Marmot Basin near Jasper in Alberta, Canada, opened on November 11, its earliest opening day ever, and welcomed a record number of skiers and boarders for the first day of the season. Over 2,300 enthusiastic snow seekers hit the slopes on what will go down as one of, if not the best, opening days ever for this Rocky Mountain resort.
Six lifts and 43 runs were open and snow conditions were reported be "one of the best ever" for an opening day. Marmot's state-of-the-art snowmaking system complimented abundant early season natural snowfall resulting in near perfect mountain conditions.
"We were anticipating lots of skiers and riders for our first day of the season but never did we imagine there would be so many", said Brian Rode, Marmot's VP of Marketing. "Word got out that we had incredible snow conditions and more terrain open than any other resort and that's what did it for us" added Rode.
Marmot's new Canadian Rockies Express high speed quad chair was also in full operation and was the talk of the mountain. The new chair is very fast, travelling at over 5 meters per second, and takes riders up 2.3 km in only 7.5 minutes. Getting from the base of the mountain to the top of the upper area now takes less than half the time it took previously.
"We could not have asked for a better opening day. Everyone was thrilled with the snow conditions and the new high speed quad chair. The ski area was one big grin factory all day long", said Rode.
Marmot expects to open more runs very soon and is anticipating a record breaking season.
Courtesy of and © Snow24 plc