Whistler/Vail North 2020/2021

[nortonwhis]

Had a great day up there. Minimal lines except the initial upload. Great snow all day long. Alpine was refilling hard at 3 with heavy winds again.

[diademed]

I haven’t found that to be the case, checked this a few times and they have been identical. I was refreshing to book Saturday and they both opened/closed the days at the same time.

FWIW, the local Facebook threads claim to observe the disparity at Stevens. Seems to be pretty volatile. I was able to snag a previously sold out Friday ticket by refreshing for a few minutes.

[eldereldo]

Had a great day up there. Minimal lines except the initial upload. Great snow all day long. Alpine was refilling hard at 3 with heavy winds again.

Where were you skiing?

[xyz]

Man I was hoping everyone blew their wad yesterday and would give up on today but it looks like they doubled down. We showed up at the same time (730) at bcomb Gondi today and the line was way longer. Too bad the alpine was wind hammered. Even the trees had grabby pow. Yesterday was the day, for us at least.

[nortonwhis]

Where were you skiing?

Blackcomb. I guess by minimal crowds, i mean minimal for a weekend POW day that was forecast a week out at the start of Xmas holidays. I don't think i waited longer than 10 minutes except on the initial upload. Rode bell to bell.

Man I was hoping everyone blew their wad yesterday and would give up on today but it looks like they doubled down. We showed up at the same time (730) at bcomb Gondi today and the line was way longer. Too bad the alpine was wind hammered. Even the trees had grabby pow. Yesterday was the day, for us at least.

Ya same here. Bailed at 12 after a 3 disappointing alpine laps. Few good turns here and there, was almost like the wind switched direction by a quadrant or so from yesterday. Maybe SE rather than SW or something similar.

[eldereldo]

Blackcomb. I guess by minimal crowds, i mean minimal for a weekend POW day that was forecast a week out at the start of Xmas holidays. I don't think i waited longer than 10 minutes except on the initial upload. Rode bell to bell.


Ya same here. Bailed at 12 after a 3 disappointing alpine laps. Few good turns here and there, was almost like the wind switched direction by a quadrant or so from yesterday. Maybe SE rather than SW or something similar.

Thought it might be Blackcomb, seems it is always busier on Whistler, I think the green/blue skiers like it because they can go up Peak and then do a green run all the way back to Harmony, then brag to their friends about skiing the Peak Chair.

[gramboh]

Anyone come down Singing Pass since the new snow? Wondering if it’s improved/skiable the whole way yet.

[ahmedthesailor]

Peak Chair is punishment for shoplifting in some cultures. I exclusively ski Blackcomb for the same reasons you outlined. There is a zone called Spunky's Staircase which is for Loc dawgs only, not many people know about it but you can go there 6 days into a high pressure system and ski neck deep blower all the way down to the Upper Village, where the true, gritty, meat and potatoes culture of real skiing still exists.

[powder_to_the_people]

For those of you having a hard time getting the desired days at whistler because of the reservation system: feel free to PM, I might be able to help.

[Dee Hubbs]

Peak Chair is punishment for shoplifting in some cultures. I exclusively ski Blackcomb for the same reasons you outlined. There is a zone called Spunky's Staircase which is for Loc dawgs only, not many people know about it but you can go there 6 days into a high pressure system and ski neck deep blower all the way down to the Upper Village, where the true, gritty, meat and potatoes culture of real skiing still exists.

I'm having trouble finding Spunky's Staircase on the trail map?

[ahmedthesailor]

[t.odd]

I had two good days this weekend, variable snow for sure, but still had a good time. Was in Creekside line by 7:15 both days, full corral but it's the game this year and once on the hill aside from peak opening, lines were not terrible if you avoided Green. I think the alpine snow was better on Saturday.

[paige.]

What's the best bet for uploading solo? I feel bad claiming an entire gondola for myself, but taking Fitz/Garbo sounds like a huge chunk of time out of my day.

[t.odd]

don't feel guilty, just rock up solo, it's how it is this year.

[gramboh]

For those of you having a hard time getting the desired days at whistler because of the reservation system: feel free to PM, I might be able to help.

Hahaha please tell me there isn’t a checkout style bot for Epic/WB reservations? Too funny if there is, guess it would be pretty easy to write one and they don’t have bot protection in place.

