With over 10 metres of snowfall this season, Mount Washington Alpine Resort is currently covered by a solid upper-mountain base of over 4.5 metres.
“It’s quite the change from the last two seasons,” commented Don Sharpe, Director of Business Operations at the resort.
“The mountain received the usual big dumps of snow, which fell consistently from early December straight through to the end of March. We have made it to the spring season with a very healthy snow base.”
With double-digit temperatures and sun on the way, the resort has filled the last two weekends of the season with the biggest events of the year. On April 2, there is the VIB Bac’n Jam, as well as the Vancouver Island Loppet, and the BC Freestyle Championships. If you are a Season Pass holder, the annual BBQ takes place April 9 for Alpine Pass holders and April 10 for Nordic Pass holders.
“The last few weekends are packed with activities as we say thank you to our guests for a wonderful year,” continued Sharpe.
"Our newest event, the VIB Bac’n Jam, will have a full beer garden set up in front of the Alpine lodge featuring DJ Skian, and it will be in full view of the rail competition.
"For the last weekend of the season, on April 9 we have the Thrifty Foods Dummy Downhill, and on April 10, the Crush Slush Cup is back. For those looking to participate this year, there are only a couple of weeks left to build dummies and get your costumes together.”
Of the 800-plus people employed yearly at Mount Washington, 600 of those are seasonal staff, and they will be moving on to new employment for the summer.
“April 10 will be our last day of full operations as scheduled,” noted Peter Gibson, General Manager at Mount Washington. “It’s been an amazing season. We are grateful to Mother Nature for not only a full season, but a consistently snowy one.
"As spring temperatures hit the mountains and our staff move on to other work, we would like to thank them, and our guests, for a great winter of operations.
"That’s really the reason for these end-of-season celebrations. For any employers out there looking for summer hires, let us know and we’ll be happy to pass it along to our staff.”
The resort is open for full operations until April 3, re-opening for the final weekend April 9-10.