WHISTLER 2010/11 - The Community Blog

1 week to go

Had a few good days off recently with bluebird on monday being just awesome. Been getting some basics sorted in the terrain garden. Just started to learn how to shifty and started to get some tail grabs on them aswell as of today which I’m pretty stoked with. Snow has just started falling again so hopefully some decent pow days lined up for when I’ve got some time off work next week.

Just a vid shot by Dan and pic by Kiera shot on Monday.

Anyone know if Symphony will be open tomorrow?

No guarantees but with no new snow tonight I think theres a reasonable chance of it, Peak should definitely be open as they were doing a hell of a lot of bombing today. Just comes down to avalanche control in the area and winds. They were shut all day today due to both of these factors and Harmony only opened at 2:05pm which is the latest I’ve ever seen them opening an alpine lift. Top of red we were seeing gusts of wind around ~50km/h today and the alpine is generally a bit higher as you’d expect. Going by the forecast for tomorrow this winds shouldn’t be an issue.

Blackcomb generally gets their avalanche control done quicker than Whistler as they have far less terrain to bomb and also can rope off areas like spankys etc whereas on Whistler there are a hell of a lot more bowls which are instantly accessible from the top and are unable to be roped off so thats a bit of an explanation as to why Blackcomb is quicker to get their alpine avalanche control done.

If you want swing by red chair tomorrow where I’ll most likely be working and I’ll see what updates I can get off the alpine office at the time for you.

Yea I’m still debating whether to go or not tomorrow since I’ve been dying to ride Symphony (never rode Symphony before) and forecast also says there will be sunny periods so yeah. I’ll definitely swing by red chair if I do come tomorrow =)

If you’ve never been to Symphony before tomorrow is definitely a great day to do it. It’ll get tracked out quickly so make sure you’re ready to head out there as soon as you hear it’s open or about to open. Even just hang out at Harmony beforehand since there will still be plenty of good stuff out there just waiting since it will have hardly been tracked out in the 30mins it was open today and with the avalanche control out of the way this afternoon it should be early to open tomorrow.

Thanks Finney, definitely will do! Do you have any runs recommendation on Symphony or Harmony? I’m still a second year rider so nothing too extreme (super steep bowls or moguls) or too deep (aka waist deep pow, being on a 153 doesn’t help either even though its C2 banana). Last time I went to Harmony when they just open it, visibility was kinda bad. Being that was my first time, didn’t know where to drop so I just followed Harmony Ridge and Piste.

Little Whistler, Camel Back, Low Roll and Kaleidescope in Harmony are all great and you can kinda link them all together with a bit of traversing. Basically just ride along until you find a nice section to drop then join up with the main cat tracks.

As for Symphony, if you hang to the right (stacatto glades etc) you’ll have a lot more fun in my books, more trees to ride through and generally not as tracked as the main runs which go under the lift. You just need to veer right when you get down towards the treeline as you go down jeff’s ode to joy (jeff’s is generally groomed the whole way down so it’s easy to follow).

As for riding a 153.. I wouldn’t be too concerned, I rode a 152 K2 WWW last season I was here and did some crazy stuff on that, just gotta keep that weight back and your momentum and you should be sweet.

My other bet for tomorrow would be hitting up Peak chair early (waiting in line for it to open) and smashing a run down peak to creek.. the lower section towards creekside will be pretty average with the rain we’ve had but the upper 2/3rds of it will be insane. Really good work out and your back leg will hate you by the end but having a few km’s of fresh stuff is just insane.

Here’s a quick edit from round 1 of King of the Rail,

get down there for the next round if you can!

anyone know what run starts at around 52 seconds? and 2:18?
I’m more familiar with blackcomb so I’m wondering where are all these fun runs at whistler lol

fmf, solid edit. Let me know if you edit any more.

skip11, I’ve just gone over that footage with my girlfriend a few times. We’re fairly certain it’s the bike track in the trees off Toilet Bowl (part of Dave Murray Downhill). If we catch up this season I can show you where it is.

We get back to Whistler on Thursday, riding on Friday. So stoked to get back to Whistler! 

I’ll prolly need to get better to ride with you guys, Jeremy (Jeremy right?) haha. I’m planning to go on saturday, hopefully the alpines gonna be open.

Yeah it’s Jeremy.

cheers jeremy, I’m going to edit all season i think, so if your down to shred anywhere and make some fun stuff then hit me up..

or come find me in the village showcase.

next rail jam is on sat so I’ll probably be out there taking some shots

For sure, you’re working at Showcase? PM me your details.