Jarett Ehry and Kenzie Debler cruise down a run at Hidden Valley in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park on Sunday. All runs are open at the ski hill.--NEWS PHOTO EMMA BENNETT

PEGGY REVELL
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ELKWATER
It may seem like spring has hit Southern Alberta, but snowmakers have been hard at work preserving pockets of winter for skiiers and snowboarders.
"It's cool because there's no snow in Medicine Hat to shovel, but there's snow out here," said 16-year-old Dylan Yeast, who spent Sunday snowboarding at Hidden Valley Ski Resort in Cypress Hills alongside his friend Ozzy Schimpf.
"So that's a pretty big plus actually."
The pair would rate this year's snowboarding season as a six out of 10 at most, while last years was a 9.5
"It's good for how much snow there's been," said Yeast.
"It's good for having fun," added Schimpf, noting that they've both also headed westwards to the mountains to catch some good snow.
"It's really a challenge right now convincing people that we have snow," said Kevin Fischer, owner of Hidden Valley Ski Resort. It's a challenge that his fellow operators in the region have also had in convincing people to come out.
Hidden Valley has "really, really good coverage" with a 45-cm base, Fischer noted.
Normally they pump around 10 to 12 million gallons of water to convert into snow, but this year they've bumped it up to just under 15 million gallons.
Day to day the season so far has been "pretty good" and almost "spot on" with last year, said Fischer. They did lose some operating days though, due to the extremely cold weather that hit a few weeks ago.
"It's a unique situation, last year we had all the snow and the cold but no one could get here. Here we have warm weather, man made snow and we're sitting pretty much exactly in exactly the same spot."
"It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful," said Susan Jensen about Sunday's skiing weather, that she and her two children were taking advantage of during their annual ski trip to Hidden Valley.
It's almost too warm as opposed to too cold, she said.
"It's a really enjoyable day because you don't have to worry about the wind or the snow," she said. "And the driving down was nice — last year the snowbanks were so high, and the road can kind of get treacherous."

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