Canada and the US have battled extreme heat and forest fires through the summer, but recent days have brought some relief and even pre-ski-season excitement, with the first snowfall spotted on high slopes in the Canadian Rockies. Unusual weather conditions have also brought snow to peaks in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains too.
Mammoth Mountain, which is due to start its 24-25 season in less than three months time on 15th November is pictured above this weekend. Lake Tahoe ski areas to the north also saw a brief snow covering with Northstar, due to open a week after Mammoth on the 22nd pictured below.
The last US ski area that had still been open for the 23-24 season, Timberline in Oregon, ended its nine-month long ‘winter’ just last Sunday and there’s currently nowhere open in North America, except the Big Snow indoor snow slopes of New Jersey.
The snowfall in the Western US follows falls in the Canadian Rockies a few days before, including at Sunshine near Banff, pictured below, which is due to start its 24-25 season in about 10 weeks on November 8th.
