If you’re a diehard skier or snowboarder, waiting for the ski resorts to open might make you feel like a little kid waiting for Christmas morning. Thanks to snow machines and tireless snow-making crews that work through the night, the resorts can open a few runs in early-mid November.
Is it worth making the trip when only a handful of runs are open? This year, Lake Lousie Ski Resort and Sunshine Village Ski Resort were the first ski resorts in Alberta to open lifts and early-season runs to the public. While it wasn’t the first time skiing in November, we wanted to share some key takeaways that can help you plan for next year.
Pros of early-season skiing
The main pro of early-season skiing is that you get to go skiing sooner! It feels good to click your boots back in the bindings and glide off down the mountain. It’s also a good opportunity to test out your gear before the season truly starts so you can make adjustments and book a tune-up if needed.
Here are some benefits of hitting the slopes in November:
Cheaper lift tickets
The cost of lift tickets continuously increases, just like everything else. Fortunately, the cost of early-season lift tickets is about half regular season prices. This makes a day on the hill more affordable, especially if you’re bringing a family. As more runs open, they slowly increase the price of lift tickets.
Warmer weather
Most of the time, you won’t be battling extremely cold weather in November (though it can happen). In my experience, November temperatures on the mountain have hovered around 0 to -5 degrees Celsius. This makes spending the day on the mountain more comfortable and easier to manage if you have children with you.
Decent snow conditions
This year, it was cold enough up there to keep the snow fluffy and aid snow-making crews in building a decent pack. The open runs had good coverage and soft snow. It did get a little scraped out in middle-of-the-run sections near the end of the day, but the edges were still light and fluffy.
Lessons and programs are running.
Booking lessons this time of year has a few advantages. One, there are fewer people. So if you book yourself or your kid in a group lesson, there’s a good chance you’ll have the instructor to yourself. Second, skiers and riders of all abilities can benefit from a lesson to kick off the season. It’s a nice refresher to help you develop better habits on the hill.
Cons of early-season skiing
Though you’ll have a fun time on the hill, there are some drawbacks to early-season skiing.
Less terrain is open.
In November, you’ll only get a few runs open for your entire day of skiing. Depending on the day, that could cause some congestion on those runs, especially as you get closer to the base. Beginner skiers and riders, or families with young children that take unpredictable turns, might feel a little uneasy on a busy run. I was with my 8-year-old son, who is a beginner skier, and I felt it was manageable. Or, if you’re a skier or rider who likes variety, you might not like doing the same runs over and over.
You can also check to see if the resort, as an early-season terrain park, is open and if that’s your jam. Lake Louise had a decent little park ready by mid-November this year and it wasn’t busy.
Only one or two lifts are open.
If it’s a busy day, expect to wait a little longer to get on a lift. When we visited, Lake Louise had two lifts open, including the main gondola, which was enough to spread out the people there. Wait times were not bad at all. However, Sunshine Village had only one lift open the same day, and we heard stories of long, frustrating lineups.
I advise finding out how many lifts are open and then asking around town about wait times. Before we went, I learned that lineups were bad at Sunshine, so we decided to hit up Lake Louise instead. You can even call the ski resort for a report on how busy the lift lines have been.
So, is early-season skiing worth it?
If you love skiing or snowboarding, being outdoors, and itching to make that first trip to the mountains, then yes! It is totally worth it. If you think you might feel frustrated on limited runs or waiting for a lift, and that frustration outweighs the benefits, you can wait until all the lifts and runs are open.
And that won’t be long from now!
