Banff/Lake Louise, March 22-28, 2026

[berkshireskier]

I’m in Banff/Lake Louise for a week with my daughter. A 50/50 week of downhill skiing and some cross country skiing and winter hiking. First time here. We’re staying in Banff at a hotel right on Banff Ave. Banff is a nice town. A little touristy but lots of restaurants and good shopping. A lot of international visitors.
We skied at Sunshine Village today. Snowed all day long, both moderately and quite hard at times. Poor visibility, completely flat light and quite windy up top. We had a good day - no falls and no injuries! Plenty of base and good coverage everywhere but it rained at the lower elevations with snow up top last week, so the underlying surface on the bottom half of the terrain was crusty/icy with the new snow on top of that (3 to 5 inches, maybe). Sort of “dust on crust” which I find to be tough skiing at time and I was skiing on rental skis that were poorly tuned and squirrely to ski.
It’s interesting; when we got here on Sunday, There was no snow in Banff itself; completely bare ground but snow high on the peaks around town. But we went up to Lake Louise yesterday to have lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise which is about 1,000 feet higher than Banff and about 40 miles north and there was a ton is snow on the ground - at least 2 to 4 feet.

 

[claurel]

I’m in Banff/Lake Louise for a week with my daughter. A 50/50 week of downhill skiing and some cross country skiing and winter hiking. First time here. We’re staying in Banff at a hotel right on Banff Ave. Banff is a nice town. A little touristy but lots of restaurants and good shopping. A lot of international visitors.
We skied at Sunshine Village today. Snowed all day long, both moderately and quite hard at times. Poor visibility, completely flat light and quite windy up top. We had a good day - no falls and no injuries! Plenty of base and good coverage everywhere but it rained at the lower elevations with snow up top last week, so the underlying surface on the bottom half of the terrain was crusty/icy with the new snow on top of that (3 to 5 inches, maybe). Sort of “dust on crust” which I find to be tough skiing at time and I was skiing on rental skis that were poorly tuned and squirrely to ski.
It’s interesting; when we got here on Sunday, There was no snow in Banff itself; completely bare ground but snow high on the peaks around town. But we went up to Lake Louise yesterday to have lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise which is about 1,000 feet higher than Banff and about 40 miles north and there was a ton is snow on the ground - at least 2 to 4 feet. View attachment 50263View attachment 50264

Thanks for this trip report — I’m headed up to Banff tomorrow, first day on the mountain will be Thursday. I was hoping that the base wouldn’t be too firm down low, but maybe the ongoing snowfall will have mitigated that by the time I make my first turns there.

 

[berkshireskier]

Thanks for this trip report — I’m headed up to Banff tomorrow, first day on the mountain will be Thursday. I was hoping that the base wouldn’t be too firm down low, but maybe the ongoing snowfall will have mitigated that by the time I make my first turns there.

Should be very good skiing Thursday at either Lake Louise or Sunshine Village. Here’s the Tuesday forecast:

yellow warning - snowfall - in effect A long period of snowfall with total amounts of 20 to 30 cm continues. Snow will continue through to Thursday morning. The heaviest snow is expected tonight. Total snowfall amounts could exceed 30 cm over at higher elevations.

We’ll be at LL on Thursday. As I said above, a deep base. Snowed down into Banff on Tuesday.


I meant to also say crowds weren’t bad at Sunshine Village on Tuesday. Almost all the lifts were “ski on” with no real waits. We skied mostly the Standish, Strawberry, and Angel Express high speed lifts (we loved the bubble Angel Express high-speed 6 chair with heated seats on a windy, snowy day), with some laps on the Wawa chair and down lower on the Wolverine express quad.

 

[tseeb]

We will be returning to Sunshine on Thursday. Skied there Wednesday with OK visibility most of the day and some sun at times. It was the first day Lucia and I made it to the morning meetup. But WaWa with 9-10" new was a little more than what she needed. She did OK but needed a pitstop so we skied down to and went up Jackrabbit. But instead of taking short walk to left at top and skiing down Wolverine, we went right which meant Teepee Town which gave us long Green run with some deep snow, marginal visibility and an uphill into the wind to get to lodge where Lucia took a long break.

I spotted and caught up with some SkiTalkers and took a lap to top before catching up with Lucia at lodge. She wasn't ready to come out so I went to Goats Eye for two laps. My first lap was along boundary by Wildfire I was hoping to see them open South Chutes but instead saw patrol fixing ropeline and yelling at guy who went beyond it. Then I ignored the signs on already double-diamond Freefall that it was steep past ropeline. I was able to find some soft snow above trees for my turns. Not me in photo.

