First four days have been very good, obviously way better than anything at Mammoth thus far.
12/31: I spent the whole day at Blackcomb. Crowds were predictably pretty bad, but taking the singles line meant lines were never over 5 minutes. Found an untracked line down Blackcomb Glacier when it opened (maybe 4 inches of pretty supportable powder). It's a nice run, but very intermediate with an extremely long runout (made much worse by the hordes of beginners preventing you from keeping enough speed). Next I took the minute hike up Spanky's Ladder and worked my way into Sapphire Bowl. The entrance was pretty rocky, but not too terrifying. No untracked powder here, but about a foot of lightly tracked snow. Later in the day, I did Spanky's Chute, where the entrance was considerably more difficult. The person in this picture was stuck above some rocks for quite a while; the picture doesn't really do the rockiness and steepness justice:
I also had a nice run off 7th Heaven in Lakeside Bowl when it opened. No more than 2 inches of snow, but nice and smooth. Pakalolo held good soft snow as well. I was expecting Pakalolo to be more difficult, but it's really just a short section where the run is narrow, although there were some rocks in the choke.
Couloir Extreme was "closed" (a sign read closed, but no rope and people were still doing it), so I went around and did Big Bang, which is similar steepness and less tracked. It was very nice, and the snow in Quasar was still untracked in spots. In apparently classic Whistler form, the weather went from whiteout to this in an hour:
1/1: The morning was uncrowded after NYE festivities, but without any new snow, there was no real powder to be found. I started in Whistler, and since the Peak Chair was fully in a cloud, I went to Harmony. The steep Horseshoe ridge had nice soft snow, and Boomer Bowl below was still not too heavily tracked. The weather got worse throughout the day, and I decided it was wisest not to try the Peak Chair without any prior knowledge or visibility. Instead, I took the Peak 2 Peak Gondola back to Blackcomb (a really useful lift) and finished the day lapping 7th Heaven, which was nice and soft.
1/2: It's always good looking at this before the first chair:
This day was spent entirely at Whistler. Since I missed out on the Peak Chair before, I went straight there in the morning while visibility was still manageable. I tried getting into Glacier Bowl via the Cirque or Couloir, but both entrances required mandatory airs to firm moguls. Whistler Bowl proper and the slopes below were nice, but fully tracked and moguled at this point. West Cirque is a great steep run and had perfect chalky snow. The bumps lower down leading out to the Big Red Chair were a bit of a chore, though. W/B has really nice long runs, but the runouts are frequently painfully long, and the snow quality decreased significantly as you went lower on the mountain. Cockalorum also held great snow off the Peak, but it's a lot of traversing for a shorter run. Later in the day, I took a short bootpack off the top of Harmony to reach Excitation, which is really steep and held great snow. This picture once again does not show the true steepness; it's definitely steeper than any (non-TOTW, mandatory air) run at Mammoth.
1/3: Powder! Only 2cm reported overnight, so the crowds stayed home. It dumped all day, and certainly skied much deeper than what was reported. I went to Blackcomb in the morning and got some great runs. I was the first person into Sapphire Bowl and skied untracked powder through Zut Zut all the way to the road. It was easily 1.5 feet deep in there. I was also the first person into Pakalolo, and later the first person into Big Bang and the Couloir Extreme area. I was really shocked by the lack of competition for these lines. The alpine lifts at Blackcomb shut down around 1:30, so I went over to Whistler and skied Harmony, where I was getting untracked lines until the lift closed.
Another 1-1.5 feet expected overnight (albeit with high freezing levels) and 1-2 feet during the day tomorrow, so these next two days should be great!
12/31: I spent the whole day at Blackcomb. Crowds were predictably pretty bad, but taking the singles line meant lines were never over 5 minutes. Found an untracked line down Blackcomb Glacier when it opened (maybe 4 inches of pretty supportable powder). It's a nice run, but very intermediate with an extremely long runout (made much worse by the hordes of beginners preventing you from keeping enough speed). Next I took the minute hike up Spanky's Ladder and worked my way into Sapphire Bowl. The entrance was pretty rocky, but not too terrifying. No untracked powder here, but about a foot of lightly tracked snow. Later in the day, I did Spanky's Chute, where the entrance was considerably more difficult. The person in this picture was stuck above some rocks for quite a while; the picture doesn't really do the rockiness and steepness justice:
I also had a nice run off 7th Heaven in Lakeside Bowl when it opened. No more than 2 inches of snow, but nice and smooth. Pakalolo held good soft snow as well. I was expecting Pakalolo to be more difficult, but it's really just a short section where the run is narrow, although there were some rocks in the choke.
Couloir Extreme was "closed" (a sign read closed, but no rope and people were still doing it), so I went around and did Big Bang, which is similar steepness and less tracked. It was very nice, and the snow in Quasar was still untracked in spots. In apparently classic Whistler form, the weather went from whiteout to this in an hour:
1/1: The morning was uncrowded after NYE festivities, but without any new snow, there was no real powder to be found. I started in Whistler, and since the Peak Chair was fully in a cloud, I went to Harmony. The steep Horseshoe ridge had nice soft snow, and Boomer Bowl below was still not too heavily tracked. The weather got worse throughout the day, and I decided it was wisest not to try the Peak Chair without any prior knowledge or visibility. Instead, I took the Peak 2 Peak Gondola back to Blackcomb (a really useful lift) and finished the day lapping 7th Heaven, which was nice and soft.
1/2: It's always good looking at this before the first chair:
This day was spent entirely at Whistler. Since I missed out on the Peak Chair before, I went straight there in the morning while visibility was still manageable. I tried getting into Glacier Bowl via the Cirque or Couloir, but both entrances required mandatory airs to firm moguls. Whistler Bowl proper and the slopes below were nice, but fully tracked and moguled at this point. West Cirque is a great steep run and had perfect chalky snow. The bumps lower down leading out to the Big Red Chair were a bit of a chore, though. W/B has really nice long runs, but the runouts are frequently painfully long, and the snow quality decreased significantly as you went lower on the mountain. Cockalorum also held great snow off the Peak, but it's a lot of traversing for a shorter run. Later in the day, I took a short bootpack off the top of Harmony to reach Excitation, which is really steep and held great snow. This picture once again does not show the true steepness; it's definitely steeper than any (non-TOTW, mandatory air) run at Mammoth.
1/3: Powder! Only 2cm reported overnight, so the crowds stayed home. It dumped all day, and certainly skied much deeper than what was reported. I went to Blackcomb in the morning and got some great runs. I was the first person into Sapphire Bowl and skied untracked powder through Zut Zut all the way to the road. It was easily 1.5 feet deep in there. I was also the first person into Pakalolo, and later the first person into Big Bang and the Couloir Extreme area. I was really shocked by the lack of competition for these lines. The alpine lifts at Blackcomb shut down around 1:30, so I went over to Whistler and skied Harmony, where I was getting untracked lines until the lift closed.
Another 1-1.5 feet expected overnight (albeit with high freezing levels) and 1-2 feet during the day tomorrow, so these next two days should be great!
