Whistler/Vail North 2020/2021

[paulster2626]

Have we ruled out the wind yet?

[nickinbc]

Or a vandal with a pry bar?

[pureantigravity]

Rocks poaching first tracks already!

[knowsam]

Not that I want to take away from the vital task of PG's work to identify the squirrels with lasers that are clearly responsible for harnessing the wind to cause landslides near cable structures (a clear cumulation of their practice work at the Squamish Gondola and the Joffre slides...) but,
you used to be able to easily find ways to volunteer with W/B for various things - but now that I'm back and able to, that part of the website is gone. Anyone know how you can get involved with stuff on the hill - sort of feel like digging in with the community a bit now that I'm back in the S2S more permanently.

[shirk]

I always scratch my head on why someone would want to volunteer their time to a public company with a 9.5b market cap, but hey you do you.

[xyz]

I always scratch my head on why someone would want to volunteer their time to a public company with a 9.5b market cap, but hey you do you.

They get free pass but still not worth it given the 25 days you need to do.

Lots of retirees seem to do the volunteer thing on the hill. That blows my mind even more, work your whole life to retire, then work for free.

[The AD]

Lots of retirees seem to do the volunteer thing on the hill. That blows my mind even more, work your whole life to retire, then work for free.

Do they do anything other than the ski host gig? Certainly not a difficult job and if you run the mountain tours you probably get a decent amount in tips (assuming they're allowed to accept them).

[t.odd]

I'm not sure how many volly ops there are this year, heard from some insiders that speed police/mtn safety isn't happening this year...I vollied my first year in town in 2002, then it was only 15 days I think, 25 current policy, no way ever.

[Dee Hubbs]

$1300 pass in exchange for 25 days.
$52 per day for your time.
Even if your shift is only 6.5 thats $8.00 per hour.

[xyz]

Anyone get a peak at the peaks today? Is there a snow line?

[eldereldo]

Not that I want to take away from the vital task of PG's work to identify the squirrels with lasers that are clearly responsible for harnessing the wind to cause landslides near cable structures (a clear cumulation of their practice work at the Squamish Gondola and the Joffre slides...) but,
you used to be able to easily find ways to volunteer with W/B for various things - but now that I'm back and able to, that part of the website is gone. Anyone know how you can get involved with stuff on the hill - sort of feel like digging in with the community a bit now that I'm back in the S2S more permanently.

My wife has done the ski host thing for a few years, at the moment there are no activities on the hill that require volunteers that are going to be run. Apparently one of the reasons is that volunteers have to be covered by Work Safe BC, Which makes the hill liable for any injuries a volunteer may incur. They don’t want the added risk of possible Covid transmissions between volunteers and the paid staff who supervise them.

In fact pretty much everything except lessons has been cancelled. No race programs, no training, probably no Peak to Valley.

May change in the future, but as far as we know that’s the current situation.

And the reason to volunteer isn’t usually just the free pass, my wife does it because she enjoys meeting all the different people, and since she is on the hill almost every day anyway, one day a week during the season doing ski host just means she is skiing with someone different every now and then.

[knowsam]

My wife has done the ski host thing for a few years, at the moment there are no activities on the hill that require volunteers that are going to be run. Apparently one of the reasons is that volunteers have to be covered by Work Safe BC, Which makes the hill liable for any injuries a volunteer may incur. They don’t want the added risk of possible Covid transmissions between volunteers and the paid staff who supervise them.

In fact pretty much everything except lessons has been cancelled. No race programs, no training, probably no Peak to Valley.

May change in the future, but as far as we know that’s the current situation.

And the reason to volunteer isn’t usually just the free pass, my wife does it because she enjoys meeting all the different people, and since she is on the hill almost every day anyway, one day a week during the season doing ski host just means she is skiing with someone different every now and then.

That's it for me exactly - I work from remotely from home (Covid or not), want a chance to get out and be part of the community. I'd be just as happy assisting with adaptive ski program or the ski school and my work doesn't allow a second income without a lot of paperwork. I do get why some people think its a bit of rip off - it just happens for me that one of my absolute favourite days out is showing someone around the hill.

[Snow Dog]

Not that I want to take away from the vital task of PG's work to identify the squirrels with lasers that are clearly responsible for harnessing the wind to cause landslides near cable structures (a clear cumulation of their practice work at the Squamish Gondola and the Joffre slides...) but,
you used to be able to easily find ways to volunteer with W/B for various things - but now that I'm back and able to, that part of the website is gone. Anyone know how you can get involved with stuff on the hill - sort of feel like digging in with the community a bit now that I'm back in the S2S more permanently.

I've been a volly in the Events department for 12 years. Lots of fun. It's never been 25 days. The last few years were 19 days of service for a full W-B pass. Volunteer programs included patrol, mountain safety, mountain host, cafeteria host and, of course, events (all the recreational racing and a few junior national comps). There are non W-B volly positions like Whistler Adaptive Sports Program that deals with people with disabilities but isn't part of W-B corporate.

