Blackcomb Opening Day: Sunny Hot Laps

spinning — Having a fun time in the boulder fields.

Blackcomb Mountain opened today and it was a super good time! I was not sure what the snow was going to be like since it had not snowed in a bit, but was surprised to find super soft and fresh snow. It definitely had wind-blown spots and anything that was on an open face had a wind crust and funky snow. But in the protected areas the snow was soft, smooth, and awesome to ride. In the morning we were hot lapping chair line of Jersey and having an awesome time. I could not stop skiing to take a picture because it was such a fun time.

coulior — Looking up towards Chainsaw Ridge and Couloir Extreme

The coverage is still pretty solid for this time of the season. I was not really scared of hitting any surprising rocks as most of them were either uncovered and easy to spot, or had a distinct snow mound on them. The areas to the left of Jersey chair still had very distinguishable boulder fields that you would have to navigate around. This area to the left of Jersey also mainly had that wind-blown crust layer along with most of the alpine from what I could see.

jersey — Jersey Wall looking pretty filled in

Overall today was super fun. The snow in the protected areas was money, and even when skied out was soft and movable. This weekend I expect the resort to be a bit more crowded as it is Thanksgiving in the States and was also the official planned opening weekend. However with both mountains open now with a solid base it should be an awesome time.

Definitely some interesting wind blown snow in the alpine

On a side note, I drove up the Sea to Sky this morning from Vancouver and although it has been super sunny, it has been cold this last week and there was some black ice on the road, especially if you are driving early in the morning. Drive safe everyone, and enjoy the weekend!