New Snow	5 cm	7 Day Snow	39 cm	Snowbase	79 cm
Alpine Temp	-10 °C	Valley Temp	-5 °C	Conditions	Bit of Everything

The best cure for a hangover is to go skiing, so thats what I did

After yesterdays sunshine and calmness, today was more like a ‘real’ winters day at Whistler. It was cloudy, cold and a decent wind was blowing on the upper mountain. It snowed, very lightly, almost all day and continues to snow right now. Visibility was great, I was able to clearly see the terrain in front of me on every run. Lift lines were still non-existent, and I was skiing during the busiest times of the day.

Each day the mountains get a little better, although you can still find icy slopes (mainly the busy ones since they don’t get a chance to build as everyone scraps them clean all day). I am skiing Whistler mountain most days, as I find Blackcomb to be icier.

We still need a lot more snow before I will feel comfortable skiing off-piste with any speed. There is still a lot of exposed rocks and roots that should be buried under a couple of feet of snow by now !!

The forecast is calling for around 10cm / day for the next 5 - 7 days. Great ! Once we get a good week of snow, the icy patches should disappear. It will also greatly enhance the off-piste skiing and allow more runs / terrain to be opened.

There has been talk of Harmony chair on Whistler opening soon. I think they want to - but only have a few groomed runs open, the rest will be ‘outside’ the ski area boundary. With the recent accidents, they are probably a little scared to open a chair such as Harmony, where it allows access to some areas that will be VERY dangerous at the moment.

I am a little dis-appointed with the ‘news’ regarding the recent death of a 47 year old on the ‘Dave Murray Downhill’ run. By reading the ‘news’ sites, you would believe there were signs saying ‘Watch out for the rocks’ right where the accident took place. I made a point of skiing aroung the region today, and there are no signs in the immediate vicinity.

There ARE signs all over the mountains when you get on and off lifts stating to watch out for obstacles and un-marked hazards etc but I couldn’t find any around the accident site. Obviously you can’t (and I don’t want) signs every 15 metres, so WB is doing everything they can, to remind people to be careful. Everyone needs to remember that skiing is a dangerous sport, even under ‘ideal’ conditions.

I think the news sites are ‘over-stating’ the point of this person skiing in an area where the coverage is minimal. Yes, he was taking a risk, and probably knew that, but for the media to try and imply that he basically brushed past signs reminding him of the rocks is plain nonsense.

Update: I should be fair and say that the RCMP report (which a lot of other web sites simply copy and paste) does say the same thing and makes it sound like there are signs in the immediate area. Still, some of the bigger media outlets should take more care and try to ‘paint a clearer’ picture.

So, the mountains are in decent shape, and getting better all the time. The new snow is needed and will bring a lot of smiles to some of the faces around here. So get out the and enjoy these wonderful mountains, just remember to ‘think and play safe’.

New Snow	5 cm	7 Day Snow	34 cm	Snowbase	84 cm
Alpine Temp	-12 °C	Valley Temp	-7 °C	Conditions	Hard Packed

Merry Xmas !!

A little sprinkling of fresh snow overnight, followed by clearing skies and beautiful sunshine = you couldn’t of asked for a better Christmas Day. I uploaded reasonable early and came down around 11am. There was virtually no one on the mountains at that time, but it looked like a bit of a line was forming to upload on the Creekside gondola as I left. Unlike yesterday, there was basically no wind which meant the cold air was a lot easier to handle. Most people were still wearing face masks or neck warmers, but it was quite pleasant without.
The fresh snow, which had been groomed into the runs certainly made them a lot better. Although I think Whistler is in better shape than Blackcomb (which I skied yesterday). Today was great groomer conditions, and it was fun to let the ski run knowing it wasn’t that hard to get an edge in. Most of the icy patches on Whistler seem to be gone (can’t say the same for Blackcomb - see yesterdays post).

The forecast is starting to look awesome !! According to the WB forecasts, they are expecting anywhere between 35cm to 60cm starting this Friday through to Monday. Not sure if that pressure systems which was keeping the snow away from us is diminishing, or just pulling inland - either way it is good news for us, and those systems coming in off the Pacific can now start to bring us snow !! This next one looks pretty big, and hopefully we get the 60cm or more

Afterthought: I haven’t mentioned it lately, but the lift lines are almost non-existent. Perhaps it has to with the cold weather, or maybe the Vancouver airport being closed for a few days but it is basically a case of being able to ski straight onto every lift. Unusual for Xmas, as generally it is pretty busy. The runs themselves are quite busy, a little too crowded for my liking, but not the lift lines.

