A record-breaking season has local ski hills excited for the holidays.
“It’s been a good start. It’s been our earliest opening ever,” said Robert Huter, general manager of Mount St. Louis Moonstone.
The resort welcomed skiers and snowboarders to the hills Nov. 15, the earliest since it opened in 1963.
It’s a business that is always at the mercy of Mother Nature, but she’s been kind the past few years, allowing the resort to open earlier than usual.
“Is this the new norm or is the bubble going to burst?” Huter wondered. “We know the weatherman lies, but the long-range forecast looks good for the holidays.”
There is a 70-centimetre base on the hills, he said, and “we pretty well have all of our terrain open.”
It’s a similar story at Horseshoe Resort.
“We broke our record again,” marketing director Laura Kiley said, noting the hills opened Nov. 13 — two days earlier than the previous record, set in 1994. “We get lucky with weather, but most of it is because of investments in snow making."
There is a 60-centimetre base of snow at Horseshoe.
“It’s been fantastic so far. We’ve had lots of awesome powder days and sunny skies,” Kiley said. "We’ve had a few really good dumpings of the natural stuff.”
The long-range forecast “is pretty favourable,” she added.
“We always hope for great weather over the holidays. Lots of families make it a tradition to come and stay on the resort over the holidays,” she said, noting the resort brings in buskers and other entertainment as well.
There’s some added incentive for people to visit Horseshoe Resort this weekend. Not only will it be offering snow tubing, it will be opening a new lift today with a ribbon cutting at noon. The first 50 people to ride the lift after the ribbon cutting will receive gifts, which will be handed out by Santa and the Grinch.
