‘We’re so far ahead this year’: Cape Breton ski facilities thankful for recent cold weather

It was both fun and freezing on the slopes in Cape Breton over the weekend and operators say they are thankful for it.

It was both fun and freezing on the slopes at Ski Ben Eoin in Ben Eoin, N.S., over the weekend.

“The first little bit, it’s kind of bad, but you get used to it after a little while,” said 12-year-old skier Sophie Pearson.

With a feel-like temperature of -18 C on Sunday, skiers had to bundle up – but it didn’t stop them from coming out.

“We started back last year,” said skier Danielle Patterson. “I grew up on this hill, but now I have two five-year-old girls and they’re in lessons and it’s just so fun to be back.”

“When we look at the weather conditions, we want what people don’t want,” added Darcy MacDonald, the facility’s general manager of business operations.

Ski Ben Eoin was able to open for the season two days after Christmas – a big difference from Jan. 12 last year, especially for their bottom line.

“It was really difficult,” MacDonald said of previous green months of January. “The last probably four years, it’s been mid-January before we even opened. So, we’re so far ahead this year.”

At Ski Cape Smokey in Ingonish, they were able to open before Christmas for the first time since 1993, according to the ski hill’s records.

As a result, they have welcomed significantly more customers than this time last year.

At a facility already known for its gondola experience, Smokey’s operators say there are more new additions in the works.

“We are going to be building a first ‘fun park’ for us,” said CEO Martin Kejval. “We want to have it done before the Family Day weekend.”

Something else that’s new are plans to build their own microbrewery at the ski hill, with construction potentially starting as early as this spring.

“So, Cape Smokey Microbrewery,” Kejval said. “It will not happen overnight, but within two-and-a- half or three years that’s something people will be able to give a shot at.”

Back in Ben Eoin, with more than a month-and-a-half left in the season, the hope is for many more busy days like they enjoyed over the weekend.

“We want to be able to make snow, get all the runs open,” MacDonald said. “And we don’t need it freezing, we just need enough cold weather to preserve the snow and keep people coming.”

The season at Ski Ben Eoin typically wraps up near the end of March, but Ski Cape Smokey has often been able to stay open into April.

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