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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: How is it April already?
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

How is it April already?! It seems like just yesterday we were getting daily powder dumps and I was riding untouched trees… But wait, that wasn’t very long ago! That’s what spring riding is all about here on these West Coast mountains. So always remember “If it’s raining in the village, it’s snowing in the alpine!”

This week I took it easy, hitting up groomers all over Blackcomb. The snow is super fun but only after a hot wax! The warmer temperatures have definitely changed the snow conditions, making it softer and slushy near the bottom. I rode mainly the Crystal zone, everything was groomed and the sun was out! We then spent most of the weekend soaking in the rays from Merlin’s patio; it’s all about the après!

Spring has hit us full force; Sunny blue bird days followed by cloudy stormy days and you can’t walk through the village without seeing goggle tans all over. The TELUS World Ski & Snowboard festival is only 7 days away and the parks are groomed to perfection, so what you waiting for?! Throw some wax on those shred sticks, some zinc on those cheeks and come on up for a visit!

Keep on Shredding

-Alex

Published On: 4/13/2009

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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: It's ALL about the glades!
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

Day 15/30: As I’m trying to decide which adventure to write about, I’m getting far too distracted by the thought of fresh snow in the alpine. Could yesterday really have been the first day of spring?! Not on the mountains, not in the trees and not in my mind.

The other day I uploaded with two good buddies; Stu and Derek. Stu had his Vholdr cam so we were on a tree mission! It’s no secret the coverage hasn’t been good enough to venture too deeply into the woods this season. That was until last weekend when a huge storm hit Whistler Blackcomb dumping 158cms in total. So that was our cue to head out and rip some pow!

Stu’s been around these parts for ages, so I was expecting him to teach us a thing or two, but it just so happens we showed him some sweet spots he had never hit before. We started in Crystal by dropping off our bags at the snow fort, from there we headed to a super fun & short section of trees referred to as “the picnic table.” It’s literally a picnic table sitting on top of a knoll in the trees. It has an awesome view of the valley but that’s not why you go there. Below the table is a sweet pillow line, but watch your speed as it ends in tight trees and comes out onto a cat track.

Next we ducked into some tight trees to skier’s right of Rider’s Revenge; this took so much out of us! There was a big cliff in there that we had to maneuver around and that wasn’t too much fun. My advice, stick to marked gladed runs if you don’t know the area. These trails are actually protected bear habitat in the summer, so keep an eye out for the signage explaining the bear program. I would suggest checking out a glade like Arthur’s Choice or Outer Limits in the Crystal zone to get some good turns in spaced-out trees.

After lunch we zipped over to 7^th Heaven to session the trees there. It was waist deep and untouched in places! I had such a great day laughing and shouting the whole time with good friends. There’s nowhere I’d rather be than a powdery tree run on Blackcomb!

Keep on shredding!

-Alex

Published On: 3/21/2009

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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: Whistler Blackcomb Parks Update - March 8/09
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

Pushing for Perfection

Hey Jibbers and Jumpers,
The past couple of weeks in The Parks have been really exciting times for everyone. We've seen lots of sun and snow. Our Parks are now pretty much built to capacity, giving our teams the opportunity to really pimp out our features. We've been switching rails and jumps in and out to keep things fresh. Both mountains are changing daily. The Showcase Showdown this year was a huge success. Big shout out to Brad Broughton from the shop, and his team of volunteers for their help with design and building. The Atomic Supercross is this weekend; results to come.

On Blackcomb
- The Snowcross track has a new line this year that everyone should check it out. The course is open daily.
- The Highest Level, and Choker lines are riding perfectly every day, the lines are dialed right in nicely. The Highest Level is rounded out at the bottom by a massive re-entry platform with an Up-Rail to Wallride. The Choker line finishes with an awesome Quarter Pipe that is Zaugged daily.

