Those itching to hit the slopes at Batawa Ski Hill had their wishes answered.

Batawa opened its ski hills on Friday after the region went back into the green zone last week.

General Manager Brian Diedenhofen said opening weekend has been really good with a great turnout with terrific snow depth.

“Our guests have been chomping at the bit to get out skiing for weeks and they were super happy to get out and our conditions have been fantastic,” he said.

As part of the reopening plan, he said the ski hill is taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure everyone has a great time but is safe while doing it.

“We are following all the protocols with the health unit,” he stated.  “ We are being very careful.  It’s only people from the green zones that are allowed to ski right now.”

Guests have been great about wearing their masks, he added.

The hill also had to set a daily limit for contact tracing.  Everything is being done online on their website, he said.  Everyone has to make reservations and buy their lessons, rentals and lift tickets online to ensure contact information. 

“We are checking everyone's place of residence to ensure folks who are still under a stay-at-home order can't come,” Diedenhofen explained.  “We are monitoring for mask use and sanitizing.”

Batawa has been prepping the hills in anticipation of the reopening but when the official approval came down from the province last week, When the province announced they were allowed to reopen Diedenhofen said they were surprised.

He admitted it has been a tough year with two shortened ski seasons now the books.

“We will be looking at a considerable loss this year no matter what happens going forward but we are just happy that we can get open,” he said.

But right now, the little hill with the big heart’s priority is the local community.

“We exist for our local community with a place for our families to come out and spend time together,” he said.  “We want to make sure they have that opportunity right up until we get to spring.”