Dec 28, 2007, Oboe/Cowboy Ridge Whistler backcountry

In an effort to duck out of holidays crowd, Sharon, James, Tim and I headed out to Oboe and to Cowboy Ridge to see if we could find untouched pow.

We came in off Lesser Flute to drop in off the SE slopes dropping into Oboe Creek.  The ridgetop had thin snow and was facetted - unsurprisingly given recent wind direction. 

Flute was pretty tracked out.  Oboe's N-facing slopes had also been tracked out.  Good thing that Oboe's E slopes hadn't seen much traffic - we took care of the surprisingly light pow in those trees and put in three laps.

Sharon on our first shot


James dropping in



Tim very photogenically dressed



The snow wasn't reacting at all to ski cuts.  About 40cms of snow btl overlay a denser supportive pack.  We switched over to trees and kept hitting lines

Sharon and James then headed over back to the village via Singing Pass.  Tim and I went up to Cowboy Ridge to get a last lap.  The snow in Cowboy Ridge wasn't as deep as the snow in Oboe but it was certainly fast - it had that fast windbuff quality that allowed us to knock off the slope with a good deal of speed.

Electing for stability we skied the slidepath of a recent avalanche.  Recent snow had covered all the old debris and it was pretty good powder all the way down. 

Singing Pass trail is in good shape.  There is blowdown lower on the trail and some uncovered creeks.  Otherwise its fast skiing down to  village.