Pacific NW/AK/BC 2018-2019

[MattFromCanada]

Went up to Whistler yesterday. Not a bad day for icy groomer skiing. Snow machines were out in force, and I heard some avalanche blasting which is a good sign.

Other thoughts: the terrain park has yet to be installed under the new Emerald chair. The park rats were going down the run anyways, I think they don't know anywhere else to go. Speaking of the Emerald chair, not super impressed... the footrests are very weird. 6 inch piece of plastic that doesn't really hold your skis anyways, and a post that goes between your legs, for every seat.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

enjoy the sun before the weekend. we may not see it again until April.
very slow start but if whats coming materializes we could be sking to valley by mid December - the typical time frame for it.

 

[Tom Co.]

Crystal – WROD I have been lucky to have never needed to ski a WROD. Well that came to an end. The only ski area in Western Washington with enough snow to run lifts is Crystal and that is only because they have snowmaking at the very bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately it's only on very low intermediate and beginner train. Early on it was okay because the runs were fairly empty and you could zoom. The light was a bit flat and the groomers had left some golf ball sized frozen clumps but hey, it was skiing. As the day went on it became more crowded, and you had to watch out for other sliders, however the rising sun helped the visibility. A few spots of gravel and more than a few areas of ice appeared. I got bored and took a ride on the gondola which was only open for scenic riders [no skis]. Man the upper mountain is bleak. On a more positive note the weather report is looking up.

 

[David Chaus]

Crystal – WROD I have been lucky to have never needed to ski a WROD. Well that came to an end. The only ski area in Western Washington with enough snow to run lifts is Crystal and that is only because they have snowmaking at the very bottom of the mountain. Unfortunately it's only on very low intermediate and beginner train. Early on it was okay because the runs were fairly empty and you could zoom. The light was a bit flat and the groomers had left some golf ball sized frozen clumps but hey, it was skiing. As the day went on it became more crowded, and you had to watch out for other sliders, however the rising sun helped the visibility. A few spots of gravel and more than a few areas of ice appeared. I got bored and took a ride on the gondola which was only open for scenic riders [no skis]. Man the upper mountain is bleak. On a more positive note the weather report is looking up.

So, are you saying it isn’t necessarily worth my time to drive 2 1/2 to ski the WROD at Crystal, as opposed to say, driving the 5 hours to Sun Peaks or 5 1/2 hours to Silver Star?

 

[Tom Co.]

Dano T posted in another thread that Sun Peaks was not worth a road trip. You might want to check with him for an update. I don't know about Silverstar. I am personally waiting for this weather change and hoping for Stevens opening. I was thinking about the Sun Peaks Road trip until that Dano T post.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Big White is also open .Whistler has about 1000 acres open. This coming week that should increase significantly .
heard it's been a decent start in the Alpine at LL, Sunshine but I don't think a road trip for the limited amounts open anywhere is worth it at the moment
- be patient - one more week

 

[DanoT]

Sun Peaks has 91 of 137 runs open including a couple double blacks and about a dozen black runs, (several blacks require a short hike to Gils Hill or even shorter hike to the top of the closed Burfield chair). You don't really need rocks skis right now as there are only a few spots that involve some rock dodging, however my new Head Kore 93s don't come out of the ski locker until the next snowfall.

While it was chilly, the Crystal Bowl in the sunshine yesterday was very nice. The rock band on the Big Headwall (visible from the top of the Sunburst bubble chair and where they run the Speed Skiing in the spring) is mostly covered.

Is Sun Peaks road trip worthy? It is difficult for me to say as I never do ski road trips before January, however with almost 30 years summer grooming and some snow making, Sun Peaks is always the least rocky most reliable in B.C. if it is a slow start to the season.

We even had a decent opening day back on Nov. 17, the originally scheduled opening. I always say that this time of year SP can have 30-50cm less base than others in B.C.and the PNW and still have better coverage and the current 91 open runs kinda proves it.

 

[David Chaus]

Silver Star’s website shows all lifts open except for the backside, so quite a bit of terrain.

Hopefully Stevens opens by next weekend.

 

[Tom Co.]

YES! YES! YES!
UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2018 09:12 AM
The wait is over!! Stevens Pass will open this Wednesday, December 12 for the 2018/19 winter season! We are planning on opening with 4 chairlifts: Hogsback, Skyline, Daisy, and Brooks, conditions permitting. Well also have one magic carpet open in the learning area.

For base area amenities, the Granite Peaks Lodge will be open for food service and pass/ticket sales, while there will be shopping at Fall Line Sports in the Pacific Crest Lodge, as well as rentals and shopping available in the Tye Creek Lodge.

We cant wait to see you on the mountain!

We are going Wednesday. I'll report back

 

[Posaune]

I saw that ^^^ and also note that Mt. Baker is looking to open on Wednesday as well with chairs 1, 2, & 3 operating. They are looking to open all lifts by the weekend if the snowfall comes on as predicted.