On Whistler
- The Bobcat line (right side of the park) has been filled out with an A-frame rail combo, a couple more jumps, and tweaks to the other jibs.
- The Chipmunk line is fully built out as well, with a couple new jumps, and changes to the jib lines Park Events
- The next King of the Rail comp is going to be March 21st. This is event is the last KOR of the season, and may even be moved to the base of Whistler (next to the GLC) this time. So make sure you register
- The following day (March 22nd), will be the Park Rider Series Slopestyle, on Whistler Mountain. The course will be on Whistler's Bobcat line (right side of park). All levels of riders and skiers are welcome so come on up, and ride in this fun event

See you all up here!
- James Sayers

CHECK OUT MORE PHOTOS

Published On: 3/13/2009

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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: Alex's 30 Day Snowboard Challenge is Underway
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

Day 2/30: Big Timber mission & more!

I must admit, there have been a few hurdles this season, but I am having SO much fun! I’ve started the 30 day snowboard challenge for myself and this was Day Two. It is about more than just physically and mentally pushing myself - it’s about looking at this playground in a new and different way, finding new places and doing things I haven’t done before.

I headed out early on Monday morning with my aggressive skier friend Derek - he wanted to show me a cabin in Big Timber on Whistler Mountain. It was SO cold! -21C to be exact, so I was all layered up, ready for a long day!

After coffees and chats on the Whistler Village Gondola we headed up Peak Chair and down the Peak to Creek. We cut through some perfectly spaced trees off Upper Peak to Creek and guess what?! Fresh lines! I was floating through huge old growth trees and at that moment I felt like I was somewhere completely new! After a short hike we came to the cabin in the woods. It was built in honor of a fellow rider who lost his life doing what he loved. We took a moment to enjoy - it’s so awesome finding little spots like that.

We cruised back down through the trees to the long cat track to Creekside. Again I was floating along with only a couple of tracks in front of me! The sun was shining and the views of Sprout and Rainbow mountains were amazing. I passed by Kadenwood and continued onto Lower Peak to Creek, which was a bit icy. It took at least 2 hours in total, the snow was dry and fluffy and there was not another person in sight.

After lunch we uploaded the Creekside Gondola, to Big Red Express and across PEAK 2 PEAK to end the day with a few laps in the Crystal zone. Getting fresh groomers after lunch is practically unheard of and I loved every minute of it. Nothing beats a 4pm ride out to the valley!

Keep on shredding!

-Alex
Snowboarder

Published On: 3/13/2009

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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: Heavenly pow stashes & snow slashes
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

Favorites. We all have them; whether its ride buddies, afternoon snacks or secret spots. I frequently get asked on chairlift rides, “Where’s your favorite spot? What’s your favorite mountain?” I could answer that question very quickly and easily but I won’t get into that now.

What I will say is that 7th Heaven doesn’t usually fall under the “favorite” category for me, but for some reason I was drawn there every day of my weekend. Perhaps it was the sunny skies, fresh lines or good group of friends, but regardless it was awesome.

It started, as it always does, early Sunday morning with a coffee and a few calls to friends. A bunch of us met at the base of the Excalibur Gondola and headed up Blackcomb. Most of the mountain was pretty busy as it snowed 17cms the night before and the alpine hadn’t opened yet, so we cruised around the Jersey Cream area to get a feel for the snow - soft and cold but it was warming up fast!

As soon as the light board switched 7th Heaven to green (open!) we shot over to 7th Ave and cut down through the trees to Expressway. Nothing beats cutting fresh lines and hearing your friends holler as they do the same! It was clearly a tree run day so at the top of 7th we headed far skier’s right for the trees under the water reservoir. It was as if no one knew they existed! The only tracks I encountered were those of my friends in front of me.

I must admit, after many years riding these mountains, it was the first time I have ever paid those trees any attention and now I get why so many people are in love with 7th Heaven!

