By mid-morning Monday, the parking lot at Mount St. Louis Moonstone ski resort was full, making it look more like a holiday than the first day back to work or school following the traditional Christmas break.
Thousands of skiers and snowboarders descended on the Oro-Medonte resort, located 20 minutes north of Barrie on Highway 400, eager to hit the slopes and carve it up on a natural snow base that is quickly approaching one metre in depth.
Sheldon Tsui, a real-estate agent from Markham, ditched work to head north and take advantage of the first-rate winter conditions.
“Snowboarding is more important than work today,” he said, a huge smile coming to his face. ”It’s my first time here this season.
“We’ve got bluebird skies and I’m about to get my season’s pass,” Tsui added.
Tsui said he’s stoked for the season and confident the conditions will be much better this season. He said last season was a disaster.
“Blue Mountain was brown mountain,” he said. “I’ve been out a few times already and this year is already better than last.”
According to Nick Huter, whose family owns Mount St. Louis Moonstone, this year’s early accumulation of snow is one of the best in recent memory.
In fact, he said, it reminds him of the snowfalls of his youth.
“It’s exciting remembering how much snow you got when you were a kid,” he said in between taking care of guest requests. “We’ve got about the same amount now and it’s been great.
“The forecast is looking good, so we’re going to keep it going,” Huter added.
With 31 of 35 runs open and half of its lifts open, Mount St. Louis Moonstone will take advantage of chilly overnight temperatures — minus-11 to minus-17 Celsius — to keep making snow, something they can never have enough of.
“The recent streamers off Georgian Bay have dropped some good snow here, 15 to 20 centimetres, but we’re going to keep making snow because the conditions will be perfect,” Huter said. “Everyone’s pretty excited this year.”
The same vibe can be felt five minutes south at Horseshoe Valley Resort.
According to Amber Currie, the resort’s director of sales, Horseshoe has received about a metre of snow since Thursday, which is a rarity in recent years.
“It’s been a few years since we’ve had this amount of accumulation at once, but we’ll take it,” she said. “Our skiers on Friday and Saturday were skiing in 40 centimetres of fresh powder.
“They live for days like those,” Currie added.
Almost all of Horseshoe’s runs and lifts are open. Additionally, snow tubing, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are also available.
Like Mount St. Louis Moonstone, Horseshoe will have the snow-making guns out in full force every night while the temperatures stay cold.
“We’ve got the guns going today and over the next few weeks we’ll take whatever opportunity we can to build more,” Currie said. “We’ve got a couple of big events at the end of the season and we’ll make enough snow to ensure those.”
At Snow Valley ski resort, about five minutes northwest of Barrie, snow-making for the season is almost over.
According to John Ball, general manager at Snow Valley, the vast majority of the resort is snow-covered.
“We’re looking at putting the final touches on our snow making for the year,” Ball said Monday. “We have 90 per cent of our ski-able acres covered and open.
“We have just a few runs to go and they’re smaller ones," he added.
According to Snow Valley’s website, 14 of 21 runs are open. Snow tubing and snowshoeing are also available.
While it’s early, Ball thinks this season is shaping up to be a good one.
“We look at every year as different but the same,” he said. “We look at a 100-day season, going from the first week in December to the end of March.
“It’s early, but it looks like we’re going to get there."
