Go shred anyhow. Words :: Feet Banks.
“If you can’t be happy skiing moguls or ice, you might not know how to be happy skiing.”
I’m paraphrasing a bit, but ski icon Glen Plake said that on the Live It Up with Mountain Life podcast just over 12 months ago, during a conversation about how marketing departments and ski media (including this magazine) often push a powder obsession that’s not only unrealistic, but can also ruin a perfectly good ski season.
“We’ve been shown it as the only thing to do,” Plake explained. “Pow, pow, pow! But I like to ski for the joy of skiing itself, rather than making everything conditions-based. There’s always fun to be had, I’m sure there are other things to do up here…you just have to get a bit more curious.”
For many skiers and snowboarders out West, Plake’s words may have been the soothing balm (and a key reminder) we needed after three months of winter that can politely be described as “snowfall challenged.”
And after reading “What to Do When the Snow Sucks”, a piece Mountain Life–Blue Mountain’s Colin Field penned earlier this season (but ran online last week), I felt we should do a West Coast version as well, something more in line with Plake’s wisdom off the top…
…When the snow sucks, go anyhow.
“One hundred percent,” says Whistler snowboarder Jon Veder. “That is why we are here. That is what it’s all about. Even if it’s just one lap, that’s better than no laps and there is always something up there.”
Veder has ridden Whistler Mountain every single day it’s been open this season (that’s 105 consecutive days as I write this). And until recently, the snow season out west has not been epic.
“If it’s icy up top often it’s warmer and softer down low,” Veder says. “Or there might be stashes waiting in the backcountry, or do sidehits and cruisers all day, or the terrain park is always open. These mountains are so big there is always something. But you don’t know if you don’t go.”
With an unseasonably warm winter, Whistler Blackcomb snowmaking and grooming teams have had to get creative to keep the lower mountain runs rideable and access to the Village and bases open.
Photo: MATThew Sylvestre/WB
“The warm temperatures have been the biggest challenge,” says Bjorn Pelissier, Snowmaking Operations Manager at Whistler Blackcomb. “We have 40 people on the ops side, running 300 snow guns at full capacity. The issue this year has been—we make a run, we think it’s finished, and then it rains.”
In a generally warming climate, Whistler Blackcomb snowmaking and grooming squads can face extra pressure to keep runs open to the valley by any means necessary. And, so far this winter, they’ve performed a number of minor miracles.
“On any given night we have 40 snowcats out there but if there isn’t enough coverage, we are limited. A cat that sinks down to the dirt will just peel up more dirt…”
“Not having a big opportunity to make snow early in the season means we’ve all had to dance around a bit,” says Pierre Ringuette, WB senior manager of snow surfaces. “Sometimes we’ve had to band-aid it and consolidate a full-width run into a narrower strip. Sometimes there are ditches running with warm water and if we try to cover them too early we just lose all that snow too. Once it freezes then we can patch things up. On any given night we have 40 snowcats out there but if there isn’t enough coverage, we are limited. A cat that sinks down to the dirt will just peel up more dirt, and brown snow melts faster. It’s best to keep everything white.”
Well-groomed runs are hugely important to skiers and snowboarders new to the sports, but in months with little snowfall, everyone begins to appreciate them more.
“The closest thing to riding pow is fresh corduroy,” says long-time Whistler local and professional snowboarder Joel Loverin. “It’s even worth getting first chair for.” Loverin is best known for remote, steep, and deep backcountry descents. This season, he’s had to adapt.
“Going full speed on an empty run while working the curves the terrain has to offer is amazing,” Loverin admits. “I’ve been doing a lot of that this year when it hasn’t snowed in days. Throw in some of your favourite side hits, blasting bigger and bigger, it puts a cherry on top.”
The other thing that can make or break a ski day—but is also easy to control—is who you choose to shred with. My personal strategy for the leaner, early months of the 2023-24 season was simple—if you go with great people you’ll probably have a great day. And the conditions are never too crappy to throw a couple of sick spread eagles then go for après.
And of course, optimism is key. Out west, the right storm can change everything, and as I was finishing the first draft of this story, Whistler Blackcomb got hit with a doozy: the perfect mix of cool temps and a big moist system rolling in off the Pacific. Seventy-five centimetres dropped in 48 hours to kick off a system that left us with 190 cm of fresh pow in less than a week. The communal stoke was palpable as snow depths returned to almost regular early March levels. Ski legend Mike Douglas called it “the best save ever” and WB Instagram has been alive with waist-deep pow shots and huge grins.
The groomers have a whole new canvas to work with, snowmaking is done for the year, and no one is talking about anything but epic pow turns. Optimism is high and March, traditionally, is Whistler’s snowiest month. But no matter what happens, here in the West the trick is to just go up. If Glen Plake can have fun on hardpack, so can you.
“Even if you wait until later in the day,” adds marathon shredder Jon Veder, “there’s nothing wrong with sleeping in and pulling an afternoon shred shift. These mountains always have something stashed. We have terrain that provides.”
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