Whistler Inbounds and Out of Bounds Conditions 2025/26

[takeahike46er]

The Whistler alpine is off to a decent start, but below the Roundhouse and Rendezvous, it’s a different story. Most of the precip has fallen as rain in recent weeks, and there’s no snow below 1500m.

Ops just shared their opening day plan and it’s not pretty. Blackcomb opens Friday with just 1 trail serviced by Jersey Cream. The lines are going to be insane! Normally, there are multiple lifts on both mountains open, but the Whistler opening has been delayed to next week.

All that said, the steep alpine terrain should be in good shape for the holiday season barring any major dry spells or washouts.

 

[takeahike46er]

Cams at the upper lodges suggest that coverage would be adequate on Emerald and Jersey Cream, but the post above indicates perhaps not yet.

I thought the same thing. I didn’t realize how quickly snow depths dropped off until I started reading some concerning trips reports from the Whistler backcountry last week.

The on mountain weather stations make it pretty clear. Pig Alley at 1650m is reporting 71cm (28”)—okay for opening day but not great. However, Catskinner at 1550m only has 15cm (6”). Some of that difference can be attributed to the Whistler site receiving more snowfall, but much of it in this case is due to elevation/temperature. The freezing levels had been hovering around the Roundhouse level for the past couple weeks.

Ski the east baby
Gonna be a big year

Hell no. I’m never going back.

 

[takeahike46er]

Whistler isn’t as bad as I feared. Yes, coverage and conditions are bad on the lower third of Jersey Cream and Catskinner, but coverage above 1800m is great. Much more skiable terrain than the 3 trails officially open.

Skiers coming down Saudan

The runs off Chainsaw Ridge and elsewhere in the alpine were already in and fair game (False Face, Saudan Couloir, Cougar Chutes). Technically it’s all out of bounds, but that’s more to do with staffing than coverage. How many mountains can you get into that kind of terrain for opening weekend?

Uphill travel permitted via 7th

 

[Tony Crocker]

So 7th Heaven is running to get you up to Saudan and Chainsaw? If not that’s a tough hike from Jersey Cream. Those alpine pics are what I expected with the estimated 104 inches.

Mammoth has openings that include high alpine expert terrain. That includes now, but I’d guess there is twice as much snowpack at Whistler.

 

[takeahike46er]

7th is not running. The uphill route is a groomed cat track starting at the top of Jersey Cream. It’s actually quite an easy hike/skin with a gentler pitch than Flute. It takes approximately 10 minutes to get to the lower Chainsaw runs and 45 minutes to get to top of 7th. Much easier than hike to terrain at Telluride, Taos, etc.

On the Whistler side, a similar uphill route goes up Pika’s giving access to the Harmony, Peak, and Symphony zones. Much of that terrain should be skiing well when Whistler opens, which I am told may be as soon as Wednesday.

 

[takeahike46er]

It will be interesting to see what happens crowd-wise with these multi-area passes. Will some Ikon holders relocate from Palisades Tahoe to Mammoth? Will Epic holders decide to go to Whistler?

I don’t intend to find out firsthand. Thank goodness there’s endless backcountry skiing in SWBC to fallback on.

 

[takeahike46er]

Whistler is bursting at the seams between no mountains open in the PNW region, its limited operating footprint, and an already inadequate lift system.

The line for 7th Heaven on Wednesday

The WVG download line today

 

[takeahike46er]

It could be worse. Early next week it's going to rain in Washington and B.C. to over 6,000 feet.

Indeed it can be!

I’m glad I got out in the Baker backcountry yesterday before the snow turns to . When the temps finally do come back down, it’s going to be an ice skating rink in SWBC and the PNW.

 

[takeahike46er]

Deer Valley has lots of "Snowmaking in Progress" icons all over its Live Map. However, webcams do not show much snowmaking, maybe still too warm.

Too warm. I checked temps on the Park City site earlier and all of them were above freezing.

Closer to home, I was looking at the Whistler webcams earlier. It was depressing. The alpine is covered in rain runnels.

I’m supposed to go touring in the Whistler backcountry next week, staying in the Kees and Claire hut for three nights. It’s not looking good.

 

[takeahike46er]

The forecast for Whistler is depressing. The GDPS, GFS and ECMWF are all in agreement that precipitation in the next 10 days is negligible. If the forecast verifies, Whistler will be approaching 3 weeks without any meaningful precipitation and 3 weeks where off piste is largely unskiable due to rain up to 2400 meters.

Advanced and expert skiers would be best to avoid Whistler for the foreseeable future unless they are okay with fast groomers and fabulous views.

For most of my ski season, I try to be flexible and not book Whistler ski days in advance. The only exception in recent years has been the last week of January. If this forecast verifies, of the last 4 years, 3 will have had icy conditions where off piste was unskiable following a similar pattern.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Whistler will be approaching 3 weeks without any meaningful precipitation and 3 weeks where off piste is largely unskiable due to rain up to 2400 meters.

