Ski Resorts

Whistler Shredding Day 1: 70cm of Fresh In The Alpine. And It Hasn’t Stopped Since.

“I’ve never seen conditions like this before.”

That’s a statement we heard several times Saturday from locals up here in Whistler.

Initially, Steve and I were worried we had missed the big pow day. After all, we arrived Friday night, and Whistler had received about 40-50 centimetres of snow the night before. While we knew the mountain would be full of snow, we also thought it would be more or less tracked out. So while we were happy to be here, we kind of wished we had arrived the day before.

So when we geared up Saturday and headed up Whistler Mountain, we were kind of shocked at the chaos around us. Lineups everywhere. People giddy. WTF, I thought. Wasn’t this place supposed to be dead leading up to the Olympics?

On our first run we realized why we might have been mistaken (aside from the fact it was also the weekend of Martin Luther King Day, an American holiday). Some of our favourite runs were knee-deep in snow. Obviously it had snowed enough for everyone from Vancouver to head up and enjoy the pow.

Then, during a conversation with some locals on our second run of the day, we had our “oh shit” moment: the alpine hadn’t been open in a few days, but was going to open that day. That meant 50-70 centimetres of fresh snow likely awaited in the bowls of Whistler.

Sure enough, when the bowls opened, it was madness. Fresh tracks all day, anywhere. We spent most of our time in the Symphony Bowl area, riding down Piccolo Face and into the glades that waited below. We even did the 30-minute hike up Flute Bowl and were rewarded with runs that had been touched by literally zero skis or boards. It was simply spectacular.

And the crazy part? It hasn’t stopped snowing since. Yesterday was a powder day too. And overnight it snowed another 20 centimetres. This is just crazy. Not to mention we’ve spent next to no time on any of the runs we’ve come to know and love – it’s all been spent in bowls and off-piste.

Here’s a photo from the Unsanctioned glade on Saturday. What a day.

Stay tuned for plenty more updates and photos from Whistler. I’ll also have a massive update to the Whistler Guide upon the conclusion of the trip.

© 2010 HighlyObsessed.com | The Snowboarding and Cycling Blog