# Riding at Whistler solo, any tips?



## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

For strong blue riders from Onterrible do the following: 

Blackcomb:

1) on a warm sunny day, catch the last chair to the top of seventh heaven.

1a) buy a beer on the patio at the horstmann hut when you get to the the top. 

1b) take some pictures of the splendid landscape and views around you

1c) wait, take your time

1d) wait some more

1e) wait some more (all this time the mountain is draining out the rest of population)

1f) by now you should have been on that patio for 45 mins (maybe that's two beers, maybe you smoke a cigar while you're up there too)

1g) get back on your board, you've now got 5000 vertical feet almost all to yourself, don't go back down seventh heaven but instead take the Green Line back to the Rendezvous lodge and then you can take whatever route you want. 

1h) if you don't mind overpaying for your drinks, ride out to blackcomb base and have a Sidecar on the patio or in the Mallard room at the Fairmont, otherwise go to Garibaldi and drink cheap beer on the patio there

1i) sometimes if you're lucky and stay up there long enough you will meet some groomers on the way down and get to ride corduroy for your last run

other must do's:

go to Mountain equipment coop and buy the whistler guidebooks, there's one advanced and one for regular riders, detailed photos and ratings of every run at whistler and lots of unmarked ones, read that book before you go and you'll be extra stoked.

-when you go to seventh heaven take the expressway green not the seventh avenue green, the seventh avenue green is a horrid cat track that's not even flat, its like a ten minute traverse on one edge, if you're a goofy rider your calves will be burning

-rock and roll/twist and shout/backstage pass off the crystal chair supposed to be among the best blues in north America

-access the glacier off the showcase T-bars - the middle part is typically groomed and it's a steep blue. if you go left or right of that blue area its steeper

-seventh heaven is also good in the morning, and the middle section of seventh is a good area to go off the trails to look for snow that's not tracked out, and if it's too much for you it's not that far to get back to groomers. 

-jersey cream wall off the jersey cream chair, to your right when you ride on the chair is a pretty steep pitch that's not very long. Try this out, and depending on how you feel about that you will then have a sense of whether you want to go on the steeper stuff, it's a good way to get a taste of steeper terrain where you can still bail out; most of the steep stuff at whistler blackcomb once you're in it you're committed, for example spankys' ladder has no easy way out.

-my favorite place for lunch is the glacier lodge on blackcomb

Whistler side:

-expect some long shitty flat terrain on whistler side, it's not optimized for snowboarders, and some runs are not cut down the fall line, but rather across

-symphony and harmony bowls are must do's, also be sure to do a run down harmony ridge, great views. Towards the bottom of harmony ridge you can go skiers left into the boomer bowl, another good way to try out some of the steeper terrain but not crazy steep, and not too long a run if you find it's more than you bargained for 

-take the peak chair to the top and do the Saddle, it's a long blue, if there's fresh snow either side of the saddle can be nice, if no fresh snow it is often tracked out on each side

-take the peak chair and do upper peak to creek for sure, check the grooming report before you do lower peak to creek, if it's not groomed it can be literally miles of moguls - if you're ok with steeper terrain, make a right turn off the upper peak to creek into whistler bowl, Monday's, etc, or a bit later make a right turn into the bagel bowl. Hit the wall first as described above on blackcomb side to get a sense of whether you will enjoy the steeper terrain or hate it. 

-dave murray downhill and lower franz both leave you in creekside where you can have a beer at the iconic Dusty's, and both are fun runs to charge down

-if you can handle an early morning get the fresh tracks ticket, have breakfast on the hill and get either fresh snow or fresh corduroy ahead of the mob. this is a good way to get you final day in, come off the hill around noon, dash to the airport and fly out at 4 or 5 pm 

on your return to Ontario do not go on a hill till next year, you will hate it


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

The above was provided to me a number of years ago by a fellow member, Lamps. It still applies today. Have a great trip!

Here is the full thread from that discussion:
Not to Miss Runs @ Whistler/Blackcomb


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## Needmoresnow (Dec 29, 2019)

Oldman said:


> The above was provided to me a number of years ago by a fellow member. It still applies today. Have a great trip!


That's a ton of awesome info. Really appreciate it. 

I'm comfortable riding anything I've come across here in the east, so it'll be interesting to see how that relates to riding the West. 

I'd love to find some spots to ride some fresh, but with limited experience and riding solo, not sure it's a great idea. 

Really looking forward to this!


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

I've only ridden Whistler/Blackcomb a handfull of times and I'm still just blown away by the size of it. My advice is to ride the Blackcomb side, and go to the top. It's basically all carving and exploring from there. It's going to be awesome if it's snowing or not.


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## toaster (Jun 12, 2021)

Same here. Have a solo mid-week Whistler trip planned early Jan. Thanks for the beta.


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## Needmoresnow (Dec 29, 2019)

freshy said:


> I've only ridden Whistler/Blackcomb a handfull of times and I'm still just blown away by the size of it. My advice is to ride the Blackcomb side, and go to the top. It's basically all carving and exploring from there. It's going to be awesome if it's snowing or not.


Thanks man, really stoked!


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## Large2by4 (Dec 5, 2021)

Heading out for the first week of Jan as well, any advice on zones that will be good for that time of the szn?


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

No doubt @Donutz is soaking his sore legs in a hot tub in Whistler right now after 2 days of riding. He will drop in on this thread and bring some great first hand knowledge / experience for you guys.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Oldman said:


> No doubt @Donutz is soaking his sore legs in a hot tub in Whistler right now after 2 days of riding. He will drop in on this thread and bring some great first hand knowledge / experience for you guys.


Sadly, no. We had that atmospheric river thing come through last week. Washed the snow off almost down to the dirt. Then the temps dropped, and what was left froze. They've been blowing snow like crazy, but it still doesn't even qualify as a WROD.

OTOH, it snowed last night, so I might be going up this week.


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## Oldman (Mar 7, 2012)

I know everything has a "new" name or term. "Atmospheric River"; was this not previously known as the "Pineapple Express"?


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Oldman said:


> I know everything has a "new" name or term. "Atmospheric River"; was this not previously known as the "Pineapple Express"?


The newsies seem to be saying that there's a difference, maybe in degree. We've had pineapple expresses for years, and they've been nothing like this shit-show.


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## Needmoresnow (Dec 29, 2019)

Here's to hoping you start getting some decent snowfall soon. Really looking forward to riding something other than machine groomed, man made snow!


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Been getting some good snow the last day or two. I'm going up this morning--first session of the season.


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## toaster (Jun 12, 2021)

Donutz said:


> Been getting some good snow the last day or two. I'm going up this morning--first session of the season.


Well... How was it?


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

toaster said:


> Well... How was it?


Not great snow. A couple of inches of reasonably fresh snow over top of concrete. But it wasn't crowded, and it wasn't foggy.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

Donutz said:


> The newsies seem to be saying that there's a difference, maybe in degree. We've had pineapple expresses for years, and they've been nothing like this shit-show.


Quoted from wikipedia or some shit:
A Pineapple Express is an *example of an 'atmospheric river*', which is a more general term for such relatively narrow corridors of enhanced water vapor transport at mid-latitudes around the world.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

So then a pineapple express would be an atmospheric river that's specifically sourced from tropical waters. This one I guess was more mid-latitude, which meant it wasn't as warm. Jeez, I can't imagine the level of apocalypse if we'd been getting tropical temps as well.


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