Castle Mountain Resort will be open for a sneak peek weekend on Saturday, November 26 and Sunday, November 27, 2022. The site will open for the full winter season on Friday, December 2, 2022. (Photo: Castle Mountain Resort)

By Justin Goulet

Castle Mountain Resort gears up for earliest opening in its modern-day history

Nov 24, 2022 | 9:46 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Winter sport enthusiasts can head out to Castle Mountain Resort this weekend.

The Southern Alberta site will be open on Saturday, November 26, 2022, and Sunday, November 27 for a special sneak peek weekend. Sales and Marketing Manager Cole Fawcett told Lethbridge News Now that this weekend “will represent our earliest opening in our modern-day history.”

A limited number of lifts will be operating for the sneak peek. They include the Huckleberry Chairlift, the Green Chairlift, and the Buckaroo carpet. Lifts will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Fawcett said guest services should be open a half-hour to an hour before the lifts start spinning in case any users would like to purchase season passes.

After this weekend, Castle Mountain will close again to set up for the resort’s official full season opening on Friday, December 2. This winter, Castle Mountain will be open seven days a week.

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NO CAPACITY LIMITS

Fawcett believes the limited amount of lifts open for the sneak peek weekend might keep the number of guests down, but staff members are prepared for anything.

He noted there will not be any capacity limits or limits to daily ticket sales this season. Fawcett remarked that coming off the last couple of years of the pandemic, operations at the resort this winter will be “more or less back to normal.”

However, he stated, “If guests want to be sporting masks or face coverings indoors, you know, there isn’t a recommendation in place, but that’s everyone’s choice at this point in time.”

“We’re certainly acutely aware that cleaning protocols have to be at a higher level than maybe they were in a pre-pandemic period, so COVID’s top of mind but at this point in time, there are no firm, or hard and fast restrictions.”

TEAM EFFORT

Fawcett commended the work of everyone at Castle Mountain Resort.

He said thanks to the hard work of staff members, and some help from Mother Nature, conditions at the resort should be reasonably good going into the sneak peek weekend and start of the winter season.

He told LNN, “We’ve got a couple of dozen full-time year-round employees at the resort, which might be surprising to some [people], but those staff are working in various capacities throughout the year to ready the resort for its next season of operation.”

“We’ve got, I think, somewhere around 10 maintenance personnel that work throughout the spring, summer and fall months readying lifts, snowcats and other pieces of equipment and buildings etcetera, and performing upgrades as we’re able to throughout the off-season.”

Crew members at Castle Mountain Resort have been busy preparing for the season. (Photo: Castle Mountain Resort)

Fawcett said, “I hate to say that it only gets easier once we’re open, but there might be some truth to that, once we all kind of hit our stride and we get into the groove of seven-days-a-week operations.”

He added, “It’s a Herculean effort to get the resort open for the season.”

Castle Mountain is located near the Town of Pincher Creek and Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, and is the second largest mountain resort, by acreage, in Alberta. More information is available at the Castle Mountain website.

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