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Lots of early snowfall means strong opening for Okanagan nordic skiing

Click to play video: 'Strong early snowfall good news for some Okanagan athletes'
Strong early snowfall good news for some Okanagan athletes
Strong early snowfall good news for some Okanagan athletes – Nov 17, 2017

Mother Nature has been kind to Okanagan skiers this year.

Unusually heavy early season snowfall delivered a strong opening day for Nordic skiing at Silver Star on Friday.

“This amount of snow is typical early to mid-December for us,” said Silver Star’s Nordic Manager Shane Landreville.

“Ditches are filled, corners are nice to ski [and] there are no twigs or branches out on the trail. This is an amazing amount of snow and an amazing opening day.”

Athletes are especially happy about what the snowy conditions mean for their training regimes.

Skier Maya Jonas came to the area to take advantage of the plentiful early season snow.

Her coach was worried they’d be forced to do dryland training but with all the white stuff that hasn’t been the case.

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The aspiring Paralympian from North Vancouver has been able to get in the altitude training she wanted ahead of her first World Cup event in a few weeks.

“It’s brilliant, just brilliant. We expected to be running up and down the centre of the village just on concrete or grass,” Jonas’ coach Jerry King said.

“It’s like mid-season conditions for us. Good for her preparation.”

As Nordic skiers enjoy the snow, downhill enthusiasts will have to wait until next week to hit the slopes in the Okanagan.

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