Island hill sets world snow record
Skiers and snowboarders are on top of the world at Mount Washington. The Vancouver Island ski resort has been hit with so much snow, the area now has the deepest snowpack of any ski resort in the world. "All the cars up here are buried and the lodge is buried with all the snow," said Mount Washington's Brent Curtain of the resort's Christmas Day conundrum. The mountain near Comox had 2.5 metres of snow over a 48-hour period, now bringing the base on the slopes to a whopping 510 cm.
By comparison, Aspen in Colorado has a 168 cm base, while Mammoth in California comes close with a mid-mountain base of about 177 cm. "It is an absolute sea of white up here," said Curtain on Saturday. "It is unbelievable."As the storm moved through, Curtain said the freezing level remained low enough that it was only snow that hit the resort. "The freezing levels have been below the resort and we've been seeing nothing but snow," he said.
Despite the heavy amount of snow, Curtain said they hope to have the entire mountain open today.
"We expect to have the resort in full operation by Boxing Day," said Curtain of the avalanche control required to make the area safe. "
We have never seen a start to the season like this in the resort's history."Other resorts weren't so lucky. A stalled warm and wet air mass hovering over North Vancouver on Friday forced Grouse to close its lifts for the day. By Christmas Day the resort was back in full operation. But nearby Mount Seymour resort closed its lifts on Christmas Day because of the rain hitting the mountain. Both resorts are expected to be fully open on Boxing Day.
And while the rain is causing problems with the ski resorts in North and West Vancouver, Whistler-Blackcomb now has a snow base of 260 (at Pig Alley) with the 44 cm of snow that has fallen in the last 24 hours. The resort is expected to get an additional 15 cm throughout Saturday. By Sunday the freezing level is expected to be about 800 metres.
"In Whistler village there is a mix of rain and snow and up higher the ski hills are getting pure snow," said Environment Canada meteorologist David Wray.
"It has been a great start to the ski season," said Jimmie Spencer, the president of the Canada West Ski Areas Association. Come January, Spencer said bookings for out-of-country skiers are expected to be good.
"We have noticed people tend to leave the bookings a little bit later as they want to check the snow conditions," he said. Wray says it appears the Vancouver area is going to remain warm and wet on Monday. The front may ease later in the day, but the warm weather hovering around B.C. is expected into next week.
At the Canadian Avalanche Centre, forecaster Matt Peter said the highest danger is the Coastal Mountains. The North Shore Mountains, he said, currently pose the greatest risk of avalanche.
"In the short term there will be a high avalanche warning for the North Shore Mountains," he said. "There has been so much new snow and it hasn't had time to settle or bond with the snowpack."
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