After the return of some more wintery weather last night, and resuming snowmaking operations this morning, Sugarloaf officials announced that Maine's tallest winter resort will kick off its 66th season on Thursday, November 24 at 8:30am. Skiing and riding on opening day will be available on Tote Road and Candyside, serviced by the SuperQuad, and is recommended for advanced skiers and riders only. Despite above-normal temperatures for much of November, Sugarloaf's snowmakers were able to run as many as 120 snowguns earlier in the month, stock piling snow at higher elevations. The resort is currently running more than 125 guns on the Tote Road trail. "At this time of the year, we are always at the mercy of Mother Nature," said Rich Wilkinson, Sugarloaf's Vice President of Mountain Operations. "Thankfully, the weather is forecast to remain in our favor for the next 48 hours, and we plan to operate as many guns, as much as possible, to get this place ready to go." As a continuation of the ...

Already, 25 cm have fallen in the last 48 hours at the base of Mont SUTTON and 35 cm have been measured at the summit. Mont SUTTON is aiming for an official opening on December 10 thanks to the current conditions and the forecast for the upcoming days. The arrival of a sustained cold snap foreseen this Sunday should be ideal for starting the snow guns. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but this weather looks promising for the near future, presaging an opening for mid-December for the greatest pleasure of skiers and snowboarders. If Mother Nature is still on our side, Mont SUTTON fans could be even happier with an early opening. One thing is certain, the precipitations of the last days are looking good for the start of the season! Source : ​Nadya Baron, Marketing Director - Mont SUTTON

Thanks to a mix of natural and manmade snow, Sunday River Resort will open for skiing and snowboarding tomorrow, Wednesday, November 23, 2016. New this year, the resort will offer top-to-bottom skiing and snowboarding on its Aurora Peak with trails including Northern Lights, Paradigm, Borealis, Aludra, and Lights Out. All opening day terrain is for advanced skiers and snowboards only; snowguns are scheduled to run with active snowmaking as long as temperatures allow. Visibility will be limited, and manmade and natural obstacles do exist. To access Sunday River's opening day terrain, guests will board the Chondola chairlift out of the South Ridge base area starting at 9 a.m. Once at the top of the chairlift, skiers and snowboarders can either schuss into the Aurora Basin for top-to-bottom laps; take advantage of the early season terrain park located near the top of the Chondola; or grab a quick bite and beverage at the adjacent mid-mountain Peak Lodge. To return to South Ridge before th...

Photo from Sunshine Village Facebook page

​Sunshine Village Ski and Snowboard Resort will be the first resort in Canada to open its doors to ski and snowboard enthusiasts on Thursday, November 3, 2016. This is Sunshine's earliest opening in over 30 years. The resort will open with four Chairlifts including Wawa, Strawberry, Jackrabbit and Wolverine, one magic carpet and one 8-passenger gondola. With a current base of over 69 cm (27 in) of all-natural snow, Sunshine Village is poised for a solid start to the 2016-2017 season. "A large amount of precipitation starting in early October means the champagne powder snow has piled up fast," says Dave Riley, Chief Operating Officer at Sunshine Village, "the Sunshine Village team has been working incredibly hard and we are thrilled to be the first resort in Canada to open its doors to our guests." The resort will offer full ski school programs as well as Tiny Tiger and Kids Kampus programs starting Thursday, in addition to opening select on-mountain dining and retail venues. Banff's on...

With 6 ski mountains in the Gatineau region (Camp Fortune, Edelweiss, Mont Cascades, Mont Sainte Marie, Ski Vorlage and Mont Chilly) and 2 in the Ottawa Valley (Calabogie Peaks and Mount Pakenham), there is plenty of choices to choose from when planning a ski outing, learning a new sport, or choosing where to get your season pass. Each mountain is unique, and they all offer something different, that set them apart. Any of them will surely become a great second home to you, in your pursuit of snow and skiing, so you are guaranteed a great experience no matter where you choose to ski. This blog post will mostly focus on what each offers, the differences that may be an advantage for you, as well as a few things to keep in mind. You can see the full profile for each ski resort by clicking it's name below. All have a video available. Camp Fortune Camp Fortune is by far the closest to the city centre, located only 15 minutes away from the Parliament. Offering 3 very unique sides, there is pl...

