Ski season in southern British Columbia appears set to get off to a slow start, thanks to a shortage of snow.
On Monday, Big White acknowledged it would have to delay its planned Nov. 23 opening day, saying it would aim instead for Nov. 30.
“The snow always comes to the resorts of the Okanagan Valley, so we are pretty confident that skiers and boarders will be on the snow pretty soon,” resort senior vice-president Michael J. Ballingal told Global News.
“The good thing is it is cold. The streams have started to freeze,” he added.
Ballingal said Big White had seen about 35 centimetres of snow in the village area, with parts of the alpine measuring up to 45 centimetres.
He said that coverage wasn’t enough for people to ski safely, and added that for crowding reasons the resort typically aims to have at least two lifts serving six to seven runs available.
Meanwhile, Whistler-Blackcomb is also hoping to launch its season Nov. 23 despite relatively thin snow coverage.
“Our expert snowmaking and grooming teams are working hard to capitalize on available cold weather windows to turn on the snow guns and maximize our opening day terrain package,” a Vail Resorts spokesperson said in an email.
“As we kick off the season, and as we have done in seasons past, we’ll have early-season terrain available, and will continue to add additional runs/trails as we receive natural snowfall and make snow, as well.”
Adding to the uncertainty is a weather forecast complicated by an anticipated El Nino climate pattern.
Environment Canada meteorologist Armel Castellan said that pattern is expected to manifest some time in mid-December.
“I think we’ll have to see as we go which parts of the season are warmer and where we see those higher freezing levels,” he said.
“So those mid-elevations in the mountainous terrain of B.C., which is where most of our snow falls, ends up being a little bit on the shy side even if it was a wetter winter — so more precipitation, you could see less of it actually fall as snow.”
The late start, however, isn’t getting ski and snowboard fans down.
At Value Sports in Vancouver, owner Mark Kobari was optimistic fresh tracks aren’t far off.
“I am sure it will pick up snow there soon enough. Last year we were lucky to have an early season,” he said.
“If it’s not good to go by the 24th, I am sure by early December there will be lots of snow. Rain is coming next week, so hopefully in the higher elevation it will be snow.”
No doubt like Kobari, thousands of others hoping to hit the slopes will bee keeping a close eye on the weather forecast.