Where's the Snow?

Out for a day mission to the Duffy with Ross Berg on Saturday. The snowpack had been getting nuked by a weeks worth of inversion, but we were committed to finding something, anything, to ski...

It was my first time driving by Whistler since I have been on the coast and I really couldn't help but laugh. Where was all the snow? The hill was looking very bare and I wasn't sure what was in store for us further north. I hadn't heard of anyone really skiing anything in the alpine recently. We pulled in to the Cerise Creek lot to clear skies and decided if the snow sucked, we should try and at least get on top of something. I had to be back in Vancouver that evening, working, for the Lil' Wayne concert. The north aspect of Mt. Vantage looked appealing due to its proximity and the fact that maybe we could find some sheltered snow that hadn't been affected by the sun.

Ross trying to decide what mountain to ski off

Skiing through the biggest surface hoar crystals I have ever seen, some were 10cm big!

Ross and a single crystal

Snow-wise, surface hoar has an unusual, albeit, delightful taste and texture

Cumbre! Ross trying to decide if we should ski the big line off the top.

We ended up picking a conservative line, found good snow, and had a great run back to our car. I dropped Ross off in Whistler and made it back to the big city in time for a 45 minute nap before the concert. What we need now is some snow!