It's been the kind of spring so far, that is more like winter, and in North Bay, Laurentian Ski Hill welcomed all to the slopes for the final time this season on Saturday.
The slopes were full of energetic skiers and snowboarders enjoying their last day on the slopes, as the season came to a close, well into spring. The extended season was a pleasant surprise for General Manager Cam Graham.
"Normally by April, we definitely don't have this many runs open. We're still really busy, which we kind of didn't know how many folks would come out, because once people get that spring warm sun, they start thinking about summer activities. Whether it's gardening, golf, whatever, it's going to be the hill gets quiet and this time it's been pretty steady." said Graham.
Attendance at the ski hill was steady on the final weekend, thanks in big part to a helping hand from Mother Nature.
“The snow in the middle of the week wasn't great. Because most of it, it was so windy, most of it ended up in the bush, but the stuff we got Friday night was perfect. So, that worked out really well. We were able to groom it and we basically have east coast powder we call it, but yeah, it's not like west coast powder, but for us, this is great." said Graham.
For one ski cross team, the weather on the final Saturday was perfect.
"It's really fun to be out here training with our team this late." said one skier.
While the year started a little rough, staff members were able to work through ups and downs.
"We can't complain about this season, we started off a little frigid in December, which was good news, bad news. It didn't bring a ton of skiers, but we were able to make a lot of snow and got a good base down." said Graham.
Laurentian Ski Hill staff says they couldn't be happier with how the 2017-2018 winter season ended.
