Vail North aka Whistler Conditions 2017-18

[LeeLau]

We found the quantity and quality of the triple overhead blower pow to be above average. We found the snow that was HARDER THAN A WOODPECKER'S LIPS to be absent

Skied E and W faces btl. -16 at 1250m. - 9 at 1850m. HS 135cms at 1650m; HS 190cms at 1850m. HST 20 at 1650; HST 35 at 1850m.

Winds light or nil below tree line. Sastrugi and wind effect at ridgetops. Skies clear - CAVU. SInging Pass in good shape with sidestepping required on lower creek crossings

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[Vitamin I]

Nice photos.

Inbounds today, I found many surface conditions ranging from bald, windswept ice to powder that was at least 13" deep. Tomorrow, I'm going back to the >13" zones, duh. No, I never found any triple overhead blower pow, because I am 6'2" tall, so triple overhead would be 18.5ft for me.

[gramboh]

Sounds like S/W aspects skiing better on account of reverse winds. Nice pics Lee and thanks for beta on Singing Pass.

[nortonwhis]

Tuesday was the first time i felt the burn all season really. North winds was loading up 7th side very nicely, and because of the low tide lots of features for hucking!
Couple of pics from yesterday from a super secret stash.

[LeeLau]

Snow quality acceptable at Cayoosh Pass. Temps - 12. Winds nil btl. Moderate at ridgeline gusting from E/NE. Skies overcast at start of day breaking to blue skies CAVU in afternoon.

Skied N faces in moderately spaced trees. No activity observed. Pronounced presence of preserved SH in tree wells

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[nortonwhis]

Bashed out a quick stairmaster today. Top third of phalanx was rough but once you hit the bench midway it was great.
Don't Swill was a fucking nightmare. Right side scraped, lots of ice, left side still boney and a bit of an air to get into, onto variable snow.
No photos - too cold.

[LeeLau]

We found snow of diamond dust tears of the unborn child quality on E facing slopes between 1900 and 1600m (Just need more of it).

E of Cayoosh Pass. Mild inversion. -16 at valley bottom. - 11 at top. Winds backed off in alpine but that's anecdotal because we were working leeward aspects. HS 190cms at 1900m. Creek crossings at valley bottom are still for the adventurous; you have been warned

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[gramboh]

Went home for Christmas and haven’t been following conditions for the last week... anything slackcountry off the resort skiing decently at the moment?

[t.odd]

Went home for Christmas and haven’t been following conditions for the last week... anything slackcountry off the resort skiing decently at the moment?

I've just been on the groomer peak to valleys no stopping laps the past few times up, nothing like burners to get the legs back up to speed

[gramboh]

I've just been on the groomer peak to valleys no stopping laps the past few times up, nothing like burners to get the legs back up to speed

Roger that. Was visiting family in Calgary over Xmas and put in some solid GS vertical at Sunshine (while trying not to freeze), pretty damn fun to be honest.

Need to get my ski touring legs in shape for a trip in a few weeks, might just fart around on musical bumps to get some mileage as it looks like a stormy couple of days coming up.

[::: :::]

To the folks who said definitely do the steep clinic, thank you!

With modest snowfall, it was an amazing day. Looking forward to day two with more snow expected.

[wicked_sick]

^^who was your coach for the day?

[::: :::]

Adam
He talked us through some chutes that I’d never have ventured otherwise
Almost waist deep in lee slopes

[gramboh]

Sleeper storm for sure, great day.

Comically bad conditions on the sea to sky brought to you by citiots with bald summer tires and semi trucks without chains. From Porteau to Squamish was bad, Ministry need to massively increase the maintenance budget to the contractor on that stretch.

[nortonwhis]

Sleeper storm for sure, great day.

Comically bad conditions on the sea to sky brought to you by citiots with bald summer tires and semi trucks without chains. From Porteau to Squamish was bad, Ministry need to massively increase the maintenance budget to the contractor on that stretch.

