A scarcity of white stuff has meant a shortage of green stuff at the Pass Powder Keg (PPK) this season.
Though Community Services is still collecting the numbers for March, Lyle Hannan, Director of Community Services, said the community ski hill suffered a financial shortfall this year because the mountain opened ten days late, closed two weeks early and didn’t have sufficient snow to make its upper portions skiable.
“Probably the biggest impact on our hill was the inability to open the whole upper mountain,” said Hannan. “It would have been nice to open the other runs, but Mother Nature didn’t cooperated this year.”
There were supposed to be events the last three Sundays of the season including the Dummy Downhill, the Slush Cup and Retro Day but everything was moved up to Saturday, March 14.
On an average season, the PPK generates about $195,000, $80,000 of which comes from the sale of season passes. The rest comes from the sale of tickets, food, beverages, lessons and equipment rentals.
The late start to the season and difficult weather hurt the budget for 2014 by approximately $30,000, said Hannan.
Though their numbers in January were only slightly off an average year, Hannan said they had not seen as many people out as they would like.
But Hannan said the situation is not all bad.
“The season was a little shorter than we wanted,” he said. “[But] when we were open it was great spring skiing conditions. It was nice and warm and there were no days when we had to close because of cold weather or wind.”
There was other good news for the PPK and its 40 employees.
The mountain was able to offset lower attendance once Castle Mountain closed in mid February by capitalizing on some of their traffic. The Pass’ ski hill even welcomed a Castle Mountain ski club.
Hannan credited a compound called Snowmax, which was used during snowmaking to help save the season.
Snowmax is an active protein derived from natural bacteria, which promotes ice-nucleation. This means it helps water droplets turn to snow at a higher temperature.
“This certainly has helped some in getting open in late December and having an adequate base at the hill,” said Hannan. “We also believe it will allow us to open more quickly and consistently in the future.”