After a generally disappointing season, there was an Easter surprise for skiers and snowboarders on the North Shore Mountains this week.
An early spring snow dump drew crowds onto the local ski hills on Good Friday, including Daniel Dong, who was out on Cypress Mountain with his family.
“Because today’s the first day of the long holiday, we figured we’ll bring the family over here and enjoy a ski day,” Dong said.
Dong told CTV News his family bought season passes, but were only able to make it up the mountain 10 times because of the unusually warm and wet weather this year.
Back in February, all the major ski hills in Metro Vancouver – Cypress, Grouse and Seymour – were forced to close due to a lack of snow. The poor conditions sent many local skiers flocking to mountains in the B.C. Interior.
But there has been more snowfall on the North Shore since the beginning of March.
“Mother Nature blessed (us) with a lot of snow from the end of February to now,” he said. “We’re able to get our ski pass used a lot towards the end of the season, which is kind of unusual.”
Experts have said this year’s dismal snow season could be a glimpse of what’s to come in the decades ahead.
According to Michael Pidwirny, an associate professor of environmental sciences at UBC, by the year 2050, the average winter will be warmer than the one that just passed.
“This winter is sort of a prelude to what we're gonna see in the future,” Pidwirny said in an interview last month.
With files from The Canadian Press’s Brieanna Charlebois
