Planning a trip to Sun Peaks BC jan 22-29. A few questions

[Anonymous]

Having already skied Whistler many times, plus The Banff area and Silverstar, I am looking for a new destination in Canada. Sun Peaks seems, on paper, to meet my criteria. Looks challenging enough and has undergone recent expansion, so I hope it won't be too crowded.

What are the chances of rain at the end of January? (Got rained on in mid-february at Silverstar a few years ago). Any potential problem with snow cover? How cold could it get? (Am still not over that -43 C without windchill in Banff when I visited some years back...)

Any other comments are welcome.

Bernard

 

[Tony Crocker]

You were very unlucky at SilverStar. The Okanagan rarely gets rain. It's probably even less likely at Sun Peaks, which has a colder and drier climate, though not quite as extreme as Banff.

Despite modest annual snowfall of 203 inches, Sun Peaks does seem to get its terrain open as quickly as the Okanagan areas that get more. At the moment Sun Peaks claims 50% open vs. 22% at Big White and Silver Star. I think it may be what I call the "Sun Valley syndrome." If an area's snowfall is historically modest, the trails and their maintenance are designed in a way that they can operate on a lower snowbase than one might expect. Sun Peaks is the largest western area that I have not skied (I will be there for the http://nasja.org meeting in 2007), but word-of-mouth reputation for terrain is very good.

 

[Anonymous]

I think it may be what I call the "Sun Valley syndrome." If an area's snowfall is historically modest, the trails and their maintenance are designed in a way that they can operate on a lower snowbase than one might expect.

Thanks Tony for the comments. Good point about the Sun Valley syndrome. I have observed the opposite, what I would call the Whistler syndrome. I happened to ski there in January in a low snow year and was appalled by the neglect of the trail base on expert trails below timberline: 3-4 foot high trees, stumps, rocks...Lots of snow seems to promote laziness

There were potentially interesting glade skiing lower down Whistler the mountain, but there was no way they were skiable, even with the claimed 160 cm alpine base. Of course, there is much less snow on the lower mountain.

There is not much point to cutting glades if it is so sloppily done that they won't be usable except in the middle of a much better than average snow year.

Same experience here last year at nearby Mont-Sainte-Anne where beautiful expert glades were cut (Forêt Noire - Black Forest), but obviously by workers who refused to bend below the waist...These glades supposedly have been cleaned up for the coming season.

Bernard

 

[Tony Crocker]

I call the opposite "Snowbird syndrome." Snowbird is my favorite area anywhere, but I skied there once at Christmas 1986 on a reported 37-inch depth. You could run some nice laps on Little Cloud, but it was practically impossible to descend to the base without trashing your skis. FYI Alta was still OK during that trip on its 47-inch depth. Its base is 600 ft. higher and the lower mountain runs are either flat (Sunnyside) or exceptionally well sheltered (Wildcat/Collins). Snowbird should be avoided on reported depths under 50 inches, and it really needs more like 70.

I view Whistler/Blackcomb at 2 great areas of ~3,500 vertical totalling 6,000 acres. If the bottom has decent skiing, that's just icing on the cake. W/B management knows this and thus has extensive end-of-the-day download capacity. You're only in trouble with the "weather sandwich", when the bottom has rain or bad coverage but the alpine is closed by wind/visibility/avalanche control.

I would agree that the cut glades on Blackcomb are somewhat marginal in terms of altitude/exposure. The best tree skiing is on Whistler, in the natural transition zone between the alpine and the lower cut trails.

 

[Geoff]

I would agree that the cut glades on Blackcomb are somewhat marginal in terms of altitude/exposure. The best tree skiing is on Whistler, in the natural transition zone between the alpine and the lower cut trails.

Dunno 'bout that. I've had many an entertaining day at Blackcomb skiing in all those marked glade trails. The ones off the Crystal chair that dump you out on the infinite runout back from the bowls named after gemstones are my favorites. The uphill-most one is called Outer Limits. I forget the name of the next one over. There's also a really fun creek bed below that chair. On the other side, there are those tree runs that drop off below the cat track to 7th Heaven. Nobody skis them and they're a great place to hang out when the resort is socked in on a powder day.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had many an entertaining day at Blackcomb skiing in all those marked glade trails. The ones off the Crystal chair that dump you out on the infinite runout back from the bowls named after gemstones are my favorites. The uphill-most one is called Outer Limits. I forget the name of the next one over. There's also a really fun creek bed below that chair. On the other side, there are those tree runs that drop off below the cat track to 7th Heaven. Nobody skis them and they're a great place to hang out when the resort is socked in on a powder day.

You are right Geoff. These are nice spots on Blackcomb. As for problematic trails and glades on Whistler mountain, I was mostly talking about the Garbanzzo Express area.

Meanwhile, nobody seems to have anything to report about Sun Peaks. I guess I will have to go myself then.

 

[Tony Crocker]

A storm day is the right time to be skiing those Blackcomb cut glades. Whislter is more restricted in foul weather. After a few sunny days Whistler will have more terrain with good snow conditions due to higher percent facing north.

 

[Geoff]

A storm day is the right time to be skiing those Blackcomb cut glades. Whislter is more restricted in foul weather. After a few sunny days Whistler will have more terrain with good snow conditions due to higher percent facing north.

You've actually experienced a few sunny days at Whistler? *grin*

I can remember a number of Whistler trips where I didn't ride the Peak chair or the 7th Heaven chair once. I'm a New England skier and I don't particularly enjoy skiing above the tree line in flat light.

At this point, I've pretty much stopped going there. I think the place is ruined with all the uphill capacity. My next trip out to Vancouver in a couple of weeks, I'll either be at Mt Baker or head off to the Okanagan.

Oh, on topic:
I've stayed at Sun Peaks but it was in the summer. My sister used to own some land about 30 miles away. Nice little purpose-built base village. I don't have a clue about the quality of the skiing.

 

[Anonymous]

At this point, I've pretty much stopped going there (Whistler). I think the place is ruined with all the uphill capacity

I am thinking along the same lines. That is why I am now looking at areas with less skier density as potential destinations. Putnam Creek at Silver Star is the perfect example of an area where you feel you are almost alone on the trails, even if the chair is full.

As for Sun Peaks, it appears my trip will be moved to February 5-12, because of my wife's work constraints, which will dispell any doubts about having enough snow.

 

[Tony Crocker]

My first Whistler trip in Feb. 1991 started with 3 warm and sunny days of spring conditions. Then Mother Nature flipped the switch and it snowed all the way to sea level for the next 3 days. First of April 1998 was more typical Whistler with mostly overcast and occasional fog in the alpine. With persistence we manged to ski most of the alpine areas we wanted dodging the clouds.

I am personally not bothered much by the big popular mountains like Whistler and Vail. The casual skiers do not distribute themselves efficiently, so there are plenty of outlying areas with low skier density. I suppose this comes from my formative ski years at Mammoth, when it was the busiest ski area in North America in the late 70's and early 80's.

I will be in Whistler March 21-24 with both of my sons and writing an FTO feature for next fall.

 

[Anonymous]

Just got confirmation of all reservations for my trip to Sun Peaks which I had to push back a little to Feb 5-12. I will write a short report when I get back.