Whistler 23-24

[greenmachine]

Wish you could reload old edge cards


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[wicked_sick]

Today definitely does not suck

[D(C)]

Yesterday was nice. There is definitely a crust under everything, but the new snow skied well. High elevation trees (e.g. VD) loaded up pretty deep. There was a lot of reverse loading, and it took longer than I would have expected to open the alpine. I wouldn’t be surprised if things were touchy in the backcountry.

[The AD]

I was just up and skied Monday and Tuesday. Monday morning was fun, but man it got busy. Glad I was on the mountain as soon as the lifts started turning. I hardly ever ski Whistler mid-season, but I was shocked at how many people were up there on a Monday. Today was just beautiful. Certainly there are still some shark fins around, and still some icy areas, but I really enjoyed the skiing.

[nortonwhis]

I was just up and skied Monday and Tuesday. Monday morning was fun, but man it got busy. Glad I was on the mountain as soon as the lifts started turning. I hardly ever ski Whistler mid-season, but I was shocked at how many people were up there on a Monday. Today was just beautiful. Certainly there are still some shark fins around, and still some icy areas, but I really enjoyed the skiing.

Monday was quiet on blackcomb. not sure if you were on whis but yeah that was super fun for a bluebird semi pow day. According to Google whistler has capacity for 30000 overnight people. Even at 50% capacity and then even at 50% of that actually on mountian thats still 7.5K. Then add in all the pow starved locals this season.

[The AD]

Monday was quiet on blackcomb.

There's my problem right there. I started on Blackcomb and got in a few good mid-mountain runs then decided I'd see if Crystal was going to open soon because I saw the lift running. I got in line there for maybe 15 minutes but lifties indicated it would still be a while so I skied down and ended up missing a turn and went all the way to the base. I decided I might as well try Whistler and went up Fitz. Pretty much long lines everywhere on Whistler. I guess I should have stayed at Blackcomb.

[Cocximus]

Q for WB ops as I don't want to bug you while busy on the slopes.

Is there a way to get an estimate for the showcase uptrack opening after a storm? There were days when it stayed closed well after glacier opened. I'd rather head out from 7th heaven than wait.

[nortonwhis]

Glacier is often dependent on whether they can get the hangfire off of husume, corona, phalanx etc. If the heli can fly expect it faster. Its also much slower going for patrol to get there at the moment due to the tbar being closed. Quite a lot of shots to throw.
I would normally gauge showcase as being 45 to an hour after glacier opens on a day w/o heli and tbar operational. Without add 30-45 maybe?

[nortonwhis]

Glacier is often dependent on whether they can get the hangfire off of husume, corona, phalanx etc. If the heli can fly expect it faster. Its also much slower going for patrol to get there at the moment due to the tbar being closed. Quite a lot of shots to throw.
I would normally gauge showcase as being 45 to an hour after glacier opens on a day w/o heli and tbar operational. Without add 30-45 maybe?

[phatty]

Is it official yet that Showcase is closed for the year? Still holding out hope for later season after a few storms.

[boar2m]

From what I know the closure is permanent. The receding Glacier cannot hold the towers in place. But then I'm a visitor from Mt. Hood Meadows just here for a few days.... missed the Harry and Meghan siting but having a blast roaming around sunny WB. Managed to find an easy entry from the chainsaw ridge into Hawaii 5 O? and find the best leftover windblown pow. Spanking did not suck at all either with plenty pockets of wintry pow

[boar2m]

Yeah it's a lean year and I'm calling it pow while locals are staying home. I luv cruising under the sun with no lift line to deal with. One more day to go and it's another sunny day.

[The AD]

Spanking did not suck at all

That's great, but how was the skiing?


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I was under the impression that the problem with Showcase was that with glacier recession and a low snow year the individual t-bars didn't have enough reach to run safely. The towers must be anchored into rock, so I can't imagine the glacier receding would cause a problem with the actual towers.

If this is true I'm sure the current lift could be modified to work, but that would be a temporary solution and probably not a priority for Vail.

[boar2m]

Lol

[carlh]

I’m heading up for next week and would love to meet up with anyone who’s around. Have the family so splitting time between kid laps and shredding. Only brining alpine gear but up for a boot pack.

[Cocximus]

Thanks nortonwhis.

Looks like they are building up snow under the T-bar. They are trying?

[LeeLau]

Toured out today Decker ,- Torrey. -4 to -1 in alpine. Skies mostly clear. Winds light. N facing has stout and largely impenetrable crust. S facing has mix of sastrugi and crust some of which is impenetrable and some breakable. Exit from Decker Lake to Disease Ridge is pretty bushy and low snow so budget time accordingly.

Views are outstanding today. Lines I've skied on Fissile, the Platform Gl, Tremor, Fitzsimmons that now have 20m+ drop to rocks. These past few years did a lot of damage

[Jongle]

Toured out today Decker ,- Torrey. -4 to -1 in alpine. Skies mostly clear. Winds light. N facing has stout and largely impenetrable crust. S facing has mix of sastrugi and crust some of which is impenetrable and some breakable. Exit from Decker Lake to Disease Ridge is pretty bushy and low snow so budget time accordingly.

If these are from Saturday, I'm one of the three skiers pictured on the far side of Decker Lake. We did a little loop over Decker peak and exit via Disease Ridge. Great views but truly heinous conditions, some of the worst I can remember.

[LeeLau]

If these are from Saturday, I'm one of the three skiers pictured on the far side of Decker Lake. We did a little loop over Decker peak and exit via Disease Ridge. Great views but truly heinous conditions, some of the worst I can remember.

Yes Saturday. Nice work on the skintrack; it was definitely on the advanced / challenging side of ski touring all day

[nortonwhis]

Couple of decent turns here and there the past couple of days. Not good, but not terrible. Wind was howling on Sunday afternoon. Never been so scared in a gondola in my life. Took 30 minutes from mid to top on blackcomb.

[nortonwhis]

Putting odds on tomorrow being the biggest shitshow in the history of shitshows.

[The AD]

Putting odds on tomorrow being the biggest shitshow in the history of shitshows.

I'd say odds are good. Hopefully the snow shows up. I noticed Stevens Pass has gotten 31 inches in the last two days and Whistler's only gotten a few cm.

[gramboh]

Coming up for the continued shit show on Thursday hoping for alpine. Not confident.

[Clownshoe]

My prediction for tomorrow: no alpine lifts due to wind. Possibility of mid mountain lifts also getting shut down due to winds.

[The AD]

Luckily it's cold right now. Not supposed to turn into rain at the base until tomorrow afternoon, so should still be good skiing even without the alpine.