Whistler/Blackcomb keeping fingers crossed for early start Like most Whistlerites, you're probably sitting at the window, twitching and panting, as the snow comes down. You've probably heard rumours that the hill is opening early, and that's not helping things. As of Wednesday afternoon, the official word is "maybe." There are a lot of "ifs" to consider. If the snow continues to defy normal seasonal trends, and we get dumped on this weekend like the weather services are predicting... If everything on the hill is "good to go" on the operations side... If employees on the mountain can be trained on time... then there is a good possibility that the hill could open as early as Nov. 12. According to a Whistler/Blackcomb press release, everything is looking good for this season: "Already, over 75 cm (30 inches) of natural snow has fallen at mid-mountain (Solar) and an impressive 120 cm (46 inches) was measured at the peak. Today (Nov. 3), more snow is forecasted and another winter storm system is moving over Whistler this weekend (woohoo). "Recently, the US National Weather Service and Environment Canada called for the La Nina weather phenomenon to hang around a while longer (woohoo - unless you own property in North Carolina). This is good news for Whistler-Blackcomb guests as last winter La Nina brought a record 55-feet (many, many centimetres) of snow to the resort." "There's a lot of anticipation and excitement for opening day set for Nov. 24," says David Perry, vice president of marketing & sales. "After today's storm, Whistler-Blackcomb will have a mid-mountain base greater than our opening day (Nov. 20) base last year of 80 cm (32 inches), as a result it is looking very positive for an early opening.
