Whistler 2011 / 2012 - The Community Blog
Such an epic day up there with bottomless pow and an awesome crew 
Most of the runs were new for me so it made it all the more special. Got some decent GoPro footage. Was a bit bummed to find the first run down Shale Slope didn’t record, but meh.
Enjoyed some Splitz Grill for dinner with Jeremy, Finney, Rico (Skip), Marc, and Meg (Marc’s girlfriend).
Shattered and super satisfied. Couple beers are going down a treat…
The endless pow stories I have been handlin not so well!!!!!
Then ya go and mention a Splitz Grill on top of it all?????
We are no longer friends, Dan!!!!!
Save ya legs for Tuesday guys!!!!!
Mondays forecast for pow looks unreal!!!!! 
Rider’s Blog: Day 62
80cm in 48 hours. With the alpine staying shut for the last two days, it was always going to be super deep today. We had a minor sleep in as they don’t usually open the alpine till later and we were exhausted from yesterday. Regardless, we were up the mountain by 9:30am and we got straight in line at Peak, as did many other powder junkies. I spotted Shane so Dan and I quickly joined him in line. The line was big and it was huge by the time they opened. We waited for about an hour before they opened; pretty standard wait for an awesome powder day.
It wasn’t long before we saw the first few people doing big powder turns down Shale Slope (the front face) and some out of control skiers hucking themselves off Air Jordan. We had to do the first run down the front face (you just have to do it). Dan and I bombed down Whistler Bowl and headed over to Shale Slope. I dropped in and made some really deep turns as I slowly made my way across to Key West (Shale Slope was just a little too tracked for my liking on such an epic powder day). It was so deep and fresh and a really sweet run back to Peak Chair.
Chantelle managed to get the morning off work and we found her in line at Peak. For the second run, Dan, Chantelle, and I went over to Everglades and had an incredible run down into West Bowl. Untouched, steep, deep, and you finish off by bombing through the powder in lower West Bowl. We were all really stoked with that run. From there you have to ride down to Red Chair.
Back up in line at Peak we found Mark and his buddy so we all joined up. We went back towards Everglades but pushed a bit deeper into the trees to Bonsai. The trees were super fresh and there were many face shots on this run too. We kept hooking around and got more deep snow near the bottom of Frog Hollow.
For the fourth and fifth runs we hit up Bagel Bowl. It tends to stay fresher a bit longer as most people get the easier accessed and longer/steeper runs first. Still, Bagel Bowl is a sweet run and it was fresh pretty much the whole way through on both runs. There are some nice faces to bomb then spray snow at the bottom.
Five runs might not seems like a lot, but each of these laps took us approximately an hour. They are long runs and this snow works you. We called it a day after that run and Dan and I were back at the house after 2pm - both completely exhausted.
Another incredible powder day at Whistler Blackcomb…
Powder Junkies in line at Peak. Shale Slope ahead.
Dan and Shane in line
80cm of fresh waiting
Yep, these are the powder junkies of Whistler
Shale Slope, Air Jordan, Waterfall
And it grows
Shane scoping out a line
Say cheese
Looking back. This might seem like a huge line but it moves super quick and there is endless terrain up there.
Going to my happy place
Calling it a day
This video goes with this day. Check it out. 
Rider’s Blog: Day 63
How does 3cm turn into 30cm? I have no idea. Maybe because it was April Fools’ Day. Seriously though, there was 1-3cm forecast for last night. Woke up and the website was saying 11cm. Got up to Peak and I swear there was a good foot of new snow up there.
It was another sick powder day at Whistler Blackcomb, and this time the sun came out to play. What an awesome way to start April.
Dan and I did one run through the trees and down to Midstation (Red had a decent lineup). Pretty sweet run. We went straight to Peak as soon as it opened and had a ripper of a run from Whistler Cornice into Whistler Bowl and Shale Slope. Deep and fresh once again and took a nice 10 foot drop off a windlip towards the bottom.
The patrollers played a nice April Fools’ joke; there is an area on the way up Peak Chair called Bomb Tram. They use this wire/tram to drop explosives under the cliff. The chairlift passes right over it. Anyway, they strung up what looked to be a real person, hanging by his hands high off the wire. They dressed him up with ski boots, goggles and all. It looked really funny and it was well played by the patrollers.
