 Poster: A snowHead
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Yes! @Jonny Jones, that’s the spot.
Sorry for the late reply. Was out skiing. Condition was nice.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 6-02-20 3:19; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Dp
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Thu 6-02-20 8:11; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Extremely Canadian Steep Clinic, Day 2 & Day 3 (both at Blackcomb mountain)
At the end of that terrible icy crusty Saturday, which was Day 1 of the 2-day Extremely Canadian Steep Clinic, I contemplated my options for Sunday, which would be the 2nd day of the clinic.
I had the option to postpone it to a different date. On the other hand, if the alpine lifts open, there were all the untouched powder the clinic will have first crack at. I decided to wait till the morning and see what the chance of alpine lifts opening.
So, in the morning, seeing the lift status board half red, I asked the clinic organizer how they would suggest to handle this. They were nice enough to offer that I go out with the instructor, with the hope of some of the alpine lifts opening. Much as I guessed, only ONE of the alpine lift opened, late in the morning. So our steep options were much limited, with convoluted multi-lift combo plus long traverse for every lap. We only managed 3 laps.
So, I was offered a “make-up” day, today (Wednesday).
Wednesday is their “touring day” version of the clinic. Focus is more on just skiing many different lines, with a bit of instructions thrown in. There were only 6 or 7 clients. I joined two friends in the lower group. One of them is a 73 year old gentleman from Brazil! That puts me in my proper place about being “too old” for “extreme steeps”!  His friend is far younger though. And he offered to be the tail end Charlie to pick up the pieces if either of us yard sales. Fortunately, I finished the day without any spill. But saw plenty of carnage in the various steep sections, from other groups not involved with the clinic.
After our warm up, at the top of Jersey Cream, we saw Glacier chair was spinning, though without people on it yet. Still, that signals it’s about to open to take skiers. More importantly, it’s an indication that avi evaluation/control was probably close to complete. So our instructor opted to take our chance by going down to the 7th Heaven chair. We arrived as it was just starting to take skiers. So we were the first few chairs going up! Yeehaa! 
Naturally, we picked one of the best runs and harvested the hero powder from overnight (only a few inches). At the end of the run though, we stopped to practiced a few moves which we would need on the steep. Then we went back up on the 7th chair. This time, we hang a left and dropped into Packalolo. Visibility was bad. I couldn’t see how steep the side hill is on the traverse, though somehow managed not to lose the line. Then, it was the steep slope at the top of Pakalolo. This is a line we did on Sunday, on equally poor visibility. So this time it’s just a tad less unnerving. I was able to make linked turns somewhat resembling a semi-fluid descend.
Next was Spanky’s Ladder! I knew that has to be “in the menu”. I had done it in my previous trip. The last time, the hike was more challenging than the descend. Today, it was confirmed (to me) it’s still the case! We came down Diamond Bowl, which had good powder. With not a whole lot of visibility, it’s all I could do to follow the leader without taking my eyes off to look around the landscape. In any case, skiing in the thick soup, there’s no scenery to speak of.
The exit from Spanky’s is long and flat. So we were hungry for lunch. But our instructor made us earned our lunch by practice making tight turns off one snow pillow after another snow pillow after yet more snow pillows on our way down to lunch! That, worked up an appetite for all of us!
After lunch, we put those tight turns off snow pillows in use off the Couloir. A groups of instructor in training were also in the Couloir. Saw a spectacular cartwheeling down a good part of the couloir. But no harm done. We helped to pick up her skis and poles, which littered the full length of the couloir! 
Then, it’s back to Spanky’s again...
To fit in one more run before the lift shuts, we did an extra run on Glacer chair, seeking out snow pillows to practice jumping off them, side-slipping off them, dropping with a tight turn off them... Basically, using the steep side of snow pillows as practice props to learn the various moves we need in steep tight places.
My legs were feeling heavy and tired at that point. By the time we came back down to Glacier chair to get back up to Spanky’s as our last run, my legs had rebel against instruction from my brain! So I beg off the last run, even though my brain still wanted to do it, my legs were on the verge of going on strike. The hike up Spanky’s would have killed my legs totally, before I even get a chance to drop in. Not surprisingly, the 73 year old gentleman also opted to join me. So we just skied casually back down to the bottom. That’s a good 4000’ verticals. I was barely able to stay upright by the end of it 
All in all, it’s a good clinic. We skied a bunch of steep lines. And had a hell of a lot of drills we could continue to work on.
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Wed 26-02-20 20:56; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Feb 8 (Friday) Tour of Whistler mountain
The sun is gone after its brief appearance. Replaced by some interesting cloud formations. Skiing in the low definition can be a little challenging. But the snow is good.
Having skied only at Blackcomb mountain the past 7 days, I really wanted to go over to Whistler. The peak, Harmony and Symphony area are all good intermediate and advanced terrain, with a few exciting expert terrains here and there. Unfortunately, the visibility was not great. All of the upper mountain were in the clouds. Hard to see anything and just as difficult to navigate.
Fortunately, Whistler has a nice offer to help the situation, the FREE Mountain Tour!
The Mountain Hosts would take punters around, showing the best run of the day, sneaky shortcuts, or lessor known ways to get from point A to point B. Had the visibility be better, they would have taken punters up to the alpine sector of Harmony/Symphony. But today isn't the kind of day to go up there. There's nothing to see but whiteness of fog anyway. So we were led around in the tree lined runs in the lower 2/3 of Whistler mountain. Enjoyable but not quite what I hoped for. But weather is just weather, can't do much about it.
Plus, it started to snow since late morning and had been snowing all this time. Tomorrow morning should be a good start.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Wed 26-02-20 21:28; edited 4 times in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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FAQ
But as I can afford to stay here the whole season, I’m very pleased I got a bluebird powder day!
And again on Friday!
