 Poster: A snowHead
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Snow down to the village this week.
Vail have said no early opening though, ending a WB tradition of always opening early; even if it was only one day early last year.
Lets see what other changes Vail (no in full control) brings, as they left the management mainly doing the WB thing last season.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's about profitability now.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Toadman wrote: |
| It's about profitability now. |
It's always been about that actually. I don't think that's a bad thing, as if I didn't make a profit then I couldn't afford to ride there anyway.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| philwig wrote: |
| Toadman wrote: |
| It's about profitability now. |
It's always been about that actually. I don't think that's a bad thing, as if I didn't make a profit then I couldn't afford to ride there anyway. |
Yes, very true. Should have said it is about maximizing gross profit margins. Still, good snow trumps all!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Staff all have fingers crossed that the "relaxed" employment style that WB had, continues. Not much real hope. It was still all WB systems & processes last year.
However loads of jobs available. Seems the Oz visa change and the lack of decent affordable housing is putting people off going out there, choosing other resorts. They have had housing issues for years and done nothing about it; but now with Facebook etc shouting it loud and clear to everyone they may rue the day they just sat on their hands. Headline of 1000 extra employee beds coming in the next 5 years is too little too late. They could treble that and still many many people would be in shared rooms with no privacy, sleep or security. Go Vail.
Going to give them a chance but probably last trip there this season. The happy staff have always been a big bonus. Fingers crossed.
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| Quote: |
| Yes, very true. Should have said it is about maximizing gross profit margins. |
This year will be about £300 cheaper to ski (epic pass vs last years wb season pass). They could have easily kept the old pass and just gave epic pass holders 7/10/14 free days at whistler. I'm not saying Vail are perfect, but that's a pretty big saving for wb skiers, besides the options to ski other resorts on the epic pass.
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| lack of decent affordable housing |
Yes its a problem. But is it really much worse than comparable ski resorts? Right now there are rooms in nice shared houses outside the village going for £675 per month - similar to jackson hole accom and cheaper than a similar place in London would cost.
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Looks like some serious weather is heading in for the forthcoming week: It'll be interesting to hear from the folks on the ground whether the eventuality matches the expectation.
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Bring it on, 9 weeks until we fly. Not that I'm excited or anything.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Acacia wrote: |
| Looks like some serious weather is heading in for the forthcoming week: It'll be interesting to hear from the folks on the ground whether the eventuality matches the expectation. |
Depends on what those expectations are, and what the definition of "serious' weather is...
But there's definitely consensus amongst the models that some unsettled weather is coming late this weekend for the BC Coastal Range. Could be up to 50CM of snow at higher elevations from Sunday into Tuesday. That should be followed up by another series of storms into next weekend with another 30cm-50cm of potential snow fall. Still just a bit too far out to see how it all goes. But if you don't take things too seriously and you don't have your expectations set too high, then you could be pleasantly surprised by the total snowfall accumulations when all is said and done!
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Still looking good for Whistler. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 70cm-90cm over the Saturday-Monday time frame. November has been looking decent for BC so far.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Toadman,
Maybe I should have written "series weather"...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Whistler shaping up nicely. Storms keep rolling in. Hard to say when one stops and the other begins. Will be a slight rise in temps this evening to about 2,000meters, and then start dropping again into the weekend. Still looking like a meter or so accumulation upper mtn elevations. Currently mixed rain/snow at the base.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Jake43 wrote: |
Snow down to the village this week.
Vail have said no early opening though, ending a WB tradition of always opening early; even if it was only one day early last year.
Lets see what other changes Vail (no in full control) brings, as they left the management mainly doing the WB thing last season. |
Whistler have announced they will be opening early! (This friday). It makes me wonder how much of these "Vail have said/Vail are changing x,y,z" things are fact and how much are just made up to bash Vail.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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fingers crossed for another year like this 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| boarder2020 wrote: |
| Jake43 wrote: |
Snow down to the village this week.
Vail have said no early opening though, ending a WB tradition of always opening early; even if it was only one day early last year.
Lets see what other changes Vail (no in full control) brings, as they left the management mainly doing the WB thing last season. |
Whistler have announced they will be opening early! (This friday). It makes me wonder how much of these "Vail have said/Vail are changing x,y,z" things are fact and how much are just made up to bash Vail. |
Yep opening on Friday - so much for that then. Whistler Village Gondola, Creekside Gondola, Big Red Express, Emerald Express and Franz's chairs turning.
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86cm reported last 24 hours. Not too shabby. Should be a crazy opening day.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Epic Local pass about to be bought, bring it on!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Whistler got blasted with 200cm of fresho in the past 7 days.
Opened a week early.
One of their best starts for years.
Good news for the resort, as the glacier has been melting away and killing their Summer ski season.
