Black/BWB/Black 02/10-12/16

So the basic report is we had a happy trip to Blackcomb/Whistler -  What would you expect from me? What is the bottom line? – go if you can…its Heaven!  Don’t read any more if your wordy challenged. And if you like to read a book here is the rest of the wordy report ….Good trip, not perfect (some folks would be very disappointed), but way better than the low expectations I had early…Arrived Tuesday to big nice sunny views, woke up to “Not raining right now in the Village”….Had a pretty wet Wednesday on Blackcomb,  (good Gore-Tex testing conditions and I have the best Gore-Tex) it was snowing up top of Glacier, Jersey and Solar…raining at the bottom of all, great soft snow, still good grooming…but pretty wet – my run to the base via lower Gear Jammer was very fun (during a not to wet period).

Thursday was the big weather day, some sun and clear skies early, lots of very hard firm groomers early mid mountain, upper Black nice, did the P2P ride over to Whistler – Aahh Peak Chair! Love that chair! Top bowl and run back to the lift was very happy….but dark clouds where blowing in…Skied Peak to Creekish (almost), upper part perfect blue ice screamer nasty – I stayed on the edge and watched the mayhem in the middle, mid mountain nice soft spring, headed up RED chair to make the mid day run to the Village – very nice and quiet, lots of happy soft spring carving (maybe a thousand turns? – not!).  Back up Blackcomb, weather getting darker – so did 3 non stop Solar Coaster work the carve runs (2k each) and finished the day with a happy non stop to the Village via lower Gear Jammer (didn’t have the legs or brain to try upper Gear Jammer).  Had tired quads at the base!

Friday – Big day (important to me), lucky no rain when we headed up Blackcomb.  Had a very nice breakfast at Glacier – nuking snow outside.  Weather was just cold enough to the bottom of Glacier and Jersey to be snow…down lower things got wetter.  Mid day the weather went totally everywhere…big snow storm up high, big sun break, big wind, big fun….Bumped into a hard core monk on vacation from India that said I should go with him and do Blackcomb glacier!  Praise the life force that I followed – perfect vis, perfect boot top soft untracked turns – dang I should have taken a pic…really! He knew all the perfect spots…nothing like a random local… Finished the day with some nice Arthurs and Barks and that very happy last big run out to the base (start at the top and 20 minutes later your in your room having happy hour)….Great trip all in all.
;D

Other – Parking was in the basement (truck was still there this morning).  Food was great everywhere – the on mountain small restaurants are the real ticket – didn’t eat at any, but the food options are very unique and eclectic at all (way different than the main lodges).  Blackcomb’s Rendezous was remodeled this last year – cant say the food options have improved much (good but not a lot of what was available in the past), big variety of breakfast options – one of the best was the Glacier omelets! (great to split). 

Other Other – One of the big not known to me news items was that Horstman T-Bar hasn’t been running this winter ( the glacier shifted )…makes it much more challenging to get to Suadan and Pako and Secret areas – didn’t make it myself, since you have to run Seventh Heaven, but they all looked pretty nice from below with the colder conditions up high all week.

Other Other Other – Today would have been fun based on the snow reports…but the lift lines in the Village at 9am where what I would call MASSIVELY BIG!  Ouch!  Glad we were leaving.  Boarder north was the I-5 casual truck crossing, coming home was the Aldergrove/Lynden crossing as usual (with a smarter route south of the boarder to Hamstervile – Yee Haaa). 

Glad you hit it good. You were skiing my boot top Glacier powder while I was on freeze thaw mank in Vail! The glacier is pretty reliable as its high and sheltered. Look up a run called "Ladies First" next time you're up there.