show a few things. Despite our party of 6, and his superior style and skill, we skied with him bell to bell and all of us where BLOWN AWAY by Blackcomb!

---For the record, my buddies used to make fun of me for TGR…..they don’t anymore, they even apologized.

Friday morning. Standard socked in base. We did the Whistler “Fresh Tracks” breakfast, which gets you early ups (7:30) on Whistler Gondola.

Tourists

Decided to try the Peak while on Whistler…..it was like this, but then found some good snow too.

Took the Peak to Peak to meet Powder11s at 9:30……even got the glass bottomed car.

On the tour……got shown a whole variety of fun little stashes, many of which had the safe way and the not so safe way.
Powder11’s became infamous in our group for his understated warnings:
--Yeah, that way is a 50 footer, might not want to drop that today. (the today always implied it was sometimes a good idea).
--That is the easier way, or if you want more exposure I am going this way (which we learned following was definitely not always a good idea).

This ended up being our favorite chute…..it was best that we didn’t know about the full on cliffs skiers right.

Powder11s.....only photo, as he was always leading us.

Lots of steep techy trees.

There were some good traverses…..some of the guys got fairly sketched.

Our last line on Friday, ended up being a pretty exciting one…..we just didn’t know it going in.
--only 2 of us followed P11 down the more intense line.

**Huckwheat** · 03-04-2012, 03:49 PM

SATURDAY
The Village…..

Without our guide, we found our own way…..doing repeats on some of the key Friday runs.

**LeeLau** · 03-04-2012, 04:00 PM

He took you guys to Gray Zone? And no-one died? You must have said something nice to him - nice TR and good timing before the pineapple hit

**Maximus Farcisimus** · 03-04-2012, 04:20 PM

.......and you were graced with the presence of the GSA

**point it** · 03-04-2012, 04:27 PM

Looks like a good time, glad the weather cooperated for you guys

**gramboh** · 03-04-2012, 04:28 PM

Nice pics, looks like a great couple days of skiing in sub-optimal conditions. P11 showed you some good zones for sure, nice line on Hawaii 5-0.

**Huckwheat** · 03-04-2012, 04:35 PM

Originally Posted by Maximus Farcisimus

.......and you were graced with the presence of the GSA

True....I was there for the initial siting, and Powder11's photo.

Funny fact is, I still dont know the names......so not even sure which areas you are referring to (Gray Zone, Hawaii 5-0, etc). P11, was super cautious to not kill us all......he is a great guide (both in locations, and watching out for people)......a serious class act!!!!

**Clownshoe** · 03-04-2012, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Huckwheat

P11, was super cautious to not kill us all

I lol'd.
Nice TR, glad you guys had fun. Topping it off with a GSA sighting for a truly memorable trip!

I love 5-0. (The pic you drew the line on). I tomahawked down that my first year in town so it holds a special place in my heart

**shirk** · 03-04-2012, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Huckwheat

Funny fact is, I still dont know the names......so not even sure which areas you are referring to (Gray Zone, Hawaii 5-0, etc).

Hawaii 5-0 is the line you have added the drawing for.

Grey Zone is the longer hike you guys did after I met you guys with P11 at the top of Glacier chair. It's lead to the chute with the cliffs on skiers right.

The steep tree shots are in CBC trees.

The sketchy traverse is the entrance into Bad Attitude from Diamond Bowl.

Did you guys skis today? Alpine was sweet today, we got a couple Chainsaw ridge laps in before the T-bars shut down then lapped Spankys. It's getting deep up there. The Pineapple never arrived.

**MrPow** · 03-04-2012, 04:58 PM

Can somebody please identify what some of these areas are. I recognized one hike - Spanky's ladder. Where is the second hike - with trees on the left and rock on the right. Where is that?

Also all the tree skiing - is that Arthurs Choice?

**MrPow** · 03-04-2012, 05:01 PM

Thanks Shirk? Where is Hawaii 5-0? is that near couloir extreme?

**Schemeboat** · 03-04-2012, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by MrPow

Can somebody please identify what some of these areas are. I recognized one hike - Spanky's ladder. Where is the second hike - with trees on the left and rock on the right. Where is that?

Also all the tree skiing - is that Arthurs Choice?

It's all arthurs choice with a bit of outer limits mixed in.

**goldenboy** · 03-04-2012, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Huckwheat

It was my CU Boulder crew

That hurts, man.

**skiingnow** · 03-04-2012, 07:47 PM

nice trip! Looks like you guys got some good runs in !

**carpathian** · 03-04-2012, 09:09 PM

That wasn't the Grey Zone, just standard shots above CBC I thought. Grey Zone is skiers right right where you put skis on after same little hike (by big boulder). Straight under rope and into genuine super-gnar that spits you out right above exit of BC glacier...? Only went in there a couple of times. Wasn't worth the stress of a) poaching b) killing tourists on exit road with avy c)killing myself in the triple/quad stacked exposed cliffs.

I can't believe he didn't take you guys to Fishy's! skiers right of Ruby, hanging ledge above Calvine and Hobbes (that traverse that you said was scary)

I kind of miss that place...

**powder11** · 03-04-2012, 09:21 PM

Glad y'all had a good time. I was just out doing what I normally do and happy to show the adrenaline rock drop guy from way back when our goods! Blackcomb>Whistler for sure.

**Sierra Cement** · 03-04-2012, 10:36 PM

Cool TR Huck. Nice to meet you in the Reno airport earlier today.

I have to say that I was blown away by the amount of very cool folks that ride that mountain. At least 3 times I kind of nudged into a little group that clearly knew what they were doing and where they were going and they were all super cool to give me advice and basically keep me from dying. And thanks to Shirk for giving me all the inital beta so I knew where to 'start' looking.....guess I'll have to come back for DOA when there's a bit more vis.

I skied a lot of the same areas as you guys on Saturday. I think my first run in Spanky's was that same choco chippy tight entry in Ruby Bowl that you posted above. Hooked up with a couple of Vancouver dudes who said they were eyeing Hawaii 5-O, but it was total pea soup and we could barely even make out the edge of the cornice while we were right on top of it, so we slid down a little further before dropping in (based on that picture I'm glad we did). On my last Spanky's run I was graciously allowed to join a cool group of young Whistler riders (guy named Ryan and 4 ripping chicks). They took me below the rope to a cool little straightline between Saphire and Garnet (I believe) and then proceeded to show me all sorts of little features and extra zones all the way on down. Getting the tour clearly makes all the difference. What a blast.

FYI - in Tahoe, California and prolly the rest of the US, that mountain would have at least half of the terrain I was venturing into permanently closed. It would be off limits and if you skied it they'd arrest you....Viva Canada!