Snow!

39 inches in the past 7 days at Vail. 24 inches in the past 3 days at Jackson Hole. 7 to 10 FEET at Mammoth in California. It hurts. It really does. And up until a few seasons back, a powderhound like me, while trapped at the office, had only numbers to bring the pain.

I’d try to mimize the effect. Whatever. Whateverman – I’m sure it’s cloudy. The snow’s too heavy. It’s a weekday – no one’s there anyway… But now, thanks to “Snowcasts” around the continent, I see that it’s sunny. The snow is light and dry. And everyone is there but me.

This season, arguably one of the best this continent ever seen, the web is splattered with bigger, more colorful and more moving pieces of the action than it’s ever been. Mountains across the land like Okemo near Ludlow, Vermont, Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado, The Canyons in Park City, Utah and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia release sometimes weekly, sometimes daily, sometimes Realtime (see Mammoth’s astounding control-the-cam-yourself-make-you-want-to-purchase-airfare-to-Canada web cams) videos of what’s happening at the mountain. It’s better than imagination.

Amber Turnau, PR Coordinator for Whistler Blackcomb (which started its podcasts this season) told me over e-mail that the goal of the “Whistler/Blackcomb Snowcast” is to bring viewers “behind the scenes to find out what it takes to run the mountains, meet Whistler Blackcomb athletes, and find out about upcoming events.” W/B not only drops its videos on the homepage, but shoots them over to Yahoo Video

As for quality, content and consistency, Beaver Creek

My one criticism of the trend, though, is that some series tends to focus too much on restaurants and resort life. While it’s too early to pull official stats, I don’t think that’s gettin’ anyone out there. We eat every day. Massages are no rarity in our asphalt and concrete metropolises. It’s snow we want. Show us SNOW. It’s our weakness…and it’s cool if you exploit it.