Whistler B.C. Conditions Report: Cold Wind Buff

slash — Some turns were better than others. Wind pockets held the goods today.

Whistler has been cold and windy for the last week. Until today most of the alpine had been closed for the last few days due to wind. The wind has made the snow interesting for sure, super smooth and cardboard like in some sections, and deep in others. It is basically a mix of everything in the alpine and changes almost turn to turn.

In the trees and down lower the snow is more consistent. It is mostly skied out and soft packed snow. If you tour out in the backcountry, you will find deep snow around tree line and in wind protected areas, that has stayed light due to the cold weather.

saphire-3 — There were some fun wind features to play on such as this windlip in Saphire.

Today we skied Spankey’s and Glacier all day. The snow is definitely variable from fast chalk and wind buff, to some powder pockets. A lot of the steep pitches had some rocks exposed due to the recent wind event, however the skiing was overall smooth and fun. There were very little tracks at the beginning of the day because the wind moving snow around. This allowed for some fresh tracks to be made on Glacier.

getting-to-saphire — Getting to Saphire bowl via this chute

Looking into the next few days we can expect the winds to die down a bit and temperatures to warm up a little bit as a new storm system pushes through.