The powder poaching pirates were denied their booty!
Continuous overnight snows laid arond 50cm of new snow on top of what was already there, with another 15cm or so predicted to fall during the day until the system passes around noon. We headed out to make the lift opening at 08:30, slogging through the slush laden village mall to queue up in the crazy Whistler gondola line. All the lights on the status indicator were at standby or closed, and the gondola was not moving. Some time after lift opening time, the Blackcomb gondola started moving, but not loading. Over an hour after lift opening time, a liftie came out and said that there was a tree across the upper gondola line, and this in conjunction with bad weather, meant that Whistler would be only open from base to midstation, and it would be almost an hour until the gondola would actually open.
We made a bee line over to the Blackcomb gondola line, but that line extended halfway down into the village! If both mountains were going to only be open below the halfway point, at least Blackcomb had more options. After standing in the rain and cold for over two hours, we decided to just cut our losses and go back home. After getting out of the soaked gear, a Blendz Belgian dark chocolate cafe mocha helped warm chilled bones and offset the frustration a little.
Now as I post this, the weather system is actually dissipating and the lower mountain is coming into view as the cloud cover retreats. I really hope the mountians will be open tomorrow. It will probably be crowded though, with all the Americans making the drive North for the long weekend. Whee.
That sux!