Whistler/Vail North 2020/2021

[LeeLau]

Near miss and fatalities. http://pemberton.bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/V...edium=referral

Incident near Cerise Creek is actually near Matier. Goat is the peak just W of Tenquille

At Avalanche Canada's prodding I put out a MIN. It should be logged now. Here is full text with the embedded pics

There's been some near-misses and sadly some fatalities in adjacent areas so I thought it would be good to call out one observed phenomena from yesterday and from the previous few days. This is a bit more detail than I'd ordinarily call out particularly since all obs are from hasty assessments. Take it all for what it's worth.

There was significant variable reverse windloading from some NW and NE winds. That means that slopes that are usually not windloaded (S facing sunny slopes) got a significant amount of snow. But not all S facing sunny slopes got snow; so you may be lulled into a false sense of security. For example crossing from the Guides Notch traversing S facing slopes there was 10- 15 cms of low-density snow in the early morning. As soon as I crested a ridge there was 2-5cms of snow overlaying rocks. Then crossing another ridge past a rib that acted as a shield, the windloading resulted in 20 - 30cms of low-density. That's a significant amount of variability in a 300m traverse on essentially the same aspect. By the afternoon the surface of that same snow had a melt-freeze pencil thin crust.

There were some naturals off S and SE slopes from the lower flanks of Phalanx in the Whistler area that looked like they were triggered by snow rollers possibly initiated by solar absorption from rock walls. This was in the Warrior, Stairmaster and a variety of also SE and ESE facing couloirs off Phalanx.

The SE traverse onto Corona had not YET acquired enough heat to melt-freeze but I felt that the pure S facing slopes were starting to acquire heat and possibly merit caution (just a visual obs across the valley towards Wedge as the snow surface was acquiring the sheen of MF). Even crossing the SE traverse merely pole probing you could feel the snow texture and density changing in the space of the short 100m where you're a bit exposed heading to Corona from the Spearhead Glacier. A reasonable inference is that this was from the reverse windloading.

[LeeLau]

Zombie apocalypse storm skiing. No Americans observed. Could get used to these "crowds"







Towards 1 there were crowds so we booked out.

[nortonwhis]

Zombie apocalypse storm skiing. No Americans observed. Could get used to these "crowds"
Towards 1 there were crowds so we booked out.

That was the worst day out of the season for me. Showed up at 8 and parked with ease, so was confident that not that many people had shown up for 9cms. Blackcomb gondola was lined up past Portobello, past fairmont, onto the road to pretty much Nagomi. I just don't understand where all these people are coming from???
Checked the webcams, Fitz looked good, turns out they leave a huge gap so punters can gomp around and take selfies or some other shit. Ended up waiting 30 minutes for fitz, one ok run of Garbo, over to green, 45 minutes, then planned to take P2P over. That was lined up with about 200 people outside of building. Did a top to bottom in great snow and called it a day before I strangled some Jerry.

Hopefully yo all had better days than me cos the ski out was sick!

[LeeLau]

That was the worst day out of the season for me. Showed up at 8 and parked with ease, so was confident that not that many people had shown up for 9cms. Blackcomb gondola was lined up past Portobello, past fairmont, onto the road to pretty much Nagomi. I just don't understand where all these people are coming from???

That sucks. I listened on the radio and AC indicated 7th, Crystal and Glacier would crack so once the gondi bottleneck cleared I knew we'd be OK. Meanwhile Whistler with the high winds was indicating that not much would open. Once we were up it was clear sailing.

[nortonwhis]

That sucks. I listened on the radio and AC indicated 7th, Crystal and Glacier would crack so once the gondi bottleneck cleared I knew we'd be OK. Meanwhile Whistler with the high winds was indicating that not much would open. Once we were up it was clear sailing.

Bad luck, confounded by bad decision making and then a massive amount of impatience. I should have forgone breakfast and coffee! Win some / lose some etc.

