A look at the slopes at Table Mountain, ahead of the snow making process which will begin this week when temperatures drop. (Facebook/Table Mountain)

By Martin Martinson

Standard for season

Table Mountain delays season opening due to warmer temperatures

Nov 23, 2021 | 1:00 PM

Residents of the area looking to hit the slopes this winter will have to wait a little bit longer for some cooler temperatures to set in.

Table Mountain announced this week, they will be bumping back their target opening date of Dec. 4, at least a couple of weeks, to closer to mid-December.

General manager, Lawrence Blouin said it’s pretty standard to have to bump back the initial opening date, as the opening weekend of December is always an optimistic goal, due to temperature.

“We usually try for the first Saturday in December, but I’m not sure if we hit that date quite 50 per cent of the time,” he said. “If we were to take the average of the last 25 years or so, we’ve probably been closer to about Dec. 11 or 14-15. We usually shoot for the first Saturday of the month, and some years we make it, but most we don’t.”

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Blouin said ideally, the best snow-making conditions would be in the neighborhood of -20 C, though he added should they get a consistent temperature within the -9 C to -10 C range through the daytime with around -15 C overnight, that will work as well.

With things expected to cool to a low, -19 C tonight and -13 C tomorrow, Blouin said they should be able to start the snowmaking process for at least a couple of days, before things are expected to warm up to close out the week.

Once they do open next month, Table Mountain is expected to be operational Friday-through-Sunday through the bulk of the winter season, as well as the full week over Christmas holidays – which was missed last year due to a delayed opening into the New Year, because of COVID restrictions.

Blouin added there will also be the potential to add more days during the week.

“A lot of it depends on what happens with our school program,” he said. “If we’re able to get schools out, we might be open extra days, but if we can’t get schools, we just don’t get enough public to make it worthwhile to be open on a Tuesday or Wednesday, so basically it depends on what’s going to happen with our after school program.”

Inside the Chalet, there will be no seating capacity limitations. The chalet will be open, though to sit down inside to eat or to go into the lounge area, patrons must be vaccinated.

Those who are unvaccinated will still be able to go into the chalet kitchen to order their food for take-out, and/or use the washroom facilities. Outdoors there are no restrictions, with all welcome to ski or snowboard.

For all the latest on Table Mountain updates, visit the Table Mountain website, or find them on Facebook.

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Martin.Martinson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MartyMartyPxP1