Everyone was disappointed with January this year. While we had sunny conditions, the ridiculously temperatures (as low as -27 in December, as high as _17 in January) with seriously unstable snowpack kept many of the alpine areas closed. Ski patrollers joked that “2 is the new 20[cm]”. People were getting excited when there was a sprinkling of snow and then coming home all upset with a handful of core shots.
Thankfully an old fashioned coastal storm hit Whistler last week, bringing a wet dump to finally cover the rocks and saplings. The next day the colder front hit and brought the blower pow that we had been waiting for. The President’s week crowd had all checked out of town and the powder was ours for the taking. Bluebird pow days can be rare in Whistler and they stick in your memory all season, if not longer.
The spirit-lifting weather is just what we needed on the coast. The season has had a sense of gloom up until now with a low snowpack, an economic recession lowering skier visits and to top it off- a gondola collapsing. But despite industry-wide layoffs and the Olympics messing up everything else, people have not forgotten why they’re here. Losing count of your face shots as you descend a steep line is what we came here for- we just have to patient sometimes.
All photos by Vince Shuley
Whistler Conditions
