Whistler and backcountry 11/26/06

Spent 4 glorious days at Whistler Blackcomb and in the backcountry. The huge dump of snow we had made the conditions first rate. 6 ft + of light , fluffy powder. We got to ski in some of the very best snow for around here especially for November. Let's hope this is just building a good 25 ft. base!

Just another pair of lemmings waiting for the Peak chair on opening day. Lift skiing sucks at times like these.

Check out the guy in the neon green suit in the upper left corner. He's about to huck off the cliff. I make it about 10 stories high. His buddy has just launched off the mid way point and took a huge bounce.

Ready to launch.

He's airborne, half way down. Nailed the landing and walked away.

Beautiful shot from the top of the Peak chair with Black Tusk in the background. At this point I thought the day was going to be a spectacular powder fest.

Cool rime covered formations.

Whiteout conditions forced us back down.

Waiting for the weather to break.

Mike with a big hanging booger.

Me on top of Flute ridge.

Skiing with the old men, Grant and Mike.

Grant deep in a powder pit.

There was good powder on every run.

Grant, Mike, Me.

The snow got a bit heavy lower down.

Russet Lake 11/11/06

I met my buddies Nick, aka BackCountryPunk and Aaron up at Russet Lake hut to get in the first turns of the season. They had planned to be there for four days of skiing the slopes and climbing Fissle and Fitzsimmons. Their plans didn't quite pan out though. The heavy snow conditions made the trail breaking an arduous task and it took them 10 hours to make it halfway up Cowboy ridge. I came upon a bivy site but didn't actually think it was theirs as they never stop for anything. Only when I saw the size of the kitchen sinks they had on did I know it was.
It took me over 9 hours to get 16km to the hut. At night in a raging blizzard and no tracks to follow, I was just about at the end of my rope. I even stepped into the lake once. The snow was very heavy and I was almost completely bagged. The only thing that kept me going was that I sure didn't like the idea of grovelling in a snow pit until morning when there was a warm hut close by.
By next morning, mounds of snow had fallen and we decided to return early as the forecast was for more snow and extreme winds. We wanted to get out before the avy danger was too great.
The ski down was pretty good for this early in the season with sections of knee deep fresh.
The boys are happy to have 3 days of their hoped for 100 ski days in already.

Me, Aaron, Nick.

The Russet Lake hut has been spruced up with new paint, doors and outhouse comforts.

Climbing up out of Russet Lake.

Deskinning.