The closest ski area to Banff is Norquay/Mystic Ridge (10 mins) which is considered to be Banff's 'local hill'. The skiing is fairly limited and best suited to intermediate ski holiday makers. Norquay/Mystic Ridge makes a good first day venue - it's somewhere to regain your snow legs on your Banff skiing holiday before venturing to Sunshine Village (25 mins) and Lake Louise, (45 mins). The scenery is stunning, as is the on-piste convenience. As with all three resorts, you can have a free guide to show you around and this makes for a great addition to your first day back in the saddle. There are a few challenging pistes to push more advanced skiers, but once these are conquered you may well want to head for the more extreme challenges of Lake Louise.
Sunshine Village is one of very few resorts relying only on natural snow. Its skiing area is 3,168 acres big and is situated on three mountainsides. One of them is Goat's Eye a mountain where the runs are steep expert-only black diamonds or double black diamonds.
There is a wide range of ski accommodation, restaurants and fun, lively nightlife on a skiing holiday in Banff. It's true that it can get very cold in winter, but in the evenings there are plenty of bars in which to warm up.
- 3 ski areas under the same pass
- Not far from Calgary airport
- Banff National Park
- World Heritage Site
- Very friendly and welcoming
- Every type of skiing you could want