Given the weather forecast and some recent snowfall, I took a day off last Wednesday and went Skiing with Kavya to Whistler. It had been a month since our first ski trip to Whistler. Last time, we skied runs mainly served by Big Red Express. We were ready to explore more of the Whistler mountain on this visit.
Whistler Trail Map is pretty good, but for some runs coming down the Whistler summit, I found FATMAP quite helpful, especially to preview section of Burnt Stew Trail between Piccolo Summit and Little Whistler.
With a tentative plan, we left home around 8:15 am and reached Whistler at 10:30 am. Even though the P1 and P2 levels at Creekside Parkade were full, parking was available in P3.
After a quick snack, just as we were ready to gear up, I realized I didn’t have my ski socks. Usually, I have them on the boots, but I had probably taken them out for washing a couple of days back. So I quickly ran to the store above the parkade and got myself a pair of ultralight ski socks. I wanted something thicker, but it was the only pair they had in my size.
Peak Express
It was almost 11:20 by the time we got on the Creekside Gondola. We continued on the Big Red Express and skied down to the Peak Express chairlift. It was a beautiful ride up the Peak Express to Whistler Summit.
It was around -9C at the Whistler Summit (2182 m) but a beautiful day.
I would stop and take some pictures at every turn, which irritated my daughter as she just wanted to keep skiing.
We took the Burnt Stew Trail down to Harmony 6 Express. Kavya didn’t enjoy the last section of the trail as it was pretty flat and took more effort.
Harmony 6 Express
We took the Harmony 6 Express to the Little Whistler Peak (2115 m).
We went down the Harmony Ridge, and it was probably our favourite run of the day. We went up Harmony 6 Express again and went to the other side of the mountain, took the Burnt Stew Trail, and connected to Jeff’s Ode to Joy. Then, we continued on this run to get to the base of Symphony Express.
Symphony Express
On Symphony express, it is a beautiful ride through the forest. It reminded me of the Black Forest area at Big White.
Symphony Express chairlift closes at 2:30 pm, so we did laps on Jeff’s Ode to Joy and Adagio and connected to Harmony 6 Express through Burnt Stew Trail.
It was close to 3 pm when we got to the top of Little Whistler. Kavya wanted to do Peak to Creek as the last run of the day, so we took the Pika’s Traverse to the Roundhouse Lodge (Peak to Peak Gondola) and then skied down to Peak Express to ride up to the Whistler Summit.
From the summit, we skied down Peak to Creek (upper) while enjoying the views of Black Tusk.
Peak to Creek (lower) was closed, so we came down Highway 86 and then Lower Franz to get down to Creekside. We were back down by 4 pm. It was a long day, and we skied about 30+ km with close to 5200 m drop. However, it was worth it to take a day off for skiing at Whistler.
Territory Acknowledgement
I would like to acknowledge that this trip took place on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the St’át’imc (Stat-lee-um), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Líl̓wat Nations. I commit to learning about Indigenous peoples and issues and making reconciliation an ongoing effort.
Source: Native-Land Pronunciation Guide: First-Nations.info
References:
First Nations: Squamish | Líl̓wat | St’át’imc
Whistler-Blackcomb: Resort Website | Epic SchoolKids | Edge Cards
Disclosure: The links I have shared in the post and under the Resources section are not affiliated links.
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