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 Night owl posting,Subie driving, backpacking Dad who is perpetually trying to catch up to his kids on the trail.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
3055 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2008 : 12:41 AM
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Thinking back to the days when "May Day Madness" marked the end of the season at Whistler, I decided to take the kids up for 2-day season wrap up. Times change and we were on Blackcomb rather than Whistler but the principle was the same.
I booked this 3-weeks ago when it seemed winter was here to stay. Instead, we were skiing in record breaking heat and sunshine. Saturday we managed some fun runs in the high alpine before the avy hazard shut things down (last run on Couloir Extreme at about 11am). 30spf sunscreen was the order of the day but still failed to re-apply sufficiently to avoid a bright face.
Sunday conditions were so extreme that Glacier chair never opened (we saw the remains of a substantial release in Heavenly Basin) and Jersey Cream was shut down mid-morning. Still we had loads of fun in the slush under Crystal Chair and Excelerator (had to make a run down there to pick up a long lost ski pole after one of mine broke).
Wildlife (aside from bikinis and the such) included 2 deer and one black bear.
A few photos below including shots of the work on the Peak to Peak station on Blackcomb:
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207 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2008 : 09:12 AM
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One of the saddest skiing developments of recent years is early season closing. It's all about money. Operators know full well that most late-season skiers are pass-holders so the cash registers aren't ringing. Plus, if they stay open they get to the point where they have to start paying more employees benefits etc. and that wouldn't do, would it? But it looks like so many classic westcoast snapshots are no more than memories:
Downloading on Olive Chair, burnt to a crisp, getting high on the second-hand stuff drifting up from Dusty's, where half the clientele were camped out on the roof.
Those hair-raising ski-outs, jumping gravel, tucking it down a two-foot wide tendril of snow to the mat at the bottom. Slushballs flying over the open-air bar. But you made it without using the chair, and you beat those milksops still inching along the download queue.
A week of ptexing and edge-sharpening afterwards.
Two people actually skiing, 3,064 spread out on the snow, wineskins and what-have-you going.
The Cypress $99 Beach Pass. Free burgers on top of Strachan, guitars, kazoos, some poor sod in nothing but shorts and boots taking a long rashy slide.
Babes, babes, nothing but babes.
May long weekend skiing was a fitting grande finale, and its disappearance from most of our hills is tragic. |
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Penhold, Alberta
Canada
2014 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2008 : 10:29 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by howes hound
Plus, if they stay open they get to the point where they have to start paying more employees benefits etc. and that wouldn't do, would it?
That would be a myth there HH. The more truthful reason for closing would be the lack of interest as summer activities become the general public's interest,and winter sports take the back burner. As well with the declining snow left available, trail grooming becomes more difficult as well as costly. What a snow cat operator could do to clean up a run say mid winter would now take twice as long.
Agreed, it does all come down to cash but not because the resort operators are conspiring to evade wages/benefits to their employees, more to the fact that fewer people buying lift tickets means less money made and more wages paid. |
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 | LeeL
Advanced Member
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Extreme ski tourin, mountain bikin addict who hikes at least once a year
2507 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2008 : 11:44 AM
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| not that its very good skiing with the weekend being so warm but it was still possible to skin right from the Cypress base last week. haven't been up to check what's happened over the weekend |
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Vancouver, B.C.
461 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2008 : 1:24 PM
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If the crowds were any indication on saturday on Blackcomb there is definitely an interest in late season skiing. I was quite surprised by the number of people up there.
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207 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2008 : 10:36 AM
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You could be right, darrenbell. I'm out of touch with BC labour laws. But two or three years back I recall discussing it with some of the Cypress lifties and the common view, perhaps myth as you say, was that the owners had it down to a t as to the lagal cutoff point between casual and fulltime labour. At X weeks or so many hours of continued employment, you had to pay your employees' benefits. This predicated a particular closing date in relation to your first day of operation. Maybe coincidence, but I recall Cypress that year closed on exactly that date.
quote:
not that its very good skiing with the weekend being so warm but it was still possible to skin right from the Cypress base last week. haven't been up to check what's happened over the weekend
Conditions were superb on Sunday. Getting a little suncupped in places and pine needles everwhere in the woods, but the snow isn't gummy yet. However, it's starting to go quickly on the south slopes. |
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
1461 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2008 : 12:04 PM
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| It's merely a transition from one DH to another. The bike park opened last weekend. |
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Night owl posting,Subie driving, backpacking Dad who is perpetually trying to catch up to his kids on the trail.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
3055 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2008 : 11:23 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by howes hound
You could be right, darrenbell. I'm out of touch with BC labour laws. But two or three years back I recall discussing it with some of the Cypress lifties and the common view, perhaps myth as you say, was that the owners had it down to a t as to the lagal cutoff point between casual and fulltime labour. At X weeks or so many hours of continued employment, you had to pay your employees' benefits. This predicated a particular closing date in relation to your first day of operation. Maybe coincidence, but I recall Cypress that year closed on exactly that date.
quote:
not that its very good skiing with the weekend being so warm but it was still possible to skin right from the Cypress base last week. haven't been up to check what's happened over the weekend
Conditions were superb on Sunday. Getting a little suncupped in places and pine needles everwhere in the woods, but the snow isn't gummy yet. However, it's starting to go quickly on the south slopes.
There is never a point under BC Employment Standards legislation where an employer is obliged to pay benefits (taking benefits to mean health & welfare and/or pension). There is a point (3 months of employment) where 1 week's notice of termination kicks in (but not for casual or seasonal employment). Benefit thresholds for different categories of employment are common under collective agreements but those vary from one workplace to another. If memory serves correctly, Cypress is unionized so that is probably what the liftees had in mind. |
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| LeeL
Advanced Member
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Extreme ski tourin, mountain bikin addict who hikes at least once a year
2507 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 09:32 AM
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Here's a closeup of the Heavenly Basin slide - that's just to skiers left of Glacier Chair - ran from just above the cat-track pretty far
Here's Flute - that went big and ran really far
and Disease ridge
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61 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 11:35 PM
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That Flute slide is huge! The crown has gotta be close to 2m.
Speaking of nostalgia, in May of '93 there was a very similar weather pattern and the slope under Chainsaw Ridge on Blackcomb released to the ground, and the debris made it to within about 20 feet of the Jersey Cream lift towers. The huge debris field contrasted with the wimpy "avalanche prone area" signs would have made a good photo.... |
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Night owl posting,Subie driving, backpacking Dad who is perpetually trying to catch up to his kids on the trail.
Vancouver, BC
Canada
3055 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 11:53 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by LeeL
Here's a closeup of the Heavenly Basin slide - that's just to skiers left of Glacier Chair - ran from just above the cat-track pretty far
Ouch! We were down there the day before and I didn't even consider it a slope to be concerned with. Dangers of "inbounds" assumptions. When we saw the remnants of the slide on Sunday we were quite satisfied that the shut down of lifts in the alpine wasn't an overreaction. |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13478 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2008 : 7:06 PM
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Chuck and Leel
Awesome outing, and scary looking photos of the snow collapse.
Many thanks for posting and sharing.
K |
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Popkum, BC
Canada
5887 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2008 : 7:41 PM
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Nice little end to the season Chuck and family, wasn't it a great run? I don't think I can remember so much snow at the end of May around here.
Take care,
Lynn |
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End of the DH Season - Whistler
