Comox Valley (BC), Canada – So far this winter season La Niña has been up to some of her same old tricks, bringing cooler than normal temperatures and higher than average precipitation to the Pacific Northwest — the kind of weather that makes you want to curl up by the fireplace, or better yet, strap on your skis or snowboard.

“This is the third winter in a row where we’ve been able to open before our projected opening date,” explains Mount Washington Resort spokesperson Brent Curtain as the ski resort on Vancouver Island prepares to open a week ahead of schedule this Friday. “We’ve received over 200 centimeters of snow in November and this has established a great snow base for the start of the season.”

The mountain’s snow base, now sitting at 135 centimeters with over 25 centimeters of new snow falling in the last 24 hours, will enable the resort to open up the majority of its frontside terrain. All frontside lifts will be in operation for opening day with the exception of the Whiskey Jack Chair which will begin operations on December 15th for night skiing. The mountain will also be operating all four Magic Carpet lifts in their new Easy Acres learning terrain.

“As of yet, we don’t know the exact runs that we will be opening this Friday so stay tuned and check out our snow reports at the end of the week,” Curtain adds.

In addition to the alpine terrain, Mount Washington will open up two tubing lanes for snow-sliding at the Ozone Tubing Park and over 20 kilometers of XC trails in their Nordic Centre.

At the Stomping Ground Terrain Park, park groms will also have a selection of rails and new park features to ride on opening weekend. The mountain acquired new decks, rails and boxes over the summer to keep things fresh and flowing.