Whistler Stoke and Conditions - 2010/11

**ROCKS** · 02-21-2011, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by PhilM

Managed to find some fresh lines down asian pussy today....

Sick sick vid man. Glad it turned out, and stoked to watch it. Makes me want to try it next time. Good day though, and we'll have to catch up again soon. You can show me the rope line.

**Axman** · 02-21-2011, 01:36 PM

Originally Posted by Atrain505

Currie was again good today. God Damn that was fun!!

Mm I heard about that from someone else yesterday. Sounds like a blast. Did you get a pic of the line you skied? I wanna see!

**powder11** · 02-21-2011, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by Axman

Mm I heard about that from someone else yesterday. Sounds like a blast. Did you get a pic of the line you skied? I wanna see!

pretty detailed TR right here:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...-on-Mt.-Currie

Thanks again for getting behind the lense in the chute, Athan! The pow shot with sundog is gold. Exactly what I wanted.

**taylorm0** · 02-21-2011, 08:14 PM

Originally Posted by PhilM

Btw. if anyone was wondering, the landing on tower 27 is pretty soft at the moment...

second that.
but still very flat.
http://live.tetongravity.com/_tower-...108/75233.html

**endure** · 02-21-2011, 08:27 PM

had some fun on pattison yesterday

**khyber.pass** · 02-21-2011, 09:11 PM

I know we all read the bulletin, but worth posting for a head's up.

Fissile East Ridge avi:

http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/...3-69174fc52894

Mulligan N Face Avi:

http://www.avalanche.ca/cac/library/...7-12671369a838

**ROCKS** · 02-22-2011, 12:39 PM

eeeeesh. That fissile one looks scary. Close to home for lots of us too. Pretty thick crown on it. Glad nobody was taken down with it.

Is some of that instability due to the sun pounding on those aspects, cause surely the cold nighttime temps are solidifying things up no?

**nortonwhis** · 02-22-2011, 01:19 PM

anyone got any obs for the backcountry snow conditions from today or yesterday?
did the N/E winds strip everything n facing?

**powder11** · 02-22-2011, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by nortonwhis

anyone got any obs for the backcountry snow conditions from today or yesterday?
did the N/E winds strip everything n facing?

It's so random right now. I think you have to find tight pockets or chutes that are well protected. Big north faces look pretty hammered.

**Axman** · 02-22-2011, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by ROCKS

eeeeesh. That fissile one looks scary. Close to home for lots of us too. Pretty thick crown on it. Glad nobody was taken down with it.

Is some of that instability due to the sun pounding on those aspects, cause surely the cold nighttime temps are solidifying things up no?

If the date is correct on that fissile report, I think I shared a skin track with that party. I went with Jamie and Tobin to the north face of Fitzsimmons on 2/20. I did notice that that group (which skinned up the ridge on fissile, as the report says) seemed like they were up on the ridge for a really long time. I didn't see a slide or hear anything as we kept on moving to Fitzsimmons but we saw them up there for what seemed like much longer than expected. So it could make sense that the party that kicked that slide off was the one I saw, but I don't know for sure.

We didn't experience or observe anything slidey on our trip in or out other than very minor south facing stuff. More like oozing than sliding. The N face of Fitzsimmons had stable solid pow on it and was a good ski. From the pics of the fissile slide I can't get a good mental picture of which aspect that was so I can't offer any further opinion on that. The stuff I went across was solid all the way from Whistler to Fitzsimmons and back.

I personally would be comfortable going to ski the north face of fitzsimmons tomorrow but I can't speak for Fissile since I wasn't on it myself. Cowboy ridge had nice, solid headlamp-lit pow on our way back in.

Both of those peaks are a long way out and regardless of conditions you need to be ready to deal with any eventuality. It doesn't take much to create a potentially life (or toes) threatening situation when you are that far out.

**khyber.pass** · 02-23-2011, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by ROCKS

Is some of that instability due to the sun pounding on those aspects, cause surely the cold nighttime temps are solidifying things up no?

I certainly don't want to play Internet Avi Analyst, but from my understanding of the reports, this isn't sun-affected as much as it is wind loaded. The avi reports have been very consistent in pointing out stresses on E/NE windloaded slopes. Note the convexity. Enough stress to step down to the bottom layer of the storm snow. But without being there, knowing the precise aspect, nor a snowpack analysis of where and what that sliding layer is, this is just heresay.

