Stan and I had wondered about doing Fresh Tracks on Thursday 20th but decided that the forecast snow wasn't worth it, so aimed for a more relaxed start, meeting at the lifts at 08:15. Stan's radio wasn't working so we failed to meet but luckily bumped into each other at the Roundhouse.
We began by revisiting Franz's Meadow, where we'd taken Kinga the previous afternoon. The 17cm of fresh snow had made the route much slower and we didn't get round above the trees so I dropped down towards Franz's Chair, enjoying the new powder. Back at Big Red Stan revealed that he'd traversed all the way along the side of the hill until he reached Highway 86 and we wondered about trying the same route again, however by the time we reached the top of the chair we'd decided to drop through the trees below the Roundhouse, following a route Mike had showed us a few days earlier.
We passed Chic Pea on Orange Peel, then turned left off the run and down through the trees. The new snow wasn't deep enough in the trees to avoid touching the harder snow beneath on the turns, but it still was pretty good. Below the first band of trees, we crossed under Big Red, leapt off the side of Bear Cub and crossed over Jimmy's Joker to some more trees, finally reaching Highway 86.
As we took Big Red up we looked over at Peak and saw that the waiting crowd was growing. Although Stan wasn't too keen on queuing, we headed down to see what was happening. We arrived to hear differing estimates of the time we'd have to wait until the lift opened, varying from five minutes to over an hour.
It turned out that the delay was caused by there being too much snow at the old mid-station of the lift. Although the new lift doesn't have a mid-station, it passes close to the ground and the patrollers had had to clear snow to avoid people on the chairlift catching their skis and boards on the snow.
15 minutes after we'd arrived in the queue, the lifty removed the rope and we all surged forward. We were in the singles queue so ended up on separate chairs, but were both within the first 15 or so.
At the top almost everyone was diving down into Whistler Bowl, presumably heading for Shale Slope as we had on Sunday. We had already decided that this was a great chance to get first tracks through the West Bowl and down Peak to Creek, so set off down Frontier Pass. The visibility wasn't great at the top but improved on the way down the track. By the time we reached the steep part of the road there was enough light to see that there were no other tracks ahead of us. At this point it dawned on me that if no-one had gone down Frontier Pass, then no-one had hit the West Bowl.
The excitement and tension built as we slid down the path and approached the cliff signs, anticipating the freshest snow of our lives. As I began descending into the gully I set off a minor avalanche but stayed upright and paused for Stan. That was a mistake, as he set off another avalanche slightly above me, sending me sliding down the steep gully. Luckily there wasn't enough snow to knock me over and I managed to brake my slide pretty quickly, watching the avalanche tumble down into the bowl.
Ahead of me there was a large crack in the snow, and we stood still for a moment wondering how to avoid further avalanches. The safest way seemed to be to descend down the path of the previous avalanche rather than crossing the cracked snow, so I muttered "live fast, die young" and turned down the beautifully soft snow in the gully, then traversed out into the bowl, crossing a massive stripe of avalanche debris left by the blasting we'd heard earlier. The light and visibility had improved further and the bowl looked amazing - there was a second stripe of avalanche debris in front of us but between the two big avalanches there was a huge section of completely smooth untouched snow, probably about a third of the width of the bowl. It would have been nice to have time to take a picture or two but by that stage we were almost hysterical, and obviously didn't want anyone overtaking us.
I set off down, bouncing turn after turn through the virgin powder. Stan was slightly behind me until I made a mistake and fell over - he yelled out and flew past, leaving me to follow in his wake. We tore down into the bowl, flying through the smooth snow all the way down to the Highway 86 cat-track, then ducking under the boundary rope and carrying on down towards Creekside.
Having got the first turns through the bowl, we were now making the first tracks down Peak to Creek. We had dropped down into more cloud by this stage and both misjudged our speed, failing to make it over one of the climbs. As we cursed and dug ourselves out, a lone rider overtook us and called back "Don't worry guys - just follow my tracks!".
