Nakiska Ski Resort planning for earliest opening in decades

Winter is coming and at Nakiska Ski Resort it’s coming early this year.

Matt Mosteller, spokesman for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, said two early season snowstorms gave the hill a good dose of the white stuff this month, setting the stage for an early opening.

“To have the type of storms we’ve had this early in the season — sometimes you get one of them, but to have two really big ones is amazing,” he said.

Thanks to those storms as well as snow-making equipment, the hill will have its earliest opening weekend in 31 years on Oct. 26 and 27.

Mosteller said that they’ve opened on Halloween before, but this will be a new record and will make Nakiska the first ski hill in Canada to open for the 2019-20 season.

According to Mosteller, recent investments in snow-making equipment have allowed them to increase snow production.

But that wouldn’t be possible without help from Mother Nature in keeping temperatures on the low side.

It’s still too early to say which runs will be open, but he said skiers can expect to access runs off the gold chairlift and that uploading and downloading will take place on the Olympic chair.

“We ask everyone to check the snow report for the most up-to-date information because we’re making snow every hour and we’re moving snow and grooming snow, so that list can change quite considerably with even a day,” said Mosteller.

The hill also plans to be open Saturdays and Sundays throughout November and to have the official opening day on Nov. 29.