I then spent the next couple of days exploring that whole zone, revisiting the trees and doing a few zippy laps on Cloud 9. I most definitely had a good time and as that classic Whistler bumper sticker says, “Go to Heaven, Ski like Hell!” I did exactly that! (Minus the skiing part…)

Keep on shredding!

-Alex
Snowboarder

Published On: 3/5/2009

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Events/News - Whistler Blackcomb: Salomon Week February 14 – 22, 2009
By: WhistlerBlackcomb

SPECIAL EVENTS ALL WEEK. FREE DEMOS FROM THE SALOMON STORE. ALL GEAR 30% OFF.
(Whistler Mountainside)

The SALOMON Photo Contest.
February 14th - 20th.
Calling all budding photographers! Enter to win an $800 shopping spree at the Salomon Store and 10 tickets to the exclusive Salomon VIP Party! Submit your best photo in a ski, snowboard or lifestyle setting taken during the week representing the Salomon brand.

Visit whistlerblackcomb.com/salomonphotocontest for full contest & submission details.

Saint SALOMON Valentines Day BBQ.
Saturday 14th. 1-3pm @ Glacier Creek On Blackcomb Mountain.
Free BBQ for the first 200 people who show up wearing Salomon gear!

Salomon Fashion Show featuring next year’s gear.
Thursday 19th. 6pm @ Salomon store.
DJ, FREE cheese & beverages and preview of next year’s collection.

Visit the following locations in Whistler for discounts and more event information: Showcase Snow.Skate.Surf., Glacier Shop, CAN-SKI and Salomon Store.

Published On: 2/12/2009

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My Blog: christmas shredding in the swis alps
By: anne-flore

After an hectic pre season I was ready and excited to leave to Austria with my friend Vanessa Andrieux. We go there every year to find good snow condition, I was all packed, board and bags in my trunk and as i was driving back from Barcelona it started dumping everywhere, and by the time i was in Switzerland my home mountains were covered by a good 60cm of fresh snow ! This is when we both decided to join the Demonium base camp in les diablerets (definitely the best place to stay, hang, mini shred and skate up there) and shoot a couple things home before heading to the austrian mountains. We waisted the first day looking for features to shoot along the road and at 12pm, after 3 hours driving around for nothing, we decided to go up on the mountain and shred. luckily the place wasn’t totally tracked yet, I found a couple good friends at the first chair lift, they took me to the good spot and I got chest deep for my first run of the winter !! I can’t remember a better start of the season ever ! sik !

The next day we built a kicker with Eman, Damien, Nico and Tonton not too far from the road in a safe area as avalanche danger was quite high at that time. It was fun to be shaping a kicker already. The snow was deep in the landing, the sun was shining we had a good thermos with hot tea and good meet, cheese, bread and chocolate. Family style ! After that we joined Nicolas Droz in Chatel to get a couple shots, each day we were pushing the austrian destination a bit later and we finally never made it there. That’s when my friend Annie Boulanger called, there was no snow in whistler and she jumped in the plane to come shred with me.. I was so stoked to have her here because I m always the one going to canada or US and for once I got to show my place to a good friend ! as soon as she got off the plane we called Jonas Emery who could eventually give us heads up on the conditions where he was staying.. and we ended up staying at his place for a good 4 days.. We got sik tree runs in still really good snow on our first day and it dumped overnight !! We went to Verbier the next day, same thing, good tree pow runs under the cabin, and the great thing is that no one was on the slopes before christmas ! We joined Emilien Badoux the next day for the same luck with sunshine this time!

After that we headed to my home resort with my both of my parents my cousin, my boyfriend and 2 other good friends with whom we shredded all weekend.. It really felt like christmas ! This last couple of weeks were such a blast, I got to practice some Quebecquien expressions, I got to shred for the fun of it which happens very rarely, i got to stay at my grand parents cabin and the conditions were fantastic ! That was definitely my best christmas present this year.. and i wish you just as much fun and good shred !

