Whistler Real Estate Blog

Have you noticed that as soon as the ski season starts, everyone is discussing the weather? First, we'll discuss the rain.

On November 14th, Southern British Columbia suffered an enormous storm that closed almost all main highways. Actually, the only one that was open was Highway 99 between Vancouver and Whistler. Every other main thoroughfare experienced flash floods, were washed out, had landslides, and towns were swept away. BC went into a "State of Emergency" and a massive cleanup effort has been underway.

And tonight they are expecting another front to come through. At 2 pm today (Nov 27), the Ministry of Transportation closed Highway 99 from Pemberton through to Lillooet, Highway 1 and Highway 3 in some areas. Highway 99 from Vancouver to Whistler is open. The highway situation will be reassessed Sunday morning Nov 28. You can read the bulletin here

The latest updates are at DriveBC.ca

And now onto the Driving. Highway 99 is a Mountain Highway and snow tires are mandatory from October 1st until March 31. Police may be checking and they are looking for your tires to have a snowflake symbol or M&S (Mud and Snow). Other precautionary measures include having a full tank of gas (fill up in Squamish) and emergency supplies. DriveBC has a fantastic educational site called ShiftIntoWinter.ca which has information on emergency lists, winter tires, how to drive in the snow, online courses and more. Check it out!

And lastly onto Snow (or skiing).

Whistler Blackcomb has a 49" base and 11" has fallen in the last 24 hours. With all the rain expected, snow will be starting at Brandywine Falls on the Highway all the way into Whistler Village up into the Alpine. I have seen a ton of photos since Thursday - the opening day of skiing on November 25th and it looked fantastic. There was enough space for everyone. I didn't hear anyone complaining about vaccination policies. I just saw powder, smiles, and fun happening. My tip for snow forecasting is... come up to Whistler any time you can. Plan to ski every day but do yourself a favour and check the temperature AND THEN.... look at the LIVE mountain-cams just before you want to head out so you avoid the lineups (it's ok to have that second cup of coffee) and check out the mountain top to see if it's windy so you can grab that extra neck-warmer. If you are warm and comfortable, you will enjoy the whole day. The mountain-cam link is Mountain-Cam

As always, send me a text 604-902-2033 or email to chat or a real estate update.

Happy ho ho

Denise