If Mother Nature co-operates, Marmot Basin will open for the season on November 25, about one week earlier than in recent years.

“It all depends on the weather,” said Rob Ellen, marketing and sales assistant for the mountain. “We want to open the whole darn thing, most runs on the upper and lower parts of the mountain and some runs on the Chalet Slope.”

With avalanche and safety crews just starting work, there are no official snow measurements, but Ellen reports that there is roughly a foot of snow at mid-mountain.

“That varies from place to place, of course,” he said. “We had some crews working at the top early in October and they were wading in hip deep snow and we’ve not lost any of that.”

Some man made snow might be required on ski slopes at lower elevations, he added. Ellen says that the decision on opening will not be made until the last minute. Lift ticket discounts would be offered if the hill is partially opened, he said.

“If we open less of the mountain than we’d like to then we may discount tickets for those first days.”

Eager season’s passholders can get their pass photos taken downtown starting this week. This is the first time that customers don’t have to make the trip to the base of the Basin to process their passes. As long as there are no technical difficulties, the pass photo operation should be operational starting Thursday, Ellen said. The Marmot ski centre is located on Patricia Street across from the Mac’s convenience store.