Available for Apple iOS and Android, Ski Tracks is a great app to have, to get the lowdown on all the stats of your latest ski outing, or adventure. Utilizing GPS tracking built in to your smart device, it will record your position, altitude, speed and much much more. Using it is simple, after you install the app, just open it up, and click START. The app will then record your GPS information as you go through your ski day. In the end, you will have access to a multitude of stats, not limited to: -How many runs you did. -How many vertical metres or feet you descended as well as ascended. -Your altitude, as well as maximum and minimum altitudes achieved. -The total distance travelled. -Maximum speed and average speed. -Average angle of the trails you skied. -Total time elapsed. What really sets it apart is reviewing all this information afterwards. Using a satellite image map, the app projects your path down the mountain onto the map, visually showing you where you went, as well as your...

Properly maintained skis are essential for maximum performance, and skier satisfaction. Expert Peter Kunstadt gives you a great tutorial on how to do this essential task on your own equipment, thus making sure you are always at your best on the slopes with properly tuned skis.

In this video, Peter Kunstadt and Krista Bellinger of Kunstadt Sports, will guide you through the many choices of ski boots available, as well as the process of selecting the proper ski boot for you. How To Properly Fit and Size Ski Boots In this video, Peter Kunstadt and Krista Bellinger of Kunstadt Sports, will guide you through the process they use to fit a skier to a ski boot, thus ensuring comfort and maximum performance. How To Select the Right Ski Boots for you In this video, Peter Kunstadt and Krista Bellinger of Kunstadt Sports, will guide you through the many choices of ski boots available, as well as the process of selecting the proper ski boot for you. https://www.slopeedge.ca/content/how-to-select-the-right-ski-boots-for-you How To Choose the Right Skis and Bindings for you Downhill skiing is an exciting sport and a fun activity, but as with any sport it is important to choose the right equipment. Downhill skiing requires a different type of equipment than cross-country, s...

In this video, Peter Kunstadt and Krista Bellinger of Kunstadt Sports, will guide you through the process they use to fit a skier to a ski boot, thus ensuring comfort and maximum performance. How To Select the Right Ski Boots for you In this video, Peter Kunstadt and Krista Bellinger of Kunstadt Sports, will guide you through the many choices of ski boots available, as well as the process of selecting the proper ski boot for you. https://www.slopeedge.ca/content/how-to-select-the-right-ski-boots-for-you How To Choose the Right Skis and Bindings for you Downhill skiing is an exciting sport and a fun activity, but as with any sport it is important to choose the right equipment. Downhill skiing requires a different type of equipment than cross-country, snowboarding and other wintertime activities. Newcomers to the sport are often daunted by the sheer number of choices available, but there are some guidelines available to make selecting the perfect skis a bit easier.What's Your Skiing Styl...

Downhill skiing is an exciting sport and a fun activity, but as with any sport it is important to choose the right equipment. Downhill skiing requires a different type of equipment than cross-country, snowboarding and other wintertime activities. Newcomers to the sport are often daunted by the sheer number of choices available, but there are some guidelines available to make selecting the perfect skis a bit easier.What's Your Skiing StyleBefore you can choose the perfect downhill skis, you first need to evaluate your skiing style. What type of terrain are you most familiar with? Do you prefer the groomed runs and convenient lifts of Alpine skiing, or do you prefer the excitement of back country skiing? Do you love showing off your skills in so-called park-and-pipe ski areas – specially designed terrain parks complete with jumps and other challenging obstacles, or do you prefer the fun of freestyle skiing? How you answer these questions will have a big impact on the type of ski that is ...

