The Peace Country is in for snow over the weekend with four centimetres in the forecast, and Nitehawk Year-Round Adventure Park officials are saying operations will be ramping up more and more to ensure an opening as soon as possible.
Nitehawk General Manager Johnathan Clarkson says the hiring process for snowmakers is already underway, and morale is high ahead of the winter season.
“It’s definitely getting people in the winter mood and getting them thinking about hitting the slopes this season,” he says. “Our operations crews are out there getting things ready, snow-making gun mounts, and all the nozzles changed on the guns and doing all the maintenance we need to do to be ready for when the temperatures hit and we can start making snow.”
Clarkson says snowmaking crews will be unable to begin their work until temperatures go below freezing more consistently; however, the tentative date to begin snowmaking is “on or around” November 4th of this year.
“We do need about that minus five, minus ten, consistently throughout the day and evening to be able to make snow so we’re definitely looking forward to that,” he says. “Thank goodness we have all the snowmaking gear that we do that allows us to not necessarily rely on Mother Nature so much.”
Clarkson maintains that natural snow still plays a large part in the ski season. He says while the first snowfall of the season is not necessarily a make-or-break situation for the hill, the “good first dump” of snow gets the community in the mood to hit the slopes.
“That good first dump of the season of natural snow, it gets the community thinking about winter and it changes all of our minds when it comes to the fact that- hey winter is coming, and let’s embrace it and get outdoors,” he says. “That first dump of snow, we always call it free marketing, it’s kind of that first bit that really gets the community thinking- hey winter is coming and we can’t wait to hit the slopes out at Nitehawk.”
When it comes to the ultimate question of when the hill will officially open to the public, Clarkson says a soft opening target has been set for November 23rd, depending on the weather.
