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INTRODUCTION

BANFF requires ALL CAPS! A simply stunning winter playground ski trip with 22 of our Peninsula Ski Club (PSC) coastal, low-land friends. PSC traveled to Banff for 6 days of exceptional scenery, good skiing, and some unique winter sports. The photographs and videos are a must see. I will try to do it justice by telling you a little about the trip. The trip ran Saturday to Saturday which gave us 6 days for skiing. The IKON Base Pass was only good for 5 days at Banff, so most of us had a day off for other adventures. Our Trip Leader Sandy Walker contracted with SKICAN to facilitate the trip through Blue Ridge Ski Council. With the council there were 6 other ski clubs on the same itinerary. Notably we hardly knew the other clubs were there. We all went our separate ways, and Sandy kept us well organized.

SETTING

Banff Alberta Canada is located within Banff National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site 80 miles West of Calgary. The Banff area consists of the Town of Banff, 3 nearby resorts (Lake Louise, Banff Sunshine, and Mt. Norquay), and the park area.

No report would be complete without some thoughts on our hosts, the Canadians. To a person they were welcoming, engaging, and happy to see us. 99% of the people we encountered spoke English as a first language or fluently. The vast majority of tourists were from the US, Australia, and England. And about all the temporary workers or young adults working in Banff were from northern Europe (England, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, etc.) or Australia.

BANFF IS 3 SKI RESORTS IN ONE – Lake Louise, Sunshine, and Norquay

Each day was new and different with weather largely determining when and where to go, although most everyone headed out as early as they could. Generally we were at breakfast by 0700 and headed to the buses shortly thereafter. Local knowledge suggested Sunshine on sunny and warmer days and Lake Louise on the more overcast, cold, and windy days, and Norquay if the weather was cold and too windy for higher altitudes. With that said we all just went where we liked the trails. All the areas had a variety of terrain and enough for skiers of all levels, Sunshine had more wide-open slopes, fewer trees, and a lot of black wide-open steeps. Lake Louise won out on days with less light as it had more trees to mark trails and shelter from wind. Both resorts had good, high, open terrain black trails.

Mt. Norquay drew skiers in for variety and the novelty of the 3-resort badge or whatever pin you get for skiing at all 3 resorts. It also had night skiing on Friday and Saturday, but as far as I know no one took advantage of it.

ACCOMODATIONS

PSC stayed at the Ptarmigan Inn in downtown Banff and commuted to the ski resorts. Access to the resorts was easy. Free shuttle buses stopping at our hotel ran to and from the ski resorts from 0730 or so into the night. The hotel was adequate, 3-4 stars. The rooms were a bit dark (no overhead lighting); did not have a microwave, but did have a refrigerator, coffee pot, and kettle. Amenities included hot tub, steam sauna and sauna, an on-site restaurant and bar, and easy access ski storage.

DINING

Breakfast at the hotel was included each day except Saturday, our last day. Throughout the week we all found many good places in town for dinner and on the mountain for lunch. A full neighborhood IGA grocery store was next door, where we stocked up on fruit and snacks for the week. Some PSCers made peanut butter sandwiches at breakfast and had them for lunch with a piece of fruit – give Mitch credit for that brilliant idea.   Banff otherwise had no shortage of restaurants, bars, and bakeries. About 10 PSC folks met for dinner at the Fat Ox arranged by Tom and Scott. Rick couldn’t resist the "East coast oysters" appetizers, which he said were “very fresh and delicious.” Other restaurants with great reviews were the Farm and Fire, The Boss, St James's Gate Irish Pub, the Wild Flour Bakery, and the coffee shop on the corner next to our hotel.

GROUP EVENTS

Sunday - Welcome Reception at High Rollers Bowling and Beer Hall – A great Après Ski event with sliders and all the trimmings for the BRSC clubs, and perfect for PSC bowlers.

Tuesday - Après Ski at Lake Louise – Another  Après Ski event  with DJ, food – all you can eat taco and sides, beverages, and everyone from the Blue Ridge Ski Council clubs.

Thursday - Farewell Banquet at Sulphur Mountain
SKICAN held a terrific farewell banquet at the Sulphur Mountain Summit. It was reserved for the BSRC clubs, so the place was full of our ski buddies. The Summit is a 3-story, glass, and open terrace banquet venue only accessible by Gondola. The views were overwhelming looking back into town. Food was great, wine flowed freely, and the DJ started up after dinner. Out of the terrace Rick spotted constellations for us. The terraces had gas fireplaces and blankets, but it was still really cold outside.

THE SKI ADVENTURE


Chris and Rick really enjoyed skiing Banff Sunshine. They went to Mt. Norquay one day. It was very icy, but on the day they went they had the place almost to themselves.

