Southern Manitoba’s recent snowfall — with a further dumping on the way — might be annoying to many, but for the province’s ski hills, it’s a good sign.
The hills were recently given the green light to open by the province, and while some are choosing to stay closed, others are planning to open up with restrictions in place.
“We’re aiming for Dec. 26,” said Vivianne Julien, owner of Springhill Winter Park. “Mother Nature was kind to us, gave us some extra snow, and is planning to give us some more.”
Julien told 680 CJOB Springhill has had a tumultuous couple of years after dealing with waters from the nearby Red River Floodway creating ice-related challenges last season, and now trying to open in the middle of a pandemic.
“It has been a struggle. Last year was touch and go. We weren’t sure when the waters were gonna go down and of course, when they did subside, the ice had already frozen way up there, but we were able to get a CAT in, push all that ice away and we got everything going on time, so it was good,” she said.
“We were able to operate pretty much the entire season until March 15, when we had to shut down because of COVID.”
While the hill has a number of safety restrictions in place — like monitoring the number of passes sold to ensure social distancing, keeping its chalet closed aside from essential use and hiring extra staff to help ensure rules are followed — Julien said there’s also an onus on patrons to abide by the rules.
“We hope people will want to see that the hill stays open and to do that, people will need to follow the rules,” she said.
“We have worked very hard — all of the Manitoba hills have collaborated together — for months and months to make sure that we can make it a safe environment for the public.
“There will be people who feel that it’s not right (to open), but I would tell them to come and see what we’re offering and decide after that.”
Another popular local ski site, Stony Mountain Ski Area, pulled the plug on this season due to the pandemic.
“As a family run ski area and during this time of uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear the health of our staff, and guests cannot be guaranteed this winter,” the hill’s owners said in a social media post earlier this month.
“Therefore, after much thought and deliberation Stony Mountain Ski Area has made the difficult decision to cancel our 2020-2021 season.
“News of a vaccine was the best Christmas present we all could receive. Now we all need to stay safe and healthy until it is administered.”
Comments