After one of the best snow seasons the Maritimes has seen in years, a Nova Scotia ski hill is asking a bold question: what if you didn't let all that good snow just melt away?
Ski Martock is exploring the possibility of storing this past winter's snow and using it to get a jump on next season's slopes — and CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon has been digging into whether the idea holds up.
A Winter Worth Saving
For snow lovers across Atlantic Canada, the 2025–2026 season was a welcome return to form. Deep snowpack, reliable cold, and slopes that stayed open well into the season made it one to remember. After years of mild, inconsistent winters that have shortened ski seasons and frustrated operators across the region, this year felt like a gift.
The problem? Winters like this aren't guaranteed to keep showing up on schedule. Climate variability has made planning for winter sports increasingly difficult for smaller regional resorts — and that uncertainty is exactly what's pushing Ski Martock to think creatively.
The Science of Snow Farming
The concept Ski Martock is exploring — often called snow farming — isn't entirely new. Ski operations in Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden and Finland, have been stockpiling snow over summer for years. The general approach involves mounding up a large volume of snow, then covering it with an insulating layer of wood chips or sawdust to protect it from summer heat.
It sounds counterintuitive, but the thermal mass of a well-insulated snow pile can preserve a surprisingly large portion of the original volume even through warm months. The tricky part is whether that technique translates to Maritime conditions — Nova Scotia summers bring humidity and variable spring temperatures that could make retention less predictable than in colder Scandinavian climates.
Snoddon's breakdown offers a meteorologist's perspective on just how viable the plan is for Ski Martock's specific location and climate.
Why Smaller Hills Face Bigger Pressure
Unlike major destination resorts in the Rockies or Quebec's Laurentians, Maritime ski hills like Ski Martock run on tighter margins and shorter windows. They depend almost entirely on local skiers, and every lost week due to poor snow conditions has a real impact — on revenue, yes, but also on community.
Artificial snowmaking can fill some gaps, but it's energy-intensive and expensive. Snow storage, if it works, could offer a more sustainable and cost-effective buffer — one built from nature's own abundance in a good year.
A Canadian Winter Experiment Worth Watching
The Ski Martock experiment reflects a larger conversation playing out at ski hills across Canada: how do you future-proof a winter business in an era when winter itself feels less reliable? From the Rockies to the Appalachians, resort operators are innovating, adapting, and sometimes just trying things to see what sticks.
Whether Ski Martock can successfully carry this season's snow into the next one is still an open question. But the effort itself signals something worth noting — Canadian ski culture is resilient, and the people who depend on it aren't ready to let a warming climate have the last word.
Source: CBC Technology / CBC News. Original report by CBC meteorologist Ryan Snoddon.
