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Canadian Ski Resort Closes as it is Too Cold

Canadian Ski Resort Closes as it is Too Cold

Published : 15-Jan-2020 06:16



Marmot Basin ski area near Jasper in Alberta, Canada, has been closed for several days this week as it is too cold to operate safely.

The resort reported temperatures as low as -35 degrees this week and expects these lows to continue until the weekend when it's expected to warm up.

The picture above of a cup of water being thrown in to the air and freezing immediately was taken there today.

It's not wholly unusual for ski area in North America, usually away from the coast, to close down occasionally due to extreme cold, which makes it more likely machinery will stop operating as well as potentially being dangerous to be outdoors in.

Canada is having a ski season of extremes so far with warm temperatures at the end of 2019 meaning there was very littler snow cover in Quebec to the East or on the Pacific Coast on BC in the West. Quebec has also suffered from freezing rain which can coat equipment like lifts and snow cannons with ice.

Over the past few weeks however it has got colder and there have been big snowfalls on the Pacific Coast and the picture is also improving more gradually in the East.

Whistler Blackcomb, which has North America's biggest area, was only able to open a small amount of its terrain in the run up to Christmas but now has about two thirds of it runs open and a base depth approaching two metres on upper slopes.

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