After a promising start to the season, Quebec ski resorts are hoping to put a difficult holiday season behind them thanks to the cold weather forecast for the coming days.
Following a “very beautiful month of December” where the snow “was there”, the game was spoiled for many of them due to the persistent rain, shortly before Christmas, explains the director communications and marketing of the Association of Quebec Ski Resorts, Josée Cusson.
While 60 to 70% of the ski area is normally open at this time of year, the proportion was more like 30 to 40%, depending on the resort, between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
However, some slopes on Mont Saint-Bruno remained closed due to lack of snow.
However, if some ski resorts are well equipped to make artificial snow, such as in Bromont, in Montérégie, or in Mont-Tremblant, in the Laurentians, others do not have the necessary equipment to compensate for the lack of snow. natural.
“Indeed, thanks to the hard work of the operations team and an impressive fleet of snow cannons capable of operating in such conditions, the mountain currently offers 45 slopes with good sliding conditions on 4 slopes via the 14 lifts open,” confirmed the spokesperson for the Mont-Tremblant ski resort.
“It’s more the ski resorts that are less equipped in snowmaking that are affected, because we haven’t had any big snowfalls in any of the regions for the moment,” confirms Josée Cusson.
Gloomy atmosphere, cold weather ahead
What’s more, the gloomy atmosphere in the city has had an impact on traffic in the ski resorts, where a few slopes are open despite everything. “When we see grass in front of our house, we think that there is no skiing to do, so we fight a little against this perception,” explains Josée Cusson.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
The cold weather forecast for the coming days encourages the province’s ski resorts.
In the majority of stations in Quebec, conditions are considered “spring”, but the picture could soon change. In fact, the temperatures forecast for the first days of 2024 are expected to be colder, according to Environment Canada.
In Montreal, for example, the maximums for next week will oscillate between 2 and -5°C while the mercury will drop to -12°C. ” From [de samedi]snow production has returned to the majority of the slopes, which will make it possible to cover the slopes and increase the ski area day by day,” explains Josée Cusson.
In addition, ski resorts are increasingly investing in automated equipment, with buried pipe systems, which allows them to make snow as soon as conditions are suitable.