Whistler Peak's Powdery Glades - VD Trees | Hike Up Only, Lift Still Closed

It's still early season and Peak Chair waits patiently to begin turning once again. The only way us folk can get up there at the moment is hiking, fortunately Harmony Chair just opened today. Harmony and Peak Chairs are the two alpine access lifts on Whistler Mountain (7th and Glacier on Blackcomb), shortening the hike to the peak from around 1hr to 15min.

The entrances to the alpine bowls have been at the mercy of the elements for the last 7 months leaving the upper entrance to whistler bowl looking like a death trap. The lower entrance was pretty mellow, small cornice, but the traffic through had busted the landing. Heading towards the ridge visible from the base of the chair, keep following the ridge and slowly veer left, be aware of cliffs in the treeline off to the right.

Fortunately we hit this run at a perfect time. The Transition Finder feels so solid riding the open mellow trees at any speed, but you can feel it want to just give'r once you start picking up a bit of speed. Always have to be aware of changing conditions especially early season and a lot of exposed ice, rocks and trees on the bottom of the lower section as we had anticipated from talking to ski patrol about conditions.

Super fun lap, and just about the best return on your effort in of any snowboard hike I've ever done. For those interested, directions are super easy: head off Harmony Chair towards the Saddle (end of Matthews Traverse), walk up Matthews Traverse for 15 minutes.