diff --git a/climax/main/downscale_infer.py b/climax/main/downscale_infer.py
index 105956ec8a085b40de09205c74ad090052d5f807..4e4d21d0947bf3b56734130ecf9824c96037bb07 100644
--- a/climax/main/downscale_infer.py
+++ b/climax/main/downscale_infer.py
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
             dem, {'y': Era5_ds.y, 'x': Era5_ds.x},
             add_coord={'time': Era5_ds.time})
 
+        # check whether to use slope and aspect
+        if not DEM_FEATURES:
+            dem = dem.drop_vars(['slope', 'aspect'])
+
         # add dem to set of predictor variables
         Era5_ds = xr.merge([Era5_ds, dem])
 
diff --git a/climax/main/downscale_train.py b/climax/main/downscale_train.py
index 0aa49168e81966e5917152b701d0efc5ca0491d8..d1bcb5b75f0f021422158d4bc80abeb1d0f7c912 100644
--- a/climax/main/downscale_train.py
+++ b/climax/main/downscale_train.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
                 dem, {'y': Era5_ds.y, 'x': Era5_ds.x},
                 add_coord={'time': Era5_ds.time})
 
-            # check wether to use slope and aspect
+            # check whether to use slope and aspect
             if not DEM_FEATURES:
                 dem = dem.drop_vars(['slope', 'aspect'])