Table Mountain set for opening weekend

“The terrain park… always take quite a bit longer to get the features in place, so we’re going to have a few of the features at the top of terrain park in place for Saturday,” Blouin said. “The tubing park will not be open. The snow is made but we have to take some extra time to cut the lanes and stuff for the tubing. So no tubing probably until the middle of next week.”

Table Mountain is typical open Wednesday through Sunday, but for the holiday season, they are running extended hours. They will be closed this upcoming Monday and Tuesday, but after that, they will be open straight through from Dec. 21-Jan. 8, except for Christmas Day. That means they’ll be open on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

The chalet opens at 9 a.m. and the lifts run from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Blouin also said there are a couple of new features this year.

“The terrain park is going to be a little bit different from last year,” he said. “We’re also introducing border cross and ski cross course on one of our runs, which we’ve never had in the past.

“In a year’s time, February of 2018, we’ve got the [Saskatchewan] Winter Games here so we’re going to run the snow cross [and] border cross and stuff for this winter.”

Lessons are also a big part of what they do, for youth and adults.

They have a school zone program, specifically for classes that want to venture out to the hill for a day trip.

But that’s not all.

“There are all kinds of lessons available for the general public from novice to experts,” Blouin said. “There are public lessons, public group lessons, private lessons, semi-private lessons, skiing and snowboarding.”

Despite a mild winter last year, the numbers for Table Mountain weren’t hit too significantly.

“We had a very short season last year – very warm through the month of November and the first part of December,” Blouin said. “Then with Easter being so early last year, we were closed early. Our season shortened up by about 20 per cent last year but actually the number – skier wise [and] rider wise – they were down slightly from the year before but not very much.”

Blouin is hoping this year is different, but knows that it’s all up to Mother Nature.

“We’ll see what kind of weather she gives us,” he said. “I’m hoping to meet last year’s numbers or better, but [she will] dictate what we’re going to do.”

There are currently no promotions for seasons or day passes, but Table Mountain has gift cards that can be purchased.

A full list of prices can be found on their website.

Nathan Kanter is battlefordsNOW’s sports reporter and voice of the Battlefords North Stars. He can be reached at Nathan.kanter@jpbg.ca or tweet him @NathanKanter11

by Nathan Kanter

Table Mountain set for opening weekend

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