Whistler 2012 / 2013 - The Community Blog
One thing that I felt when I went to Whistler, was the shear size of the place and the surroundings!!!!! Did ya expect it to be as big?????
It really is an awesome place to be, even when the snow is a bit hit and miss!!!!!
Brad, that was bloody epic mate! Such a good read! You had me absolutely frothing while I was reading. Awesome photos too! I’m going to post something about this on the BW Facebook page. 
I can’t tell you how lucky you are to have a mate like that who’d so keen to go out sledding. It’s such an incredible experience and definitely something I want to do a lot more. I’m stoked you got to do it and I’m equally stoked that someone else understands just how much work they are in the backcountry. They are super hard to control and maneuver. Question: what backcountry equipment do you guys take with you? Specifically, avalanche rescue gear. I’m assuming you at least take transceivers, shovels and probes? It is indeed very humbling out there and you can feel the danger of being so alone out there. I don’t know about you but I feel very away of potential dangers out there.
This line cracked me up…
Had a chilled night but still managed to smash 24 beers down before going to bed
Hahahaha 
Keep it coming bro. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it all.
Yep, great read, K2! Thanks for putting the time and effort in!
Glad you are having a cracking time!
You were right Brad, i did froth over that truck/sled combo!
sorry i havent said thanks for a f*#ken awesome read sooner brad, but it is actually your fault, i had to be rushed to hospital after a froth attack, the doctor said they almost had to amputate my froth organ, it was a serve cause of over froth. so please dont post anymore for awhile, the doc told me to keep my froth levels at a very minimum while i heal 
Mate, finally had some time to sit, read and enjoy your report. AWESOME. You are the first person to relay how big Whistler and the surrounds are to me.
Looking forward to hearing more of you adventures
I saw Dyldo in the E.R, I have the same symptoms
Awesome dude! Finally got to read it. Great write up!
The sledding looks sick! Like Jeremy, was also wondering what you guys do to prep for avalanches?
Nice read K2! Hidden away in here it is going to waste!
And now time for one of my not quite as frequent as they should be updates.
Besides my hair growing considerably since my last post there has been some good riding to be had which kind of explains my absence from here.
It’s been nice to get some good powder days as this season has been a bit lacking and the base has only cracked 2 metres in the past fortnight with one big storm that we had which delivered a lot of snow, unfortunately a lot of it was quite heavy and wet. The good snow that we have had has been all the way to the valley (675m elevation)which is a bit different to last year which saw a lot of days with the freezing level sitting just above the base of Garbanzo (~1000m).
Proof of said hair growth.. courtesy of the Separated at Birth thread.
Here’s a collection of photos from before Australia day. Those following me on instagram will have seen a few of these shots which I posted from late January, for anyone on there who is interested in following in the future you can find my account - @finney_cent
Rainbow from snowmaking just off Fitzsimmons chair - was a brilliant way to start off my day.
View of Black Tusk from Symphony. Many of the main look out points on both mountains have these sorts of wood carvings of the wildlife found in Whistler
‘Dreamy’ chairlift rides
Early morning panoramic shots of Black Tusk and surrounding mountains taken from Symphony by my housemate Mitch who works at Symphony. These sort of views are something that very few people actually see as it’s only Lifty’s and Lift/Electrical Maintenance up the hill at these times. As the days get longer and longer here through the season these sort of views disappear as the mornings get brighter. It’s really interesting being here for a full season and actually seeing a difference from week to week.
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Australia Day
Ok so some time ago I posted a bit of a teaser for Australia day.. it’s a few pages back now so I’ll throw it up here again.
Australia day fell on a saturday this year which made for an interesting start to the day. I met up with a few of the regulars at Creekside where we were greeted by a giant line up which wasn’t going to get us up the hill anywhere near the time that we needed to in order to met up with the rest of the group. Instead of waiting in a line that would have taken a good 30+minutes we decided to jump on a bus and head to the village instead which paid off as we walked straight onto Fitzsimmons. Met up with the rest of the crew at Chic Pea and then proceeded to Seppos. For those not in the know Seppos whilst also a run off Garbanzo is the main drinking hole on Whistler inside the Roundhouse. After our arrival here things really stepped up a gear as the drinking started/continued (I say continued as most of us had been out the night before as JJJ’s Hottest 100 was being played. This essentially turns Australia Day into a 36 hour marathon.)
