TAMING THE BEAST...IN WHISTLER BLACKCOMB
It’s epic. It’s big. It’s more icy dragon than your typical ski demon… Welcome to Whistler Blackcomb’s sidecountry classic, DOA
WORDS AND PHOTOS RYAN CRISP
It stares at me. Taunts me. More icy dragon than your typical ski demon. Perched atop the frozen peak of Blackcomb Mountain, it lays
in seasonal mockery, a long thin sliver – reminiscent of a lolling serpentine tongue – cuts down through the ancient stony face, tightly hoarding its precious powdery treasure and promise of glory.
The wintry nemesis I dare speak of is a Whistler Blackcomb sidecountry classic: DOA.
Many of us have runs we’re yet to vanquish, peaks we’re yet to summit, lines we’re yet to stare down; they come in all shapes and sizes. Mine takes you 'Down' a thin, consistently 50 degrees couloir with a top section said to be ‘just wide enough’ for a set of skis, before spitting you 'Out' into the leg-zapping belly of the beast and eventually back 'Around' to 7th Heaven, an inbounds area, where picking up the lift will have bagged you almost 1000m-worth of A-grade challenge. A true quest and one of the longest and steepest resort-accessible couloirs in North America.
DOA is not particularly notorious or difficult to access. The entrance is a mere 45-minute tour from Blackcomb Glacier, an area I frequently ski. Whenever you’re on Whistler, the opposite mountain, you only have to look up to see Blackcomb Peak and this teasing line. It’s right there, as I say, taunting me. So, why haven’t I tackled this steep? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s been top of my list for three or four seasons, but by not simply scratching the cursed itch, it has grown in strength and notoriety, claiming an almost mythical stature in my mind.
For a couple of seasons I kidded myself that the quest was only to be faced off in the most perfect conditions and only with certain friends. Barriers of my own making. The beast had its claws in me, for sure.
Winter 2020 was going to be the year. I swear it! Enough chitter-chatter, enough sleepless nights haunted by my very own wintry Smaug. Myself and a local friend were determined. Let’s just be done with it already… and then an even scarier beast hit. Covid-19 scuppered a season’s worth of plans, my icy nemesis laughed me out of town, tail between my legs as I departed the Misty Mountains towards an age of great uncertainty.
When would I return? Later that season? Surely in ’21, right? Erm… ’22?
Sheesh, man can not survive on memories and former glories alone. But, staggeringly, memories and the hope of future travels would be the only nourishment the majority of us would have for some time.
BOTTOMLESS OPPORTUNITIES
I have been lucky enough to explore huge swathes of this fantastic area over the years and encourage like-minded adventurers to do the same.
Whistler Blackcomb is world famous for its epic inbounds terrain, some of which I discussed in my previous article (S+b 213), but the surrounding side and backcountry is genuinely magical. Easily accessible and a lifetime of skiing right on your doorstep.
I recall once gazing wide-eyed over the expanse of the Spearhead and Fitzsimmons ranges on one of my first tours, struggling to fathom the bottomless opportunities, when a wise man once said: “Ryan, if you ever find yourself bored of this area, you’re bored of life.” I wholeheartedly agree. The day tour potential alone is mega! From gnarly peaks and vast glaciers, to endless glades and rolling powder fields. From the steep and deep to easy breezy ‘hero riding’, it’s all right there. And better still, the runs I mention here bring you back to the bar at the end of a day. Your post-tour beer and nachos have never tasted so fine!
One of the most common day tours is to leave the confines of Whistler, via the Symphony area, and explore the Musical Bumps. A 30-minute bootpack or tour up Flute, powder eights down to the base of Oboe, up and over into The Apostle glades to Cowboy Ridge, before a big climb and one truly long and tasty descent to a valley picnic with killer views.
A day like this is always a day to remember and typically finishes on a hellish zigzag track directly to the bars – the infamous Singing Pass trail. Remember to check your speed as this is a doozy and always the most hair-raising part of a day on the Musical Bumps.
