Rocky season for ski hills set for strong finish

THUNDER BAY – It’s been a tough season for ski hill operators, but owners of Thunder Bay’s two ski hills say it’s ending on a high note.

With a lockdown that kept skiers off the slopes for several weeks and unusually low snowfall, Mount Baldy Ski Area co-owner Daniel Kardas wouldn’t exactly call it a banner year.

However, since reopening in February, things have looked up for the business and its clients. Hundreds of people took advantage of mild weather over the weekend to get in some spring rides.

“Right now we’re killing it out here with all the snow we have,” Kardas said Saturday. “Believe it or not, we pretty well have the most snow in Ontario.”

“Mother Nature hasn’t been that great to us, but we’ll take what we can get, and everything’s looking white so far. My goal is to get to the end of March, and if we can get into April, let’s do it.”

Over at Loch Lomond Ski Area, co-owner Jason Gerry was similarly hopeful the season would reach into next month. Despite warmer daytime temperatures, he said, overnight lows below zero have helped preserve a solid base.

“We had hoped we’d be operating into April – I still see that as quite feasible,” he said.

According to Gerry, it’s often not the weather that dictates their closing date. With residents eager to make up for lost time on the hills, he believes this year could be different.

“Generally it’s not that we lose snow and aren’t able to open, it’s that people decide it’s spring and start riding bikes, swinging golf clubs, playing tennis and all that other stuff,” he said.

“Maybe this year with the pause in the season, that means people will keep coming out... As long as people are coming out, we’re going to stay open.”

Kardas agreed, saying he’d seen a lot of fresh faces at the hill this year, with people itching to find activities outside the home.

“Even when we were shut down for two months, we had a lot of new customers coming out doing the hiking, the snowshoeing,” he said. “Now they’re out here getting lessons.”

Ski hills are allowed to open with restriction in all five levels of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework, but were barred from doing so during the province-wide lockdown in December and January.