The snow at the top of Peak to Creek was amazing, allowing us to leap quickly over the bumps, maintaining our speed. After our earlier mistake we were both flying along, racing down through the smooth, soft snow.
Bearing in mind the state of the groomed runs down to the village, we were expecting things to be pretty bad on the lower slopes of Peak to Creek, which is out of bounds, so completely un-groomed. The first half of the run was perfect, but below the mid-point of the run the snow started getting wetter and heavier. We managed to surf through the slush on the lower slopes but eventually had to take off our boards and walk down the last 500m or so to the gondola.
Sitting in the gondola we were still amazed that we'd been the first people into the bowl and realised that we were unlikely to ever get the opportunity again. We considered ending the day there and then, as nothing could really compare.
By the time we'd reached the top of the gondola we'd decided not to go home, but instead to take Peak up again. The queue had grown considerably since our first ride on the chair but hadn't reached anything like the levels we'd seen on Sunday. About an hour after our first trip we were back on the chair, aiming to go back into the West Bowl following exactly the same route as the first lap.
This time we avoided avalanches, traversed slightly further across and had an even better run through the bowl. I cut right through the edge of the trees then down the ramp and back onto the cat-track, which we followed down to the Raven's Nest.
After short break for a bowl of Cattleman's Delight chilli we were off again, heading via the T-bars to Harmony. We did a quick run down the T-Bars but the snow wasn't as good as we'd hoped, so we took the T-Bar up again and rode down to Harmony Express via the Millennium Jump, which had a superbly soft landing.
Although the visibility wasn't great at the top, we took the cat-track down the ridge and managed to avoid any serious crashes. We resisted the temptation to drop down Kaleidescope and instead carried on down the ridge. We dropped off a 10 foot cliff, managed a nice 180 across the cat-track, then leapt off into the Gun Barrels.
Exhilarated by the jumping, we did the same run again, though this time we threw ourselves off the jumps slightly more confidently.
We were both feeling pretty tired by the end of the second run down the ridge, so headed back towards the Roundhouse via Pika's Traverse. We had been aiming to go straight back down to the village but as we went past the top of the Rabbit Tracks the powder looked too inviting and we hurled ourselves off the side of the cat-track into more fresh snow. We found a nice route down towards Harmony, further left of anything we'd done before, then carried on down Sidewinder, past Emerald Express and on down to the village.
In the evening Andy and I went to the cinema to watch Old School, which was hilarious, then had some nice tapas at Casa.
Bob, Jim, Ian, Matt and I caught the 07:45 bus on Friday 21st, hoping to make the most of another 10cm of snow. We took the Blackcomb gondola up and headed straight over to 7th Heaven, where we met up with Stan.
We did a couple of runs down through the trees to the right of the chair but the snow wasn't nearly as good as we've been used to in recent days. Although there had been snow overnight the ground felt quite crisp - either the previous day's snow had melted and then re-frozen or the wind had blown away most of the new snow. In the trees below 7th Avenue the snow was better, so we concluded that it was the wind that was the problem.
Stan and I did a fast run down the piste, experiencing the type of conditions we were used to 3 weeks ago. The piste was hard-packed, with icy pebbles towards the bottom. Back at the top we all paused for a break at the Horstman Hut, then set off to try Secret Bowl.
The snow in the bowl was fantastic. There was no hard base as we'd experienced on 7th, presumably because the bowl is much more sheltered. The decent from the bowl, Pakalolo, was better than I've ever seen there - although the descent is very steep, we flew down, dropping each turn through several feet of soft, light powder.
We carried on down The Bite back to the chairlifts, then took Glacier Express up and took off down the Crystal Traverse. We cut across above the hut, staying in the powder below Grey Zone, then dropped down to Ridge Runner. Having leapt off the roller to the right, we cut across the mountain on Crystal Road, then joined Rock'n'Roll and flew down into the fog. We carried on right down to the village and stopped at the Dubh Linn Gate to grab some lunch and meet up with Boo and Kinga.
