I’m typing this as the temperature here in Ottawa has just reached 25C (78F); the warmest day in town since last September. There is a little patch of snow left on my front lawn, but it might not survive the day, especially after another downpour forecast overnight. The last week had an incredible stretch of Spring weather and skiing conditions have been in prime Spring mode. The deep snowpack is melting and the rivers are high. The fact that it rained yesterday didn’t help, although the heavy rain came in the evening, but all of the Ottawa local ski areas and some in part of Quebec were closed yesterday due to the risk of daytime rain. Most of the East is getting the heat for one day before the temperature drop below freezing with precipitations (rain or/and snow) for tomorrow Tuesday in higher elevations or latitude.
As mentioned last week, thanks to late storms, cold March and late Easter Holiday this year, it made some ski areas to target the third weekend of April to offer skiers one last Holiday skiing. As of Monday morning, 40 ski areas are still hoping to open for sometime during Easter weekend. For a comparison, only 26 and 3 ski areas remained at this time in the previous two Springs.
Here is a detailed count tracked down by Ski Mad World in the previous seasons:
2013: 26
2012: 3
2011: 16
2010: 5
2009: 9
2008: 15
2007: 23
So yeah, it has been a great season to get extra late turns. Although we have 39 ski areas which haven’t locked the door until next Fall, only 15 of them will spin midweek which are the bigger resorts in the East. Unfortunately after the Easter weekend, the total number of ski areas will be limited only a dozen the diehard ski areas servicing the diehard skiers.
There is great coverage in some places, even at hills that have closed…go out, ski and encourage the ski areas to spin for another week.
LIST OF 38 SKI AREAS TENTATIVELY OPEN THIS WEEKEND*
QUEBEC 20
West
Bromont – April 21
Camp Fortune – April 20 (Fri-Sun only)*
Kanasuta – April 19 (Fri-Sat only)*
Orford – April 27 (Fri-Sun only then tentative)
Owl’s Head – April 21 (Fri-Easter Monday only)
St-Sauveur – May 11
Sutton – April 21 or maybe May
Tremblant – April 21
Vallée Bleue _ April 19 (tentative Fri-Sat only)*
Val St-Côme – April 20 (tentative Fri-Sun only)(check on forecast for Sat-Sun)*
East
Chalco – TBD (Wed, weekend only)
Comi – April 21 or more (Wed-Easter Monday only)
Grand Fonds – April 19 (Saturday only)
Le Massif – April 20 (Fri-Sun only)
Massif du Sud – April 27 (Fri-Sun only then tentative)
Miller – April 20 (weekend only)
Ste.Anne – April 27 (next Fri-Mon only)
St-Mathieu – April 20 (weekend only)
Val d’Irène – April 20 (Fri-Sun only)
Le Valinouet – April 20 (Fri-Sun only)
ONTARIO : 2
Blue – April 21
Calabogie Peaks – April 20 (tentative weekend only)
NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR : 1
Smokey Mountain – April 20 (every day only)*
NEW YORK : 3
Bristol – April 19 (tentative Fri-Sat only)*
Gore – April 20 (Wed-Sun only)
Royal – April 20 (weekend only)*
Song – April 18 (tentative Fri only)*
Whiteface – April 20 or more
VERMONT : 5
Jay – May 11 or more (tentative)
Killington – May 3 minimum
Smugglers – April 20
Stowe – April 20
Sugarbush – TBD
NEW HAMPSHIRE : 4
Bretton Woods – April 21 (Fri-Mon only)
Cannon – April 20
Loon – April 20
Wildcat – April 27 (after Easter Monday, weekend only)*
MAINE : 3
Saddleback – April 20 (weekend only)
Sugarloaf – TBD
Sunday River – April 21
* Updated : April 17, 11:00pm
Ski Mad World’s weekly Eastern Closing 2014 post:
Spring skiing is just starting, but …
Where Are We At? – Eastern Closing Thread 2013-14 – Part 2
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