Tom’s Ski Report:  It covers the mountain and conditions for all of us.

Sunday had a little bit of everything, starting out overcast with clouds on the peaks, gradually clearing to full sun, then settling in for light snow all afternoon. But overall, I thought Sunday had the best snow conditions of the week: firm but not hard or icy, and eminently carvable. Really delightful! I was skiing mostly with Rick and Chris, and after getting off at the gondola mid-station did a few runs on Goat's Eye Mountain, including a couple on Scapegoat which was remarkably steep as blues go—it could have easily been a black anywhere in the East.

We then hopped back on the gondola and went the rest of the way up to the Village area. Sunshine is unique in my experience for having the main base area at mid-mountain, only accessible to skiers via gondola from the parking area down in the valley at the bottom of the mountain. We spent the rest of the day making runs off the various lifts out of the Village, principally Strawberry Express and the Great Divide Quad. The latter goes to the top of Lookout Mountain featuring spectacular views of the lower peaks stretched out in the distance with cloud banks seeping between them.

Lookout Mountain is also spectacular for skiing; the whole face of the mountain is open, so you can ski anywhere, with green, blue, and black routes as you prefer. That was great fun! And in a first for me, I dropped my poles on the Great Divide lift, just two or three stanchions from the bottom, while I was fiddling with a snack bar in my jacket pocket. Oops! Oh well, nothing to be done for it except to ski down from the top poleless, but I reminded myself that intro skiers are taught to ski without poles and that in any event you only really need them in the lift lines and for poling across the flats. So no big deal, but a novel experience nonetheless on that big mountain face. When I got back down to where I had dropped them, Rick and Chris were there waiting, having already retrieved them for me. Thanks guys!

Monday at Sunshine was not nearly as nice. Heavy overcast made for flat, featureless light and the wind had gotten up. I skied mostly with the Andersons and a few others, checking out some of the lifts and terrain that I had missed the day before, and staying off the high peaks—although others were more adventurous.

One of the things that I enjoyed about Sunshine—and that others in our crew disliked—was the long (very long) green route from the village area all the way back to the parking area at the bottom. In an interesting twist, that route requires a short hop up the Jackrabbit lift part way down to gain a little elevation and avoid the dicey terrain down through the ravine. The run was not particularly crowded, especially for a Sunday afternoon (apparently lots of folks opt to download on the gondola), and I was pleasantly surprised that it had a fairly steady pitch the whole way with interesting dips and turns, especially toward the bottom.

Tuesday, I bit the bullet and hustled to catch the 7:45 bus for the hour-long ride to Lake Louise. After a couple of warm-up runs with the Irbys we joined the 10:00 a.m. host tours along with several of our fellow PSC members and a good contingent of BRSC folks from various clubs. I opted for the blue tour (double blue and black were also options) and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our guide didn't waste any time on the slopes, so we had to stay on our toes (or at least forward on our skis) to keep up with him. The tour lasted a couple of hours and covered much of the terrain on both the front and back sides of the mountain.

Lake Louise Ski Resort reminded me of Vail, with a very similar layout (front side criss-crossed with trails and bowl area in the back), just smaller—though not small by any means. And the scenery! Sheesh! It was hard to focus on skiing because those stunningly jagged and rocky and snowy Canadian Rockies just kept demanding my attention. I took a bunch of photos, but they don't begin to capture the depth and the scale.

I took Wednesday off, spent the morning editing photos and catching up on email, then wandered around the town of Banff for most of the afternoon. Not many towns are in that type of setting, in the middle of a national park, surrounded by wilderness and big mountains. Coming home on the bus on Tuesday afternoon, I just happened to spot two wolves standing on the bank of the Bow River, not more than half a mile, probably less, from downtown. Location, location, location, even if the main drag has basically been turned into an upscale shopping mall.

I went back to Lake Louise on Thursday for another full day of skiing and was then faced with a dilemma for our last day on Friday: Lake Louise, Sunshine, or Mount Norquay. I had been getting mixed reviews from others in our party about Norquay; some liked it, others said I would be wasting my time. I could have been very happy at either Sunshine or Lake Louise but finally opted for the latter, skiing much of the day with the Andersons and Scott Grady, then picking up Betsy, Meg, and Anne in the afternoon.

As the week went by the daytime temperatures warmed up and the snow conditions deteriorated through multiple freeze-thaw cycles. We started out on Friday on the front side at Lake Louise, but after bouncing our way through some very hard and crunchy terrain, we headed for the back bowls where the snow turned out to be much nicer, probably because it doesn't get the full glare from the afternoon sun. After a run or two on Larch, we headed over to the newly opened Richardson's Ridge area. Going up the lift we noted a mogully run under the lift line which we made a mental note to avoid. However, due to my superb lack of navigational skills, we ended up on it anyway. Another oopsy, but we all made it through without crashing, with Scott taking an even bumpier black detour. Follow me, I'm lost! At one point we took Cathy’s challenge and purposefully skied a black, Lake Lindsey Way named after Lindsey Vonn who raced many years at Banff.

