Pacific NW/AK/BC When do you start fretting about Whistler?

[DanoT]

I just looked at Whistler's website and they are predicting around 60cm/2feet over the next week. A more manageable and less dangerous amount than 6 feet with likely less avy control terrain closures.https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/snow-and-weather-report.aspx

 

[scott43]

I guess we'll see who has the better forecasting model...I do actually tend to believe Whistler more..it's their hill.
https://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Whistler-Blackcomb/6day/top

 

[noncrazycanuck]

I find if you add up the least amounts predicted over a week on Whistlers site - it's usually fairly accurate, often more but rarely as much as adding the maximums

The best site for Whistler and Sea to Sky snow information is at Wayne Flann Avalanche

 

[mcpowell]

OpenSnow is forecasting a lot of snow. What are the chances of 94” coming through in the next 10 days? This would open some territory...well, eventually, once they clear for avalanches.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

2 days forecasts are long term ones here.
there is significant snow in forecast but I trust the local info more

To put you at ease , already many more than the runs listed as open are being skied .
but its' early season, so caution is still being advised.
over 2 more months of snow in forecast before your visit, don't worry.

 

[scott43]

Now that's a snow stake vid!

https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/mountain-cams.aspx

 

[DanoT]

Now that's a snow stake vid!

https://www.whistlerblackcomb.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/mountain-cams.aspx

I guess that snow stake is the official answer to the OP's question: Dec 12, 2018 is when you STOP fretting about conditions at Whistler. So now he can start fretting about the crowds and lining up and over paying for everything.

 

[BLspruce2]

Whistler is like every other area now. With global warming weather systems are get messed up everywhere and especially in cold regions. So basically any area at any time is going to not going to be like it was in the past. I just hope that there is enough snow to keep snow sports open in the future. The more you read up on global warming the more it freaks me out and worries me. As a skier or anyone who loves the outdoors you should be an active, voting environmentalist.

 

[DanoT]

The more you read up on global warming the more it freaks me out and worries me. As a skier or anyone who loves the outdoors you should be an active, voting environmentalist.

While I am not a climate change denier, I do note that 2 seasons ago was the coldest winter in B.C. in almost 25 years, so no point in freaking out, imo. The higher elevation, more northerly resorts should fair better than others and the smarter better run resorts will follow Sun Peaks lead and focus on summer grooming programs and snow making if they can afford it.

Sun Peaks probably has right now an average compacted base on most runs of under 20 inches and yet they have over 110 of 137 runs open. This is because they have pulled every stump on the mountain, picked rocks, planted grass, cut weeds and willows both by hand and by machine. Many runs look like a vertical meadow or golf fairway in summer.

At this time of year SP can have a reported settled base that is 30-50 cm thinner than other resorts but SP will have better coverage and more runs open and it is all due to summer grooming. Since installing some snow making and instituting their summer grooming program SP has consistently been able to open, usually with top to bottom skiing, prior to US Thanksgiving. Previously a more normal opening day would have been after the first week of December like most of the resorts in the B.C. interior.

 

[Mike Rogers]

the smarter better run resorts will follow Sun Peaks lead and focus on summer grooming programs and snow making if they can afford it.

Not going to happen where I ski. It's a bit tough to do in National Parks, and RCR is cheap....

 

[Mike Rogers]

As a skier or anyone who loves the outdoors you should be an active, voting environmentalist.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't know if traveling to ski resorts is an appropriate way to fight climate change. People in my neck of the woods (or grasslands, I guess) are a bit sensitive about political environmental policy. Oil and Gas pay the bills in Alberta, and it can be frustrating when people who actively purchase fossil fuels make policy that makes it harder for Albertans to sell fossil fuels.

But enough of that stuff.... It's snowing today!

 

[noncrazycanuck]

just looked at the snow stake webcam. in the last 2hr they had to raise the base to keep it above the snow

 

[Christy]

smarter better run resorts will follow Sun Peaks lead and focus on summer grooming programs

This is because they have pulled every stump on the mountain, picked rocks, planted grass, cut weeds and willows both by hand and by machine. Many runs look like a vertical meadow or golf fairway in summer.

