It was a deluge of epic proportions, more than 2.5 metres of snow in less than a week, enough frozen precipitation to paralyze a major city. But for skiers who frequent Mount Washington Alpine Resort on central Vancouver Island, the Christmas blizzard of 2010 has created the skiing equivalent of a feeding frenzy.
As the weather cleared Tuesday, more than 6,000 people flocked to the popular ski hill west of Courtenay, B.C., filling the parking lots to capacity and forcing officials to turn away would-be skiers for the second straight day.
“We didn’t close the road but had staff at the bottom asking people to turn around because we reached maximum capacity,” Mount Washington spokesman Brent Curtain said. “We hate to force customers away, but when you combine Christmas crowds with record snowfall, it’s a combo deal that has given us some issues over the last couple of days.”
At 517 centimetres, the resort’s mid-mountain base is the deepest of any ski hill in the world, more than twice as much snow as major ski destinations such as Aspen in Colorado or Mammoth in California, Mr. Curtain said.
While hundreds of would-be skiers went home disappointed Tuesday, those who managed to make it up the mountain early enough arrived to find the finest snow conditions in recent memory.
“It’s the first bluebird day of the season after a major snowfall. It’s like the ideal of the ideal,” said 20-year-old Aaron Van Dyck, via cellphone from the Sunshine chairlift. “I grew up on this mountain and I’ve never seen it this busy. There was a long line of cars and it was slow going on the way up, but I had no idea they closed the road.”
By midday, about 90 per cent of the resort’s parking area had been cleared of snow and Mr. Curtain said things should be “almost back to normal” on Wednesday. “We’ve been literally trucking snow off the mountain now for about four days,” he said. “There’s about 10 per cent left to clear.”
The deluge has also presented challenges for cabin owners and condominium strata councils that, due to the mountain’s status as an unincorporated area, have to pay for their own snow removal or dig themselves out.
“We pay for that through a private snow-removal company,” said Island resident Ken Green, who owns a condo in a building called Ptarmigan Ridge. “They’re doing the best that they can, but they’re just overwhelmed by the amount of snow.”
Quadra Island resident Gary Falk dug his car out of a four-foot snowdrift on the morning of Dec. 24, drove to Courtenay to pick up a friend and returned that evening. He awoke Christmas morning to find his car under another three feet of snow.
“I dug myself out again on the 25th and came home,” said Mr. Falk, who has owned a chalet at the mountain for 30 years. “My wife just got home last night and she had to dig herself out, too.”
While some residents and condo owners have been inconvenienced by the pace of the cleanup, Mr. Falk said there’s no point in complaining about excessive snowfall at a ski resort. “People who have lived in the area for a long time know that this can happen, so you always carry two things in your car – chains and a good snow shovel,” he said.
Mr. Curtain said the resort may have to turn people away Wednesday as well.
“If today and yesterday are any indicator, we could be heading in that direction again,” he said. “We’re just encouraging people to get on the road as early as possible.”
The long-term forecast for Mount Washington calls for mostly sunny, clear weather through Saturday.
Special to The Globe and Mail
