Vail North aka Whistler Conditions 2017-18

[DanoT]

Oops, I overlooked the "between Xmas and NYE" part in my previous post. Going anywhere near WB during that week is insane. Better to change plans and go to any resort in the B.C. interior.

[nortonwhis]

I’ll be up visiting WB with family, including my non-skiing mid-70s parents. We’ll be staying in whistler village Christmas to New Years.

I know this a little counter to the TGR raison d’etre, but do you have any recommendations for activities for older folks?

I’m thinking of sending the folks on a sleigh ride dinner one night. Is there other stuff like that to look into for them?

Sorry for the sidetrack question & thanks for any help!

Also, any thoughts on the 2-day steep clinic run by Extremely Canadian ? (for me)

As mentioned Extremely Canadian is great if its a pow day and you don't know where to go, probs wouldn't bother on a non pow day though. Everything is insanely busy during that period, though lines don't get tracked as its mainly rich jerrys complaining about too much snow.
Second the recs for Christines/Steeps. Definitely make reservations. Canadian Wildnerness to some sweet snow cat tours up the mountain at night for dinner at the Crystal hut (https://www.canadianwilderness.com/fondue/). Its expensive but if you can afford to be in whistler at that time shouldn't be a prob. Those guys also do dog sledding.

Restaurants are generally slamming from 5-8pm in the village, but mellow out after that and are dead by 9 most of the time. I would be making reservations now if you haven't already for the popular places.

[::: :::]

probably not my favorite week, but i'm just an attendee (larger family gathering put scheduling where it is)
seems like cutting lines w/ the clinic may be a bonus to skiing good lines
i'll get on scheduling stuff now

thx, shredhead, eldo, danot & nortonwhis

[robbo mcs]

I know this a little counter to the TGR raison d’etre, but do you have any recommendations for activities for older folks?

I’m thinking of sending the folks on a sleigh ride dinner one night. Is there other stuff like that to look into for them?

Sorry for the sidetrack question & thanks for any help!

Sleigh rides, dog sled rides.

Not sure if they still have it, but there used to be a thing where you could get skiied around the mountain. They had a set up, kind of like a wheelchair sitting on the front of skis. Elderly folk, non-skiiers etc get to be taken for a ride around the slopes. Always looked like a great way for them to experience the mountain.

There are some nice gentle walks around the lakes, through trees etc, look for the valley trail network.

None snow related activities are plenty too. First nations museum (forget its name) is very good. Scandanavian spa if they are into that kind of thing.

[gramboh]

Anyone hearing rumours about opening day? I know they did their annual heli promo shoot the other day on Blackcomb. Surprised they haven’t announced if they are gonna open this weekend. Forecast is promising.

[nortonwhis]

Anyone hearing rumours about opening day? I know they did their annual heli promo shoot the other day on Blackcomb. Surprised they haven’t announced if they are gonna open this weekend. Forecast is promising.

From what i've heard the gates are the hold up. Vail are installing their gates.
I also heard that the WBPlus was gonna be gone and it would be easier for people to hike again rather than being scanned at every lift. Again that was just something i overhead so take it with a grain of salt.

[Maximus Farcisimus]

Anyone hearing rumours about opening day? I know they did their annual heli promo shoot the other day on Blackcomb. Surprised they haven’t announced if they are gonna open this weekend. Forecast is promising.

Friday, Whistler, confirmed.
Press release on Tuesdays usually.

[gramboh]

Friday, Whistler, confirmed.
Press release on Tuesdays usually.

Cheers dude.

[gramboh]

From what i've heard the gates are the hold up. Vail are installing their gates.
I also heard that the WBPlus was gonna be gone and it would be easier for people to hike again rather than being scanned at every lift. Again that was just something i overhead so take it with a grain of salt.

I’ve been trying to figure out if I need to do a new waiver or not.. got the WB Unlimited pass. Nothing shows up online when I login to WB site so I assume I’m good to go. Will give them a call this week.

[Vitamin I]

Have your parents take the Whistler Gondola out of the village as foot passengers and meet you for lunch at the Roundhouse and the Peak to Peak Gondola to meet you for lunch at Blackcomb's Rendezvous Lodge…

At top of Roundhouse, don’t forget to take the obligatory photo of your parents on the fake Olympic podium with Air Jordan in the background. Might have to wait 10 minutes for your turn on the fake podium though, haha. Also, when getting in line at the Peak-to-Peak gondola, there's a countdown timer telling you how many minutes to wait if you want to skip the "regular" cabins and wait for one of the 2 glass-bottom cabins.

…Not sure if they still have it, but there used to be a thing where you could get skiied around the mountain. They had a set up, kind of like a wheelchair sitting on the front of skis. Elderly folk, non-skiiers etc get to be taken for a ride around the slopes. Always looked like a great way for them to experience the mountain…

Yep, I saw people doing that as recent as last winter. It’s an employee skier controlling the chair thingy from behind. Only one passenger allowed, as far as I know. The passenger looked super-stoked every time I saw those.

