Ski hill 2024 opening days in Alberta, British Columbia

Jordan Small

Oct 31, 2024 6:00 AM

A snowboarder carves down the hill on opening day 2022 at Sunshine Village Ski Resort in Banff National Park. JUNGMIN HAM RMO FILE PHOTO▲

WESTERN CANADA – It’s time, skiers and snowboarders.

As anticipated opening days of ski hills across Alberta and British Columbia are around the corner, those in Banff National Park and Kananaskis Country are poised to be the first resorts to welcome powder junkies for the 2024-25 winter season.

In Banff, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise Ski Resort are getting ready to welcome the public on Nov. 8, while Norquay will tentatively open Sunday (Nov. 9).

In Kananaskis Country, Nakiska is preparing for a tentative preview weekend from Nov. 8-12 (scroll down for more opening days).

Banff and Kananaskis Country have been chillier the past few weeks leading up to opening days, which has helped to get the (snow)ball rolling for Canada’s earliest powder days.

More snow is expected this winter in Western Canada compared to last due to a La Niña weather system, meaning more precipitation and cooler temperatures.

Experts are saying it will be a weaker La Niña, but it could be elevated to moderate.

“Whether it’s normal or above normal, it’s a little bit harder to tell at this point, but it looks to be likely more than we had last year,” said Alysa Pederson, weather preparedness meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, in a previous interview with the Outlook.

Jasper ski resort opening despite wildfire challenges

Even after losing seven weeks of summer maintenance time due to the massive wildfire, Marmot Basin, Jasper’s ski resort, is tentatively set to open Nov. 15.

Opening day will be weather-reliant, but things are looking positive, said Brian Rode, vice president of Marmot Basin. There has been approximately 38 centimetres of snowfall total, and the resort’s snowmaking system is ready to create the white stuff when temperatures dip a bit lower.

Rode said it’s been a massive undertaking to get to this point.

“There are a lot of very tired people at our mountain, who are just putting their hearts and souls into getting it ready for the ski season. But it’s not just us, it’s every single business in Jasper,” said Rode.

“(...) We all need to be open for the wintertime. The ski area itself is integral to the economy, it is the primary economic driver in the winter time so we’ve been dedicated to getting the ski hill open and it has been an incredibly tall task, there’s no doubt about it.”

A big challenge at the mountain was installing a new main powerline to Marmot Basin after the previous one was destroyed in the blaze. The new power feed was completed ahead of schedule, Rode noted.

On the operations side, Rode said that the resort has all the staff essential to run the ski hill this winter, but the need for more viable accommodation remains an issue in town.

“The entire community is still short of accommodation for residents, and that includes seasonal staff,” said Rode. “While we have everyone [housed] right now, in some instances we’ve had to put more people in a room than we would normally do. So they’re housed, they’re comfortable, but we still need longer term solutions here for staff housing, and that’s not just for Marmot Basin, that’s for the entire community.”

Approximately one-third of the buildings in Jasper burned during the wildfire – mainly residential – which forced residents and visitors in the national park to evacuate. The infrastructure at Marmot Basin was spared in the devastating event.