COLD ENOUGH FOR YA?
Busy opening day at Ski Ben Eoin.
As wild winds blew and temperatures hovered around an Arctic-like minus-20 C, layers upon layers were cited as the key to an enjoyable opening day at Ski Ben Eoin.
The popular ski facility finally began it’s new season on Wednesday, after two previous opening dates were scuttled, including an anticipated Boxing Day start, due to power outages and weather-related issues.
“There’s no stopping them — weather didn’t matter — they were coming and that’s it,” said Gary MacNeil, about his two children who were already on the hill by late Wednesday morning.
“Put lots of layers on and I said if you get cold, go in and warm up. Kids, they just want to be out there.”
Wednesday was the first day listed in an Environment Canada weather statement regarding wind chill factors that could bring the “feels like” temperatures down to the minus-25 C to minus-30 C range. Winds speeds were in excess of 50 km/h throughout the day — and, boy, you could feel them on the hill.
While MacNeil himself was delaying his first run of the season due to those frigid conditions, he understood why his children were not.
“I was skiing since I could pretty much walk,” he said. “Years ago you couldn’t stop me from getting to the hill either, so I can see why they want to be here and Santa Claus bought all new gear, so they have to try it out.”
Sure, it was cold and windy, but Logan Latullippe of Glace Bay said he’s had his snowboard out in worse conditions.
“It’s waiting the whole year to be able to snowboard again, so you just get anxious and want to snowboard right away,” he said about a love of snowboarding that made him ignore the weather.
“I don’t want to miss any opportunities.”
Aidan Burke has been snowboarding for just two years and said his newfound enjoyment of the activity will keep him outside and not at home no matter what the weather is like this winter.
“Hopefully, I’ll be here every time I can get a drive out from Glace Bay,” he said.
“My toes were a little bit cold but I’m pretty well insulated today.”
Ski Ben Eoin general manager Rob Carmichael estimated about 300 people were on the hill for opening day, which is on par with other opening days from the hill’s recent history.
He was among those hillside on opening day and reported great conditions.
“The snow is really good and we have lots of snow made,” he said.
“We waited until the right moment to push it out, so it is in great form for today. We are always in the market of creating the best product for the members. With that being said, that is what we are going to do.”
Just one run was open on Wednesday, but Carmichael said conditions for snowmaking are ideal over the next week, so Groovy Goose is expected to be ready for skiers by early next week.
“We will keep moving on across the mountain and hopefully we will get the whole mountain open. Usually that takes until the end of January or so.”