Pacific NW/AK/BC 2022-2023 PNW Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[slowrider]

Snowflakes Matter

 

[DanoT]

It is 3*C where I am in Victoria and everyone thinks it is cold. Meanwhile at Sun Peaks (screen shot) in the B.C. interior:

 

[Posaune]

Baker today:

Beautiful weather. Cold, around 17-21F. More than a foot of powder (I use the term carefully) and a small crowd. Chairs 7 & 8 were closed as well as White Salmon. The drive was icy all the way from Bellingham. Much of the steeper terrain was not easily skiable, but some did it anyway on closed terrain. There are still lots of creeks, holes, rocks, stumps, and tree tops as well as very uneven terrain that is usually smooth. With the low crowd, good visibility, and new snow there was plenty of space and with care you could get fantastic powder turns. It was a great day.

 

[Tom Co.]

We were at Crystal for our opening day for the season. The morning was very nice, one of our better opening days. There were a lot of areas that gave up untracked turns. You did bottom out on some uneven crud here and there and there were some hidden rocks which I managed to find. The visibility was it's typical white out to OK and everything in between. There was no wind to speak of. The steeper faces of Lucky Shot did get scraped off between the moguls down to an ice layer later, so if you're going tomorrow, watch out for that. There was no grooming except on the beginner runs at the bottom. No lift lines anywhere even for the morning ride up on the gondola. The mid mountain Campbell Basin lodge was open but only on the wing that is right by the bathrooms, the rest of it was cordoned off. There was no food service but at least you could sit inside and eat your snack. We bailed on black diamond rated Chair Six as it was only the Powder Bowl side and the visibility just sucked when we were thinking about going up there. There are no parking shuttle buggies this year. Instead they have shuttle buses which are a real pain. They are hard to get on and off, the roof isn't high enough for you to hold your skis upright when you're sitting in your seat and there's only one door so when it gets to be crowded it's gonna be a cluster. A mountain host said that it had something to do with liability issues with the old buggy system. There was from 2 inches of new to about 6-8 inches of new high quality snow. It was cold but not too bad. All in all, it was a fun day.

Pole-o-meter

 

[RJS]

There are no parking shuttle buggies this year. Instead they have shuttle buses which are a real pain. They are hard to get on and off, the roof isn't high enough for you to hold your skis upright when you're sitting in your seat and there's only one door so when it gets to be crowded it's gonna be a cluster. A mountain host said that it had something to do with liability issues with the old buggy system.

I heard that the state told them that the buggy system wasn't legal and that they couldn't continue it. It's really too bad because I'm not a far of parking lot shuttles and I'm usually down to wake up earlier so that I can park closer to the front to avoid them, but the buggies at Crystal were surprisingly great and I didn't mind using them at all. It sounds like I'm back to waking up early to make it into B-lot .

It's great to see Crystal opening up so much terrain this quickly! I'm a fan of opening terrain in marginal conditions while being honest those conditions and letting skiers and riders make the choice about what terrain to ski. It sounds like Stevens is opening on Friday, TBD on Snoqualmie. If tonight's storm delivers with low snow levels hopefully Snoqualmie will be in business.

@slowrider how are Hoodoo and Bachelor doing with snow coverage? Are they close to opening?

 

[slowrider]

I heard that the state told them that the buggy system wasn't legal and that they couldn't continue it. It's really too bad because I'm not a far of parking lot shuttles and I'm usually down to wake up earlier so that I can park closer to the front to avoid them, but the buggies at Crystal were surprisingly great and I didn't mind using them at all. It sounds like I'm back to waking up early to make it into B-lot .

It's great to see Crystal opening up so much terrain this quickly! I'm a fan of opening terrain in marginal conditions while being honest those conditions and letting skiers and riders make the choice about what terrain to ski. It sounds like Stevens is opening on Friday, TBD on Snoqualmie. If tonight's storm delivers with low snow levels hopefully Snoqualmie will be in business.

@slowrider how are Hoodoo and Bachelor doing with snow coverage? Are they close to opening?

Bachelor opens Wednesday. Will report Wednesday pm on conditions. Hoodoo very soon,this weekend?

 

[scott43]

Whistler doing Whistler...

Mountain Cams | Whistler Blackcomb

View Whistler Blackcomb any time of the year!

www.whistlerblackcomb.com

 

[DanoT]

Whistler doing Whistler...

