Day 11 - EVAC!

Interesting day all around at Whistler Kids.  Seven kids were signed up for lessons.  Four showed up on time, one was a no-show, and two showed up at 9:30am.  Pippa and I were assigned to the levels for the two kids who showed up late.  It was pouring rain from Village level to the Peak Chair and winds were gusting over 100km.

Pippa and I got our kids ready for the CLC and we boarded the gondola around 9:45am.  We unloaded the gondola (at mid-station) at 10:15am!  High winds were causing constant stops and finally Lift Ops separated the two lines and eventually closed the top line.  Blackcomb also ended up closing due to high winds.  Because of the Pineapple Express, the warm weather also wreaked havoc on the snow.  The CLC was nothing but slush with big "snow puddles" everywhere.  My boots were soaked before lunch.

I had a Lil Ripper and he was keen to be outside and learn how to snowboard but conditions didn't allow for much teaching.  By noon, both mountains were closed and we were waiting to get permission to go outside.  There was lots of talk about how we were going to download since both lines of the gondola needed to be stopped due to the wind.  Cats were discussed but in the end we downloaded around 1:30pm.

Snowboarders aren't ones for hanging inside the CLC for too long, so after lunch, we were the only crew outside on the Magic Carpet, in the pouring time, snowboarding on the minis side.  We even built a jump!!!  The Carpet wasn't running and all the fencing was either blown down or taken down.  It was a rare sight …. and interesting day, that ended an hour early.  Forecast for tomorrow doesn't look like much will be improved.