Sunshine Village kicked off the ski season with its earliest opening in over 30 years, and many local mountains will soon follow suit.

By 10:30 a.m., an estimated 3,000 ski and snowboard enthusiasts had already passed through the Sunshine gondola gates — just 1.5 hours after the official opening.

"Conditions are beyond our wildest expectations for this early in the year," said Dave Riley, chief operating officer.

"We should probably rename ourselves Powder City or something. It's a snow magnet."

Snowboarder Ben Wall was on the first chair and said conditions were "amazing."

Sunshine Village marked its earliest opening in 30 years Thursday, and more than 3,000 people, including Ben Wall, showed up in the first two hours. (Evelyne Asselin/CBC)

The past couple of snow seasons have been disappointing, Wall said, but he's hoping for "as much snow as humanly possible" this time around.

Riley said an early opening is traditionally a good sign of good things to come.

"When you have a good November, you have a good season," he said.

Local hills to follow suit

A handful of other mountains are slated to open very soon, including:

Norquay and Winsport, otherwise known as Canada Olympic Park or COP, are expected to open in mid-November depending on the weather.