It was a while getting here but winter definitely arrived in the Boundary over the weekend. The big dump had Environment Canada issuing storm warnings and urging people to delay all non-essential travel.
The skiers were very happy to see the snow, though.
As was announced just before Christmas, Mt. Baldy is planning to reopen this season, after being closed last year and going through bankruptcy proceedings. At press time the date of opening was not yet posted on their website but rumours in the skiing community were suggesting it might be as early as this weekend. According to operators, the resort will be open Fridays through Sundays with the Sugarlump Quad Chair and the Magic Carpet.
Phoenix Mountain is very busy with the Phoenix Mountain Racers and All Mountain Ski Program beginning this Saturday, Jan. 10 for those ages 4-13.
Phoenix is planning two free night skiing events for January—on the 17th courtesy of the Grand Forks Gazette and Boundary Park Mall, and the 31st courtesy of the Roxul Employees Association.
They are also running a youth snow safety and avalanche awareness course on Friday, Jan. 23 for those aged 10-14.
Over at Big White they enjoyed their biggest snow day in the resort’s history with 56 cm falling in 36 hours.
There was so much snow at the beginning of the week that the school district, while running all but the late busses on Monday, issued an alert to parents in the afternoon to be prepared in case they cancelled school on Tuesday morning due to poor road conditions.
An email to parents from BCSS principal Bo Macfarlane said a school closure like this was something that no one at the school could ever recall happening before.
Larry Bowan, coordinator of the West Boundary Highway Rescue, told the Times that they were busier towards the beginning of the month of December than at the end of the month. “The roads have been kept up really well considering what we ran into in past years,” Bowen said.