Snowdays - Feb. 13, 14 & 18

Agata slashes the nose descending into Harmony Bowl.

In the words of a friend and fellow heli-crack addict, "The smell of Jet-A combined with the sound of rotor blades cutting through the cold winter air on a bluebird morning after a week of snow is better than just about anything I can think of." - TW

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East Peak/Cement Basin & Table Mountain (Jan. 30 & Feb. 7)

Good days at the local resorts have certainly been few and far in between this season. Normally a quick and reliable staple for the Seattle-based chair lift crowd, Alpental has arguably yielded but a single "powder day" back on January 26 - hardly a justification for a season's pass mind you. But it's still winter and there's pow to be had somewhere, so off to earn our turns we go. Back to the familiar environs of Crystal's East Peak with three excellent laps into Cement Basin where low expectations were met with face shots and smiles all around. We found somewhat heavier powder on the slopes around Table Mountain the following weekend but with increasing clouds and fog later in the afternoon, we felt better about having abandoned our more ambitious plans for the day...more on that some other time.

El Nino pow @ W/B - Jan. 16-17

Judging by the record crowds as of late and not to mention playing host to the 2010 Winter Olympics in a matter of days, one might laugh hysterically at the suggestion of that oh-so-popular ski resort north of Vancouver as having financial difficulties. Isn't it ironic then that Fortress Investment Group (owner of Intrawest) is looking to auction this particular asset to the highest bidder? This certainly explains the curtailing of staff and operations we've experienced the past couple of seasons. Apparently not even Whistler/Blackcomb is immune to the world of big finance.

But while cash is tight these days, winter has at least shown some occasional generosity. Yes, the media sure likes to sensationalize the absence of snow on the North Shore Mountains (specifically Cypress which will host the Olympic half pipe event for starters), but the mountains along the Sea-to-Sky highway have fared relatively well this season. Latitude and certainly altitude makes a big difference in an off-season such as this. And so with that in mind, we hedged our bets on a rare bluebird blower day and ended up nicely in the black.