Adedokun Waliyu 
While Torontonians continue to clean up after the recent historic snowstorm, Ontario’s ski resorts are rejoicing.
Tara Lovell, from Ontario’s largest ski destination, Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood, said the resort only got 10 cm of snow on Sunday, Jan. 25 (compared to the 46 cm that fell at Pearson Airport), but has been enjoying a boffo year.
“Snow-wise, it’s one of the best seasons we’ve had — it’s been stellar,” Lovell said.
“When (snowfall) happens in the city, it’s actually a great reminder that, ‘Oh, yeah, and in our backyard, not that far off, are these great winter playgrounds that are right here and we can go check it out.’ From our end, it’s something we get excited about. Having such an early start to winter with snow, generally in Ontario, but for sure in our region, we’ve seen consistently busy weekends with skiing and snowboarding.”
Lovell said Blue Mountain, about two hours from Toronto, had 50 cm of snowfall in the days leading up to the late January storm and all 43 trails on 365 ski-ready acres were open with an average snow depth of 90 cm. Their total snowfall of the season so far has been 206 cm.
“We’ve had winters that haven’t had this much snow, right? So for a ski destination, to have natural snowfall plus the more important thing for us, as a ski area, is the cold temperatures. So we’ve had consistently cold temps pretty much from December, which means we have snow-making opportunities. We can compliment that with machine-made snow, which is denser, it lasts longer on the hill, and when they’re groomed together, with natural snow, it makes for a much better experience.”
Blue Mountain typically opens mid-December and hopes to stay in business until March break depending on the conditions.
“We typically get about 120 days in a season,” Lovell said.
Elsewhere at Horseshoe Valley Resort in Barrie, Ont., about 90 minutes from Toronto, it’s a similar upbeat vibe.
Horseshoe Valley Resort spokesperson Sarah Tyler said their 28 runs received 43 cm of snow the Jan. 24-25 weekend alone with an overall 95 cm depth on 61 acres of alpine terrain.
“It’s definitely exciting to see lot of snow coming — operationally it keeps our teams busy for sure with grooming and the lift maintenance and trail prep and our course just keeping the grounds safe and salted as people are arriving at the resort as well,” Tyler said. “But the incredible conditions are something people notice and really wait for.”
Tyler agreed it’s been one of the better ski seasons.
“Definitely, people are happy, it’s nice and bright, the depth of base is phenomenal. It’s pretty comfortable skiing conditions,” Tyler said.
“Generally if the weather cooperates it’s great. Overall the vibe, and the energy, around the hill is important to us and seeing people smiling and happy and having a good time means we’re doing our job right. Overall, for the season, it’s been really great. You don’t have to travel far to get great snow and open terrain and have a really great Canadian winter experience.”
Kevin Nicol, the president of the Ontario Snow Resorts Association (OSRA), representing 52 Alpine skiing centres and two Nordic skiing centres, said it seems to be a good season across the board.
“I think right across the province, it’s fairly consistent,” Nicol said. “This year it seems we’re doing well in the east. We’re celebrating the snow. As far as I know the ski areas have embraced it. Once you get out there and groom those trails down, it creates a much thicker snow pack that can last longer into the season so we’re pretty excited about it.”
Nicol said it was too early to say how much visits may be up but “Christmas came on really strong.”
Added a Destination Ontario spokesperson: “It’s shaping up to be an epic ski season in Ontario, with fresh snow creating great conditions across the province.”
