Cross country skiers wish for more snow in Regina

Even with a fresh layer of light snow covering the city, cross country skiers in Regina are still hoping for more.

“I was quite pleased, I looked out the window this morning and last night when most of it came – and said yeah, there might, hopefully be enough snow to set a classic track now and actually start getting a little better skiing than we’ve had so far this winter,” said Dale Hjertas, president of the Regina Ski Club.

He says skiing conditions are pretty marginal and for a determined skier, he says the challenge is to find enough snow.

“I think the best skiing I’ve experienced in Regina was skiing on the creek upstream from Wascana Lake where on the ice there was no grass to grab hold of your skis and hold you back,” he said.

Hjertas says most places in the city still don’t have enough of a snow pack to ski smoothly.

“The other place I’ve skied and I know other people have skied is in parks and golf courses where there shouldn’t be any rocks showing through, but you’re almost always rubbing in the grass because there wasn’t enough snow,” he said.

The club has had to cancel several events in January and several trips to other ski trails in the province due to poor snow conditions.

Gregg Brewster is in charge of grooming the trails and even after Friday’s snowfall, he says there’s still not quite enough snow. He said with the amount of snow we have now, they would need the same amount on top to get really good conditions.