Full season passes on the ski slopes of the Ottawa-Gatineau region

0

While there is no snow on the ground yet, ski resorts in the greater Ottawa-Gatineau area are reporting that season pass sales are selling fast – or have already faded.

“Our season passes have been posted as ‘sold out’ since the first week of October,” said Erin Boucher, assistant director of Camp Fortune in Chelsea, Que.

She says tickets were stolen because skiing became so popular in 2020. With few other activities open to the public, Boucher said families have turned to the slopes to get out.

Last year, Camp Fortune and others also had to implement capacity limits, she said.

The rise in popularity also meant that it was difficult to purchase the already limited day lift tickets, which may have resulted in increased sales for season passes this year.

“So maybe some new habits, right? Maybe all of the new skiers from last year really enjoyed skiing with their families and want to keep skiing, and we are grateful to them.”

“People are back in love with skiing”

If staff find that pass holders aren’t visiting as often as they should, more Camp Fortune season passes could go on sale, she said.

“So we have a lot of disappointed people,” said Boucher. “But unfortunately that’s sort of the whole industry right now. There are a lot of ski resorts that have posted ‘full’ and that’s just because we have to deal with the traffic there.”

The Calabogie Peaks Resort in the Ottawa Valley says it is having a typical sales year so far, while Mount Pakenham, located west of Ottawa, says it will limit its passes from full season and its daily lift tickets.

Luc Desormeaux, of the Mont Cascades ski resort, said his staff are experiencing a similar race to Camp Fortune, although they have not yet sold out all the packages. His team are eagerly awaiting a series of cold days to open up for the season.

“I think a lot of people fell in love with skiing again because we were one of the only activities open last winter,” he said.

Share.

Comments are closed.