By Andrew Mitchell
With temperatures dropping and days getting shorter,
Whistler-Blackcomb activated its 225-gun snowmaking system on Tuesday.
According to Bob Dufour, vice president of mountain operations,
most snowmaking guns turn on automatically once the temperature dips to
–2 Celsius. “Today (Tuesday) we’re sitting at around –5 Celsius and
–3 mid-mountain, optimal temperatures for a quality snow product.”
The goal is to create a solid base for when the real stuff
starts falling, which could happen at any time. Last year Whistler-Blackcomb
opened on Nov. 5, almost three weeks ahead of schedule, with heavy snowstorms
blanketing the alpine in late October. It was the earliest opening in 20 years.
The official opening day of the 2006-07 season is Thursday, Nov. 23.