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First flurries bring snowball fights and edge sharpening back

Forecast calling for more flurries through weekend until Tuesday
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PAINT IT WHITE The snow level crept down to the valley Saturday getting snow enthusiasts hopeful for an early season with abundant amounts of snow all winter. Photo by John French

Almost exactly two months before the winter solstice, snow has hit the valley floor in Whistler.

Skiers, snowboarders and business operators who offer snow-related products or services are thanking Ullr for the early snow. Steve Godfrey is getting set for the season ahead. He was given a vintage reproduction Rossignol ski, a copy of the first Rossignols to feature metal edges, and he was on his way Saturday to get the ski autographed.

“I’m going to get a couple of Rossignol riders that I know to sign it and put it up on my wall in my house,” Godfrey said while awaiting a bus at Creekside.

Godfrey said he’s excited about the snow season ahead.

“Hopefully we’ll have a good one. Two weeks earlier than last year,” he said referring to the first dusting of snow last year as wet flurries fell around him.

Over the past ten years, Whistler Blackcomb has received an average of 11.9 metres (39.1 feet) of snow a year. The forecast for the next few days is calling for more scattered flurries through Monday and a freezing level of about 1,200 to 1,500 metres, which is between about Raven’s Nest and Glacier Creek Restaurant.

Temperatures and freezing levels are expected to rise through the week as more sun enters the forecast from Tuesday onward.

The dusting of snow that came down to the valley Saturday prompted four young soccer players to wage a snowball fight in Function Junction while Whistler 50 participants ran in the cool, wet weather throughout the Whistler area.

The valley forecast for the next few days is calling for toques, gloves and waterproof outer wear with Environment Canada predicting clouds with rain showers or flurries and overnight lows between minus one and minus three while the daytime temperatures may reach as high as plus four.