That kind of summer grooming is terrible for the environment. The land doesn't recover from that kind of fastidious clearing. Leaving the stumps, brush, etc is far better for the larger ecosystem. To say it's "smarter" and "better"...from a ski resort's profit perspective, sure. I'm happier waiting until the snow piles up a bit to ski if it means we don't destroy the mountain (and that's the case this year here!).

 

[DanoT]

That kind of summer grooming is terrible for the environment. The land doesn't recover from that kind of fastidious clearing. Leaving the stumps, brush, etc is far better for the larger ecosystem. To say it's "smarter" and "better"...from a ski resort's profit perspective, sure. I'm happier waiting until the snow piles up a bit to ski if it means we don't destroy the mountain (and that's the case this year here!).

I have worked for most of my life in logging and some mining and don't see any point in getting into an argument other than to say that the cattle that graze on the Open Range Land that are the runs and forest areas between runs do not damage the environment. Thinking that pulling stumps, planting grass (holds moisture and stabilizes the soil) and picking rocks and managing spring run off is bad for the environment...well like I said, there is no point in arguing.

 

[mcpowell]

I guess that snow stake is the official answer to the OP's question: Dec 12, 2018 is when you STOP fretting about conditions at Whistler. So now he can start fretting about the crowds and lining up and over paying for everything.

At least the last 2 years, the lines haven’t been that bad in early March. We did get caught at the Creekside Gondola on a Saturday and had to wait about 30 minutes, and then took the above picture on a powder day while everyone was waiting to go up the Glacier Express.

 

[dbostedo]

^^^^
I assume Glacier was on hold to create that line? Or was that just the regular line with it running?

 

[DanoT]

I assume Glacier was on hold to create that line? Or was that just the regular line with it running?

I can't answer your question directly but I shared a chair lift ride at Sun Peaks today with someone who had been at Whistler the day before and he said Whistler was a zoo both in terms of lift lines and on the runs (limited number open). I asked why it would be so crowded mid week this time of year. Answer: first big powder day of the year. My response was that unless you are a local, any powder day at Whistler=2 pow runs and then its cut up snow for the rest of the day.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

big crowd but from where you are it probably was under 10 minutes before you uploaded Jersey Cream - hi speed quads move traffic fast.
word of advice - never waste time in line waiting for the Glacier chair to open on a powder day -that chair is a traffic magnet. Everyone heads there initially from both up loads.
always better to get a few runs elsewhere before it does.

 

[mcpowell]

^^^^
I assume Glacier was on hold to create that line? Or was that just the regular line with it running?

Yes. Glacier was on hold for an hour or so. I assume avalanche control was at work. We lapped Jersey a few times and then moved on. Once Glacier opened, the line was gone in short order.

 

[LewyM]

I guess that snow stake is the official answer to the OP's question: Dec 12, 2018 is when you STOP fretting about conditions at Whistler. So now he can start fretting about the crowds and lining up and over paying for everything.

^^Dead on. I was at Whistler this weekend and can confirm that it is underway, in all of its splendor. And there will be snow this season.

Saturday was beautiful, cold, clear and dry. It was almost like skiing in the Rockies. But limited terrain made lift lines a zoo. Whistler certainly has strong synergy with Vail on that aspect of the experience.

The Peak would have been epic - if we had been willing to stand around in the cold for two hours in line. The group in the front of the line (who did not include us) got in some poor man's heli skiing once it opened up. And they gave us a good show as well. But the line never receded because that was the only high Alpine terrain open at either mountain.

Sunday was really nice for first tracks, even being limited to the old school Whistler chairs (Red/Green). About 10-15 cm of classic pasty PNW "powder." But it warmed up in a hurry and with high winds, poor viz, the Alpine shut down and the snowline creeping up to mid-mountain, it was the classic Whistler experience. Drenched at the end of the day. We had fun because it is skiing, we were with friends and it is an easy drive from Seattle. But I still can't fathom why anyone from outside of the PNW would book well in advance, fly over UT, CO, WY, MT, and pay silly prices for variable conditions. But when it is on. . .