Back on the frontside in the afternoon, the snow had softened up and so had our legs, so Lee (a bad influence for sure!) suggested we pop into the mid-mountain Whitehorn Bistro for drinks, which we did. That made for a relaxing final run off the mountain as I finished my ski week at Banff. Well worth the trip, but because of the long shuttle rides to/from town to the ski areas, I don't think I'd do it again.

EXTRACURRICULAR ADVENTUTRES


Banff had no shortage of options for winter wonderland indoor and outdoor activities.

And if you missed something or needed more information – just search the web for Taxi Mike's Guide to Banff, a Best in Banff Restaurant Guide, Bar Guide & Info Guide for the Town of Banff, Canada! It’ll lead you to about everything in Banff.

The town added its own flavor to the ski trip by holding its Annual Snow Days Carnival. The carnival featured Snow Sculptures, Ice Sculptures, and music along Bear Street by the city park. Unfortunately, we just missed the skijoring events the previous week.

Rick and Chris used their day off from skiing to walk to the top of Tunnel Mountain where the future Queen Elizabeth II and her father walked in 1939. The crampons they borrowed from Sandy and Rita kept them from falling on their butts – as Rick said. Then they enjoyed lunch at the Banff Avenue Brewing Co.

Rita and Meg also hiked up Tunnel Mountain. Crampons were an absolute necessity to navigate the icy canyon. The frozen waterfalls were reported to be awsum!

Lee and Abby wandered around town on their day off, finding all the equipment and gift shops, art galleries, and bakeries. Banff had every type of outdoor gear and equipment and western style, and luxury clothing known to man. There was even a $500 North Face shell made with Spectra weighing about 1lb, and a $3000 Qiviuk sweater. I have pictures. It’s incredibly beautiful Musk Ox hair. Every bit as rare and wonderful as Peruvian Vicuna.

Trey took a day to go dog sledding. To his surprise the people (mushers) get to run too.

Betty and Carol spent their day off wining and dining at the Fairmont on Lake Louise, a luxury Hotel and Resort.  The ice sculptures and skating on Lake Louise were quite a sight.

And to top it off – Lee, Steve, Meg, and Rita took a curling lesson at the Banff Recreation Center, and you bet, they held a friendly Men vs Women competition.  The women won handily 2-1.  To quote Steve, “Curling is not as easy as it looks!” The big plus though – during tournaments and weekend games they have a beer and snack bar “ice” side.

STATISTICS

• Banff: Elev. 4537’, Pop: 8300+, Lodging for 7500 and LOTS of restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, art galleries, retail shops, and bars.
  
  
• Lake Louise: Elev. 5400-8650’, 4200 Acres, 170 trails, 13 lifts.  40 Miles from Banff
  
  
• Sunshine: Elev. 5440-8954’, 3358 Acres, 139 trails, 12 lifts, 10 miles from Banff
  
  
• Norquay: Elev. 5500-8040’, 190 Acres, 81 trails, 7 lifts, 5 miles from Banff – NIGHT SKIING FRI & SAT

TRAVEL

PSC departed Norfolk at 08:00 on Saturday, laid over in Denver, arrived at Calgary about 14:00 Alberta time and traveled to Banff via bus for another hour. On the return trip we departed Banff about 10:00 and arrived back in Norfolk about midnight. They were both long days but manageable. AND NO ONE TRIED TO CHECK IN EARLY, YAY! We all checked in as a group and Sandy got us set up with both the Canadian and US customs apps, so we blew through customs. A new development – Canada customs did not stamp our passports. Canada uses an electronic system. One look at your passport and off you go.

The highlight of our travel though was the bus driver to Banff, or Dr. Iver as he was known. Dr. Iver was a non-stop joke machine, full of history and general info on Banff. A most helpful bit of information was the location of the “International” room at the back of the bus – where you are Russian on your way in, then European, and finally Finnish.

FINAL NOTES

Our return to Norfolk was exciting, with a bumpy approach ending in a jolting touchdown in a stiff crosswind – let’s say sideways landing! Somewhat to my surprise, the pilots managed to keep the plane on the runway. Yay! And despite a very tight connection in Denver, all of us made the flight, along with our luggage. Yay again!

Thank you to Rick and Tom for their contributions to this trip report.

And Many, Many thanks to Sandy for running this great trip!  I’d do it again anytime!

Ski Safe,
     Lee Anderson