With more than six inches of snow already covering the area, Mount Timothy Recreation Resort is hoping Mother Nature will be more generous this winter.
"I think Mother Nature was having a temper tantrum last year," said general manager Launna Groves. "I'm telling everyone this year I'm going to get twice as much because I am owed a season."
Last year the hill never opened because of the lack of snow and in the third week of January they made the "very" difficult call not to open.
"We had started pack-tracking and we thought we were going to hit it and then all of a sudden it started warming up," Groves recalled.
"It went up to plus eight, then it melted and it rained."
The ski resort only operates normally 65 to 68 days a year so when a month is missed it gets more difficult to open. Staff started looking for work at other places, which she said she totally understood.
"We had people suggesting we open at discounted rates and market it as marginal, but unfortunately when you open at discounted rates, your costs don't change."
When asked when she thinks the hill will open this season, she said she did not want to set an opening day yet.
"I want to make sure we have enough snow and will probably wait until the end of November for that."
They are hiring and getting staffing organized for the season and the ski patrol has already started training though, she added.
On Saturday, Nov. 2, around 200 people attended an open house.
"We wanted people to see what we have. Every summer we do more construction and this year we are going to have what we call our bottom pavilion open."
The pavilion is a large log structure, fully-enclosed with two large wood burning fireplaces and picnic tables.
"That is a designated area for anyone that wants to warm up between runs or anybody that wants to bring their own lunch and have lunch inside. That's designated for them now," she said. "They don't have to tailgate in the parking lot."
So far the pavilion has not been given a name, she added.
During the open house the six cabins were open for people to walk through. One of the cabins, called Paradise, is a double unit that people can rent as a whole or half because the cabin has sliding barn doors inside.
Another new pavilion on top of the hill is nearing completion and Groves hopes it will open, maybe by the new year.
"It will have food, beverages and washroom services. We are very excited about that. It's getting closer but there is still lots to do."
Funnily enough, snow - which they desperately want - is hindering the pavilion construction because it makes it difficult to drive up to the site.
While the ski hill itself has not been expanded, there is always a lot of brush cutting and summer maintenance that happens.
"We actually started working on our bike trails this summer and hopefully next summer we will have mountain biking," she said. "We are definitely trying to transition into a four-season resort. Our restaurant stayed open all year, although we do have a bit of downtime in the spring when we close for about a month."
Activities such as bouncy castles, Zorb balls, which are likened to large giant inflatable human hamster balls, a bungee run and lots of hiking took place in the summer.
"We really encourage people to come up all year round now," Groves said.
The resort was purchased in February 2018 by KevLar Development Group, owned by Larry Henderson of Lac La Hache and Kevin McCray of Prince George. Their first operating season was 2019/2020.
Groves moved to the area from Mission, B.C. in 1999.
She said the support from surrounding communities for the resort has been "absolutely amazing."
"Everyone wants to see the hill succeed."
