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Ontario Ski Resorts

Ontario ski resorts are disappearing due to shorter and warmer winters. See the Collingwood hills before they are gone

The five ski resorts based on and around the modest 750-foot hills of Collingwood have been as good as it gets for southern and central Ontario skiers and snowboarders for the last 65 years. Now, warmer winters have local powder junkies worried they’ll soon have to start buying their season’s passes for the Rockies. Warm temperatures this January resulted in 1,300 resort staff being laid off for weeks while the hills waited for flakes to fall. The season didn’t hit its stride until almost February.

Time Left

A 2005 University of Waterloo study predicted that ski seasons in Southern Ontario would be up to 30 per cent shorter by the 2020s with current snowmaking technology, and between 30 and 60 per cent shorter by the 2050s.

See It

Collingwood’s ski season normally runs from mid-December until nearly Easter, but best to check snow conditions before you depart.

Save It

Many resorts are embracing green technologies and actively encouraging their patrons to do the same. Register for Ski Canada’s Canadian Snow Industry Symposium at Blue Mountain in late July to hear a senior climatologist from Environment Canada give his prognostications on what the future holds.

This story was originally published in the June 2007 issue of up! magazine as part of the See It Before It’s Gone feature, profiling 11 of Canada’s must-see natural and man-made tourist attractions on the brink of extinction. Take a look at more of Canada's Endangered Destinations.