WHISTLER DAY 5- January 10 : Crust is for Pizza, Not for Skiing

I woke up to the thunderous sound of avalanche cannons high up on the mountains, tearing down any loose snow that may cause a snowfall.

Whistler was crusted over after all of yesterday’s rain. We took two warm up runs off the Whistler Gondi, where it was so icy that we had to abandon ship. Time to head back to Blackcomb.

We took the Peak-to-Peak once again (it never gets old) and made our way to the 7th Heaven Chair on the western side of the mountain. We skied this area two days ago and found the conditions to be near perfect. Today’s conditions, while foggy, was just the same.

Skiing in fog is just weird. When you’re totally socked in, it’s like standing on one of those big exercise balls you find in the gym. You lose your balance, your depth perception, your speed perception, and your style. All you can hope for is that you find your way out of that soup, and you don’t hit anything big.

Luckily enough the snow remained loose and powdery on the Blackcomb Side. I rented some wider skis for today in hopes of finding some of that infamous powder. There was maybe an inch or two on top of the base and the skis responded well to the snow. It took a little to get used to, but once I mastered the craft, there was nothing stopping me from making my favorite deep, fast carves in the snow.

After lunch, we went back to the Glacier to do some more steep terrain. On the ride up, we saw some brave souls hucking it off the top of the headwall, about 500 feet above us. All I could think about was the sound of the avalanche cannons firing earlier this morning. I hope they got all of the loose snow, for their sake.

While Dad took to the cruisers on the Glacier itself, I decided to challenge myself on the steep face that splits the glacier from the other chute on the mountain face. The trail was lined with natural mounds of hard pack, followed by soft powdery pillows underneath. Some of the drop offs were over 6 feet tall, but with the comfy landings making the turns a little easier to complete, it made for an almost easy run.

With burning legs and a victory over two double blacks on the Glacier, we made the long trek down the mountain and back to the village. Hard to believe the last day of skiing is tomorrow, followed by a day in Vancouver.