The Wapiti Valley Ski Resort has been impacted by a lack of snowfall this winter. (Submitted photo/Eileen Shaw)

By Nolan Kowal

More snow please

‘It was quite different this year’: Lack of snow a challenge for local ski resort

Jan 4, 2024 | 6:00 AM

It’s been a different kind of winter for Wapiti Valley Ski Resort.

Staff at the downhill skiing destination, which is located just over an hour east of Prince Albert, have been managing the lack of snowfall during what has been an unseasonably warm winter.

“It has been quite a struggle,” said Eileen Shaw, the general manager at Wapiti. “We were fortunate enough to get enough snow to open two runs from the top. We opened on the 23rd of December. We always aim for the first weekend of December. The two previous years it’s been the middle of the month.”

“It was quite different this year,” she continued. A week or two later (this year) but with only a fraction of our runs open. That’s the big thing.”

The Wapiti Valley Ski Resort. (Submitted photo/Eileen Shaw)

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Shaw added that they still had a good amount of skiers come out once the runs opened. She said they’re hoping for more snow and that this weekend’s forecast looks favourable, with Environment Canada forecasting snow for the region on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday along with colder temperatures.

“We need more definitely, and it looks like it’s going to be cooling off now,” Shaw said. “We plan on starting to make more snow on Friday afternoon. We need minus 15-20 to make really good snow. We can make it at minus 10, which is a lot of what we have now. But if we can get to between minus 15-20 we just make more snow faster. With the way the weather is looking, we should be able to get a lot done in the next week.”

“We’ve relied on manmade snow for quite a few years,” Shaw continued. “We never get enough natural snow to run off of. The natural snow is kind of a topping on it. But for the base and for the amount of snow we need, it’s mostly manmade. But we need cold temperatures in order to make that.”

Shaw has been involved with the resort for almost 40 years and admits she can’t recall a winter quite like this one.

“This has been the first year it’s been this warm,” she said. “You hate to complain about nice weather, but it’s not good for the snow-making.”

Shaw said the skiing season usually lasts until the end of March.

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nolan.kowal@pattisonmedia.com