Banana Chute on Fissile Peak (Whistler BC)

A couple of weeks ago, 3 of my friends and I made a very last minute decision of ticking off this beautiful chute of our list, the very next day. Two skiers, two snowboarders, a quick gear check and by 7 am we left Squamish, BC.

We thought the NW aspect and higher elevations gave us the best chance for good snow on a mid-March overcast Friday, after a very warm week. We were not wrong!

Baist Gloves discount code: AlenkaBaist

We took the Red Chair from the Creekside gondola, and waited at the Peak chair for few minutes, before losing patience and going up via T-bar. Across Symphony, towards Musical Bumps, the day was made for it!

Fissile stands dramatically in the Fitzsimmons Range, southeast of Whistler, BC. It’s located on the southeast side of Russet Lake and on the west side of the Overlord Glacier. Fissile Peak presents an interesting north face, easily visible from Whistler Village. In the right conditions, it offers some excellent descents.

Rare cloud coverage and some mid-day precipitation played with sun rays the whole day, in and out. It wasn’t hot, just perfect! My first official spring mission surprised me, as it does every year with my need for water. In the winter I never bring a lot of water with me on backcountry trips, but spring comes, I can be thirsty the whole day pretty much! I did end up coming back down quite dehydrated, so it’s good to keep that in mind.

2 hours to the hut and a quick boot pack up to the ridge of Fissile found us at the entrance to Banana Chute.

The line is beautiful, gently curving between two steep walls, but never very narrow. Not having snowed in a week and a half, Fissile lived up to its name as little rocks littered the snow, an exciting combination of styrofoam and crust, with boilerplate interspersed.

After we all stylishly skied down Banana Chute, we started the trek to the car. The run down to Singing Pass provided turns on relatively glorious slushy snow. We chose the icy groomers of WB over the icy trail of Singing Pass and retraced our steps back over the Musical Bumps to Flute Bowl. This had the extra “attraction” of the additional elevation gain! Having used the daylight to the fullest, we skied down at a very appropriate time and headed straight to Black’s Pub, for very appropriate burgers and beers!

☽ Follow me on Instagram – @alenkaamali – to see more of my adventures ☽

Pin this post. Share the love ☽

More about Alenka

My name is Alenka and I’m a Squamish based photographer and a freeride snowboarder. I love using my medium to capture sports, adventures, underwater shots, adventures in the mountains, and days on snow! Very simply put, I’m one stoked girl, ready to get up at 2 in the morning and hike for sunrise, go to the airport and take a random flight…you name it!

16 QUESTIONS: MY WORK, LIVING STYLE, COLLABORATIONS