Admiring the view across the valley, you’ll find yourself looking over Blackcomb, DOA smiling that lewd and inflammatory grin (just at me, I’m sure!), and the Spearhead, the possibilities for epic challenges so close you’ll quickly be planning your next adventure.
Many of these areas are accessed via a short uphill tour from the inbounds Blackcomb Glacier. Exiting the resort boundary through a gate and transceiver check, heading up the East Col and away from DOA, you enter a vast new world of staggering potential.
A favourite route of mine is to ski down to Circle Lake, before making a tour up Decker, which stands proud and mighty before you. Moving back from whence you came, you’ll have the option of either Decker Glades or a heli-skiing-like run down Bodybag Bowl. Don’t let the name throw you, this is pure whoop and holler delight terrain! The bodybag, I can only assume, is for when you collapse in glee, powdered out and drunk on good times.
SOUL FOOD
A new addition to the backcountry scene is the much celebrated and in-demand Kees and Claire Hut at Russet Lake. After a decade of planning, much local fundraising, and three years of construction, it opened in 2019. The hut provides fresh opportunity to explore the Spearhead in more detail, especially if you stay a couple of nights. Suddenly, big targets – giants of the Garibaldi Provincial Park that encompasses Whistler – begin to catch one’s eye and stir the imagination.
Sandwiched between Overlord Mountain and Whirlwind Peak, Fissile is another iconic fixture in British Columbia’s Coast Mountains. Day trips are possible for experienced tourers who travel light and lightning fast, but for most of us mere mortals, getting there, summiting, skiing the snowy behemoth, and making it back before happy hour would require a godly effort.
The new hut, however, marks these targets doable. Things like Banana Couloir and the North West Face, daydreamy descents, are suddenly not so faraway. Heck, the new hut and promise of a further two to come even brings further-afield descents like Shudder Glacier and Macbeth into the realms of ‘one day’.
The journey many of us make in pursuit of that perfect turn, that peak adrenaline rush, or pristine moment, varies greatly. It can be frustrating, challenging, can at times seem beyond our reach. Many factors foil our plans and ambitions. Injuries, capabilities, personal circumstances, even the safety net of good and easier times on calmer ground.
For me, sat here now typing this on a roasting hot Northumbrian afternoon (hey, they happen!), these magical lands seem far away, as accessible as the realms in epic fantasy.
I’m left wondering if Sir SkisALot will saddle up for another quest this winter. If he’ll be able to vanquish this feisty white dragon. If he’ll rediscover his Fellowship and carve out new lines in fresh new lands. For now, I simply hope.
Warren Miller famously said: “If you don’t do it this year, you’ll just be one year older when you do.” This forced hiatus has made me more determined than ever. This darkness shall pass, a new day will come, and when it does… I’m coming for you DOA.
Friends: here’s to challenges old and new. Here’s to our thirst for exploration. Here’s to getting back to the things we love, the things that push us through sweat, toil, and doubt. Here’s to the things that fire up the passion in our bellies and inspire us to keep going, There and Back Again. The mountains are ready for us, let's go skiing.
Factfile
Ryan Crisp is a photographer, qualified ski instructor and self-proclaimed ski bum. Away from the hills, he’s an aspiring screenwriter, currently with two horror features to his name (one of which, of course, is a ski horror!). He can be found repping in Whistler this January, March and April. You can find Ryan through his website (rdcrisp.com) or on the SCGB Whistler Facebook page. For information on the Club’s Rep service in Whistler click here.
When first skiing anything out-of-bounds hire a mountain guide; SCGB enjoys a good relationship with Mountain Guide Brian Jones and the mountain school (special discounts apply for Members). Ski Club Reps aim to put groups together for our Thursdays in the weekly programme. Get in touch with Ryan to express an interest.
Look out for next season's magazines to see if Sir SkisALot finally slays the beast!