Sleeper day? Pretty sure it was the busiest day i have ever seen! I was down by 10:30 and blackcomb gondola line had merged with the whistler one somewhere around Zogs. At least most of the people aren't looking for the same stuff we generally are.

Glad I got some turns in though. Hopefully tomorrow goes as currently planned!

edit: You couldn't pay me to get on 99 right now. I don't know how you guys do it.

[Zaeius]

Comically bad conditions on the sea to sky brought to you by citiots with bald summer tires and semi trucks without chains. From Porteau to Squamish was bad, Ministry need to massively increase the maintenance budget to the contractor on that stretch.

The RCMP could also really help the situation by actually doing tire checks at Alice Lake when there is a snowfall warning in effect. In 5 years of driving up from Squamish I have only seen them checking once across dozens of storm days. I would be very interested to see what percentage would have been turned around yesterday. Im thinking 25% minimum.

Yesterday was good - tomorrow should be even better minus the weekend/holiday crowds.

[nickinbc]

The RCMP could also really help the situation by actually doing tire checks at Alice Lake when there is a snowfall warning in effect. In 5 years of driving up from Squamish I have only seen them checking once across dozens of storm days. I would be very interested to see what percentage would have been turned around yesterday. Im thinking 25% minimum.

Sadly the RCMP have had the ground cut from under them by the Ministry of Transportation declaring that they consider anything with the M+S stamp and 3.5 mm tread a 'winter' tire. So that includes (I believe) EVERY all-season tire sold in BC, including low profile very sporty tires - the ONLY thing excluded are pure summer tires. The RCMP could argue that in their opinion a tire meeting the Ministry's standards wasn't suitable for the actual conditions on the road, but they are sure to be exposing themselves to court challenges from the lawyers of the richer citiots and they have better things to do than tying their officers up in futile court cases over traffic tickets.

[::: :::]

First tracks in ruby bowl this morning! And, looking forward to tonight’s accumulations!




Snow!

[LeeLau]

16cms new reported at Pig Alley. 25-30cms in Crabbe Cowboy Ridge. - 5 at ridgeline; -7 at valley bottom. Low density snow predominant. Winds nil. S1, S2 towards end of day.

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[gramboh]

^^^ Yesterday was awesome. Had to go into work today so missing the gongshow, I wonder when fresh tracks line-up started? Should be really deep given how hard it was snowing last night. There will be great touring the next few days too before it warms up.

I actually saw the RCMP doing a tire check on Thursday night around 6pm in Lions Bay. Of course there was no check on the way up Thursday or Friday morning and there was no checking Friday night when it was at it's worst (at least when I drove down from 5-7:30pm). Road was in decent shape from Whistler to Squamish but again a sad job on maintenance south to Lions Bay.

[FlimFlamvanHam]

I'd be interested in a photo of the Harmony line up right now. Bluebird + cool temps + foot (almost) overnight + holidays + Saturday = has to be all time.

[::: :::]

Skiers plaza was packed to the gills at 7a when I got there

Harmony didnt roll until almost 9:45
Mconkeys was fun

Symphony was a shit show by noon, but Flute skied great

[lafleche]

Above average good-on-paper day. A little wisdom goes a long way during major holidays.

[LeeLau]

45cms of light density snow in the Cayoosh Pass area. Up to 80cms on N faces making for character-building trail-breaking. Storm snow is poorly bonded in alpine. SH still present btl in particular in treewells so keep eye on partners in those trees. Winds light. -17 at valley. -13 at alpine

Numerous NA observed with small crowns. SA sz1.5 down 30cms (no burial, no gear lost, no injury) on N slope of approx 25deg. Slope had mild wind affect. Start zone had visible rock protrusions

[LeeLau]

Temps -13 in valley, -8 at alpine. Skies clear winds light. Snow settling out a tad but trail-breaking is still characterbuilding with 30cms ski pen.

Skied W facing NNE and N slopes without incident. Older NA observed on N facing slopes probably from prior storm system; no stepdowns and minimal propogation