From what i've heard the gates are the hold up. Vail are installing their gates.
I also heard that the WBPlus was gonna be gone and it would be easier for people to hike again rather than being scanned at every lift. Again that was just something i overhead so take it with a grain of salt.

"EpicMix" is the RFID tracking app for VailCorp at Keystone, Breck, etc. (just like WB+ app at Whistler). The EpicMix app development people told me WB+ app would no longer be supported this winter, and that EpicMix app will track Whistler lifts starting about DEC 15.

I’m at Keystone right now and the VailCorp scanner gates are not only at the bottom—they are also on the higher lift that is open this early-season. I’m assuming the VailCorp scanner gates will be at every Whistler lift, but maybe I'm wrong about that. Well, even if no scanner gates at all, they can easily have employees point a handheld RFID scanner at every skier one at a time (that's how they did it at Breck today). Also, the VailCorp scanner gates at Keystone seem WAY “stronger” at detecting RFID cards than Whistler scanner gates, which were “weak”, sometimes took multiple attempts to be successful, and had high failure rate (especially at 7th Heaven, Gondy mid-station, and maybe others). Keystone's scanners are so strong that as I exit the Gondola after download at end of day (the runs are not skiable all the way down to the bottom of mtn), the upload scanner 10ft away detects my RFID card and credits me for an upload as I walk away towards the parking lot (a failure for having too much range). ...Also, EpicMix does not support custom display names, so instead of seeing "Vertbag", you'll see "Renee L." this winter in EpicMix. And leaderboards are available only on EpicMix desktop version of the website---not available on mobile app nor mobile website, so if you want to see leaderboard while skiing, you gotta make your mobile browser trick the server into sending the desktop version of the website. Maybe I should submit those 2 feature requests to the EpicMix dev team.

.

[tbssux]

"Maybe I should submit those 2 feature requests to the EpicMix dev team."
Or maybe try not caring so much about your leaderboard on epic-mix. Or whatever.
Keystone sucks, btw.

[wizard604]

From what i've heard the gates are the hold up. Vail are installing their gates.
I also heard that the WBPlus was gonna be gone and it would be easier for people to hike again rather than being scanned at every lift. Again that was just something i overhead so take it with a grain of salt.

That explains why WBPlus is no longer showing up on the WB app. Too bad though cuz I've just gotten used to tracking my daily vert and days using that. I noticed that you can still access WBPlus through their website for now. Guess we'll have to see how their Epicmix app compares. Maybe I'll have to resort to using something else like Strava???

Anxious for this Friday opening... The base will be well over 100cm by then.

[knowsam]

do you have any recommendations for activities for older folks?

You won't have a problem keeping them entertained - if they eat, feed them. If they are healthy and can get outside, a drive to Squamish for the gondola or Callaghan to see the Olympic sites is cool. Decent car-free centre to walk through that is kept reasonably snow clear. They have events most nights in the village that are family friendly. Sorry I can't be more specific, but the span of what is suitable for "older folks" is a lot, but they will have lots for them to do as long as they are mobile.

Also, any thoughts on the 2-day steep clinic run by Extremely Canadian ? (for me)

I do these every year at Xmas (including this one) and I can't recommend it enough. Every time I go I learn something and explore new parts of the mountain (I've skied there a lot so I thought I knew the mountains well). Most of the season the clinics are worth it, but at Christmas, the line skipping alone is with the cost of admission.

[paulster2626]

I'll third the recco for Xtremely Canadian.

Those guys will get you going hard. They'll split you up in to two groups, so make sure you're in the "good" one. I did this by trying to show off in the Aspen Extreme-style ski-off, and promptly ate shit right in front of the instructors.

I still ski lines I learned from those 2 days. They'll teach you what zones and lines to hit on a pow day and in what order, and having a guide in spanky's if you're unfamiliar is $$$$$. Few things are worth $400 or whatever this costs, but skiing with these guys on a pow day is definitely a good purchase.

[nortonwhis]

"EpicMix" is the RFID tracking app for VailCorp at Keystone, Breck, etc. (just like WB+ app at Whistler). The EpicMix app development people told me WB+ app would no longer be supported this winter, and that EpicMix app will track Whistler lifts starting about DEC 15.

.

Ah makes sense. Maybe a free for all until Dec 15th when they get their gates installed in the alpine. Saw epicmix being advertised as the official app when grabbing my pass last night.

Today’s news: it’s on. Whistler Mountain will be opening early, this Friday, November 17th. Get the jump on the #First30 days of the season by joining us for an early weekend of skiing and snowboarding. We will have Whistler Village Gondola, Creekside Gondola, Big Red Express, Emerald Express and Franz's chairs turning.
Early season conditions will apply. Please respect all mountain signage, ski and ride on open runs only and stay within the operational area marked by boundary signage.