Another skier has died at Whistler, making it 2 deaths in 3 days. This time it was Christmas eve at approximately 3pm, and somewhere in the vicinity of ‘Toilet Bowl’ (part of the Dave Murray Downhill) on Whistler Mountain. My condolences to the family and friends.
A friend of mine witnessed ski patrol performing CPR late in the day, at that time the individual was located at the bottom of Toilet Bowl, on skiers left. I heard the news this morning, that the skier, did in fact pass away.
Update: The RCMP have released a statement saying it was a 47 year old male.
The area is open to the public, and I skied the run this morning. The coverage is good, although a little icy. Far skiers left there is a cliff band, with lots of rocks and stuff, but in order to get there, you have to make a conscious decision to do so (or be out of control for a fair while).
Update: It sounds like he did manage to go far skiers left and strike one or more of the rocks. He died of injuries resulting from a collision with the rocks.
With this fatality, it makes it even more important to get the word out - The snow coverage is not great, so take care while skiing and read (and obey) all posted signage.
To prove this point - I watched a snowboarder flying through a boulder field under the Red chair this morning, you could clearly see big rocks sticking out through the snow, yet this fellow (who was riding alone) seemed to be going as fast as he could. That is just another accident waiting to happen , on Xmas day of all things !
Update: According to the globeandmail - he was a Whistler resident and not wearing a helmet at the time

New Snow	10 cm	7 Day Snow	34 cm	Snowbase	79 cm
Alpine Temp	-10 °C	Valley Temp	-9 °C	Conditions	Hard Packed / Ice

With the recent snow, I was keen to get up the hill today and check it out. To be honest, the ‘main’ runs are getting harder packed and icier, even with the new snow. I guess there is just too many people having to ski the same areas at the moment.
I spent the day on Blackcomb, and the two main open runs ‘Springboard’ and ‘Wishbone’ have multiple big ice patches in them now. It was still decent skiing, but the ice made me cautious, and since there was always people in the vicinity, I figured it was better to play it safe and try to control my speed (which is the opposite to the way you should ski on ice ie… don’t turn and let your speed build up, then turn and slow down on the better snow).
The Blackcomb Gondola re opened today, so you can now access Blackcomb mountain easily from the Whistler village again. Very fast turn-a-round and I am impressed - 8 days to replace a tower. I didn’t realize they had ’spare’ towers ready to go - kinda makes you wonder though eh - why have spare towers?
The Horstman glacier, accessed via Glacier Express chair and then serviced by the Showcase and Horstman T-Bars was the best snow on the mountain. The only problem was the wind, and a bit of a flat light scenario. While visibility was great on the rest of the mountain (even when it was snowing) the glacier left a little to be desired and I ended up hitting a few wind lips here and there with no warning.
Crystal chair opened today (or maybe yesterday..) The terrain ‘officially’ open was a joke (quite patchy), and they should really have just left the chair closed. That being said, it WAS the best skiing of the day, so long as you don’t mind having to watch out for rocks and sticks poking through the surface. The only way down was the Crystal traverse, Ridge Runner and Twist n Shout with the latter two needing way more snow to be opened in a normal season.
Bucking the normal trends of Whistler Blackcomb, skiing on the lower mountain was actually better than the top. Since most people stay on the upper runs, the lower half isn’t seeing as much traffic, and therefore not becoming as hard packed / polished.
So that’s Xmas Eve skiing in Whistler for 2008.
We had a decent flurry around 3 - 4pm which gave us a few more cms, and hopefully the forecast of 5cms for tonight comes true (if not more). That will make Xmas day worth skiing - especially first thing in the morning when the snow is fresh, and most people are in the homes / hotels opening presents etc.

The Whistler Blackcomb gondola ‘Excalibur’ is set to re open tomorrow. Excalibur is the gondola which links Blackcomb mountain with the Whistler village. Tower 4, which collapsed last Tuesday, has been replaced, and with the go-ahead of the relevant authorities, Excalibur gondola will re open tomorrow.

Whistler Blackcomb also plan to open Harmony chair. It was supposed to open today, but due to various circumstances (including the snowboarder fatality), it had been postponed.

Whistler has been barraged with bad news lately, which is unfortunate. Whistler Blackcomb is an amazing resort, which does as much as it can to ensure the safety of all who ski here. The gondola tower which fell over was a ‘freak’ of nature, and almost impossible to predict. The death of a snowboarder yesterday adds to bad publicity, yet doesn’t reflect the hard work and persistence by the Whistler Blackcomb ski patrol and all the other departments to keep this ski resort safe.