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When it comes to bad news for skiers this wacky winter, seems it never rains, it pours.
The weekend deluge forced organizers of the Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals to cancel the first day of competition at Nakkertok Nordic Centre. Twelve hours of heavy rain made a quagmire of the parking lot and damaged the artificial snow loop where 750 skiers are supposed to compete this week.
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“Despite the tremendous work of our facilities team, and countless hours of volunteer labour, we have had to submit to the power of the heavy rains of the last few hours,” Pierre Millette, co-chair of the organizing committee said in a statement released Sunday afternoon. “But the battle is not over. The team is back to work and will be moving stockpiled snow and hopefully making more snow this evening.”
Organizers will assess Monday morning if Day 2 races will go ahead. The championship runs until Saturday.
It’s Nakkertok’s 12th time hosting the competition, now in its 96th year. Volunteers have been working since February to prepare the track, hauling snow — what’s left of it, at least — from the surrounding forest and making artificial snow when conditions are cold enough — at least -2 C or colder.
They’ve used tarps to try to protect the ski track from melting further.
Meanwhile, organizers are keeping their fingers crossed. After Saturday’s extreme rainfall warning, Environment Canada has issued another weather advisory, this time for up to five to 10 centimetres of snow in some areas. Overnight lows will dip to -5 C, making snow-making possible.
The outlook for the week, however, remains gloomy. Daytime highs are forecast to reach 11 C and 12 C on Tuesday and Wednesday, with snow-melting sunshine until Thursday, when the rain returns, while overnight lows hover above 0 C.
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