It was another powder day on the upper slopes of Marmot Basin on Monday
They are the three words skiers and snowboarders wait anxiously to hear from their favourite resorts: we are open.
There were a lot of happy skiers and boarders this past weekend. Unless your favourite resort is Whitewater, Kimberley, Kicking Horse or The Big Mountain, there’s snow and terrain ready for cruising, jumping or however one prefers to ski and ride.
Following the recent openings, with some incredible snow conditions, of Marmot Basin, Sunshine Village, Lake Louise and Sun Peaks, the weekend saw the slopes of Fernie, Big White and Silver Star welcoming skiers and snowboarders.
The conditions aren’t great at all the resorts. For example, Big White has only three of 15 lifts and 12 of 118 runs open.
And Fernie held a preview weekend but won’t open for daily activities until Dec. 1. The resort has received 237 centimetres of snow already but with recent warm temperatures officials decided to stay with their daily opening date of Dec. 1 to allow the weather to stabilize and allow work crews to prepare the mountain.
Meanwhile, Monday brought more “powder alerts” from Lake Louise, Marmot Basin and Sunshine Village.
This past week saw another 66 cm of snow fall on Sunshine, replenishing their coverage and retaining their superb conditions.
Sunshine has 11 of 12 lifts and 74 of 137 runs open. The ski out is closed.
Sunshine Village got another snow dump Monday
Marmot Basin woke up Monday morning to 12 cm of fresh overnight snow. The 16 cm in 24 hours raised its total snowfall this season to 184 cm.
The big news out of Marmot Basin this week is the opening the Knob, one of the most popular areas for the resort’s powder hounds.
With more than a metre and a half of snow having already fallen, Marmot is in excellent condition and all seven lifts are operating.
Now the next big step is opening of it’s new, double black diamond terrain, Tres Hombre.
Lake Louise, honoured last week as the No. 1 ski resort in Canada at the 2017 World Ski Awards, also got an additional 16 cm in 24 hours. That brought its total to 259 cm and creating superb conditions, especially in the back bowls.
Louise has 86 runs open and eight lifts operating, including the carpet lift and the learning area.
Big news for Powder Highway
Kimberley, Fernie and the Powder Highway got great news with the announcement that WestJet link, a new regional air service, will begin to provide flights into the Cranbrook International Airport from Calgary. Beginning in March the airline will run three flights daily, giving skiers and snowboarders quick access to Kimberley (30 minutes away), Fernie (60 minutes) and other resorts on the Powder Highway.
Fares will start at $64 one way, about what it costs to drive from Calgary.
Heli season on the horizon
With ski resorts open, heli-skiing season isn’t far away. Great Canadian Heli-Skiing will take flight Dec. 28 and conditions there are shaping up to be phenomenal.
The La Nina weather pattern has dropped about 250 cm in Great Canadian’s terrain with more on the way.
Located near Golden, B.C., Great Canadian still has a spot or two open for those wanting to get into heli-skiing on Day 1.
For more info and to book go to: http://canadianheli-skiing.com/
Northern Escape, located out of Terrace, B.C., is also looking at amazing conditions. The town itself got dumped on by about 60 cm recently, and Northern Escape says its terrain has already “been blasted with about two metres and the reports coming back from the field are amazing.”
Website: https://www.neheliskiing.com/
