The snow has fallen and the season has begun at Whitewater.
The ski resort opens today with a slight increase of the white stuff from this time last year. A settled snowpack of 159 centimetres and 364 cm of total snow was recorded Tuesday. That's up from the settled snowpack of 153 cm and 306 cm total snow when Whitewater opened in 2015. Plenty of powder then for anyone ready to shred.
"The stoke is so high right now," said Whitewater marketing manager Rebeckah Hornung, who did not have a metric measurement for how high the stoke actually is.
"It's crazy. If you've been following any of our social feeds, we don't even need to try to contribute because people are very excited for the winter. It has something to do with the current snow conditions and also the forecast is looking pretty good."
In the past, Whitewater has opened for a weekend before taking a week off for staff training. That's not the case this year — the mountain is now open daily until April.
The Silver King and Summit chair lifts will be operating, while the Glory lift will start up a little later in the season.
Several renovations were also made to Whitewater during the off-season. More retail space has been added in the lodge, Goldigger was bulldozed to help staff groom it easier and, crucially, five new stalls were added in the women's washroom.