Dave Murray Downhill: The 2010 Olympics men’s downhill race course? Named after a legendary Canadian downhill racer? This run had better be good, and it is. Though it is almost never fully groomed top to bottom, the top pitch is where it’s at for high-speed laps. The Upper Dave Murray into Bear's Paw or Tokum back to Garbanzo and repeat is the best bang for your buck for groomer laps at Whistler Blackcomb. The only real downside of this lap is that it is often in the shade so can get quite cold, and because it’s so cold the snow is usually VERY firm - bordering on Ice. 

Harmony Piste: The run that gets all the glory on Harmony is Harmony Ridge, which is quite possibly one of the most scenic groomers at Whistler Blackcomb. BUT, it is effectively just a glorified cat track, and doesn’t have any consistent or good pitch until you get to the very bottom. The place to go for a proper pitch on Harmony is Harmony Piste. Just off the ridge and viewable from the chair to lookers' left, this is a perfect pitch to lay down some high speed turns. Usually far less busy than the other groomers. Bonus tip: If you drop off of Pika’s traverse into Harmony Piste, you get a beautiful few turns down some ungroomed but usually wind-buffed terrain that is a great lead-in to this ripper of a groomer. 

T-Bars: This run could be 10x longer and it would be the best ski run in the world. Regardless, it is still decently long and is the perfect pitch for wide open turns with no need to check your speed. Not too steep, but just steep enough to keep your momentum going, it is perfect in every way. 

The Saddle: This is yet another run at Whistler Blackcomb that is PERFECT if you ski it within the first couple of hours of the day. If you want the best way to wake up without cafeine, a good ol’ straight line down the saddle will get you going faster than anything out there. If you aim for the saddle towards the end of the day, you will find a scraped off ice cap with a headwind that is usually litered with people who are in way over their heads. An interesting fact about the saddle is that it is actually a run that has gotten steeper over the last 20 years. As the glacier underneath it melts (and is nearly gone), the beautiful pitch has quickly turned into a relentlessly steep groomer.

Million Dollar Ridge - the “not so secret” tree skiing just outside the area boundary. The entrance can be found on the outer edges of bagel bowl. You’ll find a well trodden traverse track up to the top of the ridge. From there, you can pretty much drop anywhere down towards Peak to Creek for some steep wide open tree skiing. Because this isn’t really a secret anymore, it does get skied out quickly, but can often still be a great option for fresh tracks. This is a commitment as it spits you out onto upper peak to creek and you’re in for a full lap all the way down to the bottom of creekside. Depending on what conditions are like on the lower mountain you may want to avoid this entirely as the full lap won’t be worth the couple of great turns at the top.  

Ratfink - Fully inbounds and a marked run on the trail map, this is the best tree skiing for when the alpine is closed. From the top of green chair you can make your way towards harmony and cut in when you are on the cat track near the reservoir. There is usually a snowcat road into ratfink as the patrol explosives shed is just around the corner. From the top, you can ski in any direction. On the far right you will start to run into “clif area” signs which, believe it or not, lead to an unpleasant cliff area with incredibly tight trees - stay to the left of the signs! This will spit you out on the cat track back to green chair for more convenient and quick laps.

Robertsons - Towards the end of harmony ridge when the ridge takes a right hand turn and heads back to Harmony chair, you can keep going straight into the trees into a zone called “Robertsons”. This run starts with a mellow open section through an alpine meadow, then heads into the trees and a small cliff zone that creates a bit of a pinch-point. Once you make it through the pinch point it opens up again into a steep open section above the harmony cat track - these will be the best 5-8 turns you can find on Whistler Mountain.

West Bowl - You can access west bowl a couple of different ways from the top of the Peak Chair, and they both happen to be my favourite runs in the alpine. The best way to access it is from West Cirque off of highway 86. This run typically has a very sporty entrance that is definitely reserved for expert skiers. Once you navigate the cornice/rocks/ drop in of West Cirque, you are greeted with an incredible steep alpine pitch that always serves up good turns. It can be tempting to keep that going all the way to the bottom (which I often do), but the other option to get into west bowl is to meet up with the traverse track and head left towards frog hollow. From there, Frog Hollow is actually a very fun run itself, but you can also drop into west bowl through “Christmas Trees” that gives you some great tree skiing down into the bowl. 

The other entrance to West Bowl continues down highway 86. Once you have skied down the first pitch past West Cirque the entrances start to appear to your right. The first (and best) option is a chute called “Mondays”. Mondays will lead you on the high entrance to West Bowl and often serves up some great turns. The other option is to keep skiing down highway 86 until you find a place you feel comfortable dropping into West Bowl

Kaleidoscope - off of Harmony Ridge you will find a run called Kaleidoscope at the end of the Harmony Horseshoes dropping into Harmony Bowl. This run is right on the edge of a large cliff face which has great skiing on either side. I don’t recommend trying to ski straight down the cliff face, but skiing close to the rocks on either side will serve up some amazing turns.

Peak Chair - This might be the most famous lift in the world… and for good reason. The engineering of the lift to being with is impressive. Straight up the front face of Whistler mountain you will be dangling over cliff faces and then deposited straight to the top of the mountain. From the top, you have 270 degrees of ski options. It will seem like 360 degrees, but the back side is famously known as “Cakehole” where numerous tourists get stuck every year. The lines can be long on peak, but it typically moves pretty efficiently and is often the place to ski. 

Harmony - Harmony is Peak’s little brother, but access an equally impressive amount of terrain. Accessing “little whistler” peak, Harmony will typically open before peak and offer some of the best open bowl skiing on the mountain. Harmony ridge is the main run to access most of the alpine skiing, with options all the way through the horseshoes down to Kaleidoscope. You can’t go wrong trying different drop in points that all lead back down to the Harmony lift. Sun bowl offers some good skiing down the other side - especially in the spring where it lives up to its name. 

Garbanzo - Lower down the mountain, Garbanzo provides the biggest vertical rise of any lift at Whistler Blackcomb. The lines are typically super chill, and the skiing is steep. There are the rare days where there is good snow all the way to the bottom of the lift and the tree skiing is worth checking out. More typically, this lift is best for knocking out high-speed groomers lap after lap.

Whistler Village Gondola - This is the most unreliable lift on the mountain and is up for an extensive replacement in a few years. It stops frequently and isn’t really useful anymore. This is always my last choice for getting up the mountain. 

Big Red - this is purely a transportation lift. It gets you from the top of creekside gondola back to the roundhouse where you can access peak or harmony. There is very little good skiing from this lift.

Emerald - this is the beginner area and only to be used for ratfink laps on big storm days. Otherwise, steer clear unless you are looking for beginner terrain. Top tip: If you get to the bottom of green and find a massive line, you can keep skiing down to Garbanzo which typically offers a much better option. 

Symphony - There is some good skiing here, and for people who are looking for slightly easier terrain with an alpine experience, it can be great. The biggest problem with this lift is that it is at the extremity of the terrain and the line is often very large - especially on a sunny day. The access to the musical bumps backcountry is another reason to be out here, but it’s not high on my list for solid skiing.