Ski Season Is Coming: Sunshine Village Just Saw Its First Snowfall

Sure, pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin patches are great, but as skiers, we prefer a different, colder October tradition: the season’s first snow.

Sunshine Village ski resort, Alberta, just passed that gateway. In a social media post on October 1, 2025, the mountain shared images of snow dusting its upper elevation areas. Beneath the post, stoked poured in, with locals pining for the season to come.

Check it out below.

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A post shared by Banff Sunshine Village (@sunshinevillage)

As is often the case, the snow isn’t sticking around as daytime temperatures at Sunshine Village climb back up. While a few of the ski resort’s webcams still showed some snow coverage this afternoon, it was diminished. 

Still, according to snow-forecast.com, Sunshine Village could see a bit more snow Friday night and Saturday morning. 

The recent storm wasn’t the first time snow fell at Sunshine Village in the past few months. In July 2025, long after the ski resort’s winter season had ended, a surprising, unseasonal storm hit the ski resort, among others in Canada, leaving behind a blanket of white.

October, as usual, marks the final month before North American ski resorts begin opening en masse. According to the Ski Big 3 website, Sunshine Village hopes to begin the 2025-26 season in early November, conditions permitting.

The other resorts in the Banff, Alberta, area have similar timelines. Lake Louise, too, is shooting for November. Mount Norquay, the smallest of the three, has tentatively marked November 14, 2025, on the calendar. 

Elsewhere, the wait could be even shorter. Some ski resorts in Colorado, like Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, and Wolf Creek, might open this month. Last season, Sunday River, Maine, hosted a surprising pre-season day of skiing on Halloween. To add to the excitement, Copper Mountain, Colorado, kicked off this October by starting its snowguns.

Soon, the ski season won’t be a figment of our shared imaginations. Get those squats in. Keep accruing sick days. Grab tickets for a ski movie or two. The best time of the year will be here before we know it.

Related: Review: We Tried Wild Rye’s First Ever Ski Kit