Optimist Hill opens early in Saskatoon

Skiing, snowboarding and tubing are back in Saskatoon when Optimist Hill is ready to open Friday afternoon.

Diefenbaker Park opens at 4pm and the first 250 people to arrive will receive free lift tickets and hot chocolate.

The 70-foot hill has groomed lanes for snow tubing, skiing, and snowboarding, a terrain park, a free toboggan hill, and two conveyor lift systems.

Optimist Hill general manager Maxine Tebbe says they’ve been working to keep things on track.

“We’ve been working hard the last few weeks and had snow in the first two weeks of the cold month,” says Tebbe.

She said they were forming a hill and sorting things out last week.

“We are opening three weeks earlier than last year, which is the earliest we have actually opened.”

trendy now

trendy now

This is Hill’s fourth season.

“Mother Nature actually gave us a lot of snow, which of course is not what we need, because we need a good few feet of snow.”

She added that she was able to make snow in warmer temperatures thanks to a product called Snomax, which many other ski resorts use.

Tebbe says he’s also gearing up for the Burton Mystery Series in the hills on December 17th.

The event will feature famous riders such as Mikey Chicarelli, Maria Thomsen, Mirae Campbell and three-time Olympic medalist and Regina native Mark McMorris.

Other hills in the state are considering an early December start-up.

Table Mountain, west of North Battleford, said on its website that it is tentatively aiming for early December.

Mission Ridge Winter Park at Fort Qu’Appelle is aiming to open on December 9th.

© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.