I hadn't been feeling very enthusiastic during morning, so took the afternoon off and headed home intending to sleep. As usual, however, I ended up putting photos on the website, writing emails, writing diary etc. I finally had a couple of hours sleep late in the afternoon, in preparation for the arrival of the weekend's guests.
Emily, Dom, Mack and Amrit arrived during the course of the evening and we all went out in search of food. Having been turned away from the Brewhouse and Earl's, we ended up having a nice meal at Black's, where Mike D was working. Mike M and Shandy Rae also joined us, then we all moved back to the Palace.
When we discovered that 30cm of snow had arrived overnight, we made sure that we were up and out as early as possible on Saturday 22nd. Mack, Amrit and Dom drove to the slopes and Andy and I caught the bus. By the time we'd reached the lifts, however, Andy's ankle was hurting so badly that he decided against riding and went home again. The other guys decided 30cm of fresh snow wasn't a good enough reason to go up the slopes and went round to Matt's to catch up on some Premiership action.
I met up with Mack, Amrit, Dom and Stan at the Roundhouse and we began the day with our usual Fresh Tracks route down to Emerald, crossing under the chair and finishing up with some big jumps off the rollers on Green Acres. We moved on to Franz's Meadow, finding some good snow on the route down to Franz's Chair, then carried on down to Big Red.
We decided to hike up Pika's Traverse to do the Rabbit Tracks but, although the snow was good, it felt like a lot of work for not much snow. As we flew past the Millennium Jump I was sorely tempted to fling myself off, but the thought of the long walk out was enough to put me off, so I carried on down to Sidewinder and back to Emerald.
The next place our search for powder took us was the route through the trees that we'd taken on Thursday. This time the snow was much better and the boards rarely touched the hard-packed base.
As we took Big Red back up we looked over at Peak and saw people were beginning to queue. We rode down to the lift without actually deciding whether we wanted to queue, then spent the first five minutes in the queue discussing whether to stay or not. We stayed for about 20 minutes, during which the was a huge snowball fight. It began when the lifty was pelted for not opening the chair, then developed into a battle between the front of the queue and the back. The battle climaxed with the two huge groups each building up an arsenal of weapons then unleashing them at the opposite end of the queue on the count of three. Massive salvos of snowballs flew through the air and we were all glad not to be in the middle of the queue, where people ended up being hit by both of the warring factions.
We gave up queuing when we heard it would be another half an hour at the minimum and set off down Franz's Meadow again. This time we traversed much higher and, although we'd hoped to drop down to Franz's Chair to avoid the queue at Big Red, we realised too late that a little gully had appeared between us and the chair. We carried on through the trees under the Domanski drop (an 80 foot cliff-drop named after the pro we rode with a few weeks ago, who was the first to do it) then on down to Highway 86.
By the time we'd got back to the top of Big Red, Peak had opened and closed again. We met up with Bob in the T-Bar queue just as the last people on the Peak chair disappeared into the cloud and he told us that about 10 chairs had been allowed up before the lift was closed. We began queuing for the T-Bars but just as we reached the ropes Peak re-opened, so we extracted ourselves from the T-Bar queue and skated down to Peak.
Since Thursday's first tracks experience people have been laughing at my obsession with the West Bowl. On the way up Peak there was some discussion of the various possible routes, but it was generally accepted that there was only one way to go. Since the little path above Cockalorum has no sign posts and no name on the map, we've decided to call it the Justice Drop-in.
As we slid down the path the landscape had changed yet again. The cornice between the Justice Drop-in and Cockalorum had grown markedly, and was now over 20 feet high in places. Riding past the cliff signs the transition into the gully was much smoother than before and the gully itself was full of incredibly light, fluffy powder.
