FOR what is essentially a flat prairie landscape, Manitoba is a surprisingly good place for downhill skiers and snowboarders to enjoy their winter passions.
And while we will never challenge Banff or Whistler or the Laurentians, we can boast the best Canadian downhill resorts and facilities between Thunder Bay and Calgary.
Skiers ride the newest lift, the Squirrel, during last weekend's season opener at Asessippi Ski Area and Winter Park.
The Weather Network lists seven legitimate downhill venues in Manitoba -- six within day-tripping distance of Winnipeg and a seventh, Mystery Mountain, just outside Thompson. At a minimum, they all have lifts and/or tows and varying degrees of amenities, facilities and challenge. Some of the resorts are already open for the season and all will be in operation this weekend, according to their websites.
Two of Manitoba's ski areas are virtually on the city's doorstep -- Springhill, on Highway 59 at Birds Hill, which utilizes a bank of the Red River Floodway for its slope, and Stony Mountain, which, at least in name, is a real prairie mountain. Both are gentle starter hills, ideal for families and beginners
To the east, Falcon Ridge, at the edge of the Canadian Shield in Whiteshell Provincial Park, begins to have the look and feel of a true alpine destination. It has a chalet and pro shop, 11 runs, three tows and a vertical drop of 150 feet. The longest of the runs is about 1,200 feet. It's well worth the 90-minute drive to try the slopes of Falcon Ridge.
Ski Valley near Minnedosa has nine runs and a chair lift, licensed dining, instruction and rentals. The resort is located off Highway 10, seven kilometres north of Minnedosa and uses the slopes of the Minnedosa River Valley for its runs. It's about a three-hour drive from Winnipeg and a good destination for those seeking a bigger challenge than Springhill or Stony Mountain offer.
Mystery Mountain Winter Park near Thompson offers a T-bar, two poma lifts, and a rope tow service to access 18 slopes, a half-pipe and a snowtubing area. The slopes range from gentle beginner slopes to steep mogul fields and all the way to tough tree skiing runs for the more advanced skier.
Alex McRedmond, 10, tries out his new snowboard at Asessippi.
Manitoba's two top ski resorts are Holiday Mountain, two hours southwest of Winnipeg at La Riviere, and Asessippi Ski and Winter Park, just north of Russell and about four hours northwest of the city.
Holiday Mountain has been synonymous with Manitoba skiing for nearly 50 years.
The first skiers shooshed the slopes of Holiday Mountain on Jan. 23, 1960, and they have been going downhill on the rolling terrain of the Pembina River Valley ever since.
Bernice Later runs the family-owned operation started by her father 48 years ago. She is excited about this winter's season, which opened last weekend.
"We have a two-foot base and 60 per cent of the runs will be open this weekend," Later said in an interview this week.
"Every year we do something different and this year we have redesigned the entire terrain park," she said. "We are making it more skier-friendly (with) less attention to boarders."
The village at Asessippi has an alpine feel.
Not that boarders aren't welcome at Holiday Mountain.
"With the newer skis, anyone can use our freestyle terrain park," Later said.
By the numbers, there are 11 runs at Holiday Mountain "top to bottom." There are two double chairlifts, a T-bar tow and the first Wonder Carpet in the province. The carpet is a kind of conveyor belt that carries skiers up the slope and is especially popular with youngsters. There are rentals and a ski school, run by Later.
The vertical drop at Holiday Mountain is 300 feet and the longest run is about 2,600 feet.
As for accommodations, there is a cluster of 25 private cottage at the resort, along with rental A-frame cabins ($79 a night) and rooms at the Mountain Inn ($69 a night).
"Holiday Mountain has had private ski cottages on site for decades," Later said. Among the first units was a converted railway caboose, which attracted the attention of the New York Times in a January, 1971 article. The framed and yellowed clipping hangs proudly in the resort chalet.
On a good winter weekend, Holiday Mountain attracts 800 to 1,000 skiers a day, but with four lifts, they move up the slopes almost as quickly as they come down.
"I have never seen a lineup of longer than a couple of minutes," Later said.
As for conditions this year, Later said she can't ever remember going into the holiday season with this much good snow. The weather has been cold enough for snow-making, aided by a steady and early helping of natural snow.
Compared to venerable Holiday Mountain, Asessippi could be considered a young upstart on the Manitoba scene, but in just nine seasons, the province's largest and most popular downhill resort has risen to the summit of prairie skiing.
The Shell River Valley forms the bowl for this truly alpine ski experience. Approaching Asessippi along the broad wind-swept prairie, first-time visitors have no clue of the downhill adventure just ahead.
Unlike mountain resorts, where skiers look up to snow-covered peaks, at Asessippi, visitors descend down into a steep ravine and arrive at a colourful ski village nestle on the valley floor.
Above are 25 downhill runs (including seven that are new or expanded this season) and a vertical drop of 500 feet. The longest run is about 2,300 feet. There's a quad and two triple chairlifts, three surface tows and a new carpet lift to the beginner runs.
Add two terrain parks for boarders and three snowtubing runs, and it is one impressive winter destination.
Asessippi is owned by a mostly local group of investors and operated under a board of directors who have shaped the resort into a major ski destination in less than a decade.
While there are no onsite rental accommodations, a private cottage development is underway. So far, 32 of a planned 138 units in the first phase of the development have been sold and 12 are under construction.
Daymon Guillas, Asessippi director and the project manager, calls it a full turnkey cottage opportunity for the price of a lot alone anywhere else.
"I was concerned on opening weekend (last weekend)," Guillas said. "It was cold and windy. But we had 500 people on Friday and 650 to 700 on Saturday."
With a two-foot compressed base and a good mix of man-made and natural snow, the slopes were in excellent early-season shape. Rental equipment and ski instruction are available.
Guillas also runs the Russell Inn and the Jolly Lodger in Russell and has just opened the Hotel Dieu in Russell, a three-suite boutique hotel that was once a Benedictine convent and before that an early community hospital.
He has announced a 28-unit expansion to the Russell Inn. Once completed, the 98-unit hotel will be one of the largest in Manitoba outside Winnipeg.
With its expanded lift capacity, Guillas says Asessippi can comfortably handle up to 1,800 skiers a day. Located near the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border, Asessippi draws skiers from both provinces and is slightly closer to Regina than Winnipeg.
Free Press readers can take advantage of several day-excursions to Asessippi organized by the newspaper. Skiers can register for any of the all-inclusive trips, eight in all departing Saturdays from Jan. 26 to March 15, by clicking here
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