After a lunch break+ Lucia was ready to come out for a few Strawberry laps, then after I checked it out some Standish laps where we got photos with logo.

We ran into some of our favorite SkiTalkers and took a few Standish laps together finding some untracked although we lost Lucia who went into lodge after a crash that we missed. We eventually all got together outside the lodge and shared some chocolates and stories, etc. Tania and I we the only ones to brave the ski down to the base which she said was better than expected. Everyone else downloaded gondola and even though our run included riding open until 5 pm Jackrabbit chair we got down just ahead of them. Lucia and I made it to Hello Sunshine Sushi about 10 minutes before their very good Happy Hour ended at 530. 3 good rolls and 2 beers for C$60 inc tip.

We arrived Banff Sunday evening. Group went to Sunshine that day and had poor enough visibility to give some of them Vertigo and change plan for Tuesday from Sunshine to Lake Louise. We skied Lake Louise on Monday when it was very sunny and again Tuesday when it started snowing in the morning and continued through the day which made for long drive back to Banff. We will go back there on Fri.

Not very good connection at Banff Aspen Lodge but will try to post more photos. On Monday after lunch, we did one lap on wind-blown Summit lift then went up it again and I skied what my Garmin said was E Gully. It's the chute in the middle.

@jimk led us into smooth G Gully. I went down first to take some photos. First two are jimk. I especially like the second one with the sun.

Next two are Dave Bostedo who has taken responsibility for our gathering (is great at herding cats) and has also improved his skiing greatly in last couple of years. Having trouble loading them all. Will try again later.

 

[berkshireskier]

My daughter and I skied Lake Louise today - Thursday, March 26. Day started out snowing 7moderately hard with cold and some wind. Full blown Winter conditions. I was concerned the shuttle bus from Banff was not going to make it up the snow-covered access road. They got about 3 inches over night and about 5 to 7 inches in the past day.
We started out on the gondola and took an easy trail back down to get our ski legs going. Beautiful skiing with the 3 inches of new powder on top of the freshly groomed trail. We did one more run off the gondola and the headed to the near top of the resort via the Glacial Express and Top of the World lift. It was quite windy and cold up there but the snow had stopped and the visibility had improved. There seemed to be more snow up high and we were skiing loose, chopped up powder. I have to say - my 69-year old legs were already tired; we skied Sunshine on Tuesday in tough snow and visibility and then we did a moderate cross country tour on Wednesday. I had skied only once previously this season - for about 3 hours on an easy hilll near my house and this is much tougher skiing. I have been working out on a regular basis but it is hard to fully train for skiing without actually skiing. Plus, I had come down sick (got it from my daughter on Wednesday night and had slept terribly), so I was not 100%.
We then took the Top of the World back up and my daughter wanted to go down the backside. We chickened out and took the “easy” way down, the serpentine, groomed trail that is less steep. But towards the bottom, we veered off and skied down a steeper section that had beautiful snow on it ( and was not moguled up). We then skied down to the new Richardson’s chair and skied one run off that - nice terrain but not overly steep. After that, we skied down to the Larch chair and took a few runs off of there. Again, some nice runs but down low the run were quite icy underneath the loose, new snow. I almost slipped and fell when I lost an edge. It was interesting; when we got to the top of the Larch chair, there was a large group of people, maybe 15 or so, gathered around and putting skins on their skis who, I assume, were planning to skin up to the magnificent bowls above that lift. I’m not sure about the avalanche conditions up there.
We then took the Ptarmigen chair back up top and skied to the bottom to have an early lunch. After lunch, we went over to the short Juniper Express and skied a run there. We then took the Capstone bubble chair back to the near top and skied down the backside again. My daughter skied one of the steeper section and I took the easy way down again. We then took the Paradise chair back up and skied back to the bottom. We then did a few laps off the Juniper Express and called it a day. My legs were dead.
It was a mixed day weather-wise - snowing in the morning; then partly sunny, and then snowing in the afternoon. Quite a bit of flat light.
We took the shuttle back to Banff and had a great dinner at “Bison” on Bear St.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I had skied only once previously this season - for about 3 hours on an easy hilll near my house and this is much tougher skiing. I have been working out on a regular basis but it is hard to fully train for skiing without actually skiing.

