Ski Season Starts Today in Canada After Big Snowfalls

Mt. Norquay in Banff National Park will be the first ski resort in Canada to open for the season later today 11am local time. It will stay then open 7 days/week from 9am to 4pm through to next spring.  (Image taken yesterday at Norquay credit Luke Sudermann)

It will be joined on Saturday by Nakiska ski area (video below).

A week later the other two Banff ski areas, Lake Louise (below) and Sunshine, are scheduled to open for their six-month ski season to May 2018, along with a fifth Albertan ski area, Marmot Basin up near Jasper.

Tera Swanson of SkiBig3 which represents the three Banff ski areas believes sunshine may open even sooner than a week tomorrow, commenting,

“Though Banff Sunshine has a tentative opening date of November 10th, they may be following hot on Norquay’s heels, as there is speculation they may pull the trigger early. Stay tuned on social for updates.”

There have been big snowfalls across Western Canada over the past 48 hours and that’s continuing now and through the weekend.

Some areas have already had 50cm/20 inches of snow and forecasts suggest some may have as much as a metre of snow by the start of next week.

The snow is also falling south of the border in the north western USA with Jackson Hole In Wyoming reporting one of the biggest accumulations so far (45cm as of yesterday evening).

“With 27cm of fresh snow, Mt. Norquay is in good shape for the first tracks of the winter PLUS an open terrain park,” Tera Swanson added, concluding, “All-in-all great news for Banff National Park’s SkiBig3 resorts. We’re shaping up for a fantastic start of the season, with a promising forecast and solid snowpack.”