For many ski resorts, the ski season has gotten off at slow start. But for Whitewater Ski Resort, as of Saturday, December 20, it is now open seven days a week for the season.
Sales and marketing director for Whitewater Rebeckah Hornung said, “We opened up right on schedule. With the fresh snow it’s filling in nicely and we’re catching up to our average snow pack.”
Silver King and Summit chairs are both open as of December 20 with plans to open the Glory Ridge Chair by mid-week.
Whitewater will be open on Christmas day and is the only day the resort will modify its hours, opening from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Whitewater opened for the weekend only on December 5. Due to a low snow pack, the seven day a week operations originally scheduled to begin on Monday, December 15 were delayed another week.
“We did have staff here to work last week and having to close mid-week, we did give extra people shifts off,” Hornung said. “To keep spirits high we had a staff party last Thursday and we did lots of snow dancing which I’m pretty sure is why it did snow. It’s pretty great how the community rallies together to get the winter stoke up and it’s working.”
“I feel like in the area there are definitely ski resorts struggling more than we are. The higher elevation really helps us out. What made us have to close mid-week was the lower elevation. Up high is looking really nice. We’re at a metre [and] 20 [centimetres] at our snow plot at the higher elevation, which you wouldn’t know standing around downtown.”
With a base snow pack of 120 centimetres, it’s still early season conditions and the terrain is limited on both Summit and Silver King lifts. Of course the Hummer Handle tow is open. Six kilometres of cross country ski trails are open with three km groomed and track set. The multi-use trails are open too.
The abnormally low snow conditions have effected many ski resorts across BC, including ski hills in the lower mainland and Okanagan, like Big White near Kelowna. Red Mountain near Rossland had two runs open as of Saturday, December 20.