Edit: how long are people finding upload takes on the days with long lines if you show up at 7:45ish? Both Creekside and village/Blackcomb?

[KevLar]

.

[The AD]

Hahaha please tell me there isn’t a checkout style bot for Epic/WB reservations? Too funny if there is, guess it would be pretty easy to write one and they don’t have bot protection in place.

I've already seen someone advertising this service. Not surprising at all.

[Toadman]

don't feel guilty, just rock up solo, it's how it is this year.

Definitely. Was skiing at JHMR two weeks ago. It was very odd getting a gondy to myself. But the lifties were super cool about it.

[nortonwhis]

Hahaha please tell me there isn’t a checkout style bot for Epic/WB reservations? Too funny if there is, guess it would be pretty easy to write one and they don’t have bot protection in place.

Edit: how long are people finding upload takes on the days with long lines if you show up at 7:45ish? Both Creekside and village/Blackcomb?

On the weekend just gone you would have been loaded around 9 at blackcomb according to people i spoke to. Someone showed up at 8 on Saturday and loaded at 9:15. There was even a line this morning before opening with no new snow.

Oh and as others have mentioned, once you do get up its generally fairly reasonable lines, in comparison to the initial line. I know normally if it takes an hour in for initial upload you can bank on insane lines for the entire today, hasn't really been the case. Glacier was pretty much ski on around 11 yesterday. Classic case of 'good things come to those who wait'

[shirk]

Another angle...what time do the village lines clear out for late arrivals? With two small kids in tow we'd roll up for an afternoon ski vs endure the morning gong show.

[The AD]

Another angle...what time do the village lines clear out for late arrivals? With two small kids in tow we'd roll up for an afternoon ski vs endure the morning gong show.

The whistlerpeak.com site does show hourly photos from some of the cameras (although not the village), so that might be a good place to check. With the snow today it looks like lines are still pretty bad.

[LeeLau]

Another angle...what time do the village lines clear out for late arrivals? With two small kids in tow we'd roll up for an afternoon ski vs endure the morning gong show.

We were at Blackcomb at 8am. Loaded at 8.30. Skied about 10 - 15cms new snow with not many tracks till about 11.30 then skied out.

At 11.30am the Blackcomb Gondola lineup looked like perhaps 5 minutes? And the snow was still barely tracked

[Maximus Farcisimus]

. how long are people finding upload takes on the days with long lines if you show up at 7:45ish? Both Creekside and village/Blackcomb?

Look at Wayne Flanns blog today. Yesterday he was there at 7:45, loaded at 9:30–so 90 min wait. I had a friend get there similar time load at 10-2hrs.
Made yesterday my weekly day off-to hell w the Vancouver Covidiot shitshow.

Epic today.
No snow at the morning report and just dumping w free refills all day. 20-25 in the alpine. No lines, on one Peak lap I only saw 6 skiers the whole ride up.
Not that wind affected crap that some of the weekend was.
-West Cirque entrance is rowdy, new access to the old Peak chair mid is sketch, Glacier Cirque-sideslip central-nobody knows what a jump turn is anymore.

Loading everywhere-need more skier compaction-lol




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[xyz]

What's the best bet for uploading solo? I feel bad claiming an entire gondola for myself, but taking Fitz/Garbo sounds like a huge chunk of time out of my day.

Only feel bad if you and your covid bubble buddies all go into the singles line because its faster and each get a gondola.

Edit: how long are people finding upload takes on the days with long lines if you show up at 7:45ish? Both Creekside and village/Blackcomb?

Showing up at 745am vs 715am at the blackcomb gondi this weekend costed you 1.5 hrs. On normal days, 745 should be fine.

I rocked up to Base 2 around 830 today for last spot in Lot 7. Excal still had a line into the parking lot so I went to Fitz and skied right on. But I should have gotten on mid station gondi after Fitz as the green chair was busy and slow AF to load. But the alpine lifts were empty, as the viz was limited, mostly because of the snow blowing up around me. :-)

[LeeLau]

25.6cms new over 12 hrs. Visitor #'s today less than 5.5k. That's about 20% of normal visitor numbers for a 25cms day. Close the border 4evah