I got an email today from Whistler Blackcomb introducing the Piccolo Express, a new lift to be built in time for next year. And no, this is not the proposed new gondola that will connect Whistler and Blackcomb mountains; it's a new lift, to be located between Flute Bowl and the Harmony Express chair, that will open an assload of new terrain.


(slighly bizarre photo courtesy of Whistler Blackcomb's newsletter)

How much is an assload? According to Whistler Blackcomb, the new lift will access 1,000 acres of high alpine terrain; seems to me like it will be a lot of bowl action. It will apparently also make hiking out of the Flute Bowl a thing of the past, which means I might actually give it a shot next year (Flute Bowl, a very popular powder-laden bowl destination among intermediate and advanced riders in Whistler, requires you to hike both in and out).


As if they didn't have enough terrain already!

It sounds like the lift will be a cool adventure in itself: it will run more than two kilometres and have  a vertical rise of more than 500 metres.