Well I haven’t been skiing for a few days now, and have been enjoying the World Ski and Snowboard Festival. Some great free concerts, the Big Air contest on Saturday night was huge and plenty of side stalls with informative people have kept me busy.
In the meantime, the weather has been erratic. We had a bright, sunny hot day 2 days ago, while today was quite overcast and ‘moody’. It even snowed in the village today. Apparently the surface conditions on the mountains are very hard packed, even ‘icy’ - from the sunny day melting the snow, then the temperatures dropping way down to a low of -10 last night which froze everything solid. Couple that with minimal visibility today from the cloud cover, and I think it was a good day to miss.
I suggest to everyone, that if you come during the Festival week, you should be coming for the Festival itself. The village is crowded, and everyone is having a ball with all the activities. The mountains are generally quiet, but the sunny day was outrageously busy I heard. So if you want some nice, quiet spring skiing, I would recommend avoiding the festival week. If you like to party hard, the this week is for you.
The recent warm weather has really melted the snow, with the base down around 250cm from 280cm around a week ago. So there are some bare patches starting to show.
Well the weather is finally turning, and Whistler is coming into Spring. The conditions on the upper mountains are still fantastic, winter-like snow, while the lower mountains are experiencing warm enough temperatures to get ’slushy’ snow by midday onwards. This slushy snow then re-freezes overnight, so first thing in the morning it is a ‘bullet-proof’ ice layer. So if you prefer to ski the easier groomers, I’ld suggest sleeping in and getting on the mountains around midday, just as the snow softens up to the fun slush. If you prefer to go a bit harder, on the upper mountains, then get up there early and enjoy it, as by later in the day, it can become sun-affected. Not slushy snow like in the valley, but a little moist, and therefore a ‘heavier’ snow.
Today marks the start of the Whistler Ski and Snowboard Festival, with loads of activities and entertainment in the village and on the mountains. This weekend the highlight is the ‘Big Air’ competition while next weekend, the festival will close with ‘Super Pipe’ competition. Besides from these two popular events, there are ‘demo’ days, where you can try out next seasons gear. An ‘If Ullr was a girl’ competition is on during the week, Film and Photo galleries abound, a ‘back-country’ showcase where you can learn more about traveling in and enjoying the back-country and numerous free concerts from some well known bands. The list goes on!!
Whistler is having amazing weather this Spring. Once again we had a light dusting of new snow overnight, and it is still ‘winter’ snow - light and fluffy. The runs are in great shape, all over the mountain. The only ‘average’ place would be the lower mountain, which is starting to experience the Spring ‘thaw - freeze’ cycle, which can result in some ugly, bumpy, frozen chunks of snow. Still, keep to mid-mountain and above, and the snow is as good as it gets. The groomers are in great shape, and off-piste is generally fantastic. A few places have developed bigger moguls than the average person likes (including me) but overall, its fun, fun, FUN!
The snow base is down to 263cm, still a respectable base, and the coverage is great. In fact, I found a spot on the traverse to the lower Poop Chutes, which has been a rock band most of season, has finally been covered over. It was pointed out to me today, that our total snowfall for the season is currently 971cm, which is actually lower than our seasonal average of 1022cm. In spite of that, I still think this is the best season I have seen, as the quality of the snow has been un-believable, and hopefully it means we still have another dump or two to come 
Whistler is still getting snow, all the way down to the valley. So the skiing is still awesome, so long as you like skiing powder :) We aren’t getting a lot, but we are constantly receiving small flurries. So while there isn’t any really deep stuff to play in, every morning we have a few cms to play with, and all day the runs stay in great shape.
The future still looks good, even when the sun does get here, the temperatures are expected to stay nice and cold. This is the best season since I have been living in Whistler. (5 seasons)
I haven’t been up the mountains for a few days, but have heard from numerous people that the snow quality is still excellent. We have had mainly cloudy days lately, with mostly great visibility. There has been the occasional cloud level which has hampered visibility, this is usual for Whistler and nothing to worry about. Normally you just ski on a different aspect or altitude and the visibility is great.
We have had a decent amount of snow in the last few days (8cm is the official total) but I am told there is more than that in a lot of places. The current forecast is calling for another 5cm or so tonight and the same again tomorrow. Also the forecast is expecting constant small flurries for the next week. Overall this is an excellent forecast. Great snow, with more on the way. Although I do hope the sun comes out and we get a ‘typical’ Spring skiing week for the World Ski and Snowboard Festival which runs from April 11 - 20.
I plan to do some skiing tomorrow so will be able to give a better report then.