WWW.ANNEFLOREMARXER.COM

Published On: 1/6/2009

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My Blog: fiddlesticks By: Chelly
WHAT do you do when you need a second job in order to afford to snowboard, yet that second job will take away all of your snowboarding free-time? and is it bad to just want to drop everything and move to the mountains? also - I just realized my "sb.com birthday" is in 3 days. I'll have been here 5 years already. wawaweewa! Published On: 11/23/2008 Add/View Comments (0)

My Blog: Startin the Season Damn it! Lets go Boys!!!
By: sickwake

OK so heres the thing, YES I'm Girl but you know what I'm lookin for guy riders cause any girl that ive ridden with sux and cant keep up I even had a guy
buddy that wouldnt do do parks with me or black runs on fresh powed days.

Ive seen lots of regulars at the quicksliver park so if your one of them let me know, im always hiking the park.

Just to let you boys know im super easy to get along with and got one of those crazy outgoing personalities that lots of girls dont have (not trying to knock anyone just saying i hate drama queens). Im always the chick that goes out with guys on a guys night out type a thing ( i dont know how it ends up that way, being a tomboy or somethin i guess)

Aight seeing that this year is starting off slow (hasnt even started yet) Im gettin real frustrated and POed. If Grouse would just open Id been shredding it till rock bottom.

Id love to upload pics for you all but the upload mobile here dont work at all so i cant even post up mugshots.

for now facebook will have to do

Im hooking up with different rider this year. Really into gettin some good quality footage , both photo and video ( I actually have a proper video camera) I have some Creative works im planning and will post them on Youtube when there done.

As much as id love to take it up to whistler i cant afford it. so local mountains will have to do.

im out in burnaby so if your a local rider lets jam.

My end note here is this. Im all about the love and progression of the sport. No dissin or commercial, or selfish shi*t! keep the Positive Energy, Ride till it hurts and then turn it up anothernotch cuz thats what makes it worth it.

Jess (J girl)

Published On: 11/21/2008

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My Journal: New Season
By: leer13

I am impatiently waiting for the new season to arrive! All we need is snow, but the weather is just not cooperating. In the slightest! Damn - it's hard to look at bare, brown mountains that should be covered with snow!

And the season is supposed to start on December 5. Good luck - we need about 5 feet (1.6 m) of snow between now and then.

In the mean time, all I can do is spend money and keep hoping!

So far this year I have bought my fav skier a new set of fat skis and some bindings to go with them.

I have bought a set of Flow M-11 bindings for myself.

And I am awaiting the arrival of a Never Summer Premier F1 in a 165 cm length.

Oh yeah - I am all over winter arriving as soon as possible!!

Published On: 11/16/2008

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My Blog: ....hurry up n snow
By: TatorTots

So the weather this year is totally f*ckING with me. Last year at this time it was cold. Cold! and two years ago there was at least 7-10 inches of snow. Now that was awesome, because you could tell MY snowboarding season was coming. Yesterday, after a hard few weeks of 20 and 30 degrees....it was at least 70 at one point in the day.

This brings me to my beliefs on global warming. Hey its gunna happen. History has proven that, which also means another ice age will eventually happen ( :) all those future snowboard junkies should be wet at the thought of that). I totally believe tho, that everyone is f*cking up my snowboarding privelages in NORTH DAKOTA. we dont have mountains. we have hills. thats good enough.

Now this is my life. And each year, snowboarding comes later and later. It's actually started to piss me off and make me antsy and makes me wanna move somewhere where there is snow. and mountains. constantly...

So lets not try and accelerate global warming. please. i need my snow. and cold.

DUH SO I CAN f*ckIN SNOWBOARD!

Published On: 10/30/2008

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My Blog: 1st
By: the_bing

I've never been snowboarding before. That is a lie, i've been once, for a few hours, on Mt. Buller, Australia, on crappy snow, on crappy hire gear, but it's something that's been on my 'list'. I've moved to North Vancouver for a year so wanna get up as much as possible. I bought everything and I got a season pass to Seymour and really looking forward to it. I'll let ya know how I go...