I agree there is no substitute for actual ski mileage. Why no more skiing during an outstanding eastern season December-February? Aren’t you retired and within easy day trip distance of most of Vermont?

Did you try to connect with Tseeb and Lucia?

 

[berkshireskier]

I agree there is no substitute for actual ski mileage. Why no more skiing during an outstanding eastern season December-February? Aren’t you retired and within easy day trip distance of most of Vermont?

Did you try to connect with Tseeb and Lucia?

No, I’m not retired yet but self employed, so I have some flexibility with my time. I intended and wanted to ski more but every time I was going to, it was brutally cold (-8 (F) with -20 wind chills, for example) and it’s not worth skiing the local hills in those conditions. Plus, I have been busy at work and we’re doing a major addition and renovation on our house that has discombobulated everything, so I never skied as much as I wanted. Southern Vermont, Stratton, Mt Snow, etc., is about a 2.5 hour drive for me. Hunter is closer at about 1.5 hours. I do regret now not skiing more.
Did not have time to contact Tseeb. Our schedule has been flexible and changing every day.

We did do a beautiful cross country ski day on Wednesday along the Bow River in Lake Louise.

 

[ChrisC]

Wow - such amazing snow depths at Lake Louise in the backside chutes and bowls!

The combo of Lake Louise, Kicking Horse, Revelstoke and Sunshine is one the strongest expert skiing circuits in North America! Add a day of snowcat or heli in Revelstoke (K3, Eagle Pass, etc) ....hard to beat!

Not very good connection at Banff Aspen Lodge but will try to post more photos. On Monday after lunch, we did one lap on wind-blown Summit lift then went up it again and I skied what my Garmin said was E Gully. It's the chute in the middle.
View attachment 50319

 

[tseeb]

I've been too busy to add more photos I wanted to include from Monday 3/23 at Lake Louise but couldn't due to Internet issues at Banff Aspen Lodge that otherwise was very nice. Room included breakfast, bathrobes, fridge, Nescafe coffee machine with pods, electric kettle, garage parking, and balcony that we never used, but no microwave. Cost was about half what we paid to stay near slopes at Copper Mtn last March.

Photos of Dave from Seattle in G Gully.

I also wanted to include photos of Lucia taken at Lake Louise last Monday. Her poles are down as she was taking photo of me.

Next photo is Lucia skiing a Larch chair run. New Richardson Ridge chair goes almost to treeline on runs to left behind her.

My vertical was low all days last week as I did a lot of showing Lucia around the new-to-her ski areas.

Garmin map of my day with a zoomed-in map of the ullies where it appears they reversed G and H gullies

 

[tseeb]

Not much to add from Wed at Sunshine besides what my Garmin recorded. Not very high vertical from a lot of laps on Strawberry with Lucia and Standish with her and others from group. She took a hard fall on last run on Standish that nobody saw and is still sore high on her side.

I carried Avy gear on Thursday hoping to get into Delirium Dive and Wild West but they did not open with the new snow. I started with a lap on WaWa where new snow skied as deep as previous day. Lucia had a pit stop before skiing then went on wrong side of old Gondola building ending up enough below WaWa that we skied to Jackrabbit and did some laps on Wolverine. There was a groomed black she could handle but other than that and main green Banff Ave runs started OK but ended too flat. I took her on a lap on Goats Eye skiing Sunshine Coast, then she did it by herself while I traversed and hiked into Southside chutes. Visibility had gone down and was very bad in what my Garmin says was between Farside and Think Again until I got to trees. I went into area later thinking the two big rocks I came down between was Cleavage but not finding rocks in center that others reported and I saw Garmin reported it as Wildside. Visibility was good and I ended up in same trees at bottom.

I joined Lucia at Lodge at bottom of Goat's Eye and we split a beer I had in Avy pack that had not frozen in the 7F morning. Lucia joined me skiing down from gondola mid-station to parking lot. It was early enough that traffic was not too bad and surface was mostly good after new snow. Skiing down we ended up closer to our car as it was on that side of parking lot and there was enough snow to get almost halfway to it.

I had a couple of laps to the top of Sunshine on Great Divide. I spotted a large SkiTalk group from lift going up first time and caught up with them on my second lap finding they were being led by Pilot Dan who I'd skied and aprèd with during a previous Gathering at Big Sky

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Sunshine is easily a Top 10 western area for me. My two days there in 2007 were really good -- lots of terrain for someone at my level.

