Even at 90, Mount Norquay is still the fastest to the punch.
Celebrating its 90th anniversary, Norquay will open its lifts for the first time this season on Thursday (Nov. 5), followed closely by the Lake Louise Ski Hill (Nov. 6) and Nakiska (Nov. 7) to begin the ski and snowboard season. Sunshine Village is aiming for a mid-November opening date.
“Our goal is to be open on Nov. 5, with the Cascade Chair open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” said Andre Quenneville, general manager at Mount Norquay.
A Nov. 1 snowstorm dropped 25 centimetres of snow in Lake Louise over the weekend, and close to 40cm of snow in Burstall Pass in Kananaskis, much to the delight of ski hill operators. Last year, Norquay didn’t open until Nov. 14. Of course, much of the snow is still manmade.
“Our summer was excellent. We’ve done some upgrades to our snowmaking system this summer, and we’re now able to maximize the efficiency of the capacity we have,” Quenneville said.
Norquay also has more terrain to take care of this year, as it’s added 10 acres to the hill, as part of its 2013 long range plan. The hill will have a new gladed section and ski out from the Mystic chair. Brushing programs have also opened up new terrain, providing more variety on the old ski hill.
“We’re taking our run count from the 40s to the 60s,” Quenneville said.
Dan Markham, spokesman with Lake Louise, said the ski hill made the decision on Tuesday to open the hill on Friday. The hill plans to open three runs on Friday – Bald Eagle, Easy Street and Wiwaxy, about a week before last year’s opening.
“We’ll be ready to go from top to bottom,” Markham said.
The hill has been making snow since Oct. 16, as it once again prepares for the Lake Louise World Cup alpine event on Nov. 27. About half of its snowmaking goes towards the world cup downhill and super-G runs, while the other half goes toward public runs.
The ski hill has undergone several renovations this year, including a new sushi restaurant run by Las Vegas chef Scott Green in the Great Bear Room in the day lodge.
Nakiska has made a big effort to improve its snowmaking this year, employing a closed loop system for snowmaking compressors, saving 800 gallons of water per minute.
“We’re making snow, everything is on deck to get the place ready,” said RCR spokesman Matt Mosteller. “We’ve made a significant investment in snowmaking and will continue to improve our system, so we’re able to reduce our water use, but make more snow.”
“New snow pumps have been installed on the upper mountain location, so we can make snow on the upper and lower mountain at the same time,” Mosteller said.
Depending on the weather in the next two days, Mosteller said Nakiska could open between two and 15 runs on Saturday.
Lindsay Gallagher of Sunshine Village believes it could be another week or so before it opens, since the hill depends almost entirely on natural snow.
“Last year we just opened with the Strawberry chair. At minimum, we will open with that. We hope to also open the Jackrabbit and Wolverine chair, and our focus is to get the Teepee Town chair open as soon as we can,” Gallagher said.
The new, heated Teepee Town chair is the biggest addition at Sunshine Village, Gallagher said it has received a ton of attention, and the hill will again hold its annual ski before we open contest.
In cross-country ski news, Parks Canada said it will open Moraine Lake Road on Nov. 6, which will launch their season. The Canmore Nordic Centre began blowing snow on Monday in hopes of opening more trails later this month.
