Ski lifts started spinning at 9 a.m. today at Mount Washington after snowfall of more than 67 centimetres Wednesday.
More snow this weekend is expected to keep the resort open until spring.
“The thing that really pushes us over the top and made the decision to open easy is the fact that the forecast is calling for significant accumulations over the next few days,” said Mount Washington spokesman Brent Curtain.
“It looks like the snow is here to stay. We still have two to three months to go so basically we’ll be open right through April.”
Fifteen centimetres of snow on Sunday on top of a base of about the same amount was promising but it was Wednesday’s snowfall “that put us over the top,” Curtain said.
The ski resort is reporting a snow base of 120 centimetres and the weekend is calling for another 80 to 150 centimetres.
The entire front side of the mountain is open with the backside, for expert skiing, still closed until they get more snow, Curtain said.
The Mount Washington ski resort closed in late January due to lack of snow after just 14 days of operations.
It was a short-lived season. This second opening is being called version 2.0, Curtain joked. “It promises to be much better with more improvements.”
Environment Canada meteorologist David Jones said the Courtenay-area resort could see as much as a metre of snow during the next week.
“They’re going to get back in a hurry here, it looks like.”
The change in fortune at Mount Washington couldn’t come quickly enough for related businesses in Victoria.
“Bring on the snow,” said Drew Garbutt, who works in the ski department at Sports Traders. “We knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when.”
Staff laid off from the hill have started coming back with a large portion of Mount Washington’s 400 out-of-work staffers expected back on the job immediately, Curtain said.
“We’ve had our operations crews out on the hills getting the lifts and the slopes ready,” Curtain said. “And a lot of it’s turn-key because we already prepared for the season.”
“The idea is to get to regular winter operations as quickly as possible.”
Word of the opening spread quickly.
“Social media has been going crazy the last couple of days. Obviously, it’s not too late in the season. Skiers and boarders are still excited.”
Curtain said it is also nice to be back with the Winter Olympics in full swing. Televisions at Ted’s, the resort’s pub, have been tuned to the action in Sochi, he said.
“You can come and ski some powder and then go watch some great TV.”
Courtenay snowboarder Spencer O’Brien, who competed in the Olympic slopestyle event on the weekend, spent a lot of time at Mount Washington during her development.
Jones said Mount Washington and other B.C. ski hills are benefitting from a return to normal winter weather patterns.
“Basically, the pattern completely shifted,” he said. “The storms are coming across the Pacific one after another, and the storm track is just far enough south that the freezing level is great for the ski hills.”
Jones said the freezing level will stay low enough during the next week to keep the snow coming at ski spots.
“It looks like a great pattern for the resorts. Finally, it’s here. We’ve been waiting for a storm cycle like this forever, it seems.”
More information can be found at: www.mountwashington.ca