 

[DanoT]

Sun Peaks is now road trip worthy if you are OK with the most runs (110) open in Canada (I think) but not quite all runs open.
We had 7cm/3in new snow yesterday and it is snowing right now. The last few hundred vertical is firm underneath but most of the mountain=soft snow. The rock band on the Big Headwall is 99% covered.

3 lower mountain runs have been Cat track packed and should open today. And 3 black runs on West Morrisey opened at noon yesterday.

New Head Kore 93s will be on my feet today.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Whistler, still snowing hard to base. Looks very promising for the rest of the PNW
About 60 cm so far this week. The consolidated base should be over a meter by end of day
On Whistler, Peak is already open and is being skied everywhere.
Other Alpine lifts, Harmony,Symphony on Whistler, Glacier, 7th and Crystal on Blackcomb as of yesterday still awaiting avy control and more traffic to open.
Expect more openings anytime now. The new gondola is supposed to open on Saturday.
looks like it's finally the real ski season

 

[David Chaus]

Sadly, I have a full day of appointments tomorrow or I’d head up to Stevens. I’ll have to wait until Saturday.

 

[DanoT]

It was a weird weather day at Sun Peaks. It snowed for a few hours before dawn, leaving 7cm new, then turned to a freezing mist and very thick fog. Most often only the top 1/3 of the mountain is in fog, but not today as it was the top 7/8ths or was it 15/16 of the mountain that was in the fog?

Along with the freezing mist on the goggles I couldn't find the fog poles on Crystal Run which starts out as a cat track that you really don't want to ski over the edge. Two other groups that I came across who know the mountain well said that they couldn't find some hike-to powder stash runs that they were looking for. LOL. However, the hike-to Gil's Hill was fog free, as it always is. Well the hike was foggy and windy too, but the skiing was powdery.

Temps were weird today too as it was 0*C at the base and -10*C at the top of the mountain. That is a large temperature differential in less than 3000'vert.

Around noon it was -2*C at the base and started snowing. In any event, we continue to get small frequent storms at Sun Peaks which is normal. Normal is good and so is the skiing.

 

[pchewn]

I've had 4 "OK" days at Timberline (multiple white ribbons open), and one good day. It's going to snow like mad tonight (about 16"), so tomorrow (Wed Dec 12) should be great. They were open on Molly, Puchi, and Palmer. They will soon close Puchi for the winter and open up Stormin' Norman and Jeff Flood. Magic Mile needs more snow, so I think it will be late Dec before it opens.

 

[Tom Co.]

Opening day at Stevens.

Skyline and Hogs opened late so big lines on each. They were weekend big lines. There was a ticket checker standing out in front who was checking seasons passes. We bought hours from Stevens before the Vail takeover and they did not work. We went up the service tow to a tent where a Stevens employee gave us paper tickets in exchange for a piece of ID like drivers license or credit card. If we would've gone into guest services it would've been at least a 45 minute wait.
There was pretty good coverage, however there was limited grooming so everybody was crammed in. The off pisted skiing was tough. The visibility was tough. About 11:15 we took a break to see about getting the correct seasons pass and found big big lines again. I checked the ticket windows outside to see if I could at least get my drivers license back and was able to get my new pass from the ticket window lady with a minimal wait. We all three got lucky with that deal. The lines did thin out, but we only took a few more runs and called it. Vail really blew it with this seasons pass deal. There was no advance notice that our passes wouldn't work and it was a big PIA to get it squared away. Oh yeah, food prices are up, how surprising.
Visibility=0.5
Crowd=0
snow=0.5
1 out of 3 day.

So far Vail Corp. gets no stars. David Chaus, [and anybody else] This weekend will be a zoo.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Whistler today was fun but not great, much to the disappointment of the powder hungry crowd in line for opening.
lots of new snow - untracked knee deep in many places but it was on the heavy side, must have warmed up over night .
Would have been great in the Alpine but Peak could not open yesterday or today (by the time I called it a quits) blasting all day.

Even with the 70 odd cm that fell over the last few days the snow level isn't up to norm so some brush skiing on non groomed runs .
You can ski to base after ducking the rope but it's a work out.

more wind and snow approaching as I left . hope it stays snow below mid station.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

just looked at Whistler's overnight snow stake. Doubt there is any brush skiing left.
avy control is going to be challenging. Be extra careful out there.

 

[David Chaus]

Stevens is spinning 7th Heaven today, which blows my mind. That is all double black terrain.

 

[wutangclan]

In the Facebook “South Coast [of BC] Touring” group, there’s multiple direct accounts of near-fatalities on Whistler today. In-bounds slides, tree well entrapment, etc. The recent new snow hasn’t consolidated yet. Be patient and stay safe, folks.