Before leaving for Canada last March, I checked the Web site for Banff and Lake Louise dozens of times, wondering what the problem was. Why were the pictures, posted each day to reflect current ski conditions, so dull and fuzzy? Where was the bright and beautiful snowy scenery I’d seen in travel books, all mirror images of snow-covered mountains reflected in shimmering lakes?
But when I got to Banff, I discovered there really wasn’t a problem. It was just that there was so much snow. And that will only be a problem if you are trying to take pictures of the Canadian Rockies, not if you want to ski them.
On some days, as you look toward the horizon, where the snow-filled sky meets the snow-covered mountains, you can distinguish a faint difference in the tone-on-tone expanse of white. A slightly lighter shade of pale tints the mountains, looming like ashen ghosts in the near distance. The row on row of mountains farther away is invisible in the swirling snow.
Don’t worry. Even if you can’t see them, you can ski them. There’s deep-powder skiing in those mountains–just off the wide, groomed trails, where you may end up totally by accident because you can’t see the trails, either.
If you are going to Canada for the magnificent snow you are seeking, Banff is the place to be.
Banff is in Alberta, about 80 miles north of Calgary, just off the Trans-Canada Highway, at the entrance to Banff National Park. The park was set aside by the Canadian government in 1885 as Banff Hot Springs Reserve and grew with the development of the Canadian Pacific Railway along the Bow River. The recreational area now includes 2,654 square miles of mostly wilderness.
Lake Louise is the largest and best known of the three resorts included in Ski Banff/Lake Louise, a joint venture company in the heart of Banff National Park that also includes Sunshine Village and Mt. Norquay. Combined, they offer 7,530 acres of skiable terrain, 28 lifts and 227 named runs.
And nowhere else in North America can people brag that the snow is so consistently good–or that their ski season is so long.
Lake Louise and Sunshine Village expect to open Nov. 10 this year; Mt. Norquay will open Dec. 1. They don’t close until May 6.
Last year, by Nov. 15–when most U.S. resorts were still waiting for their first snow–Sunshine had a 36.5-inch base and was running 75 percent of its lifts. Lake Louise, where there’s lots of snowmaking equipment on top of the natural stuff, had a 24.5-inch base and all lifts on go.
With the white stuff a little scarce farther south in the Rockies of Colorado and New Mexico the past couple of years, and the exchange rate now at about $1.50 Canadian for every $1 U.S., there may not be a better time to ski Canada.
A full-day adult intermountain lift ticket, good at any of Banff/Lake Louise’s three resorts, is $54 Canadian–about $36 U.S. Multiday tri-mountain tickets are no cheaper, but they include transportation from your lodging to the resort of your choice each day, as well as transportation among the resorts in case you want to try two or all three the same day. Half-day private lessons go for about $45.
Lake Louise has more than 4,000 acres spread over four mountain faces, with several thousand acres of open bowls. Lake Louise guarantees skiers will be riding one of its three base-area lifts less than 10 minutes after they get in line.
Lake Louise is tied together by a system of 11 interconnecting lifts that sometimes drop you off in areas where you can’t even see any other skiers–especially on whiteout days when many of the faint at heart stay inside.
Even beginners can ski the wide-open back bowls of Lake Louise. From the Top of the World lift, which is aptly named, you have a choice of easy intermediate runs to double black diamond bowls.
You won’t see much in the way of ski patrol here–not much is out of bounds.
Sunshine Village has three mountains: Mount Standish, Lookout Mountain and Goat’s Eye Mountain, with two new quad chairlifts opening this season to make movement among mountain faces faster and easier.
Without trail maps, you could ski all day and miss a whole mountain.
But don’t worry if you get a little lost; there is always an easy way down–even from Goat’s Eye, where signs at the base warn that there are no easy ways down.
Smallest of the resorts is Mt. Norquay with 31 runs, served by five lifts. It may be little, but it’s practically in town, and locals say it’s a favorite for its steep terrain and impeccably groomed intermediate slopes. Home to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team, Mt. Norquay offers the only night skiing in Canada, and one free night is included with all multiday lift passes.
Currently, there is only one “ski-in, ski-out” place to stay, and that’s the Sunshine Village Inn at Sunshine’s midmountain base, but there are many lodges, resorts and inns in the town of Banff, and several lodges within a couple of miles of the Lake Louise ski area, including the beautiful Chateau Lake Louise. (That’s the castle-looking hotel you most often see reflected in the lake by the same name.)
We stayed at Buffalo Mountain Lodge, which backs up to Tunnel Mountain just outside of town and offers cabins with full kitchens and fireplaces as well as a variety of deluxe rooms. It’s across the street from the Douglas Fir Resort, well-known for its indoor water slides.
The picturesque town of Banff is about four blocks of restaurants, hotels, shops, banking facilities and a grocery store. Our favorite place to eat was The Grizzly House, with great fondues, including a huge bowl of fresh fruit and perfectly melted chocolate to dip it in. For those looking for the familiar, there’s a Hard Rock Cafe with unusually reasonable prices, when you figure them in U.S. dollars.
Last year, readers of the British newspaper Daily Telegraph named Ski Banff/Lake Louise “Best Ski Resort” in the world. The previous year, the readers bestowed the honor upon St. Moritz, Switzerland.
No wonder there seemed to be so many young Brits “on holiday” in and around Banff.
There is a “secret” that they say every midweek skier here knows: During the week–other than holiday and spring break weeks–the total number of skiers on the slopes of the three resorts averages fewer than 7,000, so every skier gets an acre of his own.
These conditions won’t last forever. Sunshine Village had a record-breaking 590,000 skier visits last year.
My only complaint is that blowing snow pellets sometimes sting the skin. Oh, and the fact that you could see for miles, if it were not for all that snow.
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For more information about skiing the Canadian Rockies, call Ski Banff/Lake Louise at 800-661-1431, visit the Web site at www.skibanfflakelouise.com