The crew at Seppo’s - if you look closely you’ll notice an amazing mullet on the far left of the photo
Lamingtons.. provided by the guy in the background, who was also kind enough to pass a few redskins our way which were welcomed by all, it’s funny how such a small treat can really add to a day such as this.
Upon finishing up at Seppo’s we shot over to Blackcomb via the Peak 2 Peak which turned into the next party of the day. as seen ion the following photo’s/
There were a few local guys from Vancouver who hopped into the cabin with us who were keen to get in on the action, At first I was hesitant as to whether or not they knew what they were getting themselves into, but after having a chat with them we found out they’d all lived in Whistler previously and as such had a good understanding of what was going on.
The group at Rendezvous on Blackcomb, once again some more drinks here before heading out to the Horstman Hut at the top of 7th Heaven
Unfortunately the photo’s finished here as my housemate Mitch who was also our cameraman got a little separated I suppose you could say. We rode down from the Horstman Hut to the village and as we were all a bit of a state at this point we became a bit split up. Upon arriving at the base of Blackcomb I realised that Mitch was missing, I proceeded to call him a number of times with no answer but after around the 10th attempt I finally got in touch with him and he informed me that he was currently downloading on the Excalibur Gondola. Given Mitch is such a strong believer in the motto ‘death before download’ I knew that for him to download it means he must literally not be able to snowboard anymore. After arranging to meet Mitch in the village I walked over there and after he didn’t turn I up I called him to find out that he’d already jumped on a bus home hahaha.
Since I knew Brad would be arriving that afternoon I arranged to meet him and we then proceeded to head home and drink that 24 pack that Brad mentioned in his post.
Brad has covered a lot of our riding since his arrival in his previous update, I’ve got some other items to add so I’ll get them up in my next post
Until then, I’ll post the following..
I dont have facebook can someone post it here plz.
Better late then never to reply to Lanox’s request. Sorry buddy.
There is a mild language warning on this video 
I’ve waited a long time to get the very first line through Whistler Bowl on a decent powder day which I’m absolutely stoked to be able to say I’ve now done, but to actually get a good video of it from a buddy was just amazing. Beforehand I was a little nervous about it as you can either absolutely kill it and put on a bit of a show for those 60+ people on the chairs above or make an absolute mess of it, very glad to see I did a good job of it, at the time I had no idea that I was riding anywhere near as fast as shown in the Video, was also great to finally see some good footage of my powder riding and see that the technique is all there.
sick update finney sounds like a true azzie day 
As mentioned previously Brad has covered a lot of the riding that we’ve done over the past month and a half, lots of out of bounds riding and exploring in the woods off Peak chair. Thankfully we’ve only been mildly cliffed out once in the McConkeys zone which was quite easy to get out of, despite being waist deep. Generally on the good snow days and the ones following we’ve spent a lot of time exploring and finding pillow lines/drops out in that area which has been quite rewarding. I’ve definitely noticed a lot of improvement in my riding out there this season and I’m sure that the medicine ball training that I’ve been doing has really contributed a lot due to the added strength in my core and legs. I’m finding I’m landing bigger drops and able to charge all day with little to no fatigue in my legs with the only real exception being in heavy wet snow.
Working on Peak chair as mentioned in my previous post has given me some of the most amazing views I’ve seen in all my time here. Getting to the top first thing in the morning and being greeted with darkness with the moon still up is something that very few people get to see.
The sky lighting up as the sun rises over a sea of clouds
Early morning setup in the fog before the general public gets up the hill.
Another thing that I’ve had a lot more exposure to this season has also been Ski Patrol bombing for avalanche control. The other week they bombed/attempted to bomb the cornice at liftee’s leap which is a double black just behind the lift hut. To see one of these bombs go off first hand is pretty amazing as they have a tremendous amount of force which will shake the entire lift station and hut dropping most snow off them. When standing near you are not only blocking your ears but also leaving your mouth open so that you don’t blow your ear drums.
Before..
Placing bomb…
The Aftermarth…
We haven’t really spent all that much time in the park this season, have done a couple of days in the Terrain Garden and also a few in Whistler Park which is a constantly changing on a weekly basis, new features are always going in and the parks crew have been doing a great job of mixing things up. Was hoping to get up there today but the freezing level is up at 1900m which means it’s pretty much raining almost the whole way up so having a rest day instead of going up there and getting soaked. Also have some mild whiplash after yesterdays riding but I’ll get to that a bit later on.
As Brad said he did some filming one day in the Terrain Garden which I’ve got a few screenshots of.
