Mild weather impacts winter activities in northern Ont.

The recent fluctuating weather has impacted outdoor sports this winter in northern Ontario.

In Sudbury, skiers and snowboarders hit the hills at Adanac Ski Hill in Sudbury on Thursday. after Wednesday’s snowfall.

The City of Greater Sudbury, which operates Adanac, said that they’ve been fortunate to keep the ski hill open despite the brief mild weather.Skiers in Greater Sudbury we lucky to see some runs opened before Christmas this season. (Amanda Hicks/CTV News Norther Ontario)“We’re in really good shape at Adanac,” said Cindy Dent, the city’s recreation manager.

“We were open earlier than in some past years before Christmas and we’ve been able to remain open.”

She said the ski hill currently has six of seven runs open.

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Dent said Lively Ski Hill, which relies more so on natural snow, will be able to open in the coming days.

Dent tells CTV News that pass sales have also remained consistent.

The Ramsey Lake Skating Path, on the other hand, has been delayed due to the weather.

“There will be a bit of time required to get the depth of ice required to operate that facility. So we’re not there yet,” Dent said, adding they hope to have it open mid-January, weather dependent.

Snowmobiling has been non-existent, according to James Saville, president of the Sudbury Trail Plan.

Saville said groomers were stalled due to the warmer weather, and lakes and the ground never had the chance to freeze.

“Before the thaw we had, nothing underneath was frozen yet, so we still would have ran into issues,” said Saville.

“Whether we had that snow that had left or not. We need the ground to freeze, we need some consistent cold temperatures and then some snow on top of that to get things moving along.”

This has been the state of trails across the province, not just in the Greater Sudbury area, said Saville.

Though, passes are typically purchased before the season starts, Saville told CTV News that he believes some will put off purchasing a pass until the weather changes, but he is still optimistic about the season.

“It’s a late starter generally in the Sudbury area all the time,” Saville said.

“But we’ll get some rides in no matter what. Winter’s not going anywhere.”