Optimist Park in Saskatoon producing its own snow do to a lack of snow during the winter. (Will Mandzuk/650CKOM)

By CJME News; Shane Clausing

Lack of Snow

Sask. ski hills battle mother nature well into December

Dec 29, 2023 | 1:45 PM

The mild weather seen throughout Saskatchewan this winter have been a welcome change for some, but for members of the skiing community it’s been anything but.

Even nearing Dec. 31, some ski hills in Saskatchewan remain closed while others are struggling to get certain runs open.

Table Mountain in the Battlefords is one of the bigger ski hills in Saskatchewan and will not open over the holiday break.

Lewrence Blouin is the general manager of Table Mountain. He said the lack of cold weather is the reason why his hill remains closed, as they can’t make snow.

“We haven’t been able to make anything substantial since the start of December. We’ve been at a standstill since then,” he shared.

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“The temperatures for the amount of area we’re covering have just been way too mild to make any substantial progress there. We’re probably three-to-four good snow-making days away from being able to open.”

Blouin has been working at the ski hill for the last 40 years and suggests they’ve never had a season start this late.

“We’ve always been open for Christmas. The only time we weren’t open for Christmas is going back to the COVID years. This is the first year where mother nature hasn’t come across and we haven’t been able to make snow and open for Christmas,” he said.

Mission Ridge ski hill in Fort Qu’Appelle has been open since early December, but the warm weather has also given that business a tough time opening all its routes, according to manager Anders Svenson.

“It’s certainly been a grind,” Svenson said. “We were able to open our last lift yesterday. Our runs still aren’t all open with the warm weather, but the crew was out there Christmas Eve and Christmas Day allowing us to open “Buffalo Jump,” which is kind of the main run of the resort.

“It certainly made for a lot more skiable terrain.”

Svenson mentioned this is also a historic year for the hill because of the mild weather.

“The last time this happened, I’m told, was 1996. That was before my time,” he said. “It’s certainly an anomaly and hopefully everybody can appreciate it has been drastically different and we’re doing our best to provide what we can,” he explained.

According to Svenson, the hill has been a bit quieter than normal. He thinks that people might not be thinking skiing because there’s hardly any snow in the province.

Blouin mentioned they’re losing 10-15 per cent of their typical business revenue because Table Mountain has not been able to open at all, but he’s hopeful that could change by mid-January.