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Whistler

March 2020

Part 1 - Empty slopes & Splitboarding

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Jump to Part 2 - Riding, Ice Hockey & Howe Sound

  

After much umming & ahhing - an impromptu 9 day trip to Whistler before the Corona Virus mayhem really kicked in...



Getting acclimatised for Canada at Heathrow...

 
  LHR beer

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Welcome to Vancouver and the familiar totems, the luggage carousel atmosphere grew a little tenser when it was announced that the next flight that had landed was in from Hong Kong...


Arrival
 
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Roughing it - a conference in town meant that the best value accommodation for the first night was the Fairmont Chateau...

Chateau
 
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Strangely prophetic in the Mallard Lounge...

Mallard 

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Whistler has gone craft brew mad and who am I to complain after years of pitchers of Kokanee Gold; as well as 2 new breweries in town, there were at least 3 new pubs too - this one is the cosy Fitzsimmons Pub...

Fitzsimmons Pub

 

 
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The first day was spent riding with Kev, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of us in action.

Day one and all is open after a decent fresh snowfall over the previous 36 hours...
 
Slopes
 
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Spent the first couple of days over at Symphony...

Symphony 1
 
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The light was a little flat, so the trees were very welcome...

Symphony 2
 

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They hadn't seen much traffic, so even the steeper routes had fresh snow on them...
 
Symphony 3

 
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Beautiful and quiet...
 

Symphony 4
 
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Not a soul in sight in the bowls below Symphony chair...


Symphony 5
 
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Totem in town...

 

  Totem

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Obligatory picture of the Olympic Rings - the town was celebrating the 10 year anniversary of hosting; though even the locals thought it was milking it a bit...
 

Olympic Rings


Room at my hotel for the rest of the trip...
 

Pinnacle 1

 
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Yes, a 2-person Jacuzzi bath right next to the bed...
 

Pinnacle 2
 

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Seventh Heaven...

The entrance to Xhiggy's meadow...
 

Xhiggy's
 
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Trees below...
 
Trees
 
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Fair to say that the weather came in a bit!
The track at the top of Seventh Heaven was windswept and brutal and they had to slow the chair right down because of the wind giving maximum cheek-sting exposure.

A warming soup and hot apple juice at the Horstman Hut and all is well...
 

Horstman Hut
 
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Again trees are the saviour - but being mindful of tree-wells...


Trees 2
 
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This section was a little steeper and tighter than planned...


Trees 3
 
 

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Out into a more familiar creekbed...
 

Trees 4
 
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Splitboarding

One of the main things that convinced me to come over was the availability of a splitboarding course.

So after some kitting-up, weather interpretation and avalanche training it was time to slide up Flute and out into the mountains beyond...
 

Splitboarding 1
 
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As wrong as it looks, this is the correct way round for the now split board...
  
Splitboarding 2
 
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Fresh tracks - worth the shuffle...

 
Splitboarding 3
 
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Away from the crowds on a light wind, blue sky day, the conditions were perfect. However I can imagine skinning up in a blizzard would be a much different prospect as the transitions between board and skis are a bit fiddly...
     
 
Splitboarding 4
 
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Snow pit...
 
Splitboarding 5
 
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Readying for the final descent before the shuffle back up into the ski area boundary...
 
Splitboarding 6
 
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Skins on show...
 
Splitboarding 7
 
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Tracks from our last back country descent...
 
Splitboarding 9


 
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The route back, shuffling along on the skis was a lot easier than bootpacking and that's without taking the deep snow element into account...
 
Splitboarding 8
 
 
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Next: Part 2 - Riding, Ice Hockey & Howe Sound


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