We often take for granted the snow on the ground, but ski resorts are not in a position to do the same. Snow is essential to their operation and success. With the ever unpredictable weather received in winter, which includes thaws, rain and worse, ski resorts need to "weather-proof" their operation as much as possible. One way to accomplish this is through snowmaking.Snowmaking allows a mountain to offer great ski conditions from the beginning to the end of a season, stepping in when nature presents issues, or helping touch up the ski slopes.In this video, made in collaboration with Calabogie Peaks, we take you "Behind the Scenes" and discover how snowmaking is accomplished and how the impressive technology works, in this guided tour with the resort's President, Paul Murphy and Brian Bunch, Mountain Operations Manager.

In this video, Martin Rochon, Mountain Director at Station Mont Tremblant, takes us on a tour of the Duncan Express (Doppelmayr Quad Detachable Chairlift), explaining the major principals of how detachable ski lifts work, as well as the major systems. You will also see inside Tremblant's Express Gondola (Doppelmayr 8 Passenger Detachable Gondola).Lifts are very complex machines, stretching over vast distances and climbing mountains with ease. Detachable lifts posses the technology to allow a faster speed up the mountain, thanks to their capability of detaching from the cable at the base and summit of the lift. When detached inside the terminals, the chairs or gondola cabins are able to move through at a greatly reduced speed, making loading and unloading easy, safe and more comfortable. Returning to the cable, the lift assumes a speed that can be double that of a conventional lift. With the higher speeds, skiers and snowboarders are brought back to the summit in less time.

​It's time to kick-off a new ski season! Although only the early steps in a complex operations plan designed to achieve optimal coverage, snowmaking efforts began last night owing to a first band of cold weather. Tremblant's 1,133-strong snowgun squad has the capability of burying the equivalent of 76 football fields under one foot of snow in only 24 hours. Better get ready ‒ skiing starts in just 30 days! Time to Book & Save on Vacations By booking a Winter Vacation before November 29 2016, visitors save up to 25% on reservations between November 1 2016 and April 30 2017. Plus, guests who stay with participating lodging partners are also entitled to free privileges like First Tracks, free skates and evening tubing! And the ​Latitude Card gets you out on the ski trails for as little as $57 a day. ​Source : Annick Marseille, Public Relations Advisor, Tremblant

Photo from Killington Resort facebook page

Killington Resort, the largest four-season resort in Eastern North America, is scheduled to kick off its 2016-17 winter season at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 25, becoming the first Eastern resort to open for skiing and snowboarding. The first turns of the season will be dedicated exclusively to Season Pass and Express Card holders, and the resort will open to the general public on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. Killington's operating schedule for the remainder of the week will be updated in real time at www.killington.com/conditions. Snowmaking began in earnest on October 10, with production both on North Ridge ski trails Rime and Reason for public use, and upper Superstar trail where the Audi FIS World Cup will take place November 26-27. Over five inches of natural snow blanketed Killington on Sunday morning, providing snowmakers with an excellent base which they began adding to in the early hours of Sunday as snowfall tapered off and temperatures continued to drop. "With ...

(Photo : Alain Denis) - The executive of Les Sommets, accompanied by Louis Dufour, Chairman of the Board and Vice President Customer Experience and Development, and Louis Philippe Hébert President and CEO.

New identity for a pillar of the ski industry With an international reputation and all its four seasons activities, the group MSSI decided to re-position its brand, consulting with marketing communications agency Cossette and digital media agency, Sigmund, culminating in the birth of a new identity. From the installation of the first North American ski lifts to the development of one of the largest ski areas in North America, the history of Mont Saint-Sauveur is filled with family, ambition, innovation and passion. Since its infancy in the 70s, Mont Saint-Sauveur has continued to grow and innovate, becoming one of the most important economic engines in the region. Combining several ski resorts, camping, a tree top adventure, a water park, an amusement park and now mini golf, Mont Saint-Sauveur has become over the years a 'leader' in the recreational tourism industry. MSSI becomes Les Sommets Proud of its history and supporting the vision of its founder, the late Jacques G. Hébert, the ...