Oh, and I'm always looking for people to hit up the slopes with so if u want to then hit me up. I want to hit the other 2 local mountains and of course Whistler if time permits.

Cheers.

Published On: 10/27/2008

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My Blog: Russia here we come!
By: anne-flore

Russia, I’ve always wanted to go there!! And here I am, landing in Sochi designated host of the 2014 Olympic games. The small airport stands by the black sea and I m quite surprised to see palm trees through the plane window.. We made our way through the taxi drivers scrum, chose one of them by the size of his car and drove up towards Krasnaya Polyana.. It s a 45 minutes drive.. this place looks like a remote and small European resort.. but 40 years ago. Oakley is always a fun crew! Grete Eliassen, Gretchen Bleiler, Angeline who has missed her flight, Marie-France Roy who had some visa issues and will arrive a couple of days later and I.

The lift is sketchy!! You sit on that red metal 2 seater chairlift while the chairlift guy holds it by handcraft for 1 second.. your board on your knees as well as your backpack, gloves, ipod etc.. you are hanging about 40 or 60m off the ground and the lift makes weird noises.. or stops and runs the wrong direction for 10 seconds.. the way out is even sketchier! Same thing, the guy grabs the chair and you have 1 second to jump off and run with your gear in your hands…

Everywhere nearby the chairlift you can find some tough Russian body guards.. they looked scary.. but Gretchen got them to be our friends by getting them into our photo albums! So everyday.. they looked just mean and tough.. but when we showed up, they gave us their biggest smiles.. with hardly any teeth appearing or maybe a couple golden ones..

Never mind, it’s sunny and the snow looks epic.. but it’s really warm.. and yep it has been really warm and sunny a full day already, you should have been there YESTERDAY! It looked like fun hot pow but my board got glued so hard to the ground that I couldn’t even turn or keep my nose up! That snow was pretty much the worst you can get! No way to work it.. and worst was to come.. it rained for a week.

And still we went up and got a couple of jibs done.. there was no water in the house (no showers) but all was good.. cause the girls were soo fun to hang out with! While the skiers were building a wall ride, Gretchen and I took the lift to the top.. Super sketchy avalanches went down on the whole mountain! Wett heavy huge avalanches all over the place.. but the top stayed good.. cause it was just cold enough to keep it together.. That night we decided to drink it blue witch is an easy thing to do in Russia.. Anna showed Gretchen and I a couple breakdance moves, I painted on Shin’s face while Marie-France was holding him and thanks to Grete who puked that night cause it worked and got sunny the next day!

It had snowed and blown quite a bit on the very top.. and that was our chance to make it happen.. we hiked 2 bowls behind the top chairlift and found a couple lines, slashes and cliffs… the snow was super fun in the shady spots.. I was stoked to finally get to ride! And to slash pow YEAH!! The last run down was soo fun!! And then we had to traverse for about an hour and hike another hour to get back to the slopes.. it was close to dark, all lifts were closed and there were both of Grete’s fans!! Waiting for her to appear out of the woods. What a good day!! It s funny how 1 good day makes it up for ten bad ones.

That was our last night in the mountains and we all went to the Russian Sauna to get naked and beaten with branches by a Russian type of Tarzan!! The best thing ever!

We left to Moscow the next day and that was super fun too! The Red Square was on my to see list.. pretty mind blowing! Thanks to Oakley, Shin, Anna and Marie for making this trip a trip to remember!

annefloremarxer.com

Published On: 10/20/2008

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My Journal: October Sessions
By: perrik

Well, unfortunately the website is still having some of it's hiccups and I can't upload pics to my galleries. Let's see if I can paste them in my post.

