No snow and mild temperatures in Thunder Bay force outdoor sports to adapt
Taylor O'Brien | CBC News | Posted: December 29, 2023 3:01 PM | Last Updated: December 29
Warmer temperatures causing ski hills to rely more on manmade snow to stay open
As parts of the country continue to experience above normal temperatures resulting in a lack of snow, outdoor winter sports in Thunder Bay, Ont., are feeling the heat.
Many outdoor sports venues aren't operating the way they should be at this time of year, and athletes and business owners alike are finding ways to adapt.
At Loch Lomond Ski Area, the ski season has looked quite different so far this year. The ski runs on the south side of the ski area are open, but the remaining hills are brown and empty.
Jason Gerry, Loch Lomond's owner and general manager, said the warmer weather has caused a lot of snowmaking efforts to be delayed. Temperatures of -2 C or lower are needed to make snow.
Despite the warmer weather, Garry said the ski hills that are operating have held up well and the snow conditions are great for learning to ski.
"[We've] been able to work in some narrow windows of favourable weather and make snow and stockpiles to manage it through this last section of warm and rainy weather the last two weeks," he said.
However, Garry said there's been a "substantial decrease" in the number of skiers and riders this year because of the weather.
"It is somewhat discouraging for people to come up if you're riding a chairlift and you're being rained on while you're actually on the hill."
Garry said during ski seasons where they rely more on making snow, the busy Christmas break is a key time to recoup costs. Since fewer people came out over this year's holiday break, it "heavily impacts the financial viability of the ski area."
"It's something that, in the industry, you have to plan for," Gerry said. "So as long as you have a good plan and budget for seasons such as this, hopefully it's not too heavy of an impact."
Temperature records broken over holidays
According to Environment and Climate Change Canada meteorologist Gerald Cheng, Thunder Bay temperatures have been above normal lately. Over Christmas, the city broke a few records.
Christmas Eve reached temperatures of 8.3 C, beating the previous record of 7.8 C set back in 1928. The high on Christmas Day was 7.9 C which beat the old record of 5.6 C. Last year's Christmas season saw temperatures in the minus teens.
As well, Thunder Bay had 19 cm of snow on the ground last Christmas, whereas there was no snow this Christmas.
Cross-country skiers head to downhill areas for training
Kamview Nordic Centre, an organization with over 30 km of cross-country ski trails and 15 km of snowshoe trails, hasn't opened yet this season. But that hasn't stopped competitive cross-country skiers from training.
Stephen Hart, an assistant coach with Big Thunder ski club and Lakehead University, said they received permission from Thunder Bay's two downhill ski areas, Loch Lomond and Mount Baldy Ski Area, for the athletes to use their facilities for training when downhill skiing isn't open.
"It's definitely been a couple months of making lemonade," he said. "This is the latest we've ever not been on snow. The previous record was around December 10, but even that's rare."
Nevertheless, Hart said it's been good for the athletes to ski in different places.
"It's never bad if you have to adapt to different conditions. As an outdoor sport with varying conditions, we are pretty used to things always changing whenever we ski."
However, Hart said the lack of snow is hardest on skiers who compete at the provincial and national level.
"We are pretty much the only major ski venue in Canada without snow so far this year. So unfortunately, they've had to go to races with a bit of a disadvantage."
Mount Baldy sees early start to season despite lack of snow
On the other side of Thunder Bay at Mount Baldy Ski Area, co-owner Jason Kardas said the lack of snow isn't impacting his business. He said the ski hill opened a week after Halloween and has four hills and tubing open.
"It's kind of the opposite for us this year. We're [open] a lot earlier than normal," he said.
However, Kardas said the number of skiers and snowboarders who come to Mount Baldy has gone down a little bit and people must be reminded that the mountain is open.
Kardas said all the snow on the mountain is manmade, resulting in some runs being unable to open because they rely on fresh snow to be used. There are also visible green patches on the hills.
"You'd be going up the chairlift and you're looking out and you have green grass, and then all of a sudden you look to your left and there's a ton of snow around the other," Kardas said. "It's definitely a weird, weird sight."
Kardas said with temperatures expected to drop this week, the goal is to get everything prepared to open the main run at the hill.
"Obviously, yes, we would love snow. It's a lot of money to be running the snow guns every day. So having natural snow would be huge. But is it coming? No. So we have to basically make our own snow."
City working on opening outdoor rinks
Other outdoor facilities across the country have been affected by the milder weather. In Montreal, the Jarry Pond will be closed this winter season and the city of Longueuil, Que., will close 12 outdoor rinks due to warm weather making the ice unstable.
In Thunder Bay, all outdoor rinks besides the one at Prince Arthur's Landing remain closed due to the lack of freezing temperatures.
Cory Halvorsen, the City of Thunder Bay's manager of parks and open space planning, said it's "a unique situation we find ourselves in."
"It's the first time that we can recall being in a situation where we're headed into the Christmas break and haven't had the ability to get any of the outdoor rinks essentially up and running."
Although Halvorsen said the Prince Arthur's Landing rink has been open since approximately Dec. 1, it had to be closed for a few days when temperatures were almost above 10 C.
Once there are consistent temperatures below zero degrees, Halvorsen said the city's flooding operations will "be going full force" to build up enough ice at supervised outdoor rinks on the city's north and south sides.
Halvorsen said the duration of laying down the ice will depend on the outdoor rink's ice depth, temperatures, and how fast ice is forming.
"That is very unfortunate that the weather was not supportive of opening with our normal schedule that would support the holiday break. So we recognize that and we will be working to get as many ice sites online as soon as possible through the break."