June 3, 2003Ý – Whistler Mountain will be closing for the winter ski and snowboard season this Sunday, June 8th and Blackcomb Mountain will open the next day on Monday, June 9th for the summer skiing and riding season. Environment Canada is calling for warm sunny skies as Whistler enters the last weekend of Whistler Mountain's winter operation. Lifts will open on the remaining weekdays at 10:00 a.m. and at 9:00 a.m. on the weekend. Lifts will close each day at 4:00 pm. The Whistler Mountain Bike Park remains open throughout the summer.

The Horstman Glacier on Blackcomb Mountain will be opening for summer skiing and riding on Monday, June 9th with daily operations running 10:00 am-3:00 pm. Between June 9 and June 19, the glacier will be open to public starting at 10:00 am, rather than the usual 11:00 am. Bob Dufour, Whistler Blackcomb's Director of Operations explains that this earlier start time is to provide a longer day for the public before the high volumes of summer camp skiers and riders arrive in Whistler.

In conjunction with the earlier opening is a committment to provide a great terrain park experience on the glacier starting from the first day. “In years past, there has been a higher focus on the camp preparation rather than the public zone for our summer product,” explains Dufour. “We corrected that focus this year. The camp crews have done an exceptional job as always, but we believe our public zone to be a much better product compared to previous openings.”

“New this year to the public zone will be several rail pods,” describes Stu Osbourne, Whistler Blackcomb's Terrain Park Supervisor. The rail sections will be complemented by a public half pipe and two spine jumps between the bottom of the Showcase and Horstman T-bars.