Re: Looking for the straight goods (Pique letters to the editor, Dec. 19)
The Whistler-Blackcomb snowphone relies on weather data that is collected at the Pig Alley weather station, located at 1,650 metres on Whistler Mountain. As an official Environment Canada reporting station, it is the station of record for the Whistler area. This location was chosen because it is in an area below the treeline that is rarely wind affected; therefore, it is an accurate reflection of how much snow has actually fallen. Data collection and forecasting happens twice daily, at 6 a.m. and 2 p.m. While Blackcomb Mountain’s processes are similar, the Catskinner weather plot is located at 1,550 metres. The snowfalls recorded at this station frequently differ significantly from the recordings at Pig Alley due to its lower elevation, as well as its location on the other side of the valley.
The 6 a.m. snow phone recording uses snowfall information gathered by the night-shift groomers at approximately 5 a.m. each morning. On Dec. 5 th , 20 cm of new snow was recorded at 5 a.m. At 6:15 a.m., weather readings were taken by the ski patrol and an additional 6 cm of snow had fallen. This information is used on the updated recording at 7:30 a.m. In order to provide guests with easy access to current information, Whistler-Blackcomb has invested in Web cams and electronic sensors. The Web site uses snowfall information collected by electronic sensors, which are not quite as accurate as manually obtained readings.
This explains the discrepancies that can occur during the storm cycle, and is akin to comparing apples to oranges: manual readings taken over a given 36 hour period compared to electronic readings taken over a given 48 hour period.
At the beginning of the season there were minor difficulties with some of the Whistler-Blackcomb phone lines. The Nov. 18 th weather recording was still being played on some phone lines as recently as Dec. 22 nd . Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This problem has now been resolved. You can reach the Whistler-Blackcomb Avalanche Information Line at 604-938-7676, and the Whistler snowphone at 604-932-4211.
Please feel free to drop by the Whistler Alpine Office any time and I would be pleased to show you our weather records as well as the Pig Alley weather station.
Anton Horvath
Whistler Mountain Avalanche Forecaster
I write this in response Kevin Rea’s letter of Dec. 12. I often read letters that I disagree with, sometimes strongly, but it has been a long time since I read a comment in the local paper that inspired me to write a rebuttal. Mr. Rea belittled the significance of Whistler. It’s Our Future responses submitted by local high school students. He questioned if votes from 13-18 year olds can really be counted as a part of the process of mapping out Whistler’s future.
My first response to Mr. Rea’s comment was disgust. How dare he belittle the opinions and intelligence of the youth of this, or any community. I am an 18-year-old Whistler resident; I was born and raised in this community and educated at Whistler Secondary School. My youth in Whistler prepared me for the higher education I am now pursuing and taught me to form opinions and express my views. I believe that I am just as capable as any other Whistler resident in directing the future of my town, which is why I was proud to be a part of the process.
If given the correct information, youth are as capable as adults at making decisions that have a real impact on their lives. Yes, some young people will not take this sort of survey as seriously as would be hoped, but the same is true of any age demographic, particularly in a town where the transient nature of the population means many never feel a part of the broader community.
The youth are the individuals who have grown with this town, and who will continue to grow with it. Whether Mr. Rea likes it or not, the youth will direct the future of Whistler, whether now or later, so he’d better get used to it.
The RMOW has valued the voices of this town’s future, and I applaud them for that. The opinions of the youth must be respected by the community that reared them; the world beyond this community and beyond high school expects a lot from young people as they reach it, why should this community expect any less from the young people it has helped to raise?
Thank you to Mr. Vance for recognizing a treasure chest of information in the opinions of Whistler’s youth. As for Mr. Rea, I hope you learn to respect the youth, before you experience the power they can wield.
Kimberley Fenwick
Whistler
Re: It’s not the highway that’s dangerous
Sarah Bourne (Pique letters, Dec. 19, 2003) is dead right – figuratively speaking. Sea to Sky Highway needs enforcement and that is a life and death issue. I drove down Sunday afternoon three weeks ago and the drivers were plain scary – and it was a nice day.
It has been a long time since I joined the weekend road race and it seems to get worse with road improvements. Nobody pays the slightest heed to the construction zone signs at the canyon and coming out of the zone past old BOB, it is like the start of a LeMans road race. I rarely top 100km/h – it ain't worth it – but I am following cars in the right-hand lane and I look at my gauge and I am surprised to see I am doing nearly 120 and high-powered SUVs, vans and other vehicles, including an eco-tour bus, are passing in the left-hand lane – and not just passing but ripping by at 140 or better.
Now, I would like to know who would want to ride that bus. And what was it all for? In the nearly 2 km lineup at the Garibaldi light, there was that bus, just a few vehicles in front of me. I had to wonder how fast that bus was going, the one that killed Constable Audi.
Yes, there is really nothing wrong with this highway as long as people drive it reasonably and with consideration for others on the road. Those who don't should face enforcement by whatever means – there has been too much blood spilled on this highway.
Clive V. Nylander
Whistler
I’d like to commend Owen Carney and Carney’s Waste Systems for jumping in and rescuing the commercial composting service. One again, Owen has made a decision and taken action for the betterment of the community, its residents and a sustainable future. It wasn’t long ago, that Carney’s Waste Systems partnered in a pioneering project to implement bear-proof waste containment in Whistler. Both projects were a substantial risk to Carney’s bottom line. Owen, you are truly an admirable leader of our community. You are an inspiration to all! Thanks for being YOU!
Sylvia Dolson
Whistler
Just before Christmas I was rushing form one function to another. After the luncheon memorial for Bev Switzer I ran some errands. Firstly I bought four nice bottles of wine in the Marketplace outlet and proceeded to the post office before heading back to my office. Later in the afternoon I attended an open house on Lake Placid Road and headed home to Alpine Meadows around 7 p.m. As I went to wrap a bottle of wine to take to an evening gathering I realized that I no longer had the wine in my possession. Hmmmm!
It finally dawned on me that I must have left it at the post office. I knew they were now closed but I called on the off chance that some of Santa's helpers might be working overtime to sort all the Christmas packages. The line was busy so I called repeatedly until I reached a nice lady to whom I explained my problem. She asked, "What was in your bag?"
"Four bottles of wine," was my sheepish reply, almost expecting her to laugh at me. After all what were the chances of the wine still being there?
However, she promptly replied that she indeed had my bag and that two nice Japanese girls had dropped it off having found it in the mailbox room. She then invited me to come down, ring the bell and retrieve my bag. She explained that she would have called me but that my name was not evident on the VISA receipt. In any event she tried.
One of the girls who returned it was called Naoko. Many thanks to her and her friend and the postal elf.
Christmas spirit is indeed alive and well in Whistler. It seems a bit sweeter that a foreign national turned it in. This goes to show us that there is kindness in the hearts of our international visitors as well as our fellow Canadians. At the end of the day I felt very much in the Christmas spirit due to a small act of kindness and decency on the part of several complete strangers.
I thank you again and wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Ed Styffe
Whistler
I see from your best and worst of Whistler 2003 that: "And of course the parking metres, the bane of the municipality’s existence and a topic that always gets the blood boiling, took second place in the reader’s poll. Even though the parking metres were introduced in 2002 it would appear that many people are still harbouring a grudge that the muni would dare ask for change at certain parking lots. Who knew parking was such a sensitive subject?"
I wonder what on earth you are referring to. Some time ago there was a debate on expanding Whistler parking spaces to allow bigger and bigger vehicles. Was that it? Metres are a metric length, I suspect that you meant meters.
Colin McCubbin
Whistler
