MID SEASON SALE NOW ON!

MID SEASON SALE NOW ON!

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The Season Has Started.

Ski Season has officially started for Rockies skiers, but it's still really early and the conditions refelct that. Is it worth going skiing this weekend? We'll let you decide, but it's definitely time to start prepping and getting excited for the real season to get rolling! Here's what's going on out there to help you out:

Sunshine Village has quite a bit of terrain open considering it's all natural snow. You can lap Wolverine to get the legs going or find some decent skiing on The Shoulder, but it's a long lap around from the bottom of the Shoulder right now. Eight lifts are spinning (Divide, Goat's Eye and Standish are not open yet). The ski out is closed below Goat's Eye as well, though lots of people have been ski touring up it. 

Lake Louise has a fair amount of frontside terrain open all accessed by four lifts: Glacier Express, Summit Quad, Top of the World and the Lower Sunny Carpet. There were a few fun days of soft snow as they opened up terrain last week. Now it might be wiser to carve the groomed runs and wait for more snow to cover some rocks. 

Norquay opened with a bang last week as well. After starting with Cascade chair on Thursday, they opened the Big Chair on Friday and a gaggle of locals were up there to shred Lone Pine in boot-deep powder. You weren't even touching the bottom that day, but now it's pretty scraped off and it looks like Big Chair is closed until more snow comes. Norquay is making snow on Mystic and Spirit and should have more terrain soon. Night skiing won't start until January 6, 2023.

norquay big chair
Norquay Big Chair opening Nov. 2022

Weather: There's a cold front moving in to the Rockies today with a few centimetres falling as we write this but less than 5 cm is expected. Mountaintop lows will drop to -20 to -25 degrees Celsius for the weekend, but it should warm up and hopefully start snowing by Tuesday. The forecasted amounts are a little up in the air right now (one forecast is calling for more than 40cm during the week), but we'll take anything right now!

Opening days to come:

Fernie is planning on opening December 3, 2022 and webcams are already looking good, so mark that on your calendar. 

Kimberley expects to have their crucial North Star Quad operational again for opening day. It was burned down a year ago and really affected their operations last season. They are aiming to open at some point during the third week of December.

Nakiska is blowing tons of snow and race teams are already training up there. They'll open their doors to the rest of us for a "Preview Weekend" November 19-20 and then open fully for the season on November 25, 2022. 

Castle Mountain is tentatively scheduled to open on December 2, 2022. But the infamous T-Bar pub is slated to have a "soft opening" on November, 25 so maybe we'll see you there?

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort already looks good in photos and on the webcams. We're looking forward to the December 9, 2022 scheduled opening for sure.

In the Backcountry, there have been a lot of skiers hitting Bow Summit and Highwood Pass, the two places where you can start touring from 2100m or higher. People are stoked and getting after it, but they are also hitting tons of rocks and the few slopes that have enough snow to ski have been hammered by tracks. It's almost moguls in some spots. Still, if you want a nature walk or to get your gear out for a training lap, there are options. 

rob heule at bow summit
Fresh Friend Rob Heule dodging rocks at Bow Summit last week.

If you want to get excited for opening days at different resorts, check out this story about a couple who tried to ski every resort's opening day in one crazy season: Opening Days.

Want to carve up the manmade groomed runs out there right now? Try a pair of Line Blades!

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