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What little snow remains in B.C.’s Interior continues to melt as daytime temperatures remain above freezing through what many have described as a very strange winter.
And without snow, it’s pretty difficult to go snowshoeing or cross-country skiing — which is why the Telemark Nordic Centre in West Kelowna, B.C., was forced to close in the middle of winter for the first time in the club’s 48-year history on Sunday.
“This has just been an unprecedented year,” centre board of directors president Brent Hobbs told CBC’s Daybreak South.
He said the club opened late this year, on Dec. 27, when there was a 15-centimetre base of snow. When Hobbs skied on Saturday, there were just five centimetres left.
“The rocks are starting to show, the puddles are starting to show, and it’s just not a safe and enjoyable experience.”
Daybreak South6:07A nordic centre in West Kelowna had to close because of a lack of snow.
Telemark Nordic Centre club president, Brent Hobbs says it’s the first time they’ve ever had to close the centre at this time in the season.
Environment Canada said that between 1991 and 2020, the Okanagan region saw about 61.6 centimetres of snow each winter. This year, there’s been an average of 14.
Typically, the Nordic centre is open from mid-December into the end of March, Hobbs said. Even in other low-snow years, they’ve been able to remain open.
“There have been no-snow years, but we have a minimum of 20 centimeters to work with and a little bit more at the higher elevations.”
Closing up after only a few weeks of operation means the Telemark Nordic Centre is losing out on a significant amount of revenue, and season pass holders are unable to get the full value of their pass.
Hobbs said the nearby Kelowna Nordic Ski and Snowshoe Club has offered to honour Telemark season passes at no extra charge. But the lack of snow is affecting them too — grooming the trails has proven difficult with little snowfall, according to the club’s website.
As for income, Hobbs said Telemark will have to get creative. Season pass holders, fundraising and day users each make up one-third of the club’s annual revenue.
“All the school groups that come up, people that just want to come up and enjoy snowshoeing and skiing for a day — we usually get 17,000 visits a year. We haven’t even reached 3,000,” Hobbs said.
He said the board will be looking at the budget, applying for government grants and looking at registering the club as a charity.
But, Hobbs added, they’re still holding out hope a big dump of snow will come late in the season so the centre can reopen.
“We will reopen if we get accumulations in there and we have cooler temperatures and it’s safe to do so.”
