Rossland/Nelson enter Round 2 in the Ski Town Throwdown next week.
The online competition, organized by Powder Magazine, will name the best ski town in North America based on a series of online votes that pit one ski town against another.
In Round 1, Rossland/Nelson collected 1,309 votes to knock Sugarloaf ski hill (1,028 votes) in Maine out of the competition.
Now Rossland/Nelson is up against Whitefish, Montana, located 175 kilometres south of Fernie, near Glacier National Park. In the first round, Whitefish defeated Whistler 1,730-1,005 bumping the first of four BC ski hills off the board.
The competition that started with 32 ski hills is down to 16 battling for the title.
Whitewater marketing and operations general manager Anne Pigeon expects a tight race against Whitefish.
“We know the crew down there. They’re like us, they’re very passionate about their town and they’re very passionate about their mountain,” Pigeon says. “We’re going to have to step our game.”
She hopes to recruit more voters through Whitewater’s social media connections and asking their followers to pass the message onto their friends.
“We’ve got Shambhala on board to send the message out to all their supports, which is a huge number of people,” Pigeon says. “Even my kids are going to put it on their Facebook accounts, and we’re just hoping a lot of people will do the same.”
As an extra incentive to vote, Red Mountain and Whitewater are each giving away a pair of day passes to a lucky voter. Everyone who leaves a comment in the contest app will be entered to win.
Pigeon says the contest is a great chance to put Rossland/Nelson on the map as a serious ski town, and it’s also a way to get people thinking about the ski season ahead.
“It’s a super good time to build the hype and get the stoke going,” she says. “We’re getting close to opening day at the hill and it’s time to dust off your gear.”
The latest Whitewater will wait to open is December 7, but it could open as early as December 1 if Mother Nature co-operates. If the snow base on the Silver King side will need to reach 60 centimetres this weekend to trigger an early opening.
Currently there’s about 50 cm at the base of the mountain and around the lodge and 118 cm up top.
“We’re really close to having the snow we need, and they’re forecasting some weather systems that could be good for us,” Pigeon says.
The rain that’s been falling in town has been coming down as snow at the hill. On Tuesday the snow accumulator recorded a 40 cm dumping.
“We’re watching the skies and keeping our fingers crossed,” Pigeon says.
Vote for Rossland/Nelson in the Ski Town Throwdown on November 28-29 at facebook.com/powdermag. Find the competition by clicking on the “Rossland/Nelson v. Whitefish” link in the page banner on voting days.