Whistler Mountain started spinning their lifts for the 2014-15 season on Saturday and it was a real hoot out there. Sure, the snowpack’s a little thin below treeline. But the alpine’s actually holding about a metre of surprisingly supportive snow. And the mountain picked up a casual 10-25 cms over the weekend, so the skiing above 1800 metres was both supportive and fresh.
There were even a few proper pow turns to be had below The Roundhouse first thing Saturday (and Sunday) morning, so long as you treaded lightly. And if you really felt like “letting the dogs out”, there’s a solid network of manmade runs off the Red and Emerald chairs.
You can also ski to the Gondola mid-station from the base of Red Chair, but the line to mid-station from below Emerald chair is “not recommended”.
The best part, though, was that Patrol green-lighted hiking into the alpine for Saturday and Sunday (this situation is condition-dependent and NOT always the case).
There was definitely some evidence of recent avalanche activity and a few skier-triggered slides. So we rolled with our full backcountry set-ups and acted accordingly. With the snowpack as low as it is, the consequences of even a small slide are higher than usual.
As of Saturday, there was only about 25 centimetres of natural snow at treeline and below. So unless you’re a big fan of “technical” skiing, it’s best to pick your routes wisely.
It was such a fun weekend though. Our current reality is that we’ve got a long way to go below 1800 metres, but it feels like we’ve got a decent start above that.
Now we’ve got a promising series of storms lining up for the week. There’s a temperature spike on Wednesday/Thursday, but hopefully she’s a quick one and we’ll bounce back to snow in no time.
In any case, the season out here has officially started and it’s just a matter of shredding whatever Mother Nature decides to throw our way.
It’s impossible not to be jazzed about a situation like that.
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