The combined efforts from both yourself and our staff are why our 2020-21 season continues to be successful for what will be 171 days. We continue to witness many sm’eye’les, laughs and yippees around the mountain. This ski season wouldn’t be what it is without you. From our staff at Marmot Basin to you, we send a heartfelt thanks for a safe and fun-filled season.
Skiing at Marmot Basin has looked a bit different, but the pandemic continues to remind us why we choose to ski the wide-open terrain our home in the Canadian Rockies has always offered in the first place. With less than one week of spring skiing to go until closing day on May 2, there are already so many reasons to celebrate.
We're offering you 20% off all lift tickets for the remainder of the season when you purchase online. Enjoy the spring lift ticket deals for closing weekend and read on as we recap some of our 2020-21 ski season’s most memorable moments.
Opening Day, November 12
Our staff couldn’t have been happier to see how much appreciation you had for returning to the slopes after a longer than normal off season. Marmot Basin has always looked out for the safety of our guests and staff first and foremost, and while we were happy to fulfill our covid safety mandate, we were still greeted by you, our guests, with open minds. Open arms will have to wait until next season.
Marmot Basin started the 2020-21 winter ski season off with 110cm of snowfall accumulation; we’re very thankful to be ending the spring ski season with just over 500cm accumulated throughout the season! Our mountain operations team was quick to open more than 40 runs within our first week of operation and by the second weekend of operation more than half of the mountain was open to the public.
Christmas and New Year
By December we were blessed with 165cm of accumulated snowfall and all main runs were open, including the anticipation of opening the Knob Chair. As we saw higher vehicle volumes and tougher health restrictions through the holiday season, you truly embraced Marmot Basin’s hill-side park n’ ski opportunities. You’ve really proven the value of convenience, such as using your own vehicles as a picnic spot and truly making the best of the hassle-free skiing and snowboarding Marmot Basin has always offered.
January 3rd brought us the first big snowfall of the season; 28cm of fresh snowfall in 24 hours! We can’t even begin to count the number of cheers we heard echo throughout the mountain.
The holiday season brought some new skiers and snowboarders and we welcomed back many returning mountain-goers. We know you have other ski areas you may have considered. We’re overjoyed you chose to spend this uniquely unexpected holiday season with us here at Marmot Basin.
Jasper in January: Virtual Style
By January, the opening of the entire mountain was in full throttle and your enthusiasm sure did deliver! Our boardercross course was also well received by all ages. While we couldn’t gather for our typical events, this gave households something to have a little friendly competition with as an alternative.
We featured some virtual activities such as our first ever Epic Edit Video Competition which allowed skiers and snowboarders of all ages to explore more of Marmot Basin’s off-piste natural and man-made features at their own pace. You really embraced how the pandemic has helped shape a new approach of competition-style events. We received several quality video entries making our first ever video contest a soaring success, so much so that we ran a second video competition in March, the Marmot Big Mountain Video Contest. All of the video entries demonstrated the diverse terrain Marmot Basin has to offer, expert and all! Click to view the winning entry.
Our Ski Patrol team also went virtual for their annual Avalanche Awareness Day with a four-part Avalanche Awareness video series. As we hope to host this event in-person during the 2021-22 season, this year’s shift to virtual events has allowed us to reach a wider audience than we could have ever imagined. We look forward to embracing both in-person and virtual means moving forward.
Snowy March and Historical Opening of Marmot 1 Left
February brought us some of the coldest weather of the season, but the blistering cold snap was soon behind us. We were blessed to have ended February with some warmer temperatures and snow in the forecast. Spring tends to be the snowiest months in the Canadian Rockies. And boy, did the forecast ahead not disappoint!
Arguably, the biggest news of the season came in mid-March. For the first time in our operation’s 57-year history, our Ski Patrol and mountain staff worked tirelessly to open new expert terrain, Marmot 1 Left, beside Susie’s and McCready’s Choice, which is accessible from the Peak. It’s a joy to watch you indulge in this new terrain, especially on the powder days.
The health regulations loosened up enough that we were able to host our annual demo days. Further, we witnessed a wonderful turnout for the four-day Mountain Club Spring Sessions where our Snow School Instructors offered plenty of diverse skiing and snowboarding lessons for all ages and abilities. It was delightful to host different levels of skiers and snowboarders so much that we plan to run these sessions next spring!
March delivered another 20cm of fresh snowfall to slide into April with.
Finishing the 2020-21 Season in Colourful Fashion
April keeps on delivering the goods with several noteworthy snowfalls. It feels like April has flown by, but we’re excited to announce the mountain sits at a settled snowpack of just over 140cm and a total accumulated snowfall of 503cm heading into closing weekend.
Our annual, and one of our personal favourites, Aloha Cup was converted into an Aloha Dress-Up Party (socially distanced of course!) as the provincial health restrictions had other plans for us. We added some more colour to the end-of-season festivities by hosting our annual Pride Flag Run which was unfortunately cancelled last season due to an early mountain closure. Both of these events added some cheer back into the season and we’re looking forward to one last hurrah for Retro Weekend, April 30-May 2!
Wrapping Up Our 2020-21 Winter Season Retro Style
This season, we’ve decided to thank you in the best way we know how… closing off what will be 171 days of skiing with 20% off all lift tickets when you purchase online so that everyone can focus on a good ol’ season send off. You deserve it! Get your old onesies and bomber windbreakers out because we'd love to finish the season off with you the same way skiing and riding started: fashionable and with plenty of timeless memories. Further, when you present your season pass from any other ski area, you'll receive 40% off lift tickets. View all spring skiing deals.
Together we persevered and overcame this unusual season. We appreciate your ongoing compassion, and we're already looking forward to what winter holds for 2021-22. First, let’s give the final weekend heck! Will you be joining us?
Photo credit to Bob Covey, Jasper Local
View more photos by clicking through the carousel below.
