Ski season blues: Marble Mountain, White Hills forced to delay opening

It's been an up and down winter so far for parts of Newfoundland and Labrado, and the unpredictable and unseasonably mild weatherhas played havoc with two of the province's ski hills.

The White Hills Resortnear Clarenville will not be opening this weekend, manager Pierre Mirault told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning on Friday. But Mirault said sights are now set on the Feb. 13-14 weekend.

"We're fortunate that we're able to make snow, and that createsa denser quality of snow. Sothe piles that we have and the artificial snow that we've made is holding out, fortunately," he said.

"We're still in good shape. However, we just need some colder weather, lower humidity, in order to make more snow to allow us to open, hopefully, next weekend."

It has been an unusual and long-delayed start to the new season, Mirault said, adding that for many locals this is the first time they've experienced such a late opening for the hill.

But there is a silver lining.

"The beauty with Newfoundland is that we can extend our season. It isn't like it ends in March. We can go right into April if weather co-operates, and that's what we're banking on right now," said Mirault.

West coast, similar problems

On the other side of the island, Marble Mountain in Steady Brook is experiencing the same obstacles and will also stay closed for the weekend.

The ski resort had planned to open in January, but mild weather at the end of Decemberand the first week of the new year delayed the opening further.In the last five years, Marble Mountain has opened no later than Jan. 10.

Only 27.4 centimetres of snow fellin Corner Brook in January, setting a new record for the leastsnowfall in the month. The previous record was set in January 1953, according to Environment Canada.

"Mother Nature has not been kind to us so far. Fog, rain, mild temperatures, all of the above, eat at our snow pack," said Richard Wells, Marble Mountain's operations manager.

"We're fortunate to have a good blanket of manmade snowthat does act as a bit of a safety barrier for the slopes that we do have. We just need a little bit more support. Unfortunately, we weren't able to make our target date this Friday."

Wells said Marble Mountain is also eyeing next week as a possible start date to the season, noting temperatures are looking more favourable for the business.

He remains confident the slopes will be open, butanything can happen with the weather in Newfoundland, he said.

"We feel we're right where we need to be. [We] just need that little bit more support from Mother Nature, and just as long as we can turn our snow guns on for a consecutive two or three days [we] should be able to fill in the gaps, no problem," said Wells.

Right now, there is no date set for calling off the season if the milder and drierweather continues, Wells said. But, he added, conversations are ongoing with the board of directors for whatever scenarios present themselves down the line, snow or no snow.

In an interview with CBC in January, Wells said Marble Mountain had sold about 900 ski passes. As of Friday, the company had began refunding those customers on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Other businesses feeling the heat

Delayed starts forthe ski slopes means detrimental effectsfor other businesses that rely on the hills being open.

Chris Rumboldt,sales manager with Greenwood Inn and Suites, just down the highway from Marble Mountain inCorner Brook, told CBC News there have been a lot of inquiries for the hotel's ski packages this year, but, so far, no bookings.

"Everybody is kind of waiting to see if Marble is going to open this year. It's a big impact on our weekend crowd, for sure," Rumboldt said.

A lot of Greenwood Inn's customers come from the province's east coast, said Rumboldt, but this year, a lot of inquiries are coming from across Atlantic Canada.

But with Newfoundland and Labrador remaining outside the Atlantic bubble, everything is on hold for those customers as well, he said.

"Everyone was kind of hoping that the Atlantic bubble would open soon. We're still wishing," said Rumboldt.

"We're definitely down from last year. Skiing has a big impact on our weekend."

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