Brad and Ty checking out some of the footage.
Bart sorting out the refreshments we had stashed in the trees
With lots of riding comes some serious hunger and munchies and we’ve come up with what I’ve called a Perogie Mignon which when served with caramelised onions, sweet chilli sauce and Sour Cream is one hell of an after shredding snack.
Here’s a collection of some of the other photo’s i’ve found on my phone from the last couple of weeks.
Some of us all need adult supervision from time to time
I went up for fresh tracks a couple of weeks ago on the 25th of Feb. Managed to get a bunch of great laps in before meeting up with any of the regulars. Took this shot on the chair after my first lap where I rode upper insanity beneath Red Chair which you can see in the reflection of my goggles. Was pretty good going up solo for fresh tracks for a change as I could just charge at my own pace and get as many laps in as possible before meeting up with the others.
Playing in the woods, nothing but untracked pow to play in. This was a common sight over the 25/26/27th of Feb as we spent all 3 days riding in areas like this. Some of the usual spots were pretty tracked out but this actually worked in our favour as it forced us to go and explore different areas hunting out more fresh lines in places we hadn’t been in before and as such gained a much better understanding of the areas off the beaten track of Million Dollar Ridge and McKonkeys. Brad generally had his GPS tracking most of the time so we could always look back on the maps and see exactly where we had been.
The Walk home… complete with Brad carrying a 15 pack of PBR after a long day of playing in the woods.
Fun little zone hidden between Red and Garbanzo that we’ve been playing around in lately.
The view on the way to work last week.
In the forecast that went out on the radio to all the patrollers and maintenance on the mountain they were calling for 12-15cm on Monday night with some high winds which gave us some real hope for yesterday. Although the majority of forecasts online were for a slightly higher freezing level which had some of us rather hesitant as to whether we should get up early. Thankfully I woke up nice and early and looked outside to see that there was a good 15+cm in Nordic which was a great sign as it showed the freezing level had dropped considerably throughout the night and what was even better was that it was still dumping snow. Upon seeing this Brad and I got ourselves sorted and shot down to Creekside to meet up with Sam and Josh for first lifts. Thankfully due to the main website calling for less than 10cm’s meant that there was next to nobody waiting for first lift.
We shot down to Garbanzo after getting off the Creekside Gondola as the forecast was calling for the freezing level to raise through the day so we figured that we’d go for the lower snow first before it turned which ended up being a great gamble. Managed to get 2 great runs in before the crowds started to show up and even managed to get the first 4 lines down the Garbanzo lift line which is usually a very hard thing to get as it’s a very popular lap to get done early in the morning.
After this we hit a nice little area between Emerald and Harmony that isn’t known by too many people and usually gets overlooked due to some of the surrounding areas. We all managed to get a great line down here with some nice drops and fresh untracked powder almost the whole way down to Sidewinder. After this we decided to have a look at Ratfink which ended up being a great gamble as we were greeted with more fresh snow and some nice hits/drops which I wasn’t expecting as it’s a very popular place for people to go to first thing. I spotted a nice drop/hit between 2 small trees which was great, had tonnes of pop and sent me a good 10-12ft down and out into an untracked section. Managed to stomp the landing but on the ride out I managed to catch the nose of my board on a mogul hidden beneath the fresh snow which sent me for a bit of a tumble/cartwheel which has left me with some minor whiplash, nothing too bad though and I’d imagine I should be good in the next day or so going by previous whiplash I’ve had.
Only took one photo the whole day unfortunately as we were just too amped to even think about getting photos.
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve also been riding a new board over the past month and a half as I ended up selling the DC to a mate as it wasn’t really what I was after and ended up going for a Salomon Grip 154 after demoing one on the hill. It’s another hybrid board but has flat camber between the feet and quite a heavily rocketed tip and tail which they call ‘pow rocker’. It’s my first board thats had flat camber and it’s actually been a hell of a lot of fun, super playful yet aggressive enough to charge just about anything, whether it’s chopped up snow at the end of the afternoon or as seen in my video, cutting first line through whistler bowl on 20cm’s. It’s got a die cut base which has unfortunately started to lift out a little bit so I’m going to chase up warranty on that in the coming week or so. Brad and Mitch were nice enough to help out and grab some photos for me to send off….
Yeeww! Sick write up. Yesterday morning was so much fun!! 
Awesome write up, finney!!!!!
And you were FANGIN down the Whistler Bowl, that’s for sure!!!!!