Canadian Ski Resort Claims Earliest Opening In at Least 40 Years
The ski season has officially arrived in Canada!
Banff Sunshine Village, Alberta, officially claimed the title of first ski area open over the weekend thanks to a fruitful storm that hit British Columbia and Alberta.
Banff Sunshine officially opened on November 2, 2025, marking the resort’s earliest ever opening date (or at least in the last 40 years, according to a Sunshine Village representative).
Strawberry Chair and its terrain opened over the weekend, including a seven-feature terrain park with both beginner and intermediate lines. Banff Sunshine sold opening day lift tickets for $70 and encouraged folks to dress up in their Halloween costume for opening day.
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Banff Sunshine has already received 77cm (30 inches) of snow this season, and has a base depth of 54cm (21 inches). The last storm dropped more than a foot of snow on the ski area over the last seven days, providing a solid foundation to open with.
Banff Sunshine will hopefully see a few more flurries over the next couple of days with possibilities for another 3-5cm to top off that opening day snow. Another, stronger storm system is expected to move in next week and provide good snowfall totals over a five-day period.
Just up the road from Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise is also reaping the benefits of the last couple of storms and is gearing up for their own early opening on November 4, 2025. Lake Louise’s Juniper Express Chair will start spinning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
Anecdotally, POWDER did a solid chunk of our gear testing for this year at Banff Sunshine last spring and had an absolute blast.
It’s an incredible mountain with fantastic terrain diversity and a sweet locals scene, not to mention the perfect ski-test location. You can find all our reviews in the 2025-26 POWDER Gear Guide, which is all live on the site now.
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