 

[claurel]

I'm adding my Banff report to this thread. I snowboarded at Sunshine on the 26, 27, and 29, and did a half day at Norquay on the 28th. Overall it was an excellent trip with prime ski conditions, so welcome after a tough season in the Pacific Northwest. My only regrets were 1) not bringing avy gear to try the freeride zones (Delirium Dive and the one off Goat's Eye) and 2) not spending one day exploring the Lake Louise ski area.

There was about 6" or so of fresh powder and cold temps (10°F in the the morning) on Thursday–the only actual pow day of the trip. I saw a few closed runs, but nearly all of the mountain was open. The most fun runs of the day were the double diamonds on Goat's Eye before the fresh snow was completely tracked out. A couple runs had signs cautioning 'Marginal Conditions' but even those were in way better shape than a lot of what I've dealt with at US ski areas this season. The weather flipped between sun and overcast with flat light and flurries in the afternoon. On one run, the visibility would be challenging, then sunshine on the next lap.

Friday the 27th had cold temps again and sunshine the whole day. Other than fresh powder, I couldn't ask for better. Norquay was a fun experiment on Saturday. We had other activities planned in the afternoon and Norquay was closer to our condo than Sunshine, so I thought I'd check it out. It's very much a locals' mountain, which I enjoyed a lot. The day I visited happened to be their 100th anniversary celebration. Good times, but if you're trying to maximize your skiing, Sunshine (and I assume Lake Louise) are the places to go.

There was a bit of new snow at Sunshine, with temperatures a bit higher than Thursday and Friday, but still cold. We had some excellent laps on the groomers. Visibility was great in the morning, then fickle in the afternoon; it was absolutely dumping one point, but it stopped and we made our final run in the sun.

With the strong US dollar, the prices of food and drinks on the mountain seemed reasonable by big resort standards. Lots of great restaurants in town, which I suppose isn't surprising given that it's a major international tourist destination. I highly recommend the Italian restaurant Lupo in Banff town.

I can't believe that it took me so long to try out the Banff resorts. I'm headed back in April for some late season skiing and touring, and I hope to do a mid-winter trip in near future. It seemed like accommodations were easy to book, even this season when the Canadian Rockies had the best snow in North America. Can't remember if it was here, but someone mentioned that abundant accommodation is a consequence of Banff being most popular in the summer—they have extra capacity for winter visitors.

Fresh snow on the double black runs off the top of Goat's Eye.

View of Banff town and Cascade Mountain from the top of the North American chair at Norquay.

Fun, fast groomers on Goat's Eye

Mt. Assiniboine (11,870 ft) seen from the Great Divide Express lift

Mid-day snowstorm on Sunday, March 28.

 

[berkshireskier]

I meant to finish up my TR for our week-long trip to Banff/Lake Louise. Saturday, March 28, was our last full day in Banff and we had already skied Lake Louise once (on a mostly nice day, so we got to see the ski resort and the beautiful scenery) and Sunshine Village once when it was snowing moderately hard all day long with very limited visibility, so we never got to really "see" the ski area or any of the views that people rave about.

Saturday was predicted to be a good day, so we decided to ski Sunshine Village again. We got on the first bus in the morning in front of our hotel and we got to the bottom gondola base about 8:20 AM. They open the main lifts at 9:00 AM and we were in the upper village about 8:35 AM. We booted up in one of the lodges there and immediately skied down to the Angel Express Quad and were able to get on one of the first chairs. The sun was just beginning to come up over the distant peaks to the East and we took one of the blue groomers back down to the base to get warmed up. The groomed trail was in almost perfect "Winter" conditions, with the recent powder snowfalls groomed to perfection.

We took the Angel Express back up and then skied down to the Great Divide Express quad that goes to the top of Lookout Mountain, that we never took the first day because of poor visibility. Already, the 270 degree views from up there were truly magnificent and awe-inspiring. I'm not sure there's a better "view" anywhere in North America (that I have seen). I stopped to take a few photos and videos and my daughter and I then skied down one of the groomed black diamond trails. Again, the trail skied extremely well, with no hint of ice or hardpack anywhere and it was FAST! I was now skiing on rented Kastle carving skis, 81 underfoot, that were almost perfect for this type of groomed powder. The sun was now getting higher in the sky, with just a few wispy clouds high up. It was already an A1, almost perfect Winter ski day, with temps in the mid-20's and light to moderate winds, even at elevation and sunny with great visibility. Not too cold and not too warm.