[t.odd]

I had a decent morning on Whistler, 7:15 and I was over the bridge outside Can-ski....upload started at 8 and I was on the gondy at 8:30, Red was 'busy' but not too bad, wild though that the runs themselves are pretty quiet, lap to the valley to finish up was nice. There was still a fairly solid line to upload at 11:30, but there was a lot of empty parking spaces in the garage.

[xyz]

That was the worst day out of the season for me. Showed up at 8 and parked with ease, so was confident that not that many people had shown up for 9cms. Blackcomb gondola was lined up past Portobello, past fairmont, onto the road to pretty much Nagomi. I just don't understand where all these people are coming from???
Checked the webcams, Fitz looked good, turns out they leave a huge gap so punters can gomp around and take selfies or some other shit. Ended up waiting 30 minutes for fitz, one ok run of Garbo, over to green, 45 minutes, then planned to take P2P over. That was lined up with about 200 people outside of building. Did a top to bottom in great snow and called it a day before I strangled some Jerry.

Hopefully yo all had better days than me cos the ski out was sick!

You'll get a do over tomorrow.

The hack this year is rotate buddies for an early spot in line. I parked at B2 after 8 but joined buddy at front of B Gondi line as it opened. The CIBC mall cops don't seem to care too much about line cutting if you're joining someone in your bubble. Sweet day up there with snow and wind keeping Glacier chair pretty quiet. I even got super barrelled in Ruby after lunch!

I hear the Whistler alpine lifts didn't open and it was pretty epic trying to get to Bcomb. Whis could be good tomorrow if they can get it open.

[nortonwhis]

Did give me some time to flip thru photos.

[xyz]

Did give me some time to flip thru photos.

Nice pictures! Must have been Monday. What a day...

[teamdirt]

Nice work guys! Not much for crowds hey? Over on the east side of Rockies nothing but crowds! Record lineups, no parking, and no place to warm up! Bit of a challenge at -18 Lol.

[eldereldo]

Oh there are lines if you are on Whistler, Blackcomb has been way better as long as you avoid 7th on sunny days. Living in Creekside isn’t the best place to be this year, you either get there early and stand inline waiting for the Gondi to open, or you stand in the line shuffling towards it.
Probably the same wait either way. At least with the first you get a bunch of runs in before the hoards have uploaded.

[Maximus Farcisimus]

I just don't understand where all these people are coming from???
!

So many destination tourists.

My restaurant if full of em. Half the room was Quebecois last night, tons from Ontario, some Albertans, and Manitobans. A good amount of Americans too.
Most travelling as groups.(2+ family’s) It’s a constant education process cause non of em know about the local provincial rules.
Covid dix-neuf we called service last night.
Hope everyone is ready for llockdiwn number 2, I’m sure it’s coming-probably in the 8th.
Dr Henry is losing and the warning shots she’s firing aren’t working.



Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

[unclebill]

So many destination tourists.

My restaurant if full of em. Half the room was Quebecois last night, tons from Ontario, some Albertans, and Manitobans. A good amount of Americans too.
Most travelling as groups.(2+ family’s) It’s a constant education process cause non of em know about the local provincial rules.
Covid dix-neuf we called service last night.
Hope everyone is ready for llockdiwn number 2, I’m sure it’s coming-probably in the 8th.
Dr Henry is losing and the warning shots she’s firing aren’t working.



Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Better make sure they know about the special rule for tonight. No alcohol service after 8:00 pm. Need to order and load up before that.

[The AD]

A good amount of Americans too.

How the fuck are Americans there? Supposedly the only way is if you have family in Canada.

[LeeLau]

Temps - 4. Winds moderate in morning ( katabatic) then light but picking up to moderate from SW towards end of day.

