It looks like things went smoothly as Whistler Blackcomb (WB) opened up the season today with snow lightly falling in the alpine.
“It is going great,” said WB COO Geoff Buchheister, as he kept an eye on operations at the base of the Village Gondola this morning (Nov. 26). “We’ve got people uploaded out of the valley and I know for a fact that conditions are good up there—I went out yesterday to take a look at it, and it was awesome.”
With its new ski reservation system in place, WB is not saying what on-mountain capacity is as they open for the season, but its website shows the weekend as sold out.
WB, said Buchheister, is firmly focused on opening responsibly and staying open the for the season.
“Our biggest message really is we are all in a pandemic still, and as we all know the second wave is upon us,” he said.
“We have worked really hard to put a lot of safety protocols in place, we have put a lot of thought into it and none of it works if people aren’t compliant.
“Be responsible. Let’s go out there and do this together and the better we do it the faster we will be back to normal.”
Mother Nature has been on the side of skiers and riders this year, with Opening Day conditions better than in past years: an 86-centimetre base and another five to 10 cms expected overnight.
“It is refreshing to not have to stress about the weather as much as we did last year especially on top of the pandemic stress we have,” said Buchheister.
“It is nice to have a good opening package and be ready to get people into the alpine and get into the fresh air and enjoy themselves a little bit.
“It’s been a long stretch for everybody.”
See whistlerblackcomb.com for current conditions.