That was 6 weeks in 2005. But normally the PNW gets frequent enough winter storms that these conditions don't last too long. I'm not pleased as I hit the road for Canada Feb. 8 and it doesn't look I'm likely to see good conditions anywhere along the way.

For most of my ski season, I try to be flexible and not book Whistler ski days in advance.

I've never thought of Whistler that way. Rain into the alpine like Jan. 7-8 is fairly rare. To me the risk is that the alpine is inaccessible due to visibility or snow stability during/after storms, similar to Mammoth. I've never had bad snow in the Whistler alpine on destination trips in 1991, 1998, 2005, 2008, 2015, 2017. I know I was lucky in 2005 and 2015, which had some long stretches with the conditions takeahike46er describes now.

 

[takeahike46er]

I've never thought of Whistler that way. Rain into the alpine like Jan. 7-8 is fairly rare. To me the risk is that the alpine is inaccessible due to visibility or snow stability during/after storms, similar to Mammoth.

Maybe it has been a rough stretch of years since I moved to the Lower Mainland, or maybe I’m just spoiled by years of trips to the intermountain west using your data as a guide but…

In my experience, the alpine conditions at Whistler are not nearly as reliable as the regions with elite snow preservation. I haven’t kept thorough records to confirm, but it certainly feels like it has rained up into the alpine at least once per winter season since I moved here. In addition, extended periods of warm weather at elevation followed by a drop in temperatures are also not uncommon and can occur multiple times per winter. As a result, the alpine is rendered unskiable for chunks at a time. Thank goodness Whistler has a great selection of groomers to fallback on during these periods.

Add in the risk you identified of the alpine being closed during stormy weather, combined with steadily rising freezing levels threatening the quality of skiing below treeline, and the result is a good number of days per season where the skiable footprint is quite limited and the experience is subpar.

The rest of the time, Whistler is a fantastic, elite level ski experience that I feel lucky to have so close.

 

[takeahike46er]

Three of my 6 Whistler trips were in late March/early April. My impression was that the Whistler alpine had similar snow preservation as Mammoth at that time of year, but all 3 trips had some new snow (only one of those a big dump though).

Perhaps the time of year stacked the odds in your favor? Atmospheric rivers are most common in the fall through January. They’re often behind the wild temperature swings even if Whistler is not in the line of fire. The deep coastal snowpack also keeps temperatures at elevation cool well into April.

March and early April are when I experience the most reliable conditions in the alpine. Steep, shaded aspects remain chalky. Even if there has been freeze/thaw conditions, the solar aspects are likely in play.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Atmospheric rivers are most common in the fall through January.

Larry Schick told me that long ago from his work in Washington State. He said all of the most destructive flood events have been November - January. There was one this recent December.

All of the Pacific State snow sites that measure both snow and water show the lowest water/snow ratios in February/March and the highest in November/December. November/December are also the months where this was one of several recent years with a storm that snowed substantially on the upper half of Mammoth while raining to the top of nearly all ski areas at Tahoe.

 

[takeahike46er]

As expected, conditions in the Whistler backcountry were brutal this weekend. It was great for scouting future tours but bad for skiing. The snowpack in the alpine remains pretty fat with 110” at the Kees & Claire hut 6400’. Hopefully the snow this weekend buries all the rain runnels and avi debris.

Conditions in bounds were pretty decent by comparison. The bowl below the Flute Chutes was actually was quite chalky and the groomers were skiing well outside of a slick spot here or there.

Rain runnels above Adit Lakes

Banana Chute

The view of Fissile and Whirlwind from the hut

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Zoinks

 

[ChrisC]

Rain runnels above Adit Lakes

Zoinks

I never witnessed rain runnels like this before in the Northwest. It's beautiful, and haunting. Did water flow under or over the snowpack? Unfamiliar with the term runnels, too.


It is reminiscent of the giant suncups that can form in the Sierra late-season snowpack when unskied/traveled. They are unskiable but exquisite.

 

[takeahike46er]

Did water flow under or over the snowpack?

Over. These were formed at the tail end of the last atmospheric river as heavy rain landed on all the snow that fell earlier in the storm cycle.

 

[takeahike46er]

I suspect it’s due to the rate of precipitation outpacing the ability of the snowpack to absorb the water.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I never witnessed rain runnels like this before in the Northwest.

I have.

The above is Great Northern Snowcat, Jan. 23, 2005. When you travel as much as we do, you will inevitably have trips with very bad weather luck. I've had four and this one was definitely the worst.

ChrisC is correct that the rainwater usually goes into the snowpack. Sometimes in gullies it will saturate the ground and undermine the snowpack from below. I do not have pics from the conspicuous example I saw at Snow Valley in Feb. 1980.