Winter's Back at Whistler Blackcomb: 53cms in 48 hours

I had my suspicions that today was going to be a good one, the first hint was likely the snow falling on the ground last night, the second hint was the fact that I actually made it up to the mountain before the lifts opened, and the third hint was when we got second and third chairs onto Seventh Heaven after a few minutes waiting for it to open.

Jesse James showing his obvious excitement to have one of the first chairs on Seventh Heaven.

Seventh Heaven is not normally a place we'd choose to ski on a low-visibility powder day. We acted against our instincts, however, and the decision was a fruitful one. We made a bunch of quick laps through reservoir trees with nary a soul in sight and no Seventh lift line each lap. After we got tired of low-angle powder, we hit up Secret Bowl to Purple Haze to test the quality of the snow en route to Glacier Express. The snow was high-quality, it was to be expected.

Ryan McRae testing out the snow's reaction to force and momentum.

Jesse James ensuring snow cushioning ability is up to par.

By this time the wind was starting to howl and the free refills began. Our next lap was down through Spanky's where we ran into a bunch of the usual suspects, including Nadia Samer and Kasie Stroshin. Nads was testing out the snow, as well as her new Shugga Thatch suit from the people at The North Face. It looked good and worked well as Nadia attempted numerous sneaky (on purpose?) maneuvers to try to get snow into the suit.

TNF one-piece suit undergoing rigorous testing by Nadia Samer.

Spanky's was followed by some epic pillow lines and then some laps through CBCs as we tried to hide from the winds. Trees were dumping snow left and right as the gale-force wind ripped through the forests, leaving the cat-track out of Spanky's almost impossible to navigate. Each lap was as good as the one before, and practically every turn anyone made was over-the-head blower pow.

After some tasty morsels in Glacier Creek Lodge and a quick ringing out of our soaking wet gear (gotta love the Wet Coast), we ran into Zoya Lynch, Austin Ross, and Pierrot Bernier and took off up to Spanky's to get some more action.

Austin looks on as Pierrot Bernier milks Sapphire till the cows come home.

Zoya Lynch, not looking like she's going back to Revy anytime soon.

It felt like Spanky's had just opened. The high winds in the middle of the day had filled everything right back up again, and each turn was better than the last. Coming out the bottom of Spanky's there was no question that we'd session some pillow lines on the way back to the chair.

The snow was just too good, so everyone hiked up to hit the pillows again. It was practically a slumber party there were so many pillows.

Zoya, smiliest skier out there.

Zoya performed the snow-quality tests from underneath. As you can see, she's trying to get a better look at the various snow layers in this photo.

Nadia Samer ensuring that the snow still tastes good, even at high speed.

Oliver Chornous acting shifty at the top of a big pillow line.

Oliver coming out the bottom.

Mark Wutke laying down a sweet line.

Ryan McRae tests the exploding properties of powder snow.

Exhausted and cold, we still hadn't had quite enough, so we rode up to the top of Jersey Cream one more time for a long last run. We skied trees until we couldn't go any further and called it a day. Tomorrow will be just as good. I hope the legs hold up because the systems aren't letting up anytime soon. See you up there.