Session #1: Arapahoe Basin (10/18/08) The first session of the season! And now in Colorado! Awesome! Regularly I'll be doing this the first weekend of November in the Midwest and driving 2 and a half hours to Ski Brule for just one run of 20 sec. Here it was a nice 75 min drive and the run at A-Basin, was like 3 times the one at Marquette. I mean it was just one run but it will take me 4 to 6 minutes to get down! I was there for first chair and the first 3 runs I got in the singles lines without waiting at all. There probably was around 1,000 people in the first 3 hours but that number easily increased to 3,000 by 11:30. The second wave brought too many beginners falling in the middle of the run, the snow was tracked and with icy spots and the wait on the lift line was about 10 to 15 min... So I took my 8 runs and went home a happy rider after a good first session.

First Chair

Left C-Box

Flat-Down

Beautiful Rocky Mountains @ A-Basin

20 footer

Hell Yeah!

Published On: 10/19/2008

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Snowboard.com News: Opening Day, Jeremy Jones and ELECTRIC iPhone
By: snowboard.com

Random facts for today:

October 15th was the opening day for two mountains, Loveland Basin & Arapahoe Basin which means they tied for the First Open in North America.

Congrats to the two mountains in Colorado!

Jeremy Jones has decided it's a good idea to protect his head with Bern brain buckets.

ELECTRIC launches new iPhone application that's FREE. You can find it on itunes or your iphone now.

Published On: 10/17/2008

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Snowboard.com News: PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola Full Of Gear Contest
By: snowboard.com

Whistler Balckcomb has launched a HUGE contest with amazing prizes!!

You can win a trip for 4 to Whistler Blackcomb and a full gondola's worth of skis, snowboards, outerwear and tons of other cool prizes to help you make the most of the mountains.

The gondola can hold 28 people, so that's a lot of stuff you can win.

Click here to full list of prizing.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER!!!

Published On: 10/7/2008

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My Journal: as summer comes to an end....
By: cazza21

The first snow fall has come and gone and so comes the waiting game. As i watch the snow creep up and down the mountains and then dissapear entirely only to reappear a few days later, I start to get that excited 'winter is coming' feeling. But at the same time, I am looking back on this amazing summer, and am not sure i really want it to end.

For one thing, I am finally getting to be more daring on my bike. I have been trying new runs in the Bike park, and getting faster on my cross-country runs. I am conquering little fears and am feeling a lot more comfortable on my bike.. thanks largely to Owen's amazing teaching skills, Bexx's ability to push me to go faster and further, and Ben being there for me to try to chase down the hill. Plus living in whistler doesn't hurt... a few times when i'm coming down the slopes and someome faster catched up (which always happens) i usually shout back that I'll move left at the next stretch to tlet them pass.... i usually get a no worries, and a 'bend your knees more' 'softer elbows' etc. It's amazing how helpful everyone is! yesterday as I was stuck, yet again, on a ladder, i said sorry for being in the way as i tried to get me and my bike out of some guys way, and he was like, we all learn sometime, keep it up and have fun with it. Why doesn't every sport have this sort of encouragement and friendship from strangers? Plus the fact that it is super exciting and a huge rush, I am totally hooked. Great, another expensive sport.

I am however looking forward to taking some of my new found courage and taking it to my snowboarding. I cannot wait to hit some pow and try some new things. It had been a while since I challenged myself, and this is what i needed. Sure some days i come home hurt, bruised and bashed up, but crazy as it sounds, i feel more alive after it.

so, i guess it's time to start the snow dance. And Mother Nature, if you want to skip fall and head straight to winter, I think i'm okay with that! just wait until the 13th when the bike park closes ;)

Published On: 9/28/2008

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Snowboard.com News: Whistler: Sky Cabins to cross span Friday
By: snowboard.com

As early as 8 a.m. on Friday, September 19, twelve PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola Sky Cabins will make the very first, epic journey across the 4.4km/2.73 mile span between Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains. With the official opening day of December 12, 2008 announced this milestone is all the more exciting.

