
Panorama
1,203 hectares, 133 runs near Invermere. Considerable vertical drop, hot pools, Mountain Collective access.
Panorama's summit reaches 2,450 metres, dropping 1,300 vertical metres to a base at 1,150 metres across 133 runs spread over roughly 1,203 hectares near Invermere, British Columbia. Terrain splits 35 per cent intermediate, 30 per cent expert, 20 per cent advanced and 15 per cent beginner, with average annual snowfall of roughly 4.7 metres. The resort carries Mountain Collective affiliation. Nine lifts, including four quad chairs, one double chair and one triple chair, serve the mountain alongside one gondola, one surface lift and one t-bar.
Panorama holds a genuinely distinctive place among Purcell Mountains resorts for its considerable vertical drop, marketed by the resort as its Mile 1 lift given the drop's proximity to 1,600 metres, and its year-round hot pools and championship golf course. Its heavily expert-and-intermediate-weighted terrain has built Panorama's reputation as a serious mountain with genuine village amenities.
Fritz Zehnder of Invermere and Guy Messerli of Switzerland, together with friends, founded Panorama in 1962, and the original facilities amounted to little more than a warming hut, a parking lot and a single rope tow powered by a V8 engine. The Calgary-based Cascade Group purchased the resort in 1978, recognising its potential as a major destination and investing in significant expansion.
Intrawest Corporation acquired Panorama in 1993, injecting substantial capital that delivered the Doug Carrick-designed Greywolf Golf Course in 1999 alongside the Panorama Springs hot pools. On 26 February 2010, the resort returned to local ownership when a group of investors from the Panorama community purchased it, and Panorama Mountain Village Inc continues to own the resort privately today. Adult daily tickets run from 109 to 129 Canadian dollars.
Panorama sits in the Purcell Mountains above Invermere, with 133 runs across roughly 1,203 hectares and a 1,300-metre vertical. Its grading is tougher than most family-oriented resorts in British Columbia: 30% expert and 20% advanced, balanced by 35% intermediate and 15% beginner. Intermediates still get long, rolling groomers from the upper mountain, but half the terrain is steep enough to keep stronger skiers busy. Snowfall is lighter than in the wetter Columbia ranges at about 4.7 metres a year, so grooming and the long fall-line do much of the heavy lifting.
The Summit Chair is the gateway to the Extreme Dream Zone, a steep black-diamond area, and to Taynton Bowl, which was once reserved for heli-skiers and is now reached by lift after a major glading project. The Mile 1 quad serves gentler lower slopes and the Showoff night run, while the gondola links village and mountain. Panorama suits confident intermediates stepping up to steeper pitches, advanced skiers who like bowls and open trees, and families who want a ski-in village at the base. Strong skiers should plan on a few full days before they run out of new lines to try.
The 2025-26 season at Panorama ran from 13 December 2025 to 12 April 2026, a roughly seventeen-week season supported by average annual snowfall of around 4.7 metres. Season dates can shift depending on early and late-season weather in the Purcell Mountains.
Midwinter, from December through February, typically brings the most consistent conditions to Panorama's heavily expert-weighted terrain. As a Mountain Collective resort, Panorama draws pass-holding visitors alongside destination travellers seeking the resort's considerable vertical drop and year-round village amenities.
Panorama's hot pools and championship golf course infrastructure, though primarily warm-season draws, support the resort's broader identity as a year-round destination even through the ski season. School holiday periods bring family visitation to the resort's more moderate terrain, though the overall terrain mix skews toward experienced skiers.
Specific event programming beyond standard operations is not confirmed in available resort information. Since returning to local ownership in 2010, Panorama has continued building on more than six decades of history since its 1962 founding by Fritz Zehnder and Guy Messerli. The resort's considerable vertical and Purcell Mountains setting remain central to its enduring appeal.
Daily snow reports at Panorama go back to 2025, 2 winters on the books. Open the record to compare winters, lifts and piste.
Panorama sits near Invermere, British Columbia, in the Purcell Mountains, with a base elevation of 1,150 metres and a summit at 2,450 metres across a 1,300-metre vertical drop over roughly 1,203 hectares. This considerable elevation range places Panorama among the more dramatically situated resorts in the BC interior.
The town of Invermere, on the shores of Lake Windermere, offers lodging and dining within a short drive of the resort, while Panorama's own considerable village provides extensive on-site accommodation.
British Columbia Highway 95 and local roads provide direct access to the resort from Invermere. Winter driving conditions on these routes can include snow and ice, and travellers should carry appropriate equipment given the mountainous terrain surrounding the area.
Calgary International Airport, roughly a three-hour drive away, is the primary gateway for visitors flying into the region, with Panorama's considerable distance from major population centres drawing a genuinely dedicated destination visitor base.
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Halloween weekend brings a wet, windy storm to the Sierra Nevada. Our five-day forecast has Dodge Ridge on top with 19 in, followed by Bear Valley at 15 in and Mammoth Mountain at 12 in, with most of it landing on Saturday. A winter weather advisory covers the Tahoe Basin and Mono County until 7 AM Sunday, gusts could reach 47 mph and the freezing level swings between 4,900 and 8,700 ft, so some bases will see rain. A dry spell follows from Monday.

