Addeline Bailey may not be old enough to ski but that didn’t stop her from enjoying opening at Hudson Bay Mountain Resort last Friday.
The one-and-half-year-old seemed to be having the time of her life just frolicking with her dad in the lodge.
“Right now it’s about coming up and having fun,” said her father Neal Bailey.
“[I want her to have] a fun experience and get her enjoying it so later on when she’s old enough to ski it’s something she’ll want to do.”
Unlike last year, there’s already plenty of snow for mountain goers to enjoy.
“It’s fantastic,” said Amy Murdoch. “We’re all pumped there’s lots of snow.”
The hill will be open seven days a week from Dec. 13 to Jan. 7, and from Feb. 28 until the end of the season. The rest of the time it will be open Wednesday to Sunday.
On weekdays lifts open at 10 a.m, last chair at 3:30 p.m., last t-bar at 4:00 p.m. Weekends and holidays lifts open at 9:30 a.m, last chair at 3:30 p.m, last t-bar at 4:00 p.m.
This year Hudson Bay Mountain will be offering a shuttle bus service every day it’s open to and from the mountain.
McDonald’s and the Aspen Inn will be the pick-up and drop-off locations. The trip is free for children six to 12 years old and costs $5 to go up the mountain for everyone else. Coming down is free.
Pick-up times are 8:35 a.m. on weekdays at the Aspen 11:35 a.m. on the weekend. For McDonald’s it’s 8:45 a.m. on weekdays and 11:45 a.m. on the weekend. The bus will depart from the mountain at 4:35 every day.
Starting in January, Hudson Bay Mountain will have community weekends every other weekend where they’ll offer discounted tickets to people from a selected community. You must show ID proving you are from or reside in the selected community to get the discount.
“We really are a community hill,” said Gary Mathiesen, president and CEO of Hudson Bay Mountain. “We try to reach out not just to the Bulkey Valley but to all the towns in the quarter from Prince Rupert to Prince George.”
The hill is will also be partnering with the Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity & Recreation Council (ISPARC) to bring children from first nation communities to the hill for a couple of days.
ISPARC was founded in 2009 to promote healthy indigenous communities by expanding access to sport and recreational activities.
Hudson Bay Mountain will provide accommodations, ski lessons, ski rentals and lift tickets for the children in the program.
“We’re always looking to, A: be a huge community player, and B: introduce skiing and boarding to more people,” said Mathiesen.
The program starts Dec. 6.
