The Best Snowboarding in North America: Ride tandem through champagne powder

Whistler has even more bowls than Blackcomb, which means more freaks looking to snake first tracks. Luckily there are so many choices that you'll get your share if you can keep up with the frantic pace. The Harmony Express Quad accesses nice cruisers in the Symphony and Harmony Bowls. Toward skier's left from the Harmony Express Quad, the Drop is the steeper of these cruisy runs. After a dump, head for Surprise under the Peak Chair, where there are nice rocks and ridges to huck from.


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Follow the ridge skier's left from Whistler Peak to drop the 60-foot cliffs known locally as "Air Jordan." When the top opens, go skier's right from the peak around to the monster rU.S.h runs, Couloir and Cirque, which drop into the Glacier Bowl. Down the face of Whistler Bowl, Doom and Gloom and High Shoulder challenge experts with steeps, spines, and cliffs. Stay on top of the ridge to Highway 86, then cut into the double blacks of West Bowl for extreme freeriding down a quick 2000-foot vertical. For the best glades, cut across Highway 86 at the bottom of West Bowl into Big Timber and Peak to Creek. This winding creek bed run takes you down to the Creekside Gondola. For other great timber stashes, ask a local to show you International Trees and the Shooting Galley.

Whistler's funpark is better suited for beginners and intermediates than Blackcomb, but it's also less intimidating. The atmosphere is friendly and encouraging, and the pros on site will offer tips more readily than at the Nintendo pipe. Head to the end of the Green Express Quad Chair to try your stuff on their collection of tabletops, spines, banks, and the pipe.