Making Winter Happen
A snow filled winter, a winter vastly different than the last... Promising words, but the only winter swings we have experienced to date have been of the temperature changing from being cold to mild. Eager to get an early taste of winter, I headed to Camp Fortune to their annual member's party, which among other things, features a mini rail jam on snow (see full photo gallery here). This visit definitely raised my level of excitement for the season to come, however it still begs the question as to when.
Arapahoe Basin in Colorado opened October 21st, with Killington Vermont following on the 25th. Sunshine Village in Banff, Alberta became the first to open in Canada on November 3rd, yet the picture for the Eastern Canada is still unclear.
A return of colder weather has finally settled in in the nights, allowing Sommet Saint-Sauveur to begin cranking out some snow on the legendary 70 Ouest trail. With limited hours of appropriate weather each night, the progress is slow but progress is being made, as evidenced by pictures shared on their Facebook page.
Other mountains like Mont Tremblant and Mont-Sainte-Anne promise openings in a little over 2 weeks time, however the first day of skiing in Quebec should be sooner than that.
We previously visited Calabogie Peaks to learn about the art of snowmaking and the technology involved (see this Behind the Scenes feature here). While temperature, and humidity, among other meteorological conditions are required to produce snow, modern advances in the equipment used have allowed snowmaking to operate in more marginal conditions than were experienced in the past. These advances are essential with the global warming occurring, and will help ensure that ski resorts can continue to function in a time when snow fall frequency and quantity is slowly diminishing.
Keep your eyes on your favorite ski resort's Facebook pages, plenty of snow filled teaser images are on their way.
Winter is almost here, and we should witness the first lifts turning in the coming week.