Skies clear but clouding towards end of day. Skied SE then NE slopes. Snow bonding well on these aspects with even ski cuts on shallower sections yielding nil results. Low density snow overlaying supportive base. Saw Sz 1.5 Na on Decker Main; possible cornice trigger

[Toadman]

Man, I can't wait to ski Canadian pow again....along with tens of thousands of Americans

[t.odd]

beauty day, got 5 superb groomer laps in before 9:30, some of the better conditions for ripping I've experienced with empty runs, and nice carvy corduroy that you could really put an edge into confidently. Some very nice pow laps too once the alpine opened, here's hoping 2021 starts with cold temps and many big dumps!

[gramboh]

Ripping GS turns on perfect groomers is fun as hell. Forecast is promising if not a bit warm Saturday. Next week could be good. Weekend will be chaos no doubt, especially Saturday if no alpine due to wind/avalanche hazard.

Happy new year people.

[phatty]

Ripping GS turns on perfect groomers is fun as hell. Forecast is promising if not a bit warm Saturday. Next week could be good. Weekend will be chaos no doubt, especially Saturday if no alpine due to wind/avalanche hazard.

Happy new year people.

Some of my most fun times at WB is ripping Ross' Gold with 2cm of fresh on the corduroy. We would bang out as many laps as possible before the crowds would get up.

I'm curious on the Americans as well. My wife and kids can go to visit my in laws, but I'm not allowed since I'm not blood related. Plus the 14 day quarantine (3 days with negative test at certain borders).

[Dee Hubbs]

Some of my most fun times at WB is ripping Ross' Gold with 2cm of fresh on the corduroy. We would bang out as many laps as possible before the crowds would get up.

We still call that run Gandy Dancer. When Ross won his Gold medal, WB gave him a lifetime pass and he was able to choose a run to be named after him. When he chose Gandy Dancer to be remanded Ross' Gold it was not well received with some locals, especially the long time locals who raced the local Vally Race series for years on that run.

[kalisto]

We still call that run Gandy Dancer. When Ross won his Gold medal, WB gave him a lifetime pass and he was able to choose a run to be named after him. When he chose Gandy Dancer to be remanded Ross' Gold it was not well received with some locals, especially the long time locals who raced the local Vally Race series for years on that run.

think they changed it back to Gandy the last time I looked at a map. with Ross's gold in parentheses. or the other way around.

[The AD]

It's strange how attached people get to names. It's a ski run for crying out loud!

[snorkelinthepow1]

Based on some of the posts below, it seems like there are still huge crowds at WB this year. I think I was under the impression that most of the major Canadian resorts (WB, Banff, MTB) had Americans make up a large portion of the customer base and that they would struggle with the closed borders.
Last year I was reading that there were alot of complaints about the way the place was being run by Vail (Runs not being open, staffing, ETC...). Is this still the case this year? How are things running this year.

[LeeLau]

Based on some of the posts below, it seems like there are still huge crowds at WB this year. I think I was under the impression that most of the major Canadian resorts (WB, Banff, MTB) had Americans make up a large portion of the customer base and that they would struggle with the closed borders.
Last year I was reading that there were alot of complaints about the way the place was being run by Vail (Runs not being open, staffing, ETC...). Is this still the case this year? How are things running this year.

There are not huge crowds this year. People whine. Or they line up at the worst bottlenecks and fuck themselves with an unlubed triple headed black mamba. This is the TGR way

[XXX-er]

We still call that run Gandy Dancer. When Ross won his Gold medal, WB gave him a lifetime pass and he was able to choose a run to be named after him. When he chose Gandy Dancer to be remanded Ross' Gold it was not well received with some locals, especially the long time locals who raced the local Vally Race series for years on that run.

His coach is now my neighbor so on a chair ride I ask buddy if he knew Ross was a pot head to which he replied " the level those athletes perform at there is no way they could be high " handily dodging the question,
shortly after that Ross announced his MJ gig ... funny stuff eh

At some point I asked buddy if he actualy snowboarded cuz i had only seen him on skis ?

he said something like snow boarding is a stupid sport