Dakota Ridge officially opened for the winter season on Dec. 30, and well over 700 people have made their way up the mountain to play in the snow since then.
“Right now we’ve got about two feet of snow,” said Sam Adams, the Sunshine Coast Regional District parks planning coordinator.
The snow pack allows for about 50 per cent of the ski and snowshoe runs on the mountain to open, Adams said.
“To have all of our premium trails open, and some of them are quite wintery, we need to have two metres, so we need to have six feet of snow,” Adams said. “But we can get a lot of trails open with two or three feet of snow.”
The snow pack, however small, has lured many Coasters to the mountain to ski, snowshoe and toboggan with the Jan. 3 weekend drawing a particularly large crowd on the hill.
Dakota Ridge has also seen some off-Coast customers in 2015.
“This holiday there was a couple from Victoria and they came over here instead of going to Mount Washington for their vacation,” Adams noted. “The main reason for Dakota Ridge is to provide healthy opportunities for our community, but some of the tertiary reasons are to help with tourism in the shoulder season. We definitely have been seeing an increase in that.”
In addition to the kilometres of trails to snowshoe and ski, the price to visit is likely a draw to off-Coast users. Adults can ski for the day for $15 or snowshoe for $8, while youth 12 and under are free. A family can also come to use the tobogganing hill for the day for a $6 flat fee per vehicle. The modest fare is collected to help pay for upkeep of the roadway to the site.
Users can access Dakota Ridge by taking the logging road at the top of Field Road to the ridge, which is about 14 km up. A four-by-four vehicle and/or chains are usually required to navigate the road, which can be very icy at times.
Adams suggests people wanting to visit check out the Facebook page at www.
facebook.com/Dakota.SCRD to get up-to-date road and mountain conditions.
There is an upcoming event planned by the Tetrahedron Outdoor Club at Dakota Ridge on Jan. 31. Dubbed the Sunshine Coast Loppet, the event will see skiers of all ages and abilities meet on the mountain for a series of fun races. To find out more or to register go to www.tetoutdoor.ca/loppet.html.
You can also learn more about Dakota Ridge and its amenities by visiting www.robertscreek.com/dakota.
