Skiers hoping to hit the slopes of Red Mountain in Rossland this week may have to be a bit patient.
Red Mountain is delaying its opening day planned for Thursday due to lack of snow.
“Unfortunately Mother Nature just isn’t quite making it happen for us yet,” the resort posted on its website on Tuesday. “Thursday Opening Day will be delayed as we wait to see what this next storm does coming in this week. A midweek status update will come when available.”
There’s no word on when the new opening day will be.
The weather in the weeks heading up to the big event hasn’t been co-operating much.
Red’s own snow trackers on its website show that about 25 centimetres of snow fell on the mountain in November. That’s compared to about 58 cm that fell in November 2018, and far less than the 123 cm that fell in November 2017.
Only a total of 68 cm has fallen on the mountain since Oct. 1.
Usually the resort sees about 7.6 metres of snowfall annually.
SEE: November in West Kootenay only saw a third of normal precipitation
Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson barely opened last weekend, with two lifts. The resort said it has a snowpack of 110 cm so far year. It was closing the hill during the work week, however.
The lack of snow will be frustrating for skiers hoping to try out the brand-new lift on Red. The Topping chair adds 300 additional acres and six new intermediate runs.
SEE: Red Resort announces new ski lift
But it’s early in the season, and there’s still hope for opening day.
The weather forecast for Rossland called for a 80 per cent chance of snow for Thursday, with about five to eight centimetres falling before then.
Red Mountain is one of the largest independent ski hills in North America, and was voted the New York Times‘ No. 8 “Best Place in the World to Visit.”
