Marble Mountain hoping to reopen Friday, as ski resort digs out from massive washout

Crews at the Marble Mountain ski resort on Newfoundland's west coast are digging out after a massive weekend washout caused by heavy rains.

Marble Mountain general manager Richard Wells said Monday he's optimistic the resort will reopen to skiiers Friday.

On the weekend, Wells said, a significant amount of water ran down the resort's Musgrave slope, creating a river on the trail. He said that run, which is one of the resort's more challenging slopes, will be closed for the foreseeable future.

"Looking up the mountain there, we were blown away Sunday morning to seethe devastation that occurred," he said.

Wells said about 15 to 20 centimetres of fresh snowfall would bring the entire mountain back to normal.

"We do feel pretty confident with the manmade infrastructure trail network that we did have this year, that it held up really well," he said Monday.

More work ahead

Wells said a lot of mud and earth was brought down with the water on the Musgrave trailand was deposited in a nine-metre hole at the base area of the resort's terminal.

Crews are working on removing the solidified mud from the area, which is level with one of the resort's chairlifts, said Christian Patten, the resort's outdoor operations manager.

WATCH | Crews dig out of massive hole at Marble Mountain caused by weekend washout:

Marble Mountain staff are carting out 600 tonnes of ground forced down the slope by rain

7 months ago

Duration 1:11

Groomers are in cleanup mode, with the hope of salvaging the slopes after heavy rains caused a washout at Marble Mountain Ski Resort and surrounding areas.

He said an estimated 400 to 600 tonnes of sand and rock is being removed.

"Basically we're at Mother Nature's beck and call," said Patten. "We can only do what she allows us to do. Besides that, you know, our hands are tied."

Wells said crews are doing a thorough assessment of the chairlift's electrical systemand haven'tfound anything so far to suggest the system may be compromised.

The resort is also manicuring 45 centimetres of manufactured snow on the Marble Chute slope, which acts as a safety barrier from rainstorms, and depositing some of that snow to more problematic areas on the hill.

Safety teams are continuing to assess other parts of the mountain. Wells is optimistic that nothing has been seriously compromised, he said, and with more winter still to come,the weekend's events will be nothing but a small setback.

"We're going to be back skiing here in no time, so going to be eager to welcome people back to the mountain come Friday," said Wells.

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