Marmot Basin Opens “Tres Hombres” For The 2017-18 Season
After several years of careful planning, and following the development of a comprehensive operational and trail maintenance plan, Marmot Basin is thrilled to announce that the mountain slope known colloquially as “Tres Hombres” will open for the 2017-18 season. Tres Hombres is a large, north-facing and treeless slope, some 18 hectares (45 acres) in size within Marmot Basin’s leasehold. The slope provides some of the very best off-piste advanced and expert terrain in the Canadian Rockies. Tres Hombres has long been coveted by advanced skiers and boarders who have been anxiously waiting for the day to come when the area would open to public skiing. Its’ powder-filled bowls and chutes descend 367 vertical metres (1,204 ft.) and is Marmot Basin’s longest, uninterrupted fall-line.
Tres Hombres is accessed from the top of the Paradise quad chair where skiers will access the slope through any one of five entrance gates. Skiers and snowboarders will exit the Tres Hombres slope via a short trail that will lead them back to the base of the Paradise Chair making the round trip approximately 30 minutes. Tres Hombres has an average slope angle of 32 degrees with the steepest section being 45 degrees. With a run length of almost 700 metres, Tres Hombres is equivalent to 3 times the length of Charlies Bowl, that’s a lot of turns for you and your best ‘hombres’.
Marmot Basin has undertaken avalanche control work in Tres Hombres since 1987, although the area has never been opened by Marmot Basin to the public. Marmot Basin will manage Tres Hombres for off-piste skiing consistent with the 2008 Marmot Basin Ski Area Site Guidelines for Development and Use, and an operating plan approved by Parks Canada in 2017. Ski Marmot Basin continues to work with Parks Canada as a responsible environmental steward operating in one of Canada’s iconic national parks.
Tres Hombres will open for the season once all required fencing and gates are in place and the area deemed safe to ski by the Marmot Basin avalanche control and safety team.
