WATCH: Skiers and snowboarders share their opinions of Okanagan hill conditions
While it has long felt like spring in the valley, Okanagan ski resorts are still welcoming guests. Just being open puts them well ahead of other B.C. ski hills that have had to shut their doors because of weather conditions. Hemlock Resort cancelled their season in February blaming “warmer than average temperatures, heavy rain and negligible snow,” while Mount Washington on Vancouver Island put their operations on hold saying the snowpack had become “too lean”.
READ MORE: Will climate change bring an end to a regular ski season on B.C. coastal mountains?
“This isn’t our worst snow year in our history, but it is not our best snow year in our history either,” concedes Michael J. Ballingall, a spokesperson for Big White Ski Resort.
At Silver Star Mountain Resort they have been snow farming, moving snow to where it is needed.
“In terms of snowpack we actually had more snowpack last month then we did the same time last year. It’s just that we got it early and it stayed, and we just haven’t had those regular snowfalls that we normally would throughout the winter. So we’ve been managing to keep what we had early just by the sheer nature of where we are,” says Anne Haight with Silver Star Mountain Resort.
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Haight says visits by locals may be down, but destination visits are up.
“As a whole we are probably on par with last year. We are spoiled here in the Okanagan so our seasons pass holders probably haven’t skied as much as they traditionally would, but from a destination and day ticket perspective we are seeing good growth,” she says.
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