Skiing in Banff

Skiing is to Banff what surfing is to California. It's just natural. And, it only makes sense since the town of Banff has an elevation of 4,537 feet, making it the highest town in Canada. When you ski Banff, you are skiing on mountains which are 45 to 120 million years old.

There are three ski resorts in Banff, Alberta Canada: Ski Norquay, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village, with a combined total of 7,748 skiable acres, 274 runs and 26 lifts with the capacity of transporting 46,000 people per hour.

The following article highlights one of them, Sunshine Village, which has the world's fastest gondola, over 3,300 acres of terrain on three mountains, and an average annual snowfall of over 30 feet.

Hello from Banff:
High Altitude Skiing at Sunshine Village
 
Author: Susanne Pacher
 
We planned on an afternoon of skiing at Sunshine Village, one of
the largest ski resorts in Canada. It is located just 15 minutes
from Banff, going west on the TransCanada Highway. Sunshine
Village is a pretty historic place and as a ski resort it dates
all the way back to 1936.
 
With over 3,300 acres of skiable terrain Sunshine Village is one
of the largest ski resorts in Canada. The top elevation is 8,954 feet (2730 m) and the base elevation is 3,514 feet (1070 m). It receives a huge amount of natural snowfall: up to 33 feet or 9 m. Skiing usually lasts from mid November all the way to late May.
 
This resort straddles the Continental Divide and some of the
runs are in Alberta and some in British Columbia. 107 runs
spread out over 3 mountains (Goat's Eye Mountain, Lookout
Mountain and Mt. Standish). The whole area is serviced by a
high-speed 8 passenger gondola that whisks you from the parking
lot up to the main village. In addition, there are also 5
high-speed quad chairs, 2 quads, 1 triple, and 1 double chair
and 2 magic carpets.
 
Sunshine Village also offers extreme terrain for really expert
skiers. Delirium Dive is an expert ski area that requires
special safety equipment and precautions such as being equipped
with an avalanche transceiver, a shovel and having at least one
other person with you. Goat's Eye Mountain offers
highly challenging double-black diamond runs that should be
mastered before you even consider venturing into this area.
 
At our level we decided to stick to the blue runs, which on this
snowy day with lots of accumulated snow were plenty challenging
enough for us. Every trail had turned into a mogul run, with all
the extra piles of snow that had been carved into bumps by the
other skiers. It was basically snowing the whole day with the
sun peaking through in between the snow flakes. The night before 10 cm of fresh snow had fallen, and during the day several more
centimeters got added. All the extra snow made this a really
great workout, and we had to work really hard to push the white
powdery stuff around.
 
The Banff National Park is unique in that it restricts
development and there are no sprawling condominiums at the base
of any of the 3 Banff area ski resorts. It is almost a
throw-back to an earlier time when skiing was less
commercialized. The only ski-in/ski-out accommodation is at the
recently renovated 84-room Sunshine Inn, located in the main
village of the Sunshine Village Resort at an altiude of 7082
feet. Ski Canada has referred to the Sunshine Inn as "the best
rooms with a view in Canada!".
 
For those with an appetite Sunshine Village offers a variety of
culinary options: the Creekside Bar & Grill is located the
gondola base. The Deli, Alpine Grill and the Lookout Bistro are
all located in the Day Lodge in Sunshine Village. The Java Loft
Coffee Bar and Chimney Corner Lounge are located in the Sunshine
Inn while the Mad Trapper's Saloon can be found in the Old
Sunshine Lodge. Goat's Eye Gardens is located right next to the
Goat's Eye Express and offers cafeteria style food.
 
An interesting feature of this resort is that it offers a
SnowHost program, an absolute free program for visitors, that
are welcomed by a team of frontline ambassadors for Sunshine
village, all dressed in yellow and black outfits. Every day at
noon the SnowHosts take skiers / riders out on tours using blue
runs and show them how to access this monstruous ski area.
 
We spent most of the afternoon in the Lookout Mountain (top
elevation: 8954 feet or 2730 m) and Mt. Standish areas, going up
the Angel Express and the Wawa Quad Chair. There are many blue
and green runs available in this area which was helpful on this
challenging day. After a rest in the Goat's Eye Gardens
cafeteria and a sinfully filling portion of poutine, a truly
Canadian culinary treat that combines French fries with curds
and gravy, we felt strong enough to tackle Goat's Eye Mountain
which offers mainly single and double black diamond runs. By
that time it was about 3:30 and after getting safely down the
mountain we decided to make our way down to the Gondola Base. We
skied down a picturesque green run called Banff Avenue all the
way to our car, surrounded by peacefulness in the forest.
 
On our way back to Banff the sun finally came out and we stopped
the car several times because the scenery was so breath-taking.
The Rockies do have a way of sucking you in.

About the author: Susanne Pacher is the publisher of Travel and Transitions (http://www.travelandtransitions.com ), a popular web portal for unconventional travel and cross-cultural connections. Check out our brand-new section featuring FREE ebooks about travel (http://www.travelandtransitions.com/ebooks.html )

Synonyms: anff, aBnff, Bnff, Bnaff, Baff, Bafnf, Baanf, Baanff, Banfff,and Banf are typos for "Banff."