Real Ski Report: Early season kick off for Kicking Horse and Revelstoke

Each week, CBC Calgary's Paul Karchut speaks with dozens of dedicated skiers and boarders across eastern B.C. and southern Alberta to get the real scoop on conditions at resorts, on cross-country trails and in the backcountry.

With322 cmof snowfall already this season, Saturday is expected to be the best opening day forRevelstokeon record.

Kicking Horse also kicks off its season on Nov. 28 afirst for the B.C. hill which has never opened before December.

Kicking Horse staff say all of thelowerand mid-mountainwill be wide open which is quite adifference from the start of last season when people were having to take the chairlift down because there was so little snow.

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Lake Louise

Sunny skies are in the forecast for the next week forBow Valley hills ideal weather for watching theWorld Cup races at Lake Louise this weekend. To celebrate, kids under 12 ski free at the resort this weekend.

All thelifts on the hill are now runningand there continues to be solid coveragethanks to several big snow storms in the last few weeks.

"It's kind of a blessing that everything is packed down now and that we have good coverage,"said RyanBelder, who has been shredding it recently atboth Lake Louise and Sunshine Village.

"Becauseit was kind of bottomless. I mean, there were some goodpockets but you could still hit some sharks under there for the first week or so."

Sunshine

With the exception of Goats Eye, all lifts on the mountainare now spinning.

• Nakiska: Open Nov. 27-29.Regular sevenday a week operations start Dec. 4.
• Norquay:Open daily andMystic Chair and Tube Park are expected to be open this weekend.
• WinSport COP:The hill should haveits magic carpets running by Nov. 28 andmaybe even a chairlift.
• Revelstoke: Nov. 28 is opening day.
• Kicking Horse: Bonus weekends Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6. Regular season opensDec. 11.
• Fernie: Dec. 4. is opening day.
• Panoramaand Castle Mountain: Both mountains open on Dec. 11.
• Kimberly: Dec. 12 is opening day.

X-Country skiing

"It's an embarrassment of riches," saidBobTruman, the man behindskierbob.ca."We don't need any more snow. There's plenty of snow. Now it's just a matter of grooming it and having good tracks toski on."

Truman wasraving about the conditions on theRibbon Creek Trail in Evan-Thomas provincial recreation areaand Mike Norton is amazed at what he's seeing at theCanmore Nordic Centrein November.

"Probably the best conditions I've ever seen," said Norton. However, he doesn't recommend heading toLake Louise just yet. He says the trails there are not "quite ready."

Following a bit of a warm-up over the weekend at Bragg Creek, the trails out there have had a refresh of snow and are once again ingreat shape. In Calgary,the Shaganappi Golf Course trails are packed and are skiable.

Backcountry skiing

The folks from Kananaskis Public Safety are verypleased with how the snowpack is coming together.

"The temperatures are forecasted to get warmer over the next week," said Mike Koppang.

"What that's going to do is that going to help squish the snowpackdown and actually help it get a little bit of strength that's maybe going to persist over the entire winter and set us up with a pretty good base."

For the latest on the snow conditions in specific regions, keep checking the updates ontheAvalanche Canadawebsite.

Have a photo of yourself shredding it through all that November powder? Tweet them to @CBCoutside or send an email to calgaryphotos@cbc.ca

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