Saskatchewan ski hills desperate for warm days as cold forces closures

Saskatchewan is finally seeing some warmer days ahead after some record-breaking cold temperatures.

The cold hasn’t just been hard on people but businesses as well. Even those that might welcome cold weather like Optimist Hill.

“It’s definitely been a lot of rough days in the month of February,” Optimist Hill general manager Maxine Tebbe said.

Tebbe said over the last month, they have been forced to close or reduce the hours of the hill because of the extreme cold.

“We had to reschedule a lot of school groups from before the break just because it was so cold that week,” he said.

Tebbe said typically, this week is one of the busiest times of the winter as students are out of school.

It is something other ski hills in the province have seen as well.

Mission Ridge business manager Anders Svenson said they have had to close multiple times because of the cold.

“It’s unfortunate when it lines up on February break when all the kids are out of school and people plan their holidays, but reality is we can do very little about it,” Svenson said.

“Our schools all had to cancel Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and we’ve been closed then for most of the winter break,” Eileen Shaw, the Wapiti Valley Ski Resort general manager said.

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But there is optimism in the air as temperatures are expected to warm up to plus temperatures heading into the weekend and staying that way all next week.

“Hopefully the long-term forecast stays accurate and if it is, it should be a good end to the year,” Svenson said.