Spring Break at Whistler | Peak Chair Madness

Late March was a great time to be up at Whistler.  There were quite a few epic days both in bounds and out.  The video above is of my last day in Whistler, and my first day skiing in the actual ski area since I was 6 years old… Lets just say it was the right day to shred!

Regardless of its vast acreage, Whistler gets skied out lightning-fast.  There is a reason (actually a few) why skiing peak chair on a powder day is often referred to as “peak chair madness.” The craziness of thousands of skiers all looking for the goods as fast as possible combined with locals hucking 60 footers down the air jordan/waterfall areas makes for quite the stoke and adrenaline rush.

The main bowls and faces below the peak got skied out so quickly, that in just my second run, it started getting chunky; so I got creative.  I was skiing alone, and having set off numerous small slabs, I wasn’t about to go exploring the far reaches of whistler’s bounds like a lone cowboy discovering the wild west.  In order to find the fresh, I needed a powder-seeking Sacajawea.

Having spotted a rad looking skier, I hung back and followed the “leader.”  In minutes, I knew I had made the right call as I was looking down a 40 degree field of completely untracked pow littered by sparse baby trees.  At the bottom of the run I met the guy who had unknowlingly lead me to some of the better turns in my life, and it turned out I was following Mike Douglas of Salomon Freeski TV.  I guess I picked the right guy to follow…

All in all, I had a pretty rad time at whistler and will be returning for more throughout the spring, though, I doubt I’ll have another day as good as this.  If you haven’t been to Whistler, you need to go.  Period.  Get out there and shred.