After Mt Norquay at Banff kicked off Canada's ski season last Friday a few days earlier than hoped, almost half a dozen more Canadian ski areas have announced they'll be opening too.
The good start to the season has been helped by low temperatures (-20C in Banff yesterday) and some abundant snowfalls (92cm/over 3 feet reported at Kicking Horse at the weekend)
Nakiska, the closest major ski area top Calgary, was the second to open, at the weekend.
Three more Albertan ski areas had announced they would open this coming weekend but now two of them have moved their opening dates forward. Lake Louise will open later today, Tuesday 7th November, and fellow Banff resort Sunshine (pictured top) tomorrow, Wednesday 8th November.
Marmot Basin near Jasper is (so far) sticking to its Friday 10th opening date but it will now be joined by the first BC resort to open for winter 17-18, Cypress Mountain, which says this will be its third earliest opening date in its history.
"We received 30cm of fresh snow on Thursday November 1st followed by perfect temperatures to make snow. With our recently expanded state-of-the-art snowmaking system, we have been making huge amounts of snow on the Eagle Express terrain. Since Friday, we have made the equivalent of 28 football fields with a foot of snow and will continue to blow snow 24 hours a day as the weather permits," a resort spokesperson said.