I side-slipped the first 10m or so then put in a couple of turns and traversed out into the bowl. Turning down the steep face of the bowl we found that the powder was softer than ever. The combination of the light snow and the sun coming out made for some of the best conditions I've ever seen in the West Bowl. Flying through the trees and down the ramp onto the cat-track I found myself grinning manically and yet again marvelling at the West Bowl. Maybe I am obsessed.
Luckily everyone else had enjoyed the bowl as much as I had, so we went straight back and did it again. At the bottom we met up with Mack and Amrit, who'd taken a slightly different route, dropping into Bagel Bowl.
Bob and Dom paused at the Roundhouse while Mack, Am and I took Peak back up. They lead me in through Bagel for another great run, then they went home and I finished off the day with another run through the Justice Drop-in and the West Bowl before heading home down Expressway.
I met up with Bob, Dom and the others in Citta for a drink, where I got a call from Andy to tell me that his ankle injury was worse than previously thought, and that it might be another week until he could ride again. In the evening the whole group of us went out to Bavaria, a German restaurant where we had some great fondues.
Sunday 23rd started in a much more relaxed way than most of the last two weeks, as there'd only been 4cm of fresh snow. Whilst that would have been enough to get us excited during February, we won't get out of bed now for less than 10cm of fresh powder.
Well, we do get out of bed, just not too quickly. Mack and Amrit left the house early, then Dom and I followed at about 11:30. We began by hiking up to the top of Emerald and riding down GS towards Harmony. We flew off the Millennium jump but, as usual, landed feeling we could have gone a lot faster.
At the top of Harmony we heard from Kinga, so paused there and waited for her to arrive. We took her down Harmony Piste, which was in pretty nice condition, then went back up and rode down the ridge to take Kaleidescope. Although the snow in the bowl was pretty tracked, it was still light and any bumps in the snow were soft enough to ride straight through. Dom and I leapt down, pausing occasionally for Kinga, but never for as long as we expected!
The three of us took the chair up again then rode down Pika's Traverse back to the Roundhouse, so Kinga and Stan could swap places. Dom and I grabbed some food, which came as a great relief to me, as the previous night was catching up with me and my hangover was in full flow.
I felt quite envious of Kinga, Josh and Dom when they announced that they were downloading but Stan was keen to get a run in, so I agreed to accompany him on a quick lap of the Peak chair. For once we ignored the Justice Drop-in, remembering how rocky it had been on the final runs the previous day, and turned right off Frontier Pass slightly further down towards Cockalorum.
Sitting above the huge cornice we looked down and tried to work out where we could drop in. For months we've ridden in across the slope of the cliff to make it easier but Stan is determined to jump the drop "properly" before he leaves in two weeks time. We sat, looked and discussed for five or ten minutes, sliding down the hill from the 20 foot cornice to sit above an area where it was more like 12 foot.
Eventually I set off, approached the drop, then looked over into the gully, panicked and braked. The braking came too late and rather than stopping me, resulted in me flying off the drop at completely the wrong angle, making a decent landing impossible. Luckily the snow was deep and soft, so my landing was well cushioned. I moved across to the other side of the gully to make way for Stan, then watched as he did something remarkably similar, ending up in a pile of powder.
We sat there pondering out attempts for a few minutes, hoping that our they would make us more confident for next time, then blasted down the now tracked bowl and shot home down Expressway.
Dom and I got the same bus home, then collapsed into our respective beds for an afternoon nap. While we were there, Andy reappeared from the physio, looking a bit shaken. He'd been told that he'd damaged a membrane between the tibia and fibia, in addition to the ligament damage in the ankle. The physio had said that the recovery time for the newly identified injury could be up to six weeks, which would effectively end Andy's season. He told Dom and me that if his ankle wasn't feeling better within a week then he would seriously consider going back to the UK early.
We had a fairly relaxed evening, ordering some great Thai take-away then wiling the evening away playing cards and watching a video. | 
