The village at SilverStar Mountain resort is seen in this image from a webcam Monday, Nov. 4, 2024.
Image Credit: SilverStar Mountain Resort
November 04, 2024 - 6:00 PM
There was a late start to the ski season last year, but conditions at ski hills in the Thompson-Okanagan region are looking much better this year.
Environment Canada meteorologist Lisa Erven said this year is a La Nina year which means a higher chance for colder temperatures from December through March.
“If it's -15 Celsius as the snowflakes fall from clouds towards the ground, you don't have any chance for there to be any sort of melting occurring along the outer edges of the snowflake,” Erven said. “There's more air pockets within the snowpack itself. And that's your sort of low density, fluffy powder that you would be skiing through... your champagne powder.”
Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna has reported 23 centimetres of snow already, and Apex Mountain Resort near Penticton has 21 cm. The webcams for SilverStar Mountain Resort near Vernon and Sun Peaks Resort up the road from Kamloops are showing an encouraging amount of snow for skiers and snowboarders.
Big White’s senior vice president Michael J. Ballingall said he expects the resort’s opening day will be on schedule.
“What normally happens is we get a cold spell like this. We get snow, and then it warms up and it melts. We're not predicting that it's going to melt this year,” he said. “We're very confident we'll make our opening day Nov. 28.”
SilverStar's tentative opening date is Nov. 29, Apex Resort's is Dec. 7, and Sun Peaks is hoping to open on Nov. 16.
This year it's an La Nina winter but that doesn't mean there will be more snowfall but it does mean temperatures will probably be colder.
Erven said the best thing for skiers and snowboarders to do is look at forecasts week-to-week to capitalize on the best conditions.
“Some things that ski hills and anyone who's a recreationalist can do is to kind of keep tabs on the trends in your local area. Are the temperatures persistently staying below normal?” Erven said. “Are weather systems approaching from Alaska or the Yukon or the North Pacific, and those are the kinds of trends that will say, ‘yes, this next storm system is going to give us snow.’”
Since the snowfall is looking encouraging this season, Ballingall said Big White is expecting significant traffic including a lot of bookings for the opening weekend.
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Fresh snow at Sun Peak Resort near Kamloops is seen in this screenshot from the resort's webcam Monday, Nov. 4, 2024.
Image Credit: Sun Peaks Resort
“It's all up to Mother Nature, which has got everybody excited,” he said. “The visits to our website are huge. Pent-up demand. People are excited.”
For some locals who are used to Okanagan champagne powder, last year was disappointing with its late start and lower than normal snow base, but Ballingall said ski conditions in the Okanagan never fail to impress tourists.
Ballingall said the mountain usually sees between a 120 cm and 150 cm base, but if there aren’t 20 cm top ups throughout the season some locals are disappointed, while folks from Europe, Australia, or other parts of Canada are still thrilled.
“They love it. They think it's great. They can't understand why the locals wouldn't be coming up,” he said. “It's really good when we mix them all up together. Sitting on a chair with someone from Australia when you've just had 5 cm to 6 cm, to them it's Christmas. To the locals, that's an average day. ‘What are you so excited about?’ It's an interesting phenomenon that we have here in the Okanagan.”
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