This year the volunteer program is in limbo. We (vollys) received emails (in September) from our respective department heads that no decision had been made and we should buy passes if we wanted to ski for sure (I did). In reality I didn't hear from my supervisor until the middle of November anyway. Normally there was a job fair in the fall and volunteer positions were part of the hiring.

In Events this summer all the comps didn't happen and this winter will be more of the same. In past years there were a dozen staff and 50-60 vollys. There were three to five events a week.

[pureantigravity]

I'd be curious to find out what role avalanche mitigation has in advancing rock erosion.
Are bombs dropped in that area?
Or was it leaching and organic weathering caused by all the pee that those rocks endure on gaper day?

Urine is eroding the world's tallest church tower

I'd assume that the geo-specialists did a thorough survey of the platform area and concluded it was safe for many years.
How about rockfall at the top of Showcase t-bar. Hanging rock - is it still hanging?
That ice-cave on Blackcomb looks shakey too. Onecutmedia's summer video makes the whole thing look a little precarious.

Sorry to hear about the vollies program. There is quite a group of retirees that help out with mountain safety, and
it makes the mountain safer. While you won't get covid, you just might get bowled over this year by a speed demon in the "SLOW" skiing zones.
They really should increase the perks, a free pass isn't exactly worth the time commitment and schedule involved.

[xyz]

a free pass isn't exactly worth the time commitment and schedule involved.

Last years early season drought had me thinking that’d be the best way to do the volley for pass thing. Knock out all your days during the white ribbon of death then ski free for rest of season on real snow. But thats obviously impossible to predict and can also be the best time of year to ski.

[BaileyStrahan]

the topic is really important in the modern world

[pureantigravity]

Last years early season drought had me thinking that’d be the best way to do the volley for pass thing. Knock out all your days during the white ribbon of death then ski free for rest of season on real snow. But thats obviously impossible to predict and can also be the best time of year to ski.

They make you do 1 shift each week and/or swap shifts, no? I didn't know you could do that for 1.5 months end of season.
Also, as a vollie, you cannot ski the alpine when you are not working on your shift-day. Just the BLUE runs (I think).

[Snow Dog]

Also, as a vollie, you cannot ski the alpine when you are not working on your shift-day. Just the BLUE runs (I think).

You have it completely backwards -- when you're in uniform you have restrictions about where you can go. Usually green & blue terrain but it depends on your department and assignment for the day.

[eldereldo]

Citing COVID related worksafe concerns is garbage. Worksafe's track record with infectious disease would largely preclude most claims... not to mention, the actual risk of compensable claims, such as slip and falls/ ski related injuries would be significantly higher.

They are either either ignorant to the actual risks / compensation structures / current framework, or they are just making that shit up.

My guess is that it is actually that they have to allocate staff to supervising the volunteers and they expect they are going to be so short that they don’t want to tie anyone up with that. Also possible that they don’t believe they will get enough volunteers to reliably run the programs,so rather than start, then have to cancel they just don’t bother.

[pureantigravity]

You have it completely backwards -- when you're in uniform you have restrictions about where you can go. Usually green & blue terrain but it depends on your department and assignment for the day.

Of course I am talking about when it is your on-day, not off-day. So you are saying that a Mountain Safety Patrol can take off their uniform on their on-day and then ski the alpine? How does that work?

[Snow Dog]

Of course I am talking about when it is your on-day, not off-day. So you are saying that a Mountain Safety Patrol can take off their uniform on their on-day and then ski the alpine? How does that work?

When my shift is over I can change jackets and ski where ever I want. Most events are wrapped up before the lifts close. Sometimes hours before.

There's no "not working on day". Yes, you see Mountain Safety skiing with their friends but they're still on-shift and telling people to slow down.

[gramboh]

Waited 1 hour for the reservation system this afternoon with 105k people in front of me, log in was seamless (you end up on whistlerblackcomb.com so make sure you know your login/password there). All days are still showing as available as of now.

[pureantigravity]

When my shift is over I can change jackets and ski where ever I want. Most events are wrapped up before the lifts close. Sometimes hours before.

There's no "not working on day". Yes, you see Mountain Safety skiing with their friends but they're still on-shift and telling people to slow down.

But aren't you in the ski-out areas at the end of day? I thought that was primary responsibility of the safety team? If what you are saying is true then it sounds more flexible than what I had envisioned.

[pureantigravity]

Waited 1 hour for the reservation system this afternoon with 105k people in front of me, log in was seamless (you end up on whistlerblackcomb.com so make sure you know your login/password there). All days are still showing as available as of now.

Number of users in line ahead of you: 15846
Your estimated wait time is: 11 minutes
Serving: ~50k guests per hour

OMG. Early bird gets the worm!

[Snow Dog]

But aren't you in the ski-out areas at the end of day? I thought that was primary responsibility of the safety team? If what you are saying is true then it sounds more flexible than what I had envisioned.

I'm in the Events Department (Operations) not Mountain Safety. Yes, Mountain Safety goes up the hill at 8am to set up banners and fencing. In the afternoon they hang out on the lower mountain ski out zones and eventually tear down the banners and fencing. During the day they hang out at various problem areas but there's lots of free time to ski or board.