**endure** · 02-23-2011, 01:14 PM

..could we have another epic week coming up??

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts...kcomb/6day/mid

**t.odd** · 02-23-2011, 02:04 PM

Originally Posted by endure

..could we have another epic week coming up??

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts...kcomb/6day/mid

anti-jinx....

...co-worker was in group that triggered fissile ridge slide....one of them went to look down that side and noticed the snow felt windloaded, stepped back to the skin track and it released pretty fast...said it was pretty scary! north side was bomber however, all experienced folks.

**robbo** · 02-23-2011, 02:47 PM

**curtisbb** · 02-23-2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by robbo

Wow that looks filled in! Heading to Crackhouse/Krakatoa/Ladies first? How are they?

**robbo** · 02-23-2011, 04:25 PM

Fantastic yesterday no tracks and smooth all the way down, today might be a different story but its worth a look

**Boonshackle** · 02-23-2011, 06:37 PM

Lots of smoove creamy windbuff in the alpine today. Cold, too.

**filthyfrenchbum** · 02-23-2011, 10:04 PM

Husume skied like it had just snowed a foot, thanks to the wind. Bring the toewarmers though, it was frigid in the alpine.

**ROCKS** · 02-23-2011, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by filthyfrenchbum

Husume skied like it had just snowed a foot, thanks to the wind. Bring the toewarmers though, it was frigid in the alpine.

Really?? Guess it improved nicely since Saturday then. I found it had a bit of a wind affected layer near the top, after that it was just deep perfection. Beautiful.

**nortonwhis** · 02-24-2011, 05:30 PM

skinned up from kadenwood, kind of the way you get to tunnel vision in the summer if you head that way, with my dog today. couldnt face the -27. had a sweet mini pillow line on the way back down. dog freaked and wouldnt follow off the first drop, but the snow was to deep for him to retreat to the road and run back round. had to hike back and rescue. fun times for me, not so much for him...

just wanted to throw this out there too. if anyone needs an experienced IT guy for any projects or work let me know. i have done pretty much everything from website development for business applications to Email server builds and deployment. if you work for a company and are getting pissed at altitude (which i hear has been happening alot) or just downloaded the wrong porn vid and messed up your pc. happy to do most personal laptop work for beer/swag if need be...

**clarklewis** · 02-24-2011, 06:56 PM

NE wind hammered everything pretty hard last 2 days. skied ipsoot tuesday (before wind) and south exposures had a solid suncrust. north aspects skied nicely but i suspect that's no longer the case.

skied (far) east duffy today. it was fucking cold! south aspects wind-loaded and reactive. east and north aspects above treeline are hammered. west aspects above treeline are loaded and reactive, but below treeline are skiing nicely (boot-top sugar). next storm cycle could make south approaches dangerous, many areas are loaded "backwards" and we'll likely have an up-side-down snowpack for a while.

**Axman** · 02-25-2011, 08:34 PM

Was supposed to do Cakehole today (which I've never done) but my pal got called to be a photo whore so that has been postponed. Bastage. ;-)

Went with a new buddy from this year to Cowboy Ridge instead. There were 12-15 people floating around that general area. Everything from Flute to Oboe was destroyed completely by the wind, except one set of tracks that looked pretty nice heading northish off the back of Flute. Possibly those short lines going north behind Flute are still good.

East side of Oboe was actually quite nice with blown in (or never blown out) pow. Cowboy was nicely filled in still, a little bit wind affected here or there in the open areas but nearer the trees was really nice, light, 25-35cm pow.

One thing I'm getting very tired of is other parties asking me the most basic questions about where they are back in these places. Now, there's no need to pull attitude toward less experienced people like many do. There's no point in being rude to other mountain enthusiasts, whatever level they're on. I answer questions and do my best to be of service. But it is freaky that people get as far out places as they do with so little idea where they are, where they're going, and how to get back, especially with the cold nights we're having right now. I get scared for those people.

/rant off

My season is over in a few more days; just riding it out and trying to finish on a high note. My wife and I go back to reality on Tuesday for the next 8 months. Thanks to all of you who've participated in this thread with info and opinions. Thanks also to those of you that I've gotten to meet and ski with! Look forward to more in the future.

I'll pop another post in if I have any info to offer before I go, but in the meantime, remember--- when you come to a fork in the road, take the Jager!

Ax