Waves of November storms have dumped more than 10 feet of snow on Whistler and Blackcomb mountains in British Columbia, shattering the previous record – nine feet in 1994 – for the most snowfall in November at the resort.
And the snow’s still falling.
Whistler Mountain opened Nov. 18. Blackcomb Mountain opened Thursday.
The Whistler Film Festival runs Nov. 30 to Dec. 3 but the best news is that there are no closures scheduled on the Sea to Sky Highway, the 75-mile stretch from Vancouver, B.C., to Whistler, from Dec. 1 to April 21.
Mount Hood, Ore., on the other hand, was not so lucky. A major storm washed out a road that leads to the 11,239-foot mountain’s largest ski area, Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort.
About 22 miles of Highway 35 is closed, cutting off Oregon’s second-busiest ski area and leaving only the hope of opening by Christmas.
Whale of a time. It’s a small, small world. Everett’s dead 54-foot-long fin whale was towed 50 miles to the San Juan Islands and anchored in Parks Bay, Shaw Island, until Monday, when researchers towed it to another site to study decomposition of the endangered species.
That would be my Parks Bay, the one we live on, giving me an opportunity to cross my fingers that the 30 to 50 mph winds didn’t break the whale loose from its moorings.
Given the direction of the wind, that would have placed tons of blubber on our rocky beach.
Snowmobiles and health. A two-thirds reduction in snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park has led to improvement in pollution and ill-health issues, according to two studies posted on the YNP Web site, the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees reports.
Most of the improved air quality can be attributed to fewer snowmobiles, according to one report. A second report cautions that the new four-stroke snowmobiles remain “much dirtier than light-duty cars and trucks,” and that peak concentrations of carbon monoxide in Yellowstone’s air are greater in winter with an average of 250 snowmobiles per day than they are during summer months even though “summer traffic is 60 times the amount of winter traffic.”
The National Park Service Air Resources Division conclude that the sharp reduction in numbers (250 average per day over three seasons instead of the earlier 700 per day) has helped clean up Yellowstone’s air far more than the new generation of technology.
Ice Age floods. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission will consider formal adoption of a plan to tell the story of the ice-age floods in state parks. The plan woulddevelop significant sites and programs for the public.
The commission meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Thursday at Rock Creek Recreation Center, 715 Rock Creek Drive, Stevenson.
The ice-age floods, considered one of the most dramatic and significant geologic events in the region, played a prominent role in shaping the state’s landscape and its economy.
If adopted, the interpretive master plan will guide the state parks department in protecting and conserving ice-age floods features in state parks.
On the bookshelf. Speaking of whales … Hadoram Shirihai and Brett Jarrett’s “Whales, Dolphins and Other Marine Mammals of the World” ($25) will introduce you to the fin whale and other marine life in a slick, heavily illustrated field guide.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.
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