{"id":40464,"date":"2017-11-30T13:57:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T20:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=40464"},"modified":"2021-02-10T23:33:17","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T06:33:17","slug":"snowyseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/11\/30\/snowyseason\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother Nature helps hills kick off ski season early"},"content":{"rendered":"

E<\/span>ager skiers and boarders were able to hit the hills early this year at the four major ski resorts in the Banff area of the Canadian Rockies.<\/p>\n

W<\/span>hile Norquay was the first ski hill to open to sliders, Nakiska, Lake Louise and Sunshine were not far behind.<\/p>\n

Simon Moffatt, director of sales and marketing at Norquay<\/a>, said the hill was the first resort to open in Canada, on Friday, Nov. 3 with approximately 400 guests showing up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had several park features set up, great coverage across the run that was open, and many people were scoring powder turns just beyond the run itself,\u201d said Moffatt.<\/p>\n

He said that the best snowmaking conditions for Norquay were in the four days and nights prior to opening.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday and Thursday before the hill opened, there was more than 40 cm of snow accumulated, to help create great early season conditions.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Just Lake It: <\/strong>Jasper Johnson, Communications Manager, stands inside the Lodge of Ten Peaks on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Johnson was happy that the opening date was pushed three days earlier to ease the rush of opening weekend skiers. (Photo by Jessie Foster\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matt Mosteller, the senior vice president of marketing and resort Experience for Nakiska<\/a>, is excited about the new run they have created off the Silver Chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so stoked about having the biggest snowmaking system in Alberta, as that really helps us open up so many ski runs early for guests to enjoy,\u201d said Mosteller.<\/p>\n

Mosteller said the snow-making guns have been going since October and that he would like to give a big thank you to Mother Nature for providing some of the \u201cdeepest early season snow ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to snowfall, Lake Louise<\/a> was able to open on Tuesday, Nov, 7, three days before the originally scheduled kick-off date.<\/p>\n

Event supervisor Leigha Stankewich was happy to announce that they had the opportunity to give away a $200 gift card to one of the riders who started arriving as early as 6 a.m. on opening day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were surprised with having just under 600 people at the resort, which is pretty surreal for a Tuesday,\u201d said Stankewich.<\/p>\n

To keep the excitement high, Lake Louise organized a marshmallow roast sponsored by the hill\u2019s outerwear sponsor, North Face, on Friday, Nov. 10.<\/p>\n

North Face was busy giving away stickers, toques, sunglasses and water bottles to anyone wearing their brand.<\/p>\n

Kicking Horse Coffee<\/a> was also there sampling its new canned Cold Brews.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kickass Coffee: <\/strong>Jesse Millen from Kicking Horse Coffee shows off the company’s new canned cold brews at Lake Louise on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017. Before 9:30 a.m. on opening weekend he had already given away upwards of a hundred cans. He had three different varieties to offer, medium roast, dark roast and the kick ass brew. (Photo by Jessie Foster\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jesse Millen, a tour manager, was marketing the coffee cans to the \u201cmountain-minded people of Lake Louise,\u201d before heading to the Vancouver area as well as the island.<\/p>\n

Robert Colwell wasn\u2019t at Lake Louise for the marshmallows or the sticker giveaways. Instead, he was stomping his boots to be one of the first skiers Friday to ride the chair.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe they opened on Tuesday, I thought I\u2019d be the first one up for the year,\u201d said Colwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still very excited for the day to start.\u201d<\/p>\n

These go-getter enthusiasts aren\u2019t about to let a little bit of rock and pre-season conditions get in the way of enjoying a day on the hill.<\/p>\n

Spread the stoke, get the amp going and kick-off the season right. – Jasper Johnson<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kendra Scurfield, the media and communications manager for Sunshine Village<\/a>, says conditions were above average for November, which allowed them to open two days earlier than planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe snow pack is not at its peak,” said Scurfield.<\/p>\n

“Therefore, we do advise skiers and snowboarders to \u2018ski aware\u2019 as there may be unmarked hazards on the slope.\u201d<\/p>\n

Communications and marketing manager Jasper Johnson, from Lake Louise, wanted to remind everyone to \u201cspread the stoke, get the amp going and kick-off the season right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norquay, Nakiska, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village have opened their doors to skiers who have been waiting all summer to get out on the hill and catch some vertical. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":436,"featured_media":40476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Ski resorts stoked for snowy start to season","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,1106,1586,17],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40464","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-life","9":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","10":"category-recreational-sports","11":"category-sports","12":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/436"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40464"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41014,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40464\/revisions\/41014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}