Michael Dolan Dot Com

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Whistler: what an amazing place

Each year we seem to add a few more “should we really do that?” adventures to our days in Whistler (or Utah, or Colorado) and this year proved just as adventurous as the rest. We had a “narrow” experience hiking up to the glacier at Blackcomb where there is a 18″-24″ wide supposedly semi-official path next to a chute that drops for a few football fields of vertical. I don’t recall it being so narrow in past years I did the hike. For our group this is not entirely out of the ordinary… but this year Josh brought his girlfriend and she was with us at the time… and did I mention she’s a beginner? She survived and in retrospect I think it’s these experiences that help take people to the next level. She did quite well although I did stay with her at every turn preferring to give up an awesome run to ensure I didn’t feel guilty of leading her into a serious injury. Chris A fared less well accomplishing a near collision and a concussion (even with a helmet on). Other than that, there were no injuries to report which is a good sign on any ski trip.

This year we had 4 days of skiing. The first day was terrible (raining) until we finally found a good spot on Whistler that had new snow. After that it was 3 days of non-stop powder (Whistler was “Dump of the Week” on Ski Net this week). You simply can’t beat having 5-8 inches of fresh new snow each morning on Whistler’s peak. We did learn that Whistler’s snow tracking was a bit off (it’s odd to rationalize a snow report that says there’s just 3cm of new snow when it’s up past your ski boots…)

Once again, Cockalorum and Mondays were awesome (and relatively unknown to others – or too scary) offering the best snow and challenging terrain. A tip is to drop in off the shallow part of the cornice way to the left by aiming for the left-most orange/black “Cliff” warning sign and drop in about 5-10ft to the left of that sign. Piccolo’s face in hindsight had a much better drop in point than the rocks or cornice… try dropping in at the rightmost point. Everyone should check out the powder on Flute Bowl but be prepared to walk if you stay to the right. The Glacier was awesome except for the harrowing hike that could lead to a death this year if it stays in the same condition… hopefully not, but I was surprised it was not closed.

My Volkl Unlimited AC4 skis proved their worth again and again this year giving me outstanding control in the powder, edges on some of the sharper faces, and a strong base for some of the narrow hop turns. I would again recommend these skis to anyone looking for an expert level set of powder/resort “all mountain” skis. If you’re going backcountry, you may prefer the super fats, but the AC4s are perfect for any condition.

BTW, don’t go to Blackcomb this year – what a waste of time… at least while we were there – no snow over the 4 days and Whistler had daily snowfall…

All in all, a good time was had by all and we made it home safely. Next year we’re going to try heli-skiing – if you have any recommendations for a good outfit in the B.C./Whistler area that is reasonably priced, please please let me know.

Photo: Courtesy of Lisa C taken on 7th Heaven at Blackcomb (ok, there was a little snow!)