Been skiing Whitewater all my life, and I don't ever want to ski anywhere else.
Conditions around winter vary every year, like it will anywhere. This past year it snowed all year, pretty non-stop. I skied 4 days a week all winter, and i counted - I skied 4 days that there wasn't soft snow. I think lift tickets are around 45 bucks a day or something, so its very manageable. Nelson's a sweet town too, sure you'll like it.
Check my vimeo page and take a look at my gopro edits (
http://vimeo.com/wahngraeme/videos) - they're (mostly) all filled in bounds in the trees. If you have any other questions - shoot.