What a treat it was to get away after a long, quiet, Covid winter to a beautiful week of skiing at Mt. Bachelor in Oregon. We were disappointed that the border closure prevented us from spending our annual week at Whistler, British Columbia and debated several alternatives for our first week-long pandemic trip in a …
Squaw Valley, home of the 1960 Olympics and outdoor playground of the San Francisco Bay Area, hasn’t always had the reputation for being the most user friendly mountain. Poor to non-existent signage, cranky lifties, nude art in the cafeteria and a sense that you didn’t belong there unless you could ski didn’t create a …
When I started skiing in my mid-twenties, much later in life than the tots I see careening around the mountain, all my friends skied at Squaw Valley so that’s where I skied too. I worked hard to learn to ski, wanting to join my friends on the harder lifts, never satisfied to just cruise on …
In the related article, Top Intermediate ski runs at Blackcomb, I listed the top moderate runs at Blackcomb. Here’s the rest of the baker’s dozen–13 runs total, including these runs at Whistler. This list was compiled based on my experience skiing at Whistler Blackcomb for over 15 years, and an informal poll of long-time skiers here, …
We moved from California to Seattle, Washington in 1992, anxiously leaving our favorite ski runs at Squaw Valley behind as we headed north. We were told that the resorts around Seattle offered excellent skiing but after a season battling howling wind, wild weather and often funky snow conditions in the shadow of 14,411 foot Mt. …
Having skied Whistler Blackcomb for many years we have accumulated a short list of our favorite advanced runs at Blackcomb. There are hairier runs, but either they are too dangerous, too difficult to describe in print, or too sacred to the local ethos to write about. Below are our favorite runs, with a few tips on …
Having skied at Whistler Blackcomb with a group of locals for 15 years, we have accumulated a list of our favorite advanced runs. There are other runs that are as challenging, more technical or less accessible, but either they are too dangerous, too difficult to describe in print, or too sacred to the local ethos. Below …
On a rare sun drenched day last weekend Pacific Crest Snowcats showed off the beauty of the backcountry with a snowcat full of psyched skiers and snowboarders. Eleven clients and two guides piled into a van early in the morning, drove away from the crowded ski areas on a holiday weekend and made fresh tracks …