December 10 + 11 - Blackcomb

Drive up Friday night interesting - snowing hard around Vancouver but headed up from the bay area around 4:30 and still got into town around 6. Huge line of cars going up so I thought the resort would be packed.

Stayed in upper village and headed to Wizard at 8:10 which was loading at that time. 6"+ of really dry snow - light wind. Started with night groomers with fresh snow on Solar Coaster - then watched for Glacier Express opening - timed it right and got the 10th chair - everybody immediately went for Spanky's ladder - leaving all the terrain under Glacier untracked. And I mean untracked for hours. Skated on the lift with empty chairs ahead of me. Hortsman T-Bar closed due to glacier receding - decided to head over to 7th so I could hit the Couloir - again no lift line. Entered Couloir from skiers right side and was deep - then traversed to left under cliffs - really deep snow and no tracks in sight. Repeated again and again. then hit Cougar chute at noon - no tracks again just angling left after the entrance. Ski to the village completely covered and surprisingly really good untracked powder on lower mountain as everybody was just taking the main groomer. Repeated on Sunday with basically the same conditions but it was snowing hard on upper mountain so visibility was not quite as good. Conditions though were equally as good. Temps were around 10 degrees on the top to 20 at the base - so really perfect. I was just amazed at how so many people could be in the village and yet there was 0 lift lines. Maybe everybody was over at the Peak or Harmony? Regardless, pleasant weekend being able to sleep to 7:45 and still be on the first chairs rather than the typical Washington zoo of standing in lift lines for over an hour before the lifts open to get fresh tracks.

Sounds like you scored a great weekend. Still going as it has remained cold. Maybe the cold kept lots of people from making an early start. If no choke points, all those high speed chairs handel crowds well. Good call on catching the fresh. With Symphony, Not yet open, fresh is still there for the picking.