Whistler 2011 / 2012 - The Community Blog
are those vd trees? they look like christmas trees
Hilarious, dad.
I really like the jacket, Gamblor. One of the best I’ve owned for sure. I think it’s better than my last Stagger jacket, especially the quality of the zips and the big, easy-to-use pockets. The pow grip thing hasn’t been used yet (we need more snow), but I think it would work really well. The built in face mask is a nice idea but it’s kind of bulky at the back of the neck - I guess I could easily remove it but I want to try it out first.
The big disappointment is the jacket to pant interface. This one only has a standard powder skirt with three clip attachments for the pants. My old jacket actually zipped to the pants all the way around. I didn’t use it often but it really came in handy on big powder days. I don’t know why they would have removed this feature - it was sick!
volcom has the patent so Burton couldn’t use it anymore. I don’t like it though because your fleece gets all bunched up at the back of your waist. You have to tuck it into your pants!
I got the 2010 stagger and after 4 days in it, I’m hmmmm. The pow grips are awesome. But the neck opens too big (even with the hood cinched down) and the bottom elastic gets loose easily. I guess I should stop tomahawking so much in the pow but I end up with snow down my neck and all in my pow skirt. Didn’t have this problem with my 2010 cyclic and 09 jussi. Not such a big deal I guess
are those vd trees? they look like christmas trees
Can’t be, as christmas has finished!!!!! Yet vd stays around for ever!!!!!
I’ll let Jeremy post an update for today as words alone won’t cut it for ozgirll apparently 
Rider’s Blog: Day 17
With another 12cm of new snow overnight and holiday crowds, I was down at Creekside for first lifts this morning. Had a nice run through the trees and promptly caught up with Finney at the top. We scored some nice pow riding down the Peak 2 Peak line and bombed it down the perfect groomers to Garb (chair).
We did a couple of runs then all the stars seemed to line up for us. Just as we were getting to the top of Red, we saw the first chair of Peak go up. There were no lines at all and we got on about the 15th chair. With so few people heading up, we decided to rip a run down the main face (Key West, far skier’s right of Shale Slope near the trees). It was fresh and not a line in sight (see the photo below for our lines). Got straight back up Peak Chair with no wait and headed straight for VD Trees (Gamblor, see next paragraph). Again it was untouched and fresh. We had a sick line through the trees, lots of pow and we could take any line.
VD Trees: Gamblor, I’m not 100% sure to be honest. I know the trees to the immediate skier’s right of the trees is VD Chutes. We tried to work it out last year and I’m fairly certain it’s considered VD Trees. My new book has no mention of VD Trees or Christmas Trees, so I can’t confirm. I took a lot of photos today and I wil speak to some locals. I will let you know what I find out. Also, thanks for the info on the pant to jacket zip interface (Volcom patent etc.).
After two great runs at Peak, we hit Red and the line was massive. We tried to work out another way up the mountain but it was just hectic everywhere. We stayed in line for a few minutes till we decided our time was better spent drinking beer at my house. We popped into Raven’s Nest for a quick cinnamon bun, then headed down to my house. We chilled for a couple of hours and went back up when the crowds died down. We caught up with Shaner and his buddy from Hawaii and found an incredible powder run coming back from Harmony (this completely surprised me and it was up there as one of the best runs of the day). Another great day in Whistler. Heaps of snow in the forecast - they are calling for 20-30cm tonight, 20-30cm tomorrow, and more after that.
Glacier Bowl
Going up Peak Chair. Not a single line in the snow.
Our lines down Key West.
A happy man.
Looking back up at our lines from the bottom of Peak Chair.
See if you can spot Finney blasting down into the trees.
Ozgirl, that previous photo of Doom and Gloom was from the top. This is from the bottom looking up. It’s the open part coming down the right side of the photo.
Panorama
Insane
Lift lines make Finney sad.
Yum!
Red Chair. No thank you.
Octorockers
That crowd at the lift is bloody crazy!!!!! 
Busiest I’ve ever seen it.
wow thats a massive line. i hate holiday period I’m working 6 days a week at the moment :( :( :(hopefully will get out for a morning shred thursday and friday before work 
can’t wait for saturday (MY DAY OFF)
Damn that cinnamon bun was amazing, oh and so were the lines down Key West, pretty much perfection. The lift lines however were far from it.
Will be going up first chair again tomorrow, still dumping out the front of our place so it’ll be another amazing day out there no doubt 
Have ya taken the Tasmaniac out to play in the fresh stuff yet?????
Not yet, been riding the Chemical Storm for all the big pow days so far. Marc has been riding his lately and has said nothing but good things about it so far.
Cool, just interested in feedback on how it goes in the pow!!!!!
Maybe have to get Marc on here to give a wrap, or send you out on yours for a test run report?????
Thanks for the different perspective Rider! And the photos!
Nice boys, looks like a but load of fun.
Mike, have you got new pants and helmet?
Enjoy your blog and so envy… gotta add the list in my bucket… 