“To finally have Sky Cabins move from one mountain to the other really crystallizes what we have accomplished here through two summers of construction,” says Rick Temple, PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola Construction Manager. “It is going to be an awesome sight for the entire PEAK 2 PEAK team, our employees and for the whole community of Whistler.”

Whistler Blackcomb’s PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola will officially open to the public December 12, 2008. This engineering marvel is set to become a new Canadian tourism icon, and will forever revolutionize the way visitors experience this all-season resort.

Published On: 9/19/2008

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My Journal: 08/09
By: Raze

Seems I hadnt updated since like march. My trip to Colorado was SIIICK. I never did so much glade riding in my life. Crazy stuff. All the mountains had something to offer, though I think I enjoyed Copper the most. We were up on an ice bridge at the top of a mountain, and we took some off the beaten path/possibly out of bounds trail down. Lost my friend along the way, totally untracked stuff, not even snowmobile tracks around. I thought I was gonna end up popping out on the highway. I truly was alone, riding through glades and jumping over small creeks, lost in the wilderness, so I thought. BEst riding experience ever.

I did learn something about me though. I found that I truly am more of a freerider than a freestyle person. I only do freestyle at Creek because that's ALL there is to do, and I don't even do that too often, due to icy conditions/crappy landings.

Anyhow, the new season approaches and I pretty much have all new gear from last season, though I'm probably going to swap out my freestyle deck with something stiffer, like a Skunk Ape or the such.

Published On: 9/19/2008

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Snowboard.com News: 28 Sky Cabins Arrive from Switzerland
By: snowboard.com

Whistler Blackcomb news - Peak 2 Peak update

The completion of the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola ropework and the arrival of 28 Sky Cabins set the stage for what will be the biggest construction milestone of the lift installation – the first Sky Cabin to cross the record-breaking 3 kilometre/1.88 mile, unsupported span between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

“With the haul rope spliced and all 28 Sky Cabins transported to the Blackcomb terminal, our next objective will be to get the cabins on the line and to send 12 across the span to Whistler,” says Rick Temple, PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola Construction Manager. “We are aiming to send them over by mid to late September, and are on track for the upcoming December grand opening.”
The Sky Cabins were shipped across the Atlantic from Olten, Switzerland where they were manufactured by CWA, global leader in design and construction of cableway vehicles. The Sky Cabins were then loaded onto ten trucks for the journey through Canada. Two cabins feature glass floors, enclosed by a railing, for a bird’s eye view of the Fitzsimmon’s Valley 436 metres/1,430 feet below.

Another significant milestone was the splicing of the haul rope to create a continuous loop, which took place August 29 and 30. The splice was 68 metres/220 feet long, and took a crew of 14 people over 15 hours to complete. Norm Duke, a FATZER AG certified splicer from Wyoming, lead the team of seven Whistler Blackcomb employees and six Doppelmayr/Garaventa employees to complete the job. Duke has spliced many of Whistler Blackcomb’s FATZER AG ropes and spliced the Symphony Express rope in 2006. The splice was achieved by untwining strands from each end of the steel cable and then re-braiding them together to ensure a perfect bind that maintains the haul rope’s diameter of 46mm.

Doppelmayr’s unique 3S gondola technology has each cabin traveling along two 56mm track ropes which bear the weight of the Sky Cabins, with the haul rope pulling in the middle of the two tracks. The haul rope was the only splice needed for the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola since the track ropes are stationary and do not loop from Blackcomb to Whistler.

The terminal buildings are nearing completion with cladding installation in the final stages and station set-up taking place. Construction progress of the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola is captured daily via webcams, and weekly via photography and construction blogs on the PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola microsite at www.whistlerblackcomb.com. The PEAK 2 PEAK Gondola will open in December.

Published On: 9/10/2008

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