After a winter and unusual weather, many Canadian ski resorts are looking to hide the grassy parts of some of their slopes so they can be used by fans of the sport during spring break.
Including Mont-Tremblant in the Laurentians. Jean-François Gour, communications director of the Mont-Tremblant station, mentions that weather conditions have varied since the beginning of the season. The past week makes the capricious weather clear: the temperature reached 9°C on Wednesday before plummeting to -14°C the day after.
We got a real cocktail, he says.
In Ontario and Quebec, some golf courses have even opened while ski resorts have ceased operations.
Open in full screen mode
In Sherbrooke, a golf club opened its practice range on February 27th, breaking the old record set on March 15th.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Marie-Hélène Rousseau
Daniel Scott, a professor at the University of Waterloo who studies climate change and tourism, says the winter of 2024 was one of the most bizarre ski seasons nationwide in recent years.
It's not often that ski resorts struggle to provide good skiing conditions during the March holiday week, he notes.
Ski resorts, particularly in Quebec and Ontario, sometimes struggle to open during the holiday season, but they can produce enough snow in January and February to remain operational throughout the month of March, adds Mr. Scott.
And when one region goes through a difficult season, the others usually do better, but that wasn't the case this year, he mentioned.
He adds that it's been a strange winter from coast to coast across North America, the United States and Canada.
It was an anomaly the likes of which I have not seen in the 20 years I have been studying ski seasons.
Mr. Scott gives the example of the ski mountain he visited in Ontario, which remained closed this week despite the drop in temperatures. Thunderstorms and high temperatures had affected the ability to produce sufficient snow.
A nearby golf course announced it would be open this weekend.
This has never been seen before, he notes. Maybe it's a publicity stunt, but just the fact that it's open and operating during March break, that young people are playing golf in March instead of skiing, doesn't make it a winter like we normally experience.
However, some ski resorts were lucky, like Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia, where 110 centimeters of snow fell. This fresh snow covered the dusty slopes in the lower part of the ski area.
Open in full screen mode
Normally, the snow cannons in Whistler-Blackcomb stop working at the end of January. Due to the rain at 2500 meters last month they are still at full capacity.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Francis Plourde
Mother Nature has been fickle this season. Even today, despite all the fresh snow, the number of slopes open is lower than usual, says a spokesman for the Whistler Blackcomb Resort, Dane Gergovich. Normally all hiking trails are open at this time of year.
Another unusual fact is that the resort continues to make artificial snow. We continue to do this in order to be able to compensate for the losses we have suffered due to high temperatures and rain, emphasizes Mr. Gergovich.