Today, skiers at Manning Park Resort had a glorious time carving up acres of fresh, deep powder.
On Monday, though, resort staff had their hands full, with snow blanketing the region, resulting in a highway closure and motorists seeking refuge at the ski hill east of Vancouver.
Complicating the incident were provincial health rules because of COVID-19 and a pre-Christmas rush of patrons.
“There were a number of factors at play,” Emma Schram, Manning Park Resort marketing manager, told Global News on Tuesday.
Not only did Manning Park have a sell-out day for lift tickets, but staff also had to help dig out several vehicles so they could leave the resort’s alpine area.
Further, Christmas is the resort’s busiest time of the year, and it was nearly sold out. And skiers coming down from the alpine area were the first to grab the few available rooms.
So when Highway 3 shut down between Hope and Princeton, the resort didn’t have any spare rooms for motorists seeking refuge for the night.
The resort is the only stop along that stretch of Highway 3.
But being sold out didn’t stop the resort from warmly welcoming motorists — snowstorms like this hit the park around once a year.
“In a normal time, we could have had people in big groups in certain areas, but, obviously because there’s a pandemic, we can’t have that at the moment,” said Schram.
“We did our best to assist all the travellers in any way we could. We let them into the lodge to warm up, we gave them food and water, blankets and fuel for vehicles if they required that.”
Schram also said there was a temporary power outage at the resort, with generators filling in until electricity was restored.
“We did as much as we could to assist the travellers that were here,” said Schram, “until the highway reopened.”
Highway 3 reopened on Tuesday morning, around 11:30 a.m.
In the aftermath of Monday’s snowstorm, the resort has 69 new cm of powder that skiers and snowboarders took to on Tuesday morning.
“A lot of our travelers who stayed overnight decided to ski today because of all the fresh powder,” said Schram. “They got a great day in.”
The resort said skiers who had lift tickets for today but couldn’t make it up because of the highway being closed for most of the morning will have them honoured.
A 19-year-old told Global News of his experience while trying to get home from Penticton when conditions became treacherous.
Cooper Loeppky said was able to get to Manning Park Resort, stating he passed several vehicles in the ditch along Highway 3.
He made it to the resort safely, but with both Highway 3 and the Coquihalla Highway shut down because of the snowstorm, he was stranded, along with many others.
He asked for a room at the resort, but was told due to COVID-19 and being sold out, they were unable to accommodate him.
“They didn’t have rooms available, which is understandable because it’s Christmas … but they wouldn’t they wouldn’t let me stay inside the lobby to stay warm because of COVID,” he told Global News.
Loeppky said he spent the night inside his vehicle, periodically turning it on and off to keep it warm. He also said many other vehicles were doing the same.
“Because I wasn’t in my own vehicle, a company vehicle, I was not as prepared as I normally am,” said Loeppky, adding he bought a snow shovel, a bag of chips and a granola bar prior to leaving.
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