Poor Conditions Force Students Off The Slopes
Photo Credit: Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via CBC
Hamber students’ skiing conditions and experiences have been affected by an unusually warm winter with little snowfall, leading to suboptimal snow and poor terrain.
Multiple students have seen unusual conditions on the mountains which have adversely affected their skiing experiences. “Skiing conditions weren’t that great because I noticed that it was a warmer winter. That made it so there was less snow, and it was really icy,” said Lucy Roberts (10).
Ski mountains require a minimum amount of base snowpack to operate, with ideal conditions exceeding their average snowpack. The Lower Fraser area, which includes Vancouver’s ski areas and Whistler, received only 47 per cent of the average snowpack, according to a Feb. 1 snow survey and water supply bulletin from BC’s Ministry of Water, Land, and Resource Stewardship.
“This year, this season, it's been pretty bad. There's not enough snow,” said Adelyn McAuley (9), about the skiing conditions in Whistler. Overall, BC averaged 39 per cent below its average snowpack. Lower mainland ski hills, in addition to Whistler, are equipped with snowmaking machines to contribute to the base, but the snow they produce are not buckets of powder.
For skiing, “powder is the best,” said Roberts. However, with climate change effects becoming more prominent, powdered snow may no longer be as attainable.
With temperatures on the mountains being mostly warm and having only occasionally cold days, it creates two consistencies of the snow itself; slush or ice. “If I’m paying 50 bucks to go ski in mud and lots of slush then I don’t think it’s worth it anymore to go,” said Jayden Chiu (11), continuing that and skiing on ice or slush is “just not as fun in general.”
Ashley Cheung (11) said that snowboarding on ice “hurts a little more and [that you have] to try to avoid it so it’s a little harder.” Cheung also explained that some areas of ski mountains “[were] a little muddy and patchy” due to low snowpack. Because of the low snow base, there are numerous hazards to encounter on the runs — large rocks and bushes may poke through the snow.
Students have refrained from heading up to ski as much as they usually do, losing out on a favourite winter activity. Chiu hasn’t gone skiing yet this season because “the skiing conditions are overall not very good. I had a pass to Whistler this year, but I haven’t had a chance to use it,” he said. Mr. G. Dunne (Physical Education) said that he is “waiting for that February, March dump that quite often we get” before using his two-day pass at Whistler.
Students who have made it up to the mountains have gone less often compared to their average year. “Last year I had skied 15 times by this time, this year only four due to bad conditions,” said Xavier Fell (10).
Students have varying opinions about which resort they think has the best conditions this season. Fell, who had previously been skiing at Cypress, Whistler and Hudson Bay Mountain near Smithers, said that “Whistler gets more snow than both the [other] mountains, and it’s generally colder up north,'' which is why he prefers Whistler’s slopes.
Photo Credit: Braden Depuis/Pique Newsmagazine
According to data from OnTheSnow, a source for snowcams for ski resorts worldwide, the current annual snowfall for Whistler in 2023–2024 is 157 inches with 49 snowfall days. Cypress had 108 inches of snow with 26 snowfall days. The different levels of snowfall at each of these resorts are connected to the regions these mountains reside in. Mountains further North are expected to get larger snowfalls since they have colder temperatures.
“People are just going to have to go more north [to ski] if it does [continue to] warm up,” said Timo Clement (12). While Whistler has the advantage of being further North, it's a big mountain, which is also an asset. Roberts noted that Whistler “has a lot more options. There’s more runs that are less skied out than the local mountains.”
Mr. Dunne also prefers Whistler. “Whistler-Blackcomb is a world famous resort. It’s always been written up in the big ski magazines as one of the top ten resorts in the world. So that’s where I go,” he said.
While Whistler was a popular choice, some students prefer other resorts. “My personal favourite is Silver Star because I’ve gone there twice a year as long as I can remember and it’s always been an amazing experience,” said Clement. Chiu likes Big White, also in the Interior, since it’s “a big mountain [with] usually no lines at all.”
Skiing has been a part of many students’ lives since they were young. Clement has been cross country and downhill skiing since he was five. “Cross country is the most important thing to me in my life right now,” he says. “You're just off exploring with some of your closest friends.”
Cheung said that she enjoys "being able to glide freely and go really fast.” McAuley also finds that she feels free while skiing. “Powder days are always fun because if you fall it feels like nothing.” she said.
With climate change in mind, many students feel unsure about what the future of skiing will look like. “I’m very worried. Skiing is one of my favourite sports… I hope it gets better,” said Roberts on the deteriorating weather conditions. Cheung said that she would feel disappointed if she couldn’t snowboard anymore due to the conditions and said that she “hopes the snow comes back.” She also said that she feels “we’ll have a lot less time being able to [ski or snowboard in the future] because [the ski season] is only a few months anyways. Even now in February there’s no snow, and in January, there’s basically nothing.”
However, with El Niño occurring this winter and climate change intensifying, the conditions may only get worse. CBC News explained that “El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.”
“The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean," said Petteri Taalas, former Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organization.
According to a Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment publication, El Niño is a natural climate pattern, but when combined with increased climate change it has had an unnatural, drastic impact on the weather.