Ski destinations guarantee lots of powder
Snowtastic Canada!
Photo: Paul Zizka Photography / Banff & Lake Louise Tourism
Snowshoers make tracks at Banff National Park, Sunshine Village.
Maureen Littlejohn
Toronto, Canada
When winter comes calling, your first inclination might be to hibernate. But there’s another option that can get your blood racing and cheeks rosy and boost your vitamin D consumption. Skiing in Canada is magnificent. In fact, people come from all over the world to swoosh down our slopes, breathe in the crisp, clean air, and marvel at our snow-capped peaks.
Here are four of the top places to snap on a pair of skis and enjoy sun-filled, snowy runs. Whether you are learning on the bunny hills, or tackling extreme backcountry challenges, these resorts provide opportunities for all levels of skiers. And then there’s the après ski socializing—sitting beside a roaring fire with a steaming mug of chocolate (or something stronger), relaxing in an outdoor hot tub as snowflakes dazzle the sky, or sitting down to a delicious gourmet meal with friends and family. Winter is a fact of life in Canada. When those first flakes start to fly, plan to go skiing and watch frowns of resignation melt into beams of pleasure.
Banff—Sunshine Village
Just a 90-minute drive from Calgary, Sunshine Village sits at an altitude of 7,200 feet on the Continental Divide in the heart of Banff National Park, established in 1885. This is Canada’s first national park and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Skiing in Banff has been a tradition only since the early 1920s.
Three majestic mountains grace the skyline, there are up to 30 feet of snow in a season, and the town of Banff—with more than 130 pubs, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, and bakeries to satisfy every palate and nightlife that rocks until the wee hours—is an easy 15 minutes away.
The bucket-list opportunity for skiers here is being able to zip through two provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, in one run. The seven-month epic ski season stretches from early November until late May and is the longest non-glacial season in Canada.
The options are almost endless with 3,300 acres of skiable terrain ranging from gentle beginner courses to extreme big mountain runs. Beginners can test their skills in the Mighty Mite learning zone while intermediate skiers take the Continental Divide Express to Lookout Mountain. Experts enjoy the challenge of Goat’s Eye double black runs off the Goat’s Eye express lift, and backcountry adventurers can check out Delirium Dive or Wild West. The runs are serviced by 12 lifts, including nine superlifts, and a high-speed gondola.
It’s also interesting to note that Sunshine Village was the first resort in Canada to allow snowboarding. Over the years, Banff and Sunshine have welcomed celebrated guests from around the world. As Marilyn Monroe said, “Banff is a place where no beauty can compete with the beautiful scenery that is the Canadian Rockies.”
At Sunshine Mountain Lodge, guests are the first ones on the slopes in the morning since it is the only ski-in, ski-out hotel in Banff National Park. The lodge features a rustic mountain décor, there’s casual and fine dining, and for the après ski crowd, there’s a large hot tub and family-friendly activities.
Whistler Blackcomb
Photo: Mike Crane / Tourism Whistler
Whistler Village is a pedestrian area full of restaurants, shops, and accommodations.
Take the Sea to Sky Highway from Vancouver and in a little more than one-and-a-half hours you’ll be in the town of Whistler. Once there, you can hit the Village of Whistler, a pedestrian-only neighborhood with a collection of chalets, shops, and restaurants at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.
Consistently rated as North America’s number one ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb is one of the largest ski resorts in North America and combines skiing in two huge mountain areas. Originally Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountains were separate resorts, but they joined as one in 1997 and now feature the ultra-fast, Guinness World-Record-Breaking Peak 2 Peak Gondola. In 2010 the resort gained global recognition when its Olympic Park was a venue for the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. For those wanting to try other snow-bound activities, the area offers dog sledding, winter ziplining, a tube park, snowshoeing, ice skating, and sleigh rides.
Hotels are located at the base of Whistler and Blackcomb Mountain, throughout Whistler Village, and in Whistler Creekside Village. Every budget and travel need is covered, from the reasonable Listel Hotel Whistler to luxury options including the Four Seasons Resort Whistler, Fairmont Chateau Whistler, and One Blackcomb Place, a six-star boutique hotel, residence, and club. For those keen to hit the slopes, a bonus of staying in the pedestrian village is being able to ski-in and ski-out.
Mont Tremblant
Photo: Natalie Royer / Tremblant
Skiers enjoy the terrain at Mont Tremblant.
Mont Tremblant Ski Resort is around 80 miles northwest of Montreal. The summit offers a breathtaking view of the Laurentian Mountains, and with an elevation of 2,871 feet, it is one of the taller peaks in the Laurentian range. The mountain and resort are part of Mont-Tremblant National Park, and on site is a pedestrian village of shops, restaurants, and hotels featuring architecture reminiscent of traditional Quebec. The town of Mont-Tremblant is nearby.
The main resort has some 665 acres of ski and snowboarding trails. There are 96 marked downhill trails equally divided into easy, intermediate, and difficult runs. The intermediate trails include four snow parks. The runs are serviced by 13 lifts. An open-air gondola, or cabriolet lift, is used to transport skiers above the village from the parking lot to the bottom of the mountain. If you get hungry at the top of the hill, Grand Manitou summit lodge restaurant offers spectacular views. If you get an itch to gamble between runs, there’s a casino located at the base of some of the trails. Other winter activities in the area include cross-country skiing, dogsledding, downhill skiing and ski schools, helicopter tours, ice climbing, ice fishing, ice skating, sleigh rides, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, and tubing.
Mont Tremblant has a wide variety of hotel and condo accommodations, many of which are situated in the pedestrian village. There are additional condo and chalet accommodations located adjacent to the pedestrian village that are managed by the resort’s rental agency or other private rental agencies.
Mont-Sainte-Anne
Photo: Olivier Croteau
Skiing at Mont-Sainte-Anne.
Mont-Sainte-Anne, about 25 miles northeast of Quebec City in the Laurentian Mountains, offers a wide mix of terrain that ranges from beginner to advanced. When Mont-Sainte-Anne officially became a ski resort in 1966, it opened with 10 trails. Today there are 71 trails on three different sides of the mountain and 19 trails available for night skiing on the highest vertical for night skiing in Canada. And you can now climb to the summit with your split board and then enjoy a slope from among the 71 available, thanks to ascent paths for alpine skiers. This allows alpine skiers to ski both faces of the mountain covering a variety of terrain. While alpine touring is usually offered along existing downhill slopes, these trails take hikers through picturesque scenery of the mountain forests.
In 1967 the first Canadian Winter Games were held at Mont-Sainte-Anne, and the resort has hosted World Cup alpine races and the Junior World Championships three times.
Mont-Sainte-Anne’s Cross-Country Ski Centre features 123 miles of trails, including a 78-mile network for skating stride, which makes it the largest cross-country ski center in Canada and the second most significant in North America after Royal Gorge, California.
The resort is host to multiple other winter activities including snowshoeing, dog sledding, paragliding, sleigh rides, and ice skating.
There are a wide range of nearby accommodations, including hotels, condos, and chalets. For four-star luxury, the Chateau Mont-Sainte-Anne is a popular choice because it is a mere four-minute walk to the slopes.
This article originally appeared in the Feb. 23, 2018, issue of The Norwegian American. To subscribe, visit SUBSCRIBE or call us at (206) 784-4617.