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Over 200mm of rain forecast for Wednesday 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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im having a hard time figuring out how bad the rain was......any help?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I heard they lost about 1m of base! Following the rain conditions were terrible (as would be expected). Not all doom and gloom though - base is still over a metre deep and lots of snow forecast this week which should reset things. Looking like by the start of December conditions will be ahead of schedule.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Was out yesterday - and yes definitely a lot of snow disappeared - that said, could still ski quite a lot of places that are normally only good to go later in the year.
Started out pretty decent wit ha bit of pow to be had, but got pretty warm and turned a bit nasty.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've been riding across the valley with the Cat ski operator, with whom I have a commercial relationship. They get more snow over there (it's hit before the resort is by the prevailing systems). The base is probably less than last year, although that was epic from what I recall (unless they now trademarked that word). But plenty of snow none the less, 3m or so to judge from the tree wells. There are a couple of rain affected layers in it some way down, I can't remember precisely where. The good news is that you can't feel them and the slide risk from them appears entirely manageable - not a lot of slide activity anywhere, we rode some big chutes and nothing moved. There's considerable wind affect, so you need to pick your lines with that in mind. Today (Friday) was better snow than yesterday - I think the colder temperatures dried the snow out somewhat. Both were good snow, but today's was lighter.
You can look up the forecast, but I think it'll be clear-ish until Sunday, which is good for me as I'm driving north out of here on Saturday.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Looks awesome, out in 3 weeks and hoping to get a day cat skiing done. Looks like more snow on the way at end of next week, and maybe a bit tomorrow?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| endoman wrote: |
| Looks awesome, out in 3 weeks and hoping to get a day cat skiing done. Looks like more snow on the way at end of next week, and maybe a bit tomorrow? |
Yes. And 5 day forecast is looking promising. That pesky blocking HP that seems to be sticking around like a drunken relative at the holidays may finally get kicked out! Could see some storminess later in the week around Wed/Thursday.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Rather chilly this weekend! Brrr!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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There's significantly less than last year, but still plenty. Off piste wise, there's wind affected and there's good stuff.
I'm now in the interior, but as stated there's more scheduled to fall, which will be a good thing. There's plenty of base, it's a question of the quality of what you're riding on. Today it alternated between excellent (light, dry and soft powder) through wind affected (crusty). More snow will cover the wind-affected and it'll all be good...
Oh yeah, down below minus 20 in the interior today.
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It's March, but so far definitely not "spring skiing".
Arrived Thursday night, and on Friday morning I was contemplating the mantra "I hate Whistler: it's too crowded and it always rains" 
For why? - Bluebird day, practically private trails, skied onto every lift. Snow in great condition from top to bottom, although nothing new until the forecasted 10-15cm arrives (fingers crossed) in a few days time.
A great couple of days of fast piste skiing, though, with an excursion into the glacier for some soft (but a tad heavy) snow, and no sign of an untimely thaw in the pipeline, just yet.
The crowds tuned up in full leprechaun gear for Paddy's day, but should drop off again this afternoon.
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| Acacia wrote: |
It's March, but so far definitely not "spring skiing".
Arrived Thursday night, and on Friday morning I was contemplating the mantra "I hate Whistler: it's too crowded and it always rains" . |
Exactly - we were out a few weeks ago and still have not seen rain on the mountain in 15 visits. I know it happens but the way some people talk after one bad visit does surprise me. It was very busy when we were there though.... some idiot when they booked it checked Canadian holiday but missed the American one. Opps.
I do have a problem though. Previous visits have always had volunteer marshals out on the mountain slowing people down in the busy/slow/family places. There were none. I gather Vail have managed to annoy them so no more volunteers. Also another vein the lack of staff in some places was obvious too. It seems not many of the workers are happy with Vail either as they have just been panned in their internal employee survey just published in the PiqueNewsmagazine
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Jake43 wrote: |
| Acacia wrote: |
It's March, but so far definitely not "spring skiing".
Arrived Thursday night, and on Friday morning I was contemplating the mantra "I hate Whistler: it's too crowded and it always rains" . |
Exactly - we were out a few weeks ago and still have not seen rain on the mountain in 15 visits. I know it happens but the way some people talk after one bad visit does surprise me. It was very busy when we were there though.... some idiot when they booked it checked Canadian holiday but missed the American one. Opps.
I do have a problem though. Previous visits have always had volunteer marshals out on the mountain slowing people down in the busy/slow/family places. There were none. I gather Vail have managed to annoy them so no more volunteers. Also another vein the lack of staff in some places was obvious too. It seems not many of the workers are happy with Vail either as they have just been panned in their internal employee survey just published in the PiqueNewsmagazine |
the volunteer speed marshalls were in place for the last couple of weeks when we were there ?? but do agree staff not happy bunnies with the vail way of doing things !!
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There are other creeping signs of Vailification as well. Typically, widening of groomed trails at the expense of the ungroomed areas (e.g. on 7th Heaven).
Snow has finally returned with 6cm overnight and another 15-ish expected today and tonight......Lifts open in 15 minutes 
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