kevin wrote:

snow quality: so far all anyone has said is that it rains a lot at the
base, and that the snow is wetter than snow in the interior. my question,
for the tenth time, is the snow above the tree line so wet and heavy that
it is unenjoyable for a skier, or is it still nice snow just not AS nice
as certain other parts of the country?

Snow above treeline is usually powdery, just not as powdery as Utah.

weather: whistler doesn't appear to be the sunshine capital of the world,
but then again, snow doesn't fall from the sun and it doesn't seem to
get bone chillingly cold very often either. i know weather is an issue
for people going for a week or two but is it really an issue for someone
living there the entire winter? is this a non issue?

Big problem in Whistler is fog. It doesn't get bone-chillingly cold
like the East.

The downsides of Whistler are crowds, cost, and fog. It's not foggy
every day, however. And if you're there a whole season, you will be
there for the low-crowd times as well as the high-crowd times. That
leaves cost as the big issue, IMHO.

If you didn't like Silver Star, maybe you should stay away from other of
the smaller interior BC places mentioned, and just hit the big Kahuna
like you seem to want to. That way, you'll have done it and it will be
out of the way .

Dave