Ski resorts in Edmonton, Jasper dealing with warm November weather

As ski and snowboarding season are set to kick off soon, Albertans might be eager to hit the slopes, but the resorts are not ready.

Ski operators in Snow Valley are feeling the effects of a lack of snow and a warm start to November.

Tim Dea at the Snowvalley Ski Hall says they have had to reduce their early-season group lessons. They haven’t been able to start making snow due to the warm and windy conditions.

“It’s a little frustrating, for sure, because the last two years it’s been a little late,” said Dea, who in the past has seen the season kick off as early as the first week on November.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had this beautiful weather that you know. You can get your Christmas lights up, but that’s about all,” Dea said.

On Jasper’s Marmot Basin, while the upper peaks are covered in show, the lower mountains are still building a snowpack.

Brian Rode, vice president of Marmot Basin, says they have had to push back their opening from Friday to next week.

“There’s a long, great ski and snowboard season ahead of us, so just because our opening date is pushed back by one week, it is no indication of the great ski and snowboard season ahead of us,” Rode said.

The resorts are waiting for colder weather before turning on the snow machine.

But snowboarders like Mikaela Cusi are waiting for a bounty from the sky.

“We love that huge, unexpected snowfall, and we usually call for powder days. When that time does come around, we’d all go on call. We’d plan the next hangout to the mountains or to the Sunridge, and we just have a great time.”