I wonder whether "early weekend of skiing and snowboarding" means they will shut for monday?

[machine_learner]

Is the Alpine generally open for touring before the upper lifts are open? Never skied Whistler early season before.

[Brock_ski]

If (like me) you were waiting for your new pass in the mail and your current photograph is more than 3 years old, you will not receive a pass in the mail. You must go into Guest Services to have a new pass issued. If you submit a new photograph on-line, your new pass will be processed and mailed from Colorado (with no expected arrival date).

Somehow, Vail forgot to tell anyone this (or, at least, I received no notification when they took my payment, when I confirmed my waiver on-line or in response to my e-mail asking when I would receive the pass).

I guess the people responsible for accurate information on the website were laid off when Vail consolidated IT operations.

Expect a cluster f**k at Guest Services this Friday and over the next several weekends.

[gramboh]

If (like me) you were waiting for your new pass in the mail and your current photograph is more than 3 years old, you will not receive a pass in the mail. You must go into Guest Services to have a new pass issued. If you submit a new photograph on-line, your new pass will be processed and mailed from Colorado (with no expected arrival date).

Somehow, Vail forgot to tell anyone this (or, at least, I received no notification when they took my payment, when I confirmed my waiver on-line or in response to my e-mail asking when I would receive the pass).

I guess the people responsible for accurate information on the website were laid off when Vail consolidated IT operations.

Expect a cluster f**k at Guest Services this Friday and over the next several weekends.

This happened to my buddy, long time pass holder. He tried calling WB today to sort it out and their phone system was so overloaded it was just a busy signal. Some guest services employee on FB is claiming they had 200+ people on the phone system queue all day. Insanity.

I'm not seeing any waiver when I sign into WB.com under season pass so I hope I am clear to go.

[raypruit]

i bought my edge card last spring. remind me - do i get unlimited early season skiing or was that scrapped by vail? and i should be able to use my last season's edge card at the gates right? thanks!

[lazyasian]

i bought my edge card last spring. remind me - do i get unlimited early season skiing or was that scrapped by vail? and i should be able to use my last season's edge card at the gates right? thanks!

Not sure about last season's card, but you do still get unlimited early season skiing under the new Vail overlords

[wizard604]

This happened to my buddy, long time pass holder. He tried calling WB today to sort it out and their phone system was so overloaded it was just a busy signal. Some guest services employee on FB is claiming they had 200+ people on the phone system queue all day. Insanity.

I'm not seeing any waiver when I sign into WB.com under season pass so I hope I am clear to go.

Well f*** that was something I wasnt counting on. I would have gone in and got my new pass earlier if I had known this. I still have my old WB pass and have not received any new pass in the mail.

The only info on their website is:

If I have an existing Whistler Blackcomb Season Pass or EDGE Card am I able to reload it for
the 2017-2018 season?
No, you will need a new access card. Guests who purchase a 2017-2018 product prior to
September 4, 2017 will receive their new access card in the mail and free of charge in the fall of
2017. Those who purchase after September 4, 2017 will be charged a shipping and handling
fee. Your 2016-2017 card will be used for 2017 summer access. Your new Season Pass card will
be delivered in mail during the fall of 2017.

[Eldo]

i bought my edge card last spring. remind me - do i get unlimited early season skiing or was that scrapped by vail? and i should be able to use my last season's edge card at the gates right? thanks!

I forget the deadline to buy and receive the free early season skiing but if you bought in the spring it was probably in order to meet that deadline.

However you need a new card as last year's won't work.

I got mine in the mail about three weeks ago, just when I was about to phone and find out where it was. I assumed there would be an early opening so I wanted to make sure I got the card in plenty of time.

[The AD]

None snow related activities are plenty too. First nations museum (forget its name) is very good. Scandanavian spa if they are into that kind of thing.

Scandinave is a good call. Very relaxing.

[gramboh]

I talked to Guest Services this morning. The picture issue wizard604 says above is true. If you didn’t receive your new epic branded pass/EDGE card by now you need to go into guest services to get a new one. There is no way to fix this outside of Whistler. WB is supposedly adding more staff/locations to do this (Canski, Carlton etc) but it’s going to be an absolute gong show this weekend.

At least I confirmed my pass is good to go. Guess I’ll see my buddy around noon haha.

[shirk]

Yep it's shitty they didn't make this known earlier. I happened to transfer some unused Edgecard days for the bike park on closing bike weekend and asked about the winter pass. The lady checked and said my pic was older than 3 yrs and I'd need a new pic. She took it then and updated the system and I got the new VailOverlords pass in the mail a couple weeks ago. The only reason I asked is because my spouse and the kid got their new passes in the mail and mine wasn't there. Seems she had updated her pic in the last couple years for some reason.

This might be the first time ever that guys will be camping out overnight to get first spot in the Guest Services line up rather than in the Gondola line up. Cluster fuck. Tell your buddies to just go straight to apres after getting their pass.