Extended ski season good for neighbouring businesses

A pair of skiers can be seen at Blue Mountain Resort in The Blue Mountains, Ont. (CTV Barrie)

It’s the middle of April and people are still skiing and snowboarding at Blue Mountain.

For skiers and boarders who can't seem to put away the gear just yet, this is the only resort in Ontario that is still open.

"Last year was a record year, we made it to 142 days on snow; we made it to April 27th,” says Tara Lovell, public relations manager at Blue Mountain. “This year though, we are opening 100 per cent tomorrow, and that will be 131 days on snow, so we're close, but it's not a record year this year."

Snowboarding in a t-shirt and putting greens right beside the hill – it seems to be a battle of the seasons at the moment, but for Tom Servinis it's perfect.

"I just got off the hill. I had 12 runs, amazing for this time of year,” he says. “You can see I’m on my bike now, then I’m going to do a little putting green, then I’m going to go play tennis, how's that for a nice day?"

Heading straight from the hill to a restaurant – businesses are taking advantage of what they're calling a bonus weekend.

"They said last weekend it was going to shut down, so then they got enough snow together (and) got a few more runs open, give us a little bit more business," says Jonathan Charrier of Rusty's at Blue.

Skiing into mid-April means the slow period between seasons will be shorter for businesses this year. Kim Cross, store manager of The Old Stanton Store says the winter was steady, but she's ready for the rush that comes with summer.

"It's a lot busier for the shops in the summer, because the skiers ski and they do shop, but summer is amazing,” says Cross. “We have live entertainment in the village, summer is hopping up here."

Resort officials still won’t confirm when their ski season will end, but Sunday could be the last day for the slopes at Blue Mountain.