From there we did a run through Doom and Gloom which I quite enjoyed. The snow was great and I hadn’t been there in a while. We caught up with Shaner and two for the next two runs off Peak. I took them to Bagel Bowl for the first run which was really nice as expected. To end the day we did a long top to bottom lap through Million Dollar Ridge (out of bounds trees running from Peak to Creekside). That was a really sick run with lots of fresh snow and took us to 3:00pm. Called it a day at the bottom. Good times…
Yep, that’s why I love this place
All photos from Dan’s camera. Cheers buddy!
Doom and Gloom
April Fools’ Day
I was a happy boy today
Bluebird
Pow and sunshine, what a day! 
Was awesome to finally do Million Dollar Ridge. It was my first time and I’ve wanted to do it for awhile now.
Lots of snow on the way apparently
WOW.
Very nice…. being there as your feelings like won a million dollar lotto…
Dan do you have a Canadian number?
No, Rico. Best to contact me through Jeremy. I do have viber and facebook messenger though, so can receive texts when I’m on wifi. Anyone that doesn’t have viber - it’s awesome. Works just like normal phone and text messages only it runs off wifi or data.
No, Rico. Best to contact me through Jeremy. I do have viber and facebook messenger though, so can receive texts when I’m on wifi. Anyone that doesn’t have viber - it’s awesome. Works just like normal phone and text messages only it runs off wifi or data.
No luck at Bell with a sim?????
I think I could almost call today one of if not the greatest days of my life..
Chantelle being the awesome person she is managed to swing a fresh tracks ticket my way and was even nice enough to pick me up from my place this morning to save me walking into the village in the rain. Yeap thats right.. it was pouring rain in the village this morning and had been for most of the night as the freezing level was sitting at 1200m which is below red but higher than the bottom of Garbanzo.
Woke up nice and early and was shocked to find out that the initial reports of 20-25cm were completely wrong with 40cm falling overnight and it continued all through the day. With the freezing level sitting at 1200 it meant the day was going to go one of two ways.. wet and heavy snow all over or insane powder. Thankfully it was the 2nd with 40cm of powder dumped all over the higher sections of the mountain.
Got up to the roundhouse just before 8am, smashed down a small breakfast and then shot out just as they were releasing the fresh tracks crowds loose on the mountain. 1st run was just insane, I’ve never had such good snow everywhere. The faceshots were never ending with my goggles caked in snow numerous times. We hit Roundhouse rolls down to upper whiskey jack which was covered in powder and as I mentioned before the faceshots were plentiful along with the shouts from everyone. We then cut a line to upper insanity where we were greeted by even more fresh and then finally cut a sneaky line off pony trail in the trees that Shane showed me last week. Once again.. every turn lead to goggles being caked in powder. There was no way you could have wiped the smile off anyones face after that first run and I think I was even giggling on the chair as we shot back up for another lap.
Before 10am we’d cut a good 5 laps with every one delivering bottomless powder and getting us stuck in areas that are usually easy to pass on a powder day.
We met up with Jeremy for 2 quick laps as he could only make it up the mountain for a short period due to other commitments. Both laps were great with one off red chair and another off emerald towards Harmony.
Just as Jeremy had to leave we managed to meet up with Dan at the top.
From here everything gets a bit hazy.. I was so stoked on the snow that every run seemed to blend into the next and I can’t remember the finer details. but heres the basic way that things unfolded.
Chantelle had to leave as she wasn’t feeling great and wanted to rest up for tomorrow as none of the alpine opened on Whistler today due to the high winds which would have easily been blowing a good 50-60km/h so it’ll be on for tomorrow hopefully.
Dan and I continued to lap and got a bunch of great laps down towards Harmony. There was next to nobody there and the majority of lines through some trees and off one face were all ours. I think we hit that zone around 4-5 times each time coming out absolutely stoked.
Decided to call it a day around 2pm and we shot down to crystal lounge for some wings and a pitcher as we were absolutely spent.
Here are some pics that were snapped on Dan’s camera through the day. I considered posting the smaller versions but they just don’t do the day justice.. big snowfalls = big photos.
Faceshots..
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Fresh lines through some trees in Harmony - Big thanks to Dan for grabbing this shot, without a doubt one of if not the best riding photos I’ve got
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