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| 24hr Snow | 27 cm | 7 Day Snow | 63 cm | Snowbase | 222 cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Temp | -9 °C | Valley Temp | 0 °C | Conditions | Powder !! |
Wow !
Pretty much all I can say – what a day 
I have heard a term for the basketball called ‘March Madness’, well right now Whistler is going through it’s own madness. Snow, and lots of it – to the valley – at this time of year is crazy. We are loving it !!!
I wont elaborate every run, but safe to say, every run today was sick – deep powder.
Today was my first day of my 2 Day Extremely Canadian Steep Skiing Clinic. I couldn’t have asked for better conditions – bottomless powder makes skiing the steeps (and everywhere) so much easier (ie more forgiving). I ended up with Steve Clarke as my instructor, and had an awesome day. Steve was very friendly, as was all the instructors (ExtremelyCanadian owner Peter Smart, Justin, and Mat). I am looking forward to tomorrow to ski Blackcomb with Steve and the gang.
I was a bit hesitant on doing the course, but am glad I did. I don’t know Whistler mountain all that well, and Steve showed me a number of lines I have never done (and they were sick!). I knew the areas/regions (except the ridge which ends with Frog Hollow), but had never done the certain lines we did today, and I can assure you I will be back for them later. Also, Steve is a very experienced instructor, and was able to give me a number of points to work on my skiing technique – although I am not a great skier anyway, so there are probably a lot more points he could’ve given me, but didn’t want to give me a brain overload.
Another big thumbs up for doing the course was being able to ’skip’ the lift lines. Today it was a bit of waste, since there were no lift lines. Still, We did manage to get a jump on our first lap of the Peak chair and during the busy periods, being able to do that all day long (especially powder days) would be great.
We had fresh tracks almost all day long – partly due to the mountain being empty. We also had 2 awesome lines down ‘Robinsons’ which was steep and deep – just what you want. Another sick line down beside the T-bars, and my favorite of the day was a line on ‘Upper McConkeys’ – not quite an obvious line, and I ended up getting the steepest and deepest run of my life. I literally had a ‘waterfall’ of snow coming UP over my skis,waist, arms and over my face. It is the first time I have ever been ‘blinded’ by the snow I was skiing. Absolutely INSANE.
It has to rate as the best day of the season, and definitely top 3 ever.
I must point out the ‘bad’ – the visibility was a ‘poor’ almost all day. We had a number of sunshine breaks, but overall, the light was low/flat or non-existent. Also the wind was a little high at times. If it was a sunny day – it could not be beat.
As it was, the skiing was EPIC – and if I could have a ‘groundhog day’ then today would be an awesome choice.
Forecast is for heaps more snow this week – bring it on
SO wish we could afford to head over again this week (dont have cash nor holiday allocation for it)
You must be glad the clinic got postponed earlier in the season…. enjoy an epic few days
As Greg indicates in his blog, conditions right now are straight up OBSCENE. Yesterday was one of the deepest days of my life, ranking right up there with heli-skiing.
I managed to snag one of the early chairs up the Peak, and there seemed to be a lot more fresh than the reported 27cm. It was thigh-deep folks! The amazing thing was the fact that I was still skiing fresh on the glacier mid-afternoon!!!
The only downer was the visibilty, which was horrendous. In the alpine I found myself going strictly on feel, as I couldn’t see any subtlies in the terrain at all.
Anywho, gotta run as I can hear them bombing again this morning!
We were over at Christmas and obviously missed your brilliant season. My son came back last week after 4 months of fantastic skiing.
So I have to say that from deciding that we would never again risk Whistler, we will certianly return but mid March seems a safer bet.
Your website continues to be brilliant
Best wishes to you Greg
Michael
Hi, just wondering what the forecast looking like for the first/second week in April. How long is this storm due to last? Never been to whistler and have been hearing bad things about the weather up till this week! Sounds wicked now though. Will be out there in two weeks, think it will hold up?
@Michael, “never again risk Whistler”… tbf its got absolutely nothing to do with Whistler, you could have gone to banff, kicking horse, colorado, alpe d’heuz and had good/bad weather, no on can guarantee you good snow for the exact week(s) that you are anywhere, its fickle to write whistler off because you came for a week when the snowfall wasn’t as good in a freaky season. As far as I remember the snow was pretty good over Christmas.
Michael, Scott is spot on – you never know about the weather, sometimes it is perfect, and other times it rains.
Christmas this year was actually quite decent, especially compared to the rest of the early season. March is often a good month (wet) but this year it is way better than normal, with snow to the valley – normally it is rain…..
We have actually had a pretty bad season, that is only just now turning good (just in time for the season to ‘end’).
Anyway, long story short – the last few seasons have been epic all season long, and this year it was a little drier than normal – that’s the way it goes.
Scott, thanks for the reply btw.
Ryan – no idea, I am not a weatherman (and even they have no idea
)
What I will say, is we currently have great conditions, and it looks like a lot more snow for the rest of March – so April should be decent (snow base wise) but as for fresh snow, or snow quality, we will have to wait and see.
The main thing is, this recent snow has really saved the whole ‘Spring Skiing’ season.
What a fantastic blog, Greg! I am addicted even though I came back (to Scotland) from Whistler in January and won’t be able to return until at least next New Year. But just wanted to say a word in sympathy with Michael (Scott was a bit harsh!) – we were there for 8 days from 26th December, the same week as we have been in Whistler for most of the last 10 years and the conditions were very disappointing. The actual snow was good but Harmony, Peak and Symphony chairs didn’t open until after we left, the t-bars were not open, 7th Heaven only opened a few days after we arrived and Crystal and Glacier chairs were only open intermittently so there was a vast amount of your fantastic terrain not open. The lower runs that were accessible were only gradually being groomed and opened up, so I can definitely understand where Michael is coming from. Fortunately, it hasn’t put us off coming back (although the recession might!!) and your blog will keep me going throughout the rest of the season. I did vote for you, by the way!