Bromont, montagne d'expériences today announced investments of $1.5 million, which will be used to help improve the service infrastructures, mechanical lifts and snowmaking capacity. Efforts will be made to find new ways to improve and sustain crowd management across the site. "Last year, we surveyed our clients at the end of the season to find out which areas needed improvement, so we could target our investments accordingly," explains Charles Désourdy, President and CEO of Bromont, montagne d'expériences. "Traffic misperception is also an important issue our team is working on in an effort to continue to enhance our client experience," he adds. This year's investment of $1.5 million is in addition to the $50 million invested over the past 10 years. Improved infrastructures The capacity of the Chalet du Lac was increased by approximately 20 percent this year. It will also feature more storage space for visitors to this slope side. In addition, the cable of the detachable chairlift at ...

Mont SUTTON, one of Quebec's major ski resorts located in the Eastern Townships, is already gearing up for the 2016-2017 ski season. This season is the resort's first under the ownership of Jean-Michel Ryan, Pierre Chesnay and Sylvain Gervais and visitors can expect many exciting changes in a near future. This year will be one of transition, allowing for an in-depth analysis of potential diversification opportunities, of a real-estate development plan and of the resort's future endeavours. For this winter, the new owners are investing half a million dollars in the improvement of the existing snowmaking infrastructure.A year of transition that bodes well for the future This new season about to begin will mainly be one for reflection. A quarter of a million dollars will be invested in the creation of a master plan intended to turn the resort into a major four-season tourist destination, while staying true to the resort's authentic DNA. « We want to mobilize the active forces in Sutton in...

Projects are expected to be implemented for this coming winter A series of energy efficiency initiatives now underway at Cannon Mountain is expected to reduce energy consumption at the ski area by about 30 percent, while significantly increasing snowmaking capabilities. The State of New Hampshire signed a $5.1 million contract with the energy service firm Ameresco for the project. "This is part of the state's effort to reduce its energy consumption 50 percent by 2030," said Commissioner Jeffrey Rose of the Department of Resources and Economic Development, which oversees operation of Cannon Mountain. "Even as this important project is anticipated to cut energy consumption, it will provide critical upgrades to important infrastructure at the ski area." The conservation measures include replacement of Cannon's main-trunk powerline and upgrading the transformer; construction of a mid-mountain snowmaking booster pump house; installation of 388 high efficiency tower snowmaking guns, and ligh...

Waterville Valley Resort announces today the start of the Green Peak Expansion project, scheduled to open for the 2016/17 Winter Season. This first phase of the project will include the cutting of 10 new trails to provide 45 new acres of skiing and riding and will be serviced by a fixed grip chairlift. This will be Waterville Valley Resort's biggest expansion project in more than 30 years. Jack Sanders, a longtime skier at Waterville Valley and attorney for the Resort said "I congratulate Chris Sununu, his leadership team and the management of Waterville Valley Holdings on launching the first expansion of the ski area. Chris Sununu is President of the ownership group which is the fourth company to own Waterville Valley, but the first to expand the ski area." Sanders continued, "I have been skiing in Waterville Valley since Tom Corcoran developed it as a first class ski area and now with new leadership, the updated master plan is on the road to being fulfilled. What is amazing is to see...

Photo : Priscilla Emerling

Coming this winter - FunZone 2.0, a one-of-a-kind $4.1 million indoor play space for families. The FunZone will offer two levels of high-energy fun with entertaining and challenging activities such as a ninja warrior obstacle course, dual climbing wall, inflatables and bouncy houses, laser tag, slot car racing, an arcade and redemption center, and more. This premiere facility will encompass 26,000 square feet with a broad range of activities for all ages to enjoy. Smugglers' original FunZone set the bar for resort family fun. When it opened in 1999 it was an innovative facility that was unparalleled at mountain resorts, and it quickly became one of the most popular features at Smugglers'. The new FunZone with its expanded space, more varied mix of features, and improved services is an example of Smugglers' continuing commitment to serving the interests of its family visitors through innovative programming and activities. The expected opening for the new FunZone is mid winter 2016/2017....