The Rockies get their first lift-served turns of the season early. Lake Louise opens Sunday 1 November, five days ahead of schedule, after a cold October and round-the-clock work from the snowmaking and mountain crews. Terrain is limited to Juniper Express Chair and Easy Street, with two small terrain parks and the beginner area for lessons. Opening-day tickets are over 60% off, with prices rising as more lifts open. First chair is at 9:30 am under the resort’s new lift hours.

A Tyrolean summit lift that has been carrying guests up the Kitzbüheler Horn since 1955 is on borrowed time. Its licence runs to 2045, but a new inspection rule has made refurbishment uneconomic, so Bergbahn AG Kitzbühel will spend around €15 million on a replacement on the same line. It should hold roughly 100 people and keep running in winds that would stop today’s lift. Building starts in autumn 2027, which makes this winter and next summer the last chances to ride the old one.

Niseko Village is replacing a lift from the early 1980s with an eight-person gondola, Tsugaike gets a six-person chairlift, Madarao joins the Ikon Pass and Togari opens Asia’s first private ski resort. Here’s what is actually new in Japan skiing for 2026/27, plus what is still a year or two away.

Colorado’s early-season dominoes keep falling. Arapahoe Basin opened on Wednesday, Keystone follows on Friday, and now Wolf Creek is joining in on Saturday 31 October, just in time for Halloween. A storm on 23 and 24 October left 20 inches of natural snow in the San Juans, and three lifts will turn from 9:00 am, covering about 30% of the mountain. Expect rocks, unmarked obstacles and open water, but also Local Appreciation lift tickets at $73 for adults.

Keystone is next. After Arapahoe Basin claimed the first chairlift skiing of the season on Wednesday, Keystone opens on Friday 30 October at 9:00 am with more than two miles of snowmaking-built terrain on Schoolmarm and Silver Spoon, plus free donuts, coffee and a live DJ. Last year the order was reversed, when Keystone squeezed in a three-hour afternoon session to beat A-Basin by a day. Snowmaking has been running since 15 October.

Beaver Creek is getting ready for the biggest Birds of Prey ever, and this time it is not leaving the snow to chance. Crews started making snow on 27 October with 16 newly installed automated guns on the lower third of the course, after last December’s warm spell forced a downhill off the schedule. Seven races across two weekends run from 3 to 13 December, the most the course has hosted since its 1997 debut, and the guns start themselves whenever the weather allows.

Winter has officially started in North America, and it is one blue run long. On Wednesday 28 October, Arapahoe Basin fired up the Black Mountain Express at around 10:30 am after a surprise announcement just hours earlier, becoming the first major North American resort open for 2026/27. Cold nights, a dusting of natural snow and a lot of snowmaking made it happen in the resort’s 80th winter. More terrain is promised as the snow guns keep running.
More Panorama intelligence: trail map, lift system, resort overview.