Whistler and Blackcomb mountains are now closed for the Winter/Spring skiing season. The Summer glacier skiing on Blackcomb will commence on June 20 and run through until July 26 and don’t forget about the Whistler Bike park - a lot of fun!

The last few weeks have been awesome Spring skiing conditions, with a decent base (which melted considerably) and hot, sunny weather. Our base today was recorded as 110cm.

It was a different season to most - we had little snow for the first half, and then decent, but nothing spectacular for the second half. We apparently received a cumulative total of 912cm, which is roughly 1 metre less than the average - but it sure didn’t seem that way. Also, our abnormally cold early season led to a high avalanche risk for the majority of the season.

Overall, a season I have no problems putting behind me. I am looking forward to a big summer of biking, climbing and camping. I am really looking forward to next winter season, obviously it will be awesome to experience the Olympics, but it will most likely be a ‘poor’ season visitor number wise, which means shorter lift lines and more powder for me

I thank all the people who have helped me with this blog, and everyone who has made a comment or two. I intend to continue this blog next winter, so feel free to bookmark this site and check it out in 6 months time.

Have a great summer !!

Edit: I thought you might like to watch the winning entry from the 72 hour Filmmaker Showdown. It is part of the ski and snowboard festival held in Whistler every year (during April). It is a comical look at the life’s of the (usually) seasonal employees that work for the mountain and live in Staff Housing at Base 2.

Well I finally managed to go for a ski, and am glad I did. I only did a few laps, then enjoyed a beverage on the Roundhouse patio, but it was a fun afternoon. There was lots of snow, more than I expected. The coverage on Grand Finale was really good, which is a pitch that is a good gauge because it often show rocks and stuff. Also, the snow is super slushy and lots of fun to simply cruise around on.
Below is a short video in the Emerald chair zone, on another pitch that often shows bare patches first. It is the link between Ego Bowl and Enchanted Forest. Its mainly to show the beautiful clear skies, good coverage, and enjoying ski runs to yourself.

and here is another of someone using a parachute type setup on Shale Slope

Today has been hot and sunny, and the forecast calls for a lot more of the same. Perfect weather to get in some slushy Spring skiing, and I intend to do a day or two this week (finally) I have heard lots of people raving about how good the conditions are lately, so it’s time to find out.

I heard some avalanche bombs this morning, so they are obviously being careful about trying to avoid some Spring slides. It is common for the upper layer of snow melted by the hot sun to cause an avalanche.

It is apparently not very busy, even though they only have 3 lifts open (Green,Red and Peak).

I thought I would make a quick update - even though it has been quite a while since I have skied.

Yesterday was the Victoria Day public holiday, and the whole weekend was extremely busy - combine a long weekend with good skiing conditions (the base is still over 150cm) and the opening of the Whistler Bike Park and you get a lot of people in town.

As of today, Blackcomb mountain is shut (but will re-open for summer glacier skiing around the end of June). Whistler mountain is now open again for Spring Skiing. I have heard the overall conditions are good, so long as you go up later in the day. As usual for Spring, the snow is bulletproof in the mornings and needs the sun to soften up.

Speaking of which, we have had around a mixture of 50/50 sunny days to overcast days during the last few weeks. We even had a couple of snow storms which dumped 10+ cms of powder in the alpine. May is often called a ‘rainy’ month, but so far we haven’t received that much - a couple of days of decent downpour, a few days of light sprinkles but other than that, some decent weather. Still, overall it has been a little cool but that seems to be about to change.

I hope everyone enjoys their summer, get out there and bike, climb, camp, hike, or whatever it is you like to do. Stay fit and healthy and be ready for a big Olympic season next winter

They are reporting 15cm of snow overnight, and it has been raining all morning in the valley. The temperatures in the alpine are just cold enough for snow, so there could be a total of 20-25cm of new snow up there right now.

At the time of writing (noon), the alpine lifts are still closed. It appears there are some high winds, and also a high avalanche risk so they might not be able to open them (Glacier Express and 7th Heaven) at all today.

With more snow expected over the next 2/3 days, and the winds lessening - there will be some nice skiing up there once they allow access.