THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603220080
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
SO SPRING has officially arrived. Somewhere, someone is polishing a 5-iron, pumping air into a deflated beach volleyball and wiping a dust rag over a mountain bike, ready to shake free from the weary winter.
And somewhere else, someone else is putting a fresh layer of wax on a pair of skis or snowboard, not yet willing to let go of the snow season.
For anyone planning a final slope assault, there are still plenty of places where snow awaits, although most are far, far west of the Mississippi.
Many western resorts have again been crushed with heavy snow this year, which will keep them open well through the spring and, in some places, into the summer.
Spring can mean big bargains at western resorts when the vacationing masses have forsaken ski wax for sun block. Lodging and lift tickets are generally cheaper, sometimes half price or better.
But spring skiing can also be a gamble. The cut rates are designed to lure skiers and boarders to a resort past its seasonal prime, and half-price lifts and lodging may be an overcharge if the conditions have waned. Resorts just a hundred miles apart may have very different conditions.
For that reason, spring travel plans are best kept loose. Call ahead for snow conditions and, equally important, a weather forecast. Powdery bliss can quickly give way to rain and muck.
Here are some good bets for skiing through May:
Mammoth Mountain in California still has a snow base between 132 and 192 inches. The Tahoe-area California resorts also have substantial snow that will likely hang around well into May.
Alta, Brighton, Snowbird and Solitude in Utah all have snow bases of more than 100 inches and the resorts are still fully open.
In Colorado, Aspen, Breckenridge, Steamboat and Vail all have springtime bases of 100 inches or more, which, to put it in perspective, is still more snow than any mid-Atlantic resort would have at the peak of the season.
Further north, in Canada, Whistler/Blackcomb has a snow base of more than 80 inches. And because the mountains rise past cloud level, there's often snow at the higher elevations when the base is muddy brown.
Whistler resort will be open until late April and Blackcomb will keep operating until May 20. Then both open again in June for glacier skiing.
In the spring, and especially the summer, it's possible to ski early in the day on the glaciers and then get in a round of golf later at one of the several courses at the mountains' bases.
Whistler and Blackcomb are perpetual favorites among ski magazine editors, and it's not hard to see why. The mountains are immense and the terrain is widely varied, from a seven-mile cruising trail to powdered bowls where entrance requires a 15-foot free-fall from an icy ledge. The sprawling villages at the mountains' bases offer everything from $4 cheeseburgers to $1,400 golf clubs.
That, of course, is in Canadian dollars, which bear some resemblance to American dollars, except Canadian dollars aren't worth as much as American dollars, but everything in Canada costs a little more, so it sort of evens out.
The exchange rate is 0.7 something, which means that for every American dollar you exchange you get - let's see, multiply by 0.7 something, carry the 1 - you get a Canadian dollar and some strange-looking change.
This brings us to a Canadian travel tip: The Canadian national anthem is NOT sung to the tune of ``O Christmas Tree.''
An allegedly well-meaning member of our group tried singing the anthem and somehow slipped into the melody of the Christmas carol. It didn't help that the only words he actually knew from the anthem, ``O Canada,'' were the first two.
Fortunately we weren't deported.
On the first day of spring, all 200 trails of the sprawling Whistler and Blackcomb resorts were open.
And if you can't make it out west, don't despair. You probably have a couple of weeks to make it to West Virginia, where Snowshoe/Silvercreek, Canaan Valley and Timberline are still hanging on to respectable snow bases. And, as a bonus, the forecast for the first week of spring called for snow. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
UTAH TRAVEL COUNCIL
Many Western ski resorts have springtime bases of 100 inches or
more.
by CNB