Its a bit of a late start to our local ski season with Blue opening a couple of weeks ago. Headed out for #1 on Thursday Eve after work meeting up with Patrick, Lisa and her boys. Miss the Whistler POW things were hard , fast and a bit icy. They are in huge need of some snow and it looks like it came over the past few days.
This was my 5th trip to Whistler in the past 24 months and I finally got 3 days of deep powder skiing in. We went hard from the time the lifts started turning until the last rides up...it was Epic. Most of the high Alpine was closed and we heard bombing daily. Harmony opened the second day so we did get a little taste of the bowls but the theme of the week was trees!
Had another great trip to Whistler we really lucked out with some significant snowfall in the days before we arrived. We did 4 days at WB and 1 day of Heli Skiing. Hands down the Heli day was the highlight of the trip a very unique experience that I plan on repeating in 2023.
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Couldn't get to the ski hill Saturday due to closed roads. I wasn't about to not take advantage of some fresh pow so I hit the backyard for a few turns. I have always thought I would enjoy touring skis/boots/bindings skinning up hills but I have discovered a very good plan B. My large float snow shoes accommodated my ski boots very nicely so I strapped my skies onto my back pack and headed up for some backyard fun.
Headed out with Buckle hooking up with Todd and Daryl this morning skiing from 11 until 2. It was sunny , 4C actually quite warm but the snow was really good. Did a little off piste dropping into Happy Valley and dropping off Waterfall finally making it over the last two bridges.
Hit the slopes at 3:30 meeting up with Todd and Daryl. It was super busy, really not worth the drive but hey I got a few turns in! Logged 3 hours then headed home.
Made it for 9am and stayed until 2pm the pow off Piste was amazing. Documented some of the areas I explored.
With rain in the forecast today and snow later in the week I went to Blue Monday Eve. Started around 5 following the groomers , first tracks on smart alec and tranquility. Had the new POW skies and there wasn't any pow .... they were not nearly as much fun! Thinks I will go back to my all mountain ski for days like this in the future. Tried a wee bit off off piste with a headlamp ...worked well but it was super traced out just about everywhere so not as much fun as last week.
Was out with Mr. Chris Buckle on Tuesday. After bombing a few runs we hit the glades on just about every run. It was a ton of fun the highlight of the day was drooping off croaked oak into happy valley...good times. We were out for close to 5 hours, I didn't want to stop.
I has bindings mounted on my new powered skies Friday , the one on the left!
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Tool them for a little spin at Blue and was thrilled...
I was pretty happy with them but it wasn't until Monday that I really put them to the test....can you say Powder Day!
I am really super happy with these skis so happy I go them and am able to put them to good use ahead of the my upcoming trip West. I tool them off Piste too and they rocked. Had so much more confidence with these guys I was busting cornices and dropping off Piste in places I never have before. See the smile...
Went over to Blue Saturday evening starting around 6:00. It was super busy and only got a couple of runs in the first hour. Thought about calling it a day but met up with Marc and Todd at the clock tower and skied with them until around 8:30. Things thinned out a bit but there was always a wait heading back up. It was nice to be out but I am not sure I will do Saturday evening again any time soon.
Monday was fabulous, fresh snow and continuously falling snow and no one there made for some great runs. Met up with Patrick, Todd and Daryl after my first couple of runs at close to 10:00. Hung in there with them until around 1:00 then headed home having to work at 4:00. Best run of the day was Orchard lift line . They started turning the lift there at noon and we were there for first tracks , actually had a POW run that was really nice.
I was under the lights for the first time this season last night. It was super icy but I found a good line under the Southern Comfort Chair and ran it. Its was pretty quiet , almost no lift line...very nice.