Mountain Cams | Whistler Blackcomb

View Whistler Blackcomb any time of the year!

www.whistlerblackcomb.com

I see your Whistler and raise you a Sun Peaks:

Weather & Snow Report

www.sunpeaksresort.com

With 25cms overnight and a 104cm base, the 63 runs open will quickly jump by a dozen or two more runs open in the next few days. OTOH it is cold enough at Whistler right now to have all of their 700 snow guns operating.

 

[Bad Bob]

49* North. 12" in last 24 hours and a lot more coming.
They are closed until Friday, and all of that snow is going to be waiting. Just saying.............

 

[slowrider]

Storm day @ Bachelor

Table of Truth

 

[RJS]

Snoqualmie and Stevens both open on Friday. It looks like just West is open for Snoqualmie and only a couple of lifts, so the offering there is pretty limited. I believe that's typical for them? Stevens is opening Hogsback, Skyline, Brooks, and Daisy. It looks like for the time being Crystal and Baker have by far the best terrain open in Western Washington.

It looks like White Pass is opening on Friday too but they have yet to announce lifts and terrain.

 

[RJS]

I moved recently to Seattle from Portland for my partner's job. I'm excited to be skiing Western Washington but sad to be further away from Hood and Bachelor. I'm going to miss night skiing at Skibowl the most , that place is a gem. I already have a long weekend in April planned for Bachelor, and I wouldn't be surprised if I get to swing down there before then.

Somehow I ended up with Ikon, Epic, and Snoqualmie season passes. I bought Ikon (student discount) and Snoqualmie back in the spring, but just a few weeks ago we found out my partner's company pays for lodging in Whistler for a long weekend plus we were invited to our friend's house in East Vail for New Years. All of a sudden, it was going to be the same price to buy Whistler and Vail lift tickets as it was to get an Epic Pass. I feel silly having all three, if I knew I was going to do these trips on Epic I would have saved money and skipped the Snoqualmie season pass. Hopefully with work I'll be able to sneak out in the afternoon during the week for night skiing to make that pass worth it. A bonus is that I get to check out Stevens for the first time this season. I've spent a good deal of time at Crystal and Snoqualmie already and really enjoy them.

I hope @slowrider and anyone else able to ski the storm today had a blast!

 

[David Chaus]

I'm anticipating going to Stevens either Friday or Saturday. Nice to see so much snow.

 

[slowrider]

@RJS give us a shout when you're in Bend.

 

[tomahawkins]

First day at Baker this season. 18" of fresh and cold enough to stay light. Honkers, Canuck's, Pan Face, and The Chute. Lots of rocks, but I was asking for it. Great day!

 

[RJS]

I don't mean to chill the stoke but it looks like Crystal is going back to parking reservations for weekends and holidays starting on 12/26 and lasting until demand slows down later in the season. This is in addition to paid parking on weekends and holidays starting on 12/26 for people without season or Ikon passes. More info here. In short: parking reservations on busy days for everybody, but only paid parking for non-passholders. Reservations aren't needed after 1pm.

My impression was that making Crystal only 5/7 days with the Ikon pass, creating a very expensive Crystal-only pass and demolishing the employee housing to build a new parking lot would mean that they wouldn't need parking reservations for this season. Again, unless I missed something this is a bit of a surprise, although not entirely unexpected as they have instituted measures like this in the past without much warning.

Since I only have an Ikon pass this doesn't affect me a whole lot, I'm sure I'll be able to grab cancellations for the limited days I have. I would be annoyed if I shelled out $1,800 for a dedicated Crystal pass and planned on skiing weekends. It's a great time to be an A-lot passholder.

 

[pchewn]

Snowing hard on Mt Hood in Gov camp. I'll be skiing Meadows on Thursday and Timberline on Friday. There is lots of new snow!

 

[noncrazycanuck]

Bit of a powder frenzy at Whistler this morning after the 30cm last night.

Still very early season conditions but starting to fill in. Base is about a meter now.

By next weekend should be a few alpine chairs. Pretty much the normal timing

 

[markojp]

Snoqualmie and Stevens both open on Friday. It looks like just West is open for Snoqualmie and only a couple of lifts, so the offering there is pretty limited. I believe that's typical for them? Stevens is opening Hogsback, Skyline, Brooks, and Daisy. It looks like for the time being Crystal and Baker have by far the best terrain open in Western Washington.

It looks like White Pass is opening on Friday too but they have yet to announce lifts and terrain.

There's this little place just east of Stevens that's not on your radar just yet. It could be very nice this weekend....

 

[markojp]

.It's a great time to be an A-lot passholder.

And you think paying for parking in B lot is expensive?