Check out Alberta’s Alpine Skiing Olympic legacy that is Nakiska, should be a pretty exciting year with 70 new acres of gladed terrain and the new Gold Chair, which gives them the longest fall line skiing in the Rockies.

From their site:

Get your ski gear ready and go!  Nakiska Ski Resort opens for weekends starting this Saturday Nov 14, 2009. Nakiska will feature some of the longest vertical fall line runs open in the Alberta Rockies! That’s right, a whopping 2,800ft of vertical  for your thigh burning enjoyment!   We invite everyone out for the start of an exciting season at Nakiska including all RCR Pass Holders who can SKI FREE at Nakiska until their home resorts open!

With an incredible early season snowfall and Western Canada’s Largest Snowmaking System, Nakiska Ski Resort provides the best skiing and riding conditions in the Alberta Rockies.  On Saturday, skiers and riders will be able to head up the Silver Chair Express and enjoy Grand Trunk and Homesteader.  The exciting debut of the new Gold Chair Express, the only new, high speed quad in the Banff/Bow Valley area, commences this weekend.  Enjoy skiing and riding on Mapmaker, accessible from the Gold Chair Express, starting at 10:30AM on Saturday.  Experience the longest fall line skiing in the Rockies by skiing from the top of the Gold Chair Express to the bottom of Silver Chair Express.

Don’t miss out this season on the 70 acres and 13 new trails in the new Monster Glades.  With the upper section of the Monster Glades open for this weekend, Nakiska will be the only Alberta Ski Resort to  have new trails open for skiers and riders to enjoy.  “The Monster Glades” provide some of the best tree skiing in the Alberta Rockies’ says Matt Mosteller, “We tested it out last weekend and enjoyed knee deep powder and perfectly spread trails. What a blast!”

Click here for all the details!

Early OPENING this Sat. Nov. 14! Great deals to be had this wkd so come on up and shred! Deets coming soon! #OpeningDayRules

Source

Nothing confirmed as at 3:10PM November 9th, but Twitter seems to be buzzing with “heard it from a good source”, “a little birdy told me” etc. that they’re going to kick things into high gear this Saturday!

Search Twitter for whistler early and see for yourself.

Judging by the alpine webcams things are looking exceptional and the snow is in the forecast for the rest of the week… Anti jinx, fingers crossed!

Sun Peaks is already planning an early November 14th opening as well, though things haven’t much improved in the snow department since they announced it, should still be pretty good!

Early reports say even though only one chair was open (due to upcoming World Cup), the conditions were exceptional and look to improve as the week goes on.

That said though, for us here in British Columbia, Whistler is looking prime so far on the upper half and may reschedule for an early opening as well depending on how things go this week.

Rock on!

Lake Louise, Alberta: Lake Louise, Canada’s Favourite Ski Area, will officially open for the season on Friday, November 6 thanks to Mother Nature and one of the most sophisticated snowmaking systems in the world.Skiers and snowboarders will be able to experience those first delightful turns of the season from the top of Glacier Express Chair down three runs: Bald Eagle, Wiwaxy, and Easy Street. These runs descend 1,450 vertical feet over their 3 kilometer length. More runs and lifts should be open by the following weekend, and most of the mountain following one or two more good snowfalls.

All amenities at the full-service base area will be open, including food and beverage facilities, retail, rental and repair shops, the daycare and ski school.

“We’re extremely excited about being the first major ski area in Canada to open” says Lake Louise Marketing Director John Ross. “Because we are one of the few ski areas in the world that can offer superior early season snow, the World Cup circuit will once again start at Lake Louise on the weekend of November 28th prior to moving to the U.S. and Europe. This winter will also be jam packed with various other exciting events such as the Canadian Powder 8 Championships, The Olympic Torch relay, and various other races, festivals, and snowboard events”.

Lake Louise is reaffirming its commitment to offering a superior terrain park and is pleased to welcome back Jeff Patterson, who is world-famous for his designs. Offering a unique and exceptional variety of rails, boxes, jumps and other special features, small portions of the park will be ready, already, by Friday.

Reduced lift ticket prices will be in effect for opening weekend. Adults can ski or ride for $38, seniors (>65) and youths (13-17) for $26.40 and children (6-12) $12.50. Louise Card holders will receive a $10 discount and do not have to use their first day free.

Check our the Lake Louise website here!

Getting a bit tired of all this bad news surrounding the 2010 Olympics, another one of the LAME folder…

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Even if an event were held for female ski jumpers in 2010, the International Olympic Committee says it would not hand out medals or recognize the results.

