Outdoor activities in northeastern Ontario curtailed by wonky winter weather
Kate Rutherford | CBC News | Posted: February 29, 2024 1:00 PM | Last Updated: February 29
A winter like no other in recent memory has some outdoor enthusiasts throwing in their toques
Northeastern Ontario is usually a winter wonderland with a range of outdoor activities, but lack of snow and fluctuating temperatures this year caused unpredictable conditions that have been affecting everyone from skaters to snowmobilers.
Pat Dubreuil is an avid sledder and owns a power sports resort in Dubreuilville that caters to snowmobilers in the winter and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders in the summer.
He says he's never in his life seen such a lack of snow, so little that the local clubs in the area didn't even get their groomers out to prepare the trails.
He says that's had an impact on his business but also a snowball effect on a network of businesses and services across the region.
Dubreuil says snowmobile manufacturers, garages, restaurants, hotels and gas stations are feeling the lack of traffic.
"It's having a very true impact on the industry as a whole," he said.
"I think snowmobilers in general are probably frustrated. People have invested in new equipment, they've paid their trail passes, you know, a whole bunch of things that are just out of their control right now because there's a lack of snow."
At Dubreuil's resort, the rooms are being rented by employees of nearby gold mines instead of the usual clients.
He says usually 85 per cent of his clients are American.
"You'd have like Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin," he said.
"These are the people that will usually cross at the international bridge [in Sault Ste Marie]. They'll either drop their snowmobiles, you know in Sault Ste Marie or in Searchmont and Wawa and then they make their way into the trail system into northern Ontario from the various staging areas, and then they'll complete a loop. This year that's not happening."
Dubreuil says there are 30,000 kilometres of available trails in Ontario in a typical season but the province hasn't seen any more than 10,000 open this year at its peak.
Ice conditions were also unpredictable.
Recreational skaters got short shrift, especially in Sudbury..
James St. John is the superintendent of horticulture but in the winter, he oversees the Ramsey Lake Skate path and the Queen's Athletic Skating Oval.
The path didn't open at all this year and the oval was open and closed due to fluctuating conditions.
St. John says with warm temperatures forecast for next week, he doesn't think skating is in the cards for March break.
He says there is always next year.
"I've been in my position for over 12 years and this is the first winter that we've actually struggled," he said.
"So it's hard to tell what the future is going to hold with global warming, but I'm optimistic that next year will probably be a normal winter again."
Warm weather also made ice fishing difficult this winter.
Amy Craft owns and operates Craft's Ice Cabins on Lake Nipissing, south of Callander.
This was her first year in business and she says it's been disappointing.
She says it started two weeks late and this week saw them removing their ice huts this week due to pressure cracks developing in the ice.
The deadline to remove huts in northern Ontario is usually the end of March.
Craft says they decided to wrap up even though they were booked solid through March break.
"With the warmer temperatures coming in, it's just the ice will be deteriorating shortly and it's just not safe," she said.
Turning to the slopes, some ski hills in the northeast say they had a typical winter.
Kevin Joblin is the recreational director with the city of Sudbury that supervises the Adanac Ski Hlil.
He says they're on track to have the typical number of visits this year – usually 13,000 to 15,000 by the end of March Break.
In Mattawa, Antoine Mountain had the snow but fewer people came out to enjoy it.
Sarina Goad is the social media and marketing director.
"When someone doesn't see snow in their backyard, they're not going to think to go skiing or snowboarding," she said.
"They're going to assume that we don't have snow. So we definitely haven't seen the same amount of visitors that we've seen in previous years, so that's been a bummer."
That said, Goad says winter is not over at Antoine Mountain and expects conditions to be good through March Break.
The weather forecast remains unpredictable with extreme cold Thursday giving way to temperatures well above freezing for the weekend and into next week.