GLADSTONE — With the warmer weather this holiday season, the Gladstone ski hill will not be open today as planned. The ski hill, located in the John and Melissa Besse Sports Park at 900 N. Bluff Dr. off M-35, was scheduled to open for the season on Dec. 21.

Parks and Recreation Director Nicole Sanderson said the ski hill was ready, but the warm weather mixed with the rain on Thursday wiped away all of the snow that was prepared.

“We started making snow about half a week ago,” she said. “We had tubes all covered and two runs all covered.”

She explained with weather in mind, the plan is to make snow Friday and Saturday so the hill will be ready for Wednesday, Dec. 26.

If the ski hill is open Wednesday, Sanderson said the hours will be the usual 1 to 7 p.m holiday schedule.

“We are going to try to get tubing up and two runs — the bunny and pony,” she said. Once the ski hill is up and running, Sanderson explained the other areas in the ski hill will be prepared for the winter season.

The ice rink in Gladstone is also not ready due to the warmer temperatures this year.

“We will start making our ice rink when the weather cools down,” Sanderson said. “It takes weeks to set up the ice rink and it has to stay cool during the day or we just lose it.”

The goal for the Parks and Recreation department is to try and prepare the winter activities for holiday break so residents have something to do.

The schedule will be kept up to date on the developments through the city’s website and Facebook page. Sanderson said she highly recommends people checking the Facebook page for the updates because the city’s website cannot be updated as quickly.