The IOC’s Dick Pound says a decision from the BC Court of Appeal that would force VANOC to stage an event for the women, would likely eliminate Canada’s chances of ever hosting another Olympic Games.  Pound tells the Vancouver Sun, he also doubts the International Ski Federation would provide any officials to monitor the event.

Source ]]> http://www.canskier.com/2009/10/ioc-female-ski-jumping-will-not-be-recognized-in-2010/feed/ 0 http://www.canskier.com/2009/10/intrawest-to-recommend-that-all-resort-guests-wear-helmets/ http://www.canskier.com/2009/10/intrawest-to-recommend-that-all-resort-guests-wear-helmets/#comments Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:02:25 +0000 admin http://www.canskier.com/?p=96 Vancouver, BC, October 1, 2009 – Intrawest today announced that, beginning with the 2009-2010 winter season, the Company will increase awareness of the importance of helmet use at all of its wholly-owned ski resorts in North America. Intrawest will recommend that all skiers and snowboarders visiting its resorts wear helmets and there will be mandatory helmet requirements for all children and youth participants in Ski and Snowboard School Programs as well as all students participating in freestyle terrain park programs, regardless of their age. The new helmet use guidelines underscore Intrawest’s commitment to guest safety and have the support of the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) and Canada West Ski Areas Association (CWSAA).

A helmet will be included with all children/youth ski and snowboard rental packages from all of Intrawest’s equipment rental outlets. The new guidelines will be supported with enhanced employee education sessions and common language highlighting the importance of helmet use will appear on resort websites and in all trail maps. Going forward, Intrawest will place an increased focus on using website images and advertising visuals that feature skiers and snowboarders wearing helmets and Intrawest will introduce new graphic standards that require all of its ski resorts to feature helmets predominantly.

In the past at some resorts, a parent/guardian has had the ability to opt-out of having their children wear a helmet in certain on-mountain programs and activities. Beginning this season, Intrawest will remove the parent/guardian “opt-out clause” from all children’s waivers for Ski and Snowboard School Programs and all freestyle terrain park student programs.

Looking ahead to the 2010-2011 winter season, Intrawest will require employees to wear a helmet at all times while skiing or snowboarding on-duty in any freestyle terrain park at its resorts. Staff at Intrawest’s Ski and Snowboard Schools will also be required to wear a helmet if they serve as a guide or an instructor for any program that requires mandatory helmet use by a resort guest. Several Intrawest resorts will begin to implement these new employee helmet use guidelines this winter and the remaining resorts will be fully compliant by the beginning of the 2010-2011 winter season.

“Intrawest is working in conjunction with the ski industry to establish important best practices on behalf of our resort guests and employees,” said Bill Jensen, chief executive officer at Intrawest. “Together, we have established a new baseline for helmet use at our resorts that has received strong support from the NSAA and CWSAA. We will continue to work with all of the ski industry associations in the United States and Canada to raise awareness of this important initiative and the obligation of everyone to ski and ride in a controlled and responsible manner.”

The helmet usage guidelines will be phased in at the following Intrawest ski resorts:

• Copper Mountain (Colorado)
• Winter Park Resort (Colorado)
• Steamboat Ski Resort (Colorado)
• Stratton Mountain (Vermont)
• Snowshoe Mountain (West Virginia)
• Mountain Creek (New Jersey)
• Tremblant Resort (Quebec)
• Panorama Mountain (British Columbia)
• Whistler Blackcomb (British Columbia)

Check it out at www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/2010/

Check their webcam page for updates, winter’s coming!

It’s his point of view helmet cam style from the 06/07 season. Good skiing, cliffs, powder, tricks. This ski video has it all.

Blackcomb served up some epic early season powder conditions last weekend (November 4-5, 2005) with Catskinner and Jersey Cream Chairs opening with powder conditions. Sketchy conditions persisted for the bottom half of Solar Coaster, but this Rememberance Day weekend has conditions and coverage vastly improving.

Blackcomb is now open for daily, seven days a week, operations from here on in, with Whistler opening for the season on November 24, 2005.

In local Vancouver skiing news, Cypress is really shaping up nicely with a 100cm+ base. Opening day on Cypress (November 9… earliest ever) was extremely wet, but now that we’re past this brief warming trend, snow is again starting to fall and things are looking good. Rememebrance Day was almost a powder day, and the rest of this long weekend is looking good too with cooler conditions continuing along with precipitation. If all goes according to plan, bases will continue to build… 2005/06 ski season is ON!