I have a few favorite places around Whistler, and Garibaldi Lake is one of the best. You can visit it in any month of the year, and there is a huge playground of skiing, hiking, camping and scrambling in the surrounding area.
We have had no new snow in the past two+ weeks in the Sea to Sky and alpine temperature inversions pretty well every day. The touring conditions are not too good, so I have been out hiking in the unseasonably warm Jan weather.
If you are heading up the Rubble Creek trail, you can drive right to the parking lot. It's not plowed, but there are two deep tire ruts that go down to pavement and there were a number of little cars that made it up. I was happy to have my truck and 4WD though.
The first 3kms are bare trail and mud, then kms 3-5 are mud and ice. From the 5km mark, there is mixed snow and ice, then snow from about 6km to the lake. If you have come up to Garibaldi Lake in late May, you can expect identical trail conditions. Actually to be honest, there's less snow in the alpine than you find in May! (As of Jan 28, 2014)
Usually there is a winter trail that cuts over the first lower lake and comes up the river to Garibaldi Lake, however this year, the trail follows the summer path as there is not nearly enough snow for an alternate route.
This is me, above enjoying the +10C weather in the middle of winter!!! If you have a set of snowshoes, definitely bring them, if only for the ice picks alone. You'd do well with a set of crampons for the descent (I'm serious!)
Ever started up the skin track in mud, shorts and running shoes with your skis on your back? Anyone trying to go skiing would have been in this boat.
YOU CAN NOT SKI DOWN ANY OF THE TRAIL FROM GARIBALDI LAKE RIGHT NOW. You could probably skin up a little bit of the last few kms if you don't mind the post holes from people in shoes, but plan to carry your gear up to at least 6-7kms, and carry it all the way down 9kms.
This place is one of the real treasures of the coastal area. I had an incredible day up here and have been seeing visions of mountains dance across my computer screen since.
We're supposed to get a little bit of snow this week. I'll post some new trail conditions next visit up.
