Friday Funday at Whistler Blackcomb: Enough Snow for Everyone

Submitted by amym on Sat, Jan 16, 2010

My days of the week go as follows: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Fraturday, Saturday, and newly-discovered 'Funday,' which happens to fall on the real world's Friday, but in reality is Sunday in my work/ski calendar. And Funday it was on January 15th, with 70cms pounding Whistler Blackcomb in 24 hrs. I almost had to go buy a snorkel, seriously. Read more for pics and the story.

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Teaser:

The powder-covered smiles say it all, but Friday Funday was unbelievable on Blackcomb mountain. I said I would ski Whistler eventually, which I did today, but no-one had a choice yesterday with Whistler mountain only operating from Midstation and below and everyone else crammed onto Solar Coaster and Excelerator chairs on the Dark side all day.

Halfway down lap 1 through Excelerator trees Dustin Clark is visibly stoked. Amy McDermid photo.

Ski patrol had some slabtastic conditions to deal with, and the high winds in the alpine only exacerbated the problem. Even the high traverse from Jersey chair had the closed signs up so people had to get creative to find untracked powder.

We began the day with some laps off of Excelerator chair and everyone had to keep their speed up to avoid submarining, even on the fattest powder skis. You could drop anything without fear because there was almost half a meter of snow waiting to cushion your landing.

Ryan McRae testing out his pow skis. Amy McDermid photo.

The snow kept hammering down on everyone all morning. It wasn't enough for free refills each run but it was pretty close. Part way through the day, however, Mr. Sun came for a visit and the skies cleared for the entire afternoon. Bluebird superb powder conditions awaited anyone with enough energy to keep shredding after lunch, and shred we did.

Snorkel definitely necessary. Amy McDermid photo.

Dustin Clark finding some more fresh snow. Amy McDermid photo.

Ryan McRae testing out the soft landings in the Excelerator trees. Amy McDermid photo.

Our final lap we hiked up the bootpack to the upper Seventh Heaven traverse and skied trees all the way down to the lowest traverse. Dustin and Ryan decided to get creative and had their way with some powder-covered trees, as seen in the photos below. Hauling my camera in a harness on my chest all day was worth it and I caught some of the action: