Snowboarders and skiers who were expecting to ring in the New Year on the slopes at Marble Mountain should start looking for alternative plans.
Management at Marble Mountain ski resort in Steady Brook had penciled in Jan. 1 as the tentative start date for opening of the hill providing Mother Nature co-operated.
However, despite the west coast receiving a heavy blanket of snow over the past two days, Marble’s chief operating officer Tony Abbott doesn’t think weather conditions will enable his team to have the hill ready for New Year’s Day.
Abbott said there was a window of opportunity to break out the snowguns with cold temperatures and a heavy snowfall, but persistent high winds left the top of the hill windswept and the bottom of the hill bare while there were places in the middle of the hill with over two feet of snow accumulation.
“I’d like to be able to say we’re going to be open Jan. 1 but I can’t say it,” Abbott said Thursday afternoon after taking a look at the hill.
According to Abbott, there just isn’t enough time to prepare the hill for Jan. 1 with no snowguns going and the weather forecast showing milder temperatures over the next few days.
Abbott is just remaining patient knowing opening day is close. He said snowmaking conditions are ideal when the thermometer reads in the -6-12 range with low humidity so he can only wait for things to improve.
Of course, a heavy batch of snow would also push opening day closer and he’s seen some crazy things happen since he’s been in the business so he would be the first to welcome a change that brings an abundance of the white stuff with the right temperatures to boot.
