A few thousand people got to ski and snowboard early as Mount Washington opened this weekend.
Earlier this week, the mountain announced they would open the season early on November 30 after getting a snowbase of 258 centimeters at mid-mountain because of early snowfall, making it their first early opening in over eight years.
Marketing manager Kayla Stockton says they are now two weeks ahead of schedule.
“With that snow on hill, it’s pretty hard to not want to open up,” said Stockton. “Our team is all avid skiers and snowboarders, we’re trying to get our guests out there as soon as possible, so we had to ensure we had enough staff to operate safely. Once we had that ensured, we pulled the trigger.”
Stockton says a few thousand people visited the mountain on Saturday, ranging from season-pass holders to people coming up to get a single-day ticket.
This weekend the Whiskey Jack and Hawk chairlifts are open and access is available to over 12 kilometers of skiing terrain from the Nordic Centre at Raven Lodge.
She also says snow conditions are great on the mountain currently, with a little bit of snow coming down Saturday afternoon.
“In the long-term forecast, we should have a great season compared to last year, we’re already sitting better in terms of our snowfall levels,” said Stockton.
Staff are planning to open more terrain around the mountain and Nordic Centre next weekend, with Mount Washington to open full-time daily on December 13.
The mountain is open until 3:30 p.m. today.
