[TR] Flute bowl at Whistler- 1/1/2006

[fear_and_greed]

Climb: Flute bowl at Whistler-

 

Date of Climb: 1/1/2006

 

Trip Report:

Knee deep powder at Whistler. See my blog for pix, http://hydrogenplusstupidity.blogspot.com/

[PaulB]

I wasn't so keen on the "inbounds backcountry" concept at first, but Flute bowl is becoming one of my favourite places to ski at Whistler for those days that you just don't feel like doing a full backcountry tour. With minimal effort (hiking or skinning from the gate) you can find great, often untracked, snow while the masses are scraping down the groomers and dealing with moguls in the more easily accessed bowls.

[dbb]

do you use the lifts to get back up or do you just use the lift for access and then skin back up for laps?

[PaulB]

You can do either. It's about a one hour round trip if the Harmony Express lift isn't too busy. Cycle time when skinning will vary depending on your fitness, snow conditions, etc., but you can easily do a lap in 45 minutes or so once an uptrack is established.

 

Even if you are riding the lift up, it's worth bringing skins to speed up the approach from the access gate to wherever you want to drop in, as well as the hike out to the Burnt Stew trail at the bottom.