Blackcomb - 04/18/17

Variable weather day. High clouds...low mid clouds...snow showers early....winter snow shower's mid day...winds...winter conditions...sun...blue skies...4 to 8 new spring pow...warm...cold...grooming...no grooming...a mighty fine day....Best part ..no driving.

Nice to see you still enjoying winter up there. Looks good for a few more days. Stay inbounds and stay safe. With all of the snow out there, and the coldest winter I've ever seen, the avalanche danger is high every day on steep slopes...No matter what the forecast says. Consolidation is nowhere near - but many are acting like it is...

Yeah, we had a great time inbounds late last week and through the weekend. Some fresh powder and then some very nice wind blown-refills on Sunday (the free facial dermabrasion we got on the glacier lift and horstman t-bar Sunday AM was less awesome). But there was a LOT of snow on the move Sunday so I'm sure there are plenty of slabs near the ridges in the backcountry, and it looked like plenty of cornice overhang just waiting for the seemingly random moments to collapse.

Oh, and though the holiday weekend crowds were huge, they started skiing late, finished early, and mostly did not use the singles lines! And with so much terrain, there was plenty of room to spread out. We were getting fresh lift served tracks (albeit with a slight walk up from the Showcase t-bar) mid-day Saturday, and through most of the morning Sunday even adjacent to the Blue Line along the Glacier chair!!

I think even a lot of locals are nearly done skiing and riding bikes! Great you could find fresh and safe snow.

I look forward to quiet April skiing at Whistler. We usually go for a long  weekend right before the  lifts close at one of the  areas for  the  season, but were suckered in  by the  shorter WSSF schedule this year. While we enjoyed  one really great band down at the  FIDO stage by the gondolas base, I think I'll return to  the  "last full week" schedule in future  spring seasons...

As a side note, with Telus' having pulled out from the  WSSF sponsorship, and with the  loss of a key manager of the  event, it seemed to be a fair bit lower key this year. Probably fun for the racers, but it mostly seemed invisible to us this year.