diff --git a/.gitlab/ci/conda.yml b/.gitlab/ci/conda.yml
index 9cc5267f6da23928da9fd71e1017336ad1bba90e..6ef40941aff8b9d89a9d1b8cedeef739cc86fd1d 100644
--- a/.gitlab/ci/conda.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/ci/conda.yml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
   - conda config --file ${CONDARC} --remove aggressive_update_packages openssl
   # install build helpers
   - retry conda install -n base
-        "conda-build!=3.18.10"
+        "conda-build!=3.18.10,!=24.11.1"
         conda-forge-pinning
         "conda-smithy>=3.7.5"
         conda-libmamba-solver
diff --git a/.gitlab/ci/wheels.yml b/.gitlab/ci/wheels.yml
index 7c64d90f73870c5856671dd67cba3d176eafde7c..83532274da7e7aa8fd0200ab486672b80917edc3 100644
--- a/.gitlab/ci/wheels.yml
+++ b/.gitlab/ci/wheels.yml
@@ -126,8 +126,7 @@
 
 .wheel:macos:x86_64:
   tags:
-    # explicitly use the oldest macOS tag we have
-    - macos_bigsur_x86_64
+    - macos_x86_64
 
 .wheel:macos:arm64:
   tags: