A white Christmas is more of an exception than a rule on the Lower Mainland.
But the North Shore mountains have consistently enjoyed a considerable accumulation of snow in recent years.
This year is different, however.
There’s been little snow to cover the slopes, forcing some local mountains to only partially open.
Mount Seymour does not have any main ski or snowboard trails open so far, as it is slowly building the snow base.
Only the the Goldie Meadows Learning Area and the Bear Bowl are open.
The mountain is hoping to open up more terrain as soon as snowfall permits.
Simon Whitehead with the mountain says the last time they saw this little snow on the mountain was back in 1990, but it was followed by a very snowy January.
“So it is unusual, but not unprecedented,” says Whitehead.
Get breaking National news
He says they are hoping a few snowstorms will help them fully open.
“We are not in the business of being closed. We desperately want to open, and the second we can open more terrain, we will do.”
The situation is not much better on Cypress mountain, with only six out of 53 runs open.
But while natural snow is in short supply, the mountain has been experimenting with making fake snow.
Director of marketing for Cypress mountain Joffrey Koeman they have made 134 acre feet of artificial snow so far — equivalent to 134 football fields.
“A couple of weeks ago, we have made 75 per cent of what we had made all of last season. So it is a huge amount of snow making so far this year,” says Koeman.
Grouse Mountain has also been using artificial snow to fill up its slopes.
Jacqueline Blackwell with the mountain says they have the largest snow making fleet on the North Shore.
“We are able to keep open a lot of our runs that are good for beginners to advanced skiers and riders. So even though Mother Nature has not necessarily blessed us with a ton of snow in recent days, we are very much able to build and sustain our own base as well.”
Five out of 26 runs are currently open on Grouse, but Blackwell says they have been keeping pretty busy.
“It’s been smoking busy here, especially with the beginning of the Christmas holidays. It’s been a very busy parking lot for the last few days.”
Meanwhile, local forecast calls for some sunshine and warmer temperatures, with 40 percent chance of showers on Christmas Day.
Reblogged this on Imarashed.