Sunday River Resort will install a new three-person chairlift on Spruce Peak and a new top terminal on Locke Mountain. Both the new chairlift and top terminal are manufactured by Doppelmayr USA, Inc; construction for the new top terminal is currently underway. Like the original Spruce Peak Triple, the new $2.1 million dollar Doppelmayr fixed-grip three-passenger chairlift will be built in the same location and use a conveyor system to help load passengers onto the chairlift. Passenger ride time is expected to improve from 12 minutes to 10 minutes. The decision to replace the resort's 1986-built Spruce Peak Triple comes after the original chairlift's top terminal detached from its foundation in an unwitnessed event on July 10, 2016. The Spruce Peak Triple does not operate in the summer and there were no injuries. Engineers recently identified concrete grout failure as the cause of the detachment and determined that damage from the event warranted replacing the entire lift. From these fi...

Photo : Killington Resort, Facebook page

Vermont's Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard destination in Eastern North America, has begun snowmaking in advance of the 2016 Audi FIS Ski World Cup comes to Vermont's largest ski area on November 26-27, 2016. Killington Resort was the first North American ski mountain to open its season to the general public in 2015, in part because of the resort's advanced snowmaking and grooming prowess. Killington typically begins the longest season in the East with exclusive access for season pass holders, rewarding commitment to the resort with the first turns of the winter. Season Passes, Express Cards and K-Tickets are all currently on sale, but with price deadlines approaching later this week. Snowmaking lit up on Killington and Skye Peaks just before dawn Monday, building stockpiles for both public consumption on North Ridge trails and the approaching Audi FIS Ski World Cup races on the legendary trail Superstar. In addition to summer snowmaking improvements to the water lines,...

Brand new this winter in Stowe is the opening of an 80 million dollar Adventure Center. This state-of-the art facility literally sets a new standard in the industry for kids and family amenities. Located at Spruce Peak and adjacent to Stowe's new outdoor Ice Skating Rink, Stowe's Adventure Center is home to all Stowe's children's programs. From beautiful daycare facilities to ski and ride programs for kids 3 and up, the new Adventure Center has significantly advanced and expanded family amenities and services at the resort. The building also includes new shops, an Indoor Climbing Center (called Stowe Rocks) and family-friendly dining. www.stowe.com Spruce Peak Village CenterIncludes a new crepe restaurant, a gourmet food and beverage market, a coffee shop and retail shopping. The shops at Spruce Peak include the latest mountain lifestyle brands, winter gear, Stowe logo products, regional crafts and more – all conveniently gathered among a distinctive variety of new shops and eateries w...

Photo : Nick Lambert

As temperatures fell at Sunday River Resort overnight, the snowmaking team fired up the snowguns at 4AM for their initial systems test on Saturday, September 24, signaling the beginning of winter 2016-17 just three days after the first day of fall. Sunday River typically opens for skiing and snowboarding on or around Halloween, and this annual snowmaking test confirms: all systems go. During this morning's test, snowmakers ran 10 snowguns on the Lower Downdraft ski trail, just below the top terminal of the resort's signature Chondola chairlift. This season's opening plan will include top-to-bottom skiing and snowboarding on Aurora Peak, accessed by the Chondola out of the South Ridge base area. Though the resort has not yet set an official opening date, this test does give Sunday River's snowmakers the go-ahead to crank the system at full capacity—8,100 gallons of water and 60,000 cubic feet of air per minute, producing four acre feet per hour—at the first sustained cold spell with tem...

Vail Resorts, Inc. continues to raise the bar for skiers and riders as the Company invests approximately $100 million in the guest experience for the upcoming winter across its resorts, bringing its five-year, industry-leading resort investment total to more than $500 million across the Company. The most significant improvements include a new restaurant on Peak 7 at Breckenridge, an upgraded high-speed chairlift accessing Vail's Back Bowls, significant renovations to the guest rooms of The Pines Lodge, A RockResort at Beaver Creek, and $13 million to completely re-imagine the guest experience at Wilmot Mountain, located near Chicago, Ill. "Guests expect a premium experience when they visit one of our resorts, including the highest levels of guest service as well as the cutting edge in lifts, restaurants, lodging and other elements of their vacation," said Kirsten Lynch, chief marketing officer of Vail Resorts. "This year's resort improvement plan reflects our goal to continue to delive...