Ski lovers rejoice – day tickets at Sun Peaks Resort are on sale now ahead of the tentative opening date of November 21.

Chief Marketing Officer Aidan Kelly says COVID-19 safety considerations meant it took staff more time to get things ready before sales could begin.

“We are requiring and asking everybody to buy their tickets online before they visit the resort this year,” he said on NL Newsday. “Its just a way for us to better manage the inventory and visitation patterns and then also we’re trying to eliminate the regular kind of walk up ticket sales that we would do in a regular season.”

“Sales have been pretty brisk so far. There are still tickets available for everyday throughout the season so nobody has missed out at this point in time.”

In September, Sun Peaks said it was all sold out of individual and family alpine season passes for the upcoming ski season. Resort staff did not say how many passes were sold but they confirmed numbers were limited because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Season pass holders will have unlimited access to the resort this winter but day passes will be limited to manage crowds, particularly in ski lodges and in the village area.

“If you’re going to come up for a day or two over Christmas holidays or Family Day, those types of times is when we are expecting to see probably more demand than we have supply in a COVID type environment,” Kelly added. “So you should get on your ticket purchases sooner rather than later, but for a majority of the season it should be okay.”

The tentative opening date for the winter season at Sun Peaks Resort is November 21, with the season currently expected to wrap up on April 5.

The 2019-20 season ended about a month early because of COVID-19 restrictions.