Winter sports enthusiasts finally get chance to head to the hills

guest · 2016-01-02

Skiers and snowboarders across the capital region flocked to the hills in Gatineau this weekend to celebrate last week’s first snowstorm of the season with open arms.

“Honestly, I couldn’t ask for any better conditions considering the time of year,” said Jeremey Lumley of Kanata. “There’s enough runs open to make it exciting.”

“It’s gorgeous out,” added friend Michael Gertsenchtein. “The weather’s phenomenal, we found some good runs with some powder. It’s been a great day.”

Ski hills such as Camp Fortune claim to have received as much as 57 cm of snow in the last week, bringing a collective sigh of relief from skiers.

And the indications are that conditions are going to remain optimal for the next week or so. Environment Canada is predicting mostly sunny weather and highs in the -3 C range, which should be good for both the snow on the ground and for artificial snow.

“It was nice, we weren’t expecting it,” said said Mont Cascades ski instructor Gilles Piché.

“To be honest, I was getting quite desperate mid-December. We’re usually on skis near the end of November. I didn’t get on skis until the 23rd and we only had a single run down here and it was 20 metres wide.”

Some believed that there was more potential for the hills, but that conditions were improving.

“We came just after the big snowfall thinking there would be more hills open. I guess they hadn’t groomed them or there wasn’t enough packed snow yet,” said skier Sam Pleau.

Ski hill operators across the region have been feeling the building enthusiasm but some, such as Mont Ste-Marie Bob Sudermann, claim there still hasn’t been quite enough snow to open all runs.

But they’re confident that last week’s near-blizzard has left a good base to work from. And next week’s weather forecast of mostly sunny days should also help business.

“It’s been dramatic and definitely a step in the right direction (since the storm),” said Sudermann.

“Of course people have been waiting for this so people responded fast and furiously. We had a lot of people come out and it’s been great ever since.”