Open in full screen mode It's been a tough ski season across the country, from coast to coast. (Archive photo) The Canadian Press After a winter and unusual weather, many Canadian ski resorts want to hide the grassy areas of some of their slopes so that they can be covered by fans of this sport during spring break. Among these, Mont-Tremblant, in the Laurentians. Jean-François Gour, director of communications at Station Mont-Tremblant, mentions that the weather conditions have varied since the start of the season. The week that has just passed clearly illustrates the vagaries of the weather: the temperature reached 9°C on Wednesday before plummeting to -14°C the next day . We were treated to a real cocktail, he says. In Ontario and Quebec, some golf courses even opened while ski resorts ceased operations.
In Sherbrooke, a golf club opened its practice range on February 27, shattering the old record set for March 15.
Daniel Scott, a University of Waterloo professor who studies climate change and tourism, says the winter of 2024 has been the #x27;one of the most bizarre ski seasons in recent years in the entire country.
It is not often that resorts have difficulty offering good ski conditions during the March break week, he notes.
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Ski resorts, particularly in Quebec and Ontario, sometimes struggle to open during the winter season. Holidays, but they can make enough snow in January and February to stay active through March, Scott adds.
And if one region is going through a difficult season, the others usually do better, but that's not the case this year, he mentions.
He adds that it's been a weird winter, coast to coast across North America, the United States and Canada.
It was an anomaly the likes of which I don't remember seeing in the 20 years I've been studying ski seasons.
A quote from Daniel Scott, professor at the ;University of Waterloo
Mr. Scott cites the example of the ski mountain he frequents in Ontario which remained closed this week despite the drop in temperatures. Thunderstorms and high temperatures had reduced its ability to make enough snow.
A nearby golf course announced it would be open this weekend.
This was not never seen before, he notes. Maybe it's a publicity stunt, but just the fact that it's open and operating during the March break, that young people are playing golf in March rather than skiing, it's not a winter like we usually know.
However, some resorts were lucky, like Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia, which received 110 centimeters of snow. This fresh snow covered the dusty tracks located in the lower parts of the station.
Normally, snow cannons stop operating at the end of January in Whistler-Blackcomb. Due to rain at 2500 meters altitude last month, they are still operating at full capacity.
Mother Nature has been capricious this season. Even today, despite all the new snow, the number of open slopes is lower than usual, admits a spokesperson for the Whistler-Blackcomb resort, Dane Gergovich. Usually, all slopes are open at this time of year.
Another unusual fact is that the resort continues to make snow artificial. We continue to do this in order to be able to make up for the losses we suffered due to high temperatures and rains, underlines Mr. Gergovich.