Warrior Couloir

Daily Vert: 700m

Total Vert So far: 20,415m

One of my goals when starting this project was to use it to encourage me to explore more lines which are close to home. Massive expeditions and 14 hour days are all well and good, but how many cool line are there close to Whistler that you can bust out in half a day and still be home in time for work? Over the past 2 seasons I have discovered several such areas- The Chisel, Vista Bowl, Russet Chutes, Sproat and the bowls in between Phalanx and Spearhead Glaciers- are all zones which can be used to add a bit of flavour to a half day tour- a stipulation that most people might feel limited them to a simple lap on Decker or Cowboy.

Today I added another route to that list. The Warrior Couloir/Couloirs. I don't know how official that name is, I got it from an article over at www.backcountryskiingcanada.com, but I think those guys had just made it up. But it sounds cool, I'm keeping it.

So how do you get to the Warrior Couloir? You leave the Blackcomb gate and head to the Spearhead col. You ski onto the Spearhead and take the high traverse past Husume and Corona bowl, and keep going to until you reach the bottom of the Stairmaster. Up, up, up you go to the top.. take a quick right, and voila, the Warrior is the first Couloir on the right, going back down to the Spearhead.

It should be noted that there are around 4 or 5 parallel couloirs leading from Phalanx back to the Spearhead. In the backcountryskiingcanada article I believe they skied the line farthest skiers left. We skied the line farthest skier right (I believe there are a few more in between) and until someone corrects me, I'm going to refer to all of them collectively as the Warrior Couloirs.

There is a crazy temperature inversion going on in Whistler this week, and the winds have been all over the place, so the snow in the chute wasn't perfect, but it wasn't too bad either. The line was similar to the Cham chutes, but wider, longer, steeper, less rocky, better snow and less skied. Basically way better in almost every possible way. This line is going to be added to my list of staples for when I'm short of time and want to get some good turns in. I can't wait to go back later in the year when hopefully the snow is better and it is slightly more filled in (there were a few boney chokes).

After skiing back to the flats on the Spearhead we skinned back around to Corona bowl, and were back on the Glacier road barely 3 hours after leaving the Blackcomb gate. Plenty of time to spare before work!