Bow Valley Ski Resorts Shift Lift Hours As Alberta Ends Fall Clock Changes

The clocks will stay put this November. The Bow Valley’s ski resorts will move their schedules instead.

Banff Sunshine Village, Lake Louise Ski Resort and Mt. Norquay will operate lifts from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Alberta Time beginning on their opening days this season. The schedule shifts opening and closing times 30 minutes later than the previous winter hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., preserving the same seven-hour ski day.

The adjustment responds to Alberta’s decision to stop turning clocks back in the fall. For skiers, it means a later start and finish. For the crews responsible for getting the mountains ready, it addresses a more practical concern: having enough daylight to safely prepare and open the slopes.

“The new hours give our operations teams the daylight they need to safely prepare and open the mountain each morning,” SkiBig3 said in its announcement.

The adjustment illustrates how a provincial decision about clocks is beginning to reshape winter routines in the Bow Valley, where businesses organize much of their season around the available daylight.

Alberta previously returned to Mountain Standard Time each fall, moving clocks back one hour. Beginning this November, it will remain on the equivalent of Mountain Daylight Time year-round, officially called Alberta Time, or ABT.

Compared with the former winter time system, sunrise and sunset will occur an hour later by the clock. A morning that previously became light at a particular time will remain dark for another hour, while daylight will extend later into the afternoon.

SkiBig3 says the revised schedule preserves a full ski day.

The changes will reach beyond the lifts.

Shuttle departures, lesson times and lodge hours will, in many cases, adjust to align with the new operating schedule, according to SkiBig3. The individual resorts have yet to announce those details, leaving visitors with some planning information still to come.

Banff Sunshine and Lake Louise are tentatively scheduled to open November 6. Mt. Norquay is targeting November 7. All three dates depend on weather and conditions.

Current Conditions (October 11, 2026)

Lake Louise

Banff Sunshine Village

Norquay