North America Weekly Roundup #264

Canada’s Ski Season Gears Up: Banff and Whistler on the Brink of Opening

• Banff's Mt. Norquay plans to open its 24-25 season on November 2nd, with heavy snowfall reported in Western Alberta.
• Whistler Blackcomb saw 18cm (7") of fresh snow over the weekend, with Cypress Mountain and Quebec also experiencing early snowfalls.
• The forecast shows cold temperatures and dry, clear weather for the coming week, ideal for ski season preparations in British Columbia and Alberta.

Canada Report

We’re just over a week away from the expected start of Canada's 24-25 season, with Banff's Mt. Norquay targeting November 2nd for its opening. Western Alberta, where it is located, has reported repeated snowfalls. Recent snowfall has also been reported over to the Pacific Coast, with Whistler Blackcomb, set to open in less than a month, seeing about 18cm (7") accumulate in its higher alpine terrain over the weekend, while Cypress Mountain, further down the coast, reported its first snowfall of the autumn. Snow has also fallen on peaks in Quebec earlier last week.

Canada Forecast

A promising forecast for the remainder of the week, with overnight lows in the mountains down to -10°C and daytime highs only a few degrees above freezing in central and eastern British Columbia and western Alberta. It looks mostly dry through the weekend, with plenty of sunshine expected and clear skies overnight.

USA Report

Excitement has been building over the past week in the US, with repeated snowfalls in the Rockies at the end of last week and the start of this week. Some ski areas have posted combined totals of 18" (45cm), and it's also been snowing in most Western regions, including the Pacific Northwest, the Northeast, and even the Midwest.

Ski tourers have begun sharing images of their first descents of the 24-25 season, with skillful photography from Silverton Mountain in Colorado making a 7” (17cm) accumulation look like deep powder! Cold weather has also arrived, which is arguably even more important for early-season openings. Ski areas like Arapahoe Basin, Copper, Keystone, and Loveland fired up their systems on Thursday and Friday of last week.

It wasn’t just the high Colorado resorts—centers in Arizona, California, and across the West, as well as in the East and Midwest, have had snow guns firing too.

This all culminated with Colorado’s Wolf Creek announcing late Sunday that it planned to open for its 24-25 season on Tuesday, the first to do so in both the US and all of North America. Wolf Creek (12/16" / 30/40cm) reported that it had received 21" (53cm) of snow over the weekend and planned to operate three chairlifts, a beginner carpet lift, and open around 30% of its terrain, seven days a week, while cautioning about early-season conditions. This is Wolf Creek’s 85th season. With more snowfall on Monday, which was heavier in some areas than on Friday and Saturday, and cold weather continuing overnight at high altitudes, it seems likely that other high-altitude ski areas in Colorado will announce openings soon.

Arapahoe Basin and Copper Mountain were among those reporting a foot (30cm) of fresh snowfall on Monday morning, with overnight lows dipping into the low 20s, ideal conditions for snowmaking.

USA Forecast

After Monday's snowfalls, the weather has settled, with a return to predominantly dry, sunny conditions in the West. Overnight temperatures are dropping below freezing, as low as 20°F on higher slopes, but still rising well above freezing in the afternoon at lower elevations. For now, higher-elevation centers have the advantage.