After a season plagued by rain, floods and mild weather, Marble Mountain ski resort in western Newfoundland finally got the snowfall it needed — just in time for its biggest event, but one day after the hill officially closed for the season.
"That was another kick," chuckled Tony Abbott, Marble's chief operating officer.
On Monday, a blizzard dumped about 30 centimetres of snow on the hill. It was a bittersweet arrival after a winter Abbott described as a "bad nightmare."
The mountain in Steady Brook lost more than half its snow after heavy rains and unseasonably warm temperatures in January.
"It was bad, for the simple reason we had four batches of mild weather, heavy rains, like 60 millimetres of rain is unheard of in the wintertime," Abbott said.
He credits the hard work of staff for managing to keep the resort open for 73 days, despite the weather.
"Believe me if people only knew what they were skiing on, like we were skiing on two or three inches of snow most of the winter. We took our chances, we decided to spread the snow as thin as humanly possible even knowing that one more rainstorm could take us out," said Abbott.
It was the worst winter he's seen in his 30-year career, he said.
He won't have the final numbers for about a month, but Abbott estimates business was down about 20 per cent from the previous year.
Better late than never
While Monday's storm didn't arrive in time for the snow to be enjoyed by skiers and snowboarders, it will be a huge help this weekend's Race on the Rock, which Abbott said is the biggest event ever hosted at Marble Mountain.
He's expecting from three to five thousand people to be at the resort for the event, which features uphill snowmobile drag races on Saturday and snowcross races on Sunday.