Getting Lucky on Blackcomb: St. Patrick's Day at W/B

Photos and words by Amy McDermid

All the people lined up at the Dublinh Gate pub in Whistler village missed out on a good ski day today. Spring may have arrived, but we didn't find any shamrocks; only pow, more pow, and some leprechauns.

The clouds and light were in and out all day, but there was no shortage of snow, and it doesn't really matter if you can see when you're skiing powder. I was skiing with Kasie Stroshin and Nadia Samer, but there were some guest appearances for the day. We started off with a lap up Seventh Heaven chair, and skied down Couloir Extreme. We ran into Pierrot Bernier on the way there and he got really extreme, which was perfect, considering the name of the area.

We ran into the fellows from Dendrite Studios as well, and they had some plans to film some pretty tricky lines during the day. Unfortunately for us, we didn't get to see any of the action because the clouds were obscuring everything. The turns were soft, however, with an occasional crunchy patch here and there, but that's to be expected, it is March, afterall. We are all still holding the firm belief that winter isn't finished with us yet.

Nadia above Couloir Extreme, in an extreme-ly cool one-piece.

All the usual crew of Darkside shredders were out on the mountain, including Matty Richard, Stainer, Austin Ross, Chris Turpin, Cody Haggard and a bunch more. Somehow, despite all of the talented skiers about, we still found some fresh turns, even by 2 in the afternoon.

Kasie doing something she really didn't want to do, all for the sake of a photo.

Pierrot Bernier sussing out his line.

Pierrot coming out the bottom into the Couloir.

We got creative with the photo-taking, mainly because the light was super-flat and the snow was questionable in spots. Poor Kasie got stuck skiing the worst snow, of course it looked good from where I was standing, telling her to go, but yeah, oops. Anyway, it's still really fun up there and we have months to go before it's time to pack up the skis and bring out the bikes. The Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival is coming up and that will be a super fun time! If you're not from Whistler, it's a great time to come for a visit! We'll save some snow for you, but only a little bit.

See you up there, the weather is supposed to be good for the next little while.

Kasie once again skiing the not-so-ideal snow, haha sucker.

The photographer gets her turn to ski, but chooses more delightful snow conditions. Kasie Stroshin photo.

Kasie ripping down a girls-only run. We'll tell you where it is....but only if you're a girl. Long story.