What’s with the asterisk(*)?  We’ll get back to that.

Ski hills around the world struggle with landing an opening date.  Given our ultimate reliance on weather windows to either accumulate or make snow and pack down a base, it is next to impossible to say when any particular hill might be open more than 2 weeks ahead of time.  However, we will work as hard as we can to get you back on the slopes as soon as possible.

Here’s the plan.  Starting around the end of October, we put on our meteorologist hats and scour the web for credible long range forecasts.  We’ll have our T-40 snowguns mobilized and ready to rock as soon as the weather dips even slightly below freezing.  As long as the weather stays in place, we make snow.  Around the clock.  While the snow accumulates into big white whales, we start putting some of the final touches on preparing our operation for opening day.  Chef Alejandro starts buzzing about ordering food and preparing his latest menu creations. Jon and the maintenance team add the t-bars back to the lift line and safety test everything.  Our groomers start spreading out the white stuff.  The lodge gets prepped for opening day and so much more action takes place behind the scenes leading up to that moment when we ring the bell and kick off winter.  Lots of work in a compressed period of time, but this is the time of year our team lives for!

Back to the asterisk(*).

Mother Nature can be a bit spiteful and likes to throw wrenches into plans.  Rather than tempt her by publicly naming an open date, we are just going to gently suggest when you should be ready to Ski PPK.  What we’re basing this off is last year’s Nov 10 open, the earliest in Pass Powderkeg history!  Helping us get there are our workhorse snowguns, our dedicated snowmakers and all the snow vibes from all of you (you can hold off a few weeks and enjoy what’s left of summer!).

What to watch for in the coming weeks:
  • This is the last weekend for our Summer Steak Nights at the PPK Lodge.  Come help us clean out the fridge which is full of great craft beer from all over this great province.  Friday and Saturday from 5-10pm.
  • Come visit us at Fall/Winter Registration Night September 12 at the MDM Community Centre in Bellevue from 6-8pm,  We’ll be there to answer any questions you have and will also be selling season passes.
  • Watch our Website, Social Media and our brand new Blog in the coming weeks as we roll out our plans for our 80th Anniversary season.  Please like and share, it makes a huge difference in helping us tell our story.
  • Don’t want to miss out on anything?  Become a Friend of the Powderkeg by signing up for our newsletter.