We skied the groomed trails off of the Great Divide lift a few more times. I tried to to cut over to the ungroomed area next to the trail but it was a combination of stiffened powder and some crusty snow that made for difficult, unpleasant skiing (think driving your car over the indentations in the pavement along the side of the highway to keep you from going off the road if you fall asleep). We then decided to ski back down to the base and try a few runs off of the Standish lift. There too, the groomed trails were in perfect shape and very pleasant to ski but I find the runs off that lift to not be very long.

We then made our way over to the WaWa lift to try a few of those trails before going in for an early lunch. We had a delicious lunch at the Mad Trapper lodge at the main base (We love that place; it's like a throwback to the 50's or 60's in skiing, with very good "ski food"). After lunch, we skied down to the Goat's Eye high-speed quad to try out that terrain (again, we did not ski that lift the first time). Here again, the conditions on the blue and black groomed trails were as close to perfect as you can get. There's very nice terrain over there, both higher up above the tree line and then down lower on the trails cut through the fairly dense evergreens. We both loved those runs and stayed over there for 4 or 5 trips up and down.

Unfortunately, though, we were beginning to lose our almost perfect ski day, as low clouds were beginning to move in fast and the light went completely flat. In the very far distance, you could see skiers (who looked like miniature ants) making their way down Delirium Dive - perhaps the steepest terrain at the ski area. I have no clue what the snow conditions were like in that huge, steep bowl. Given the flat light, we decided to make our way over to main base area and ski some easier trails for the rest of the afternoon. We took the short JackRabbit quad up and then skied over to the TeePee town Express quad that takes you up quite high on Lookout Mountain and we skied down to the base and back over to the WaWa quad for a few more runs before skiing back down on the long run to the lower base of the gondola where we caught the 3:30 bus back to Banff.

All in all, it was a great ski day - weather-wise, condition-wise and terrain-wise and the scenery at SV on a clear day is amazing. It was a great way to end our week in Banff/ Lake Louise. We then had a final, delicious dinner in Banff at the Bluebird restaurant that I would highly recommend. It was a fun week with my daughter. We got in some downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, winter hiking, lunch and hiking at the Chateau Lake Louise and tried several very good restaurants in Banff. Neither one of us fell once or got injured (my main priority at my age). I thought it was great place to visit and ski and I would definitely go back again. I'm not too sure there are many more beautiful mountain areas in all of North America.

 

[tseeb]

Lake Louise, AB Friday 3/27/2026 was my last day skiing. We arrived before 930 AM meetup but parked far away and after booting up I did not load Juniper until ~940. I took a few laps while Lucia used the facilities, finding very good grooming on Blueberry and Buffaloberry where edges had been fenced for racing. Return to chair from that side was flat enough that when Lucia joined me and skied Buffaloberry I made sure she carried enough speed to avoid pushing back to chair. Lucia on Bearberry with Temple Mtn that had some blue ice near top on right behind her.

We went to top so she could she Boomerang with good visibility after suffering down it when it started snowing on Tuesday. We never came close to seeing Mt. Assiniboine in our two days at Sunshine but I think that is it sticking up in background to far right of her in photo.

Color of sky above peaks past Boomerang was an incredible blue, especially with googles.

Lucia on steepest part of Boomerang.

We passed Kara who is from NYC and whose parents live in Truckee and Pilot Dan who lives in Calgary. I skied and aprèd with him at a previous Gathering at Big Sky. Patrol had opened face behind them but was only allowing five skiers through a gate at top at a time.

We skied a couple of Richardson Ridge lap where people where hiking high above it to get some untracked. We took an early break in Temple Lodge and as on previous day stopping there found DanoT who spends Winter near Sun Peaks and Summer in Victoria. With him was Paul who was at Mustang when I was there and has a cabin near Lost Trail. Paul told us about celebration planned outside Temple Lodge at 3 PM. We all skied a couple of Larch laps, then Paul and I did long black Meadowlark run that he said was better than earlier in week then skied more of frontside including a lap on Summit chair that he had not ridden. I went down same smooth Alphabet gully that @jimk had showed us on Monday. Visibility had gone down a lot especially wearing goggles for sunnier day but I survived since it was mostly smooth. I finished the pre-celebration part of my day with some laps on Larch with last lap on Rock Garden a blue run that had sign at entrance, as did many others, saying it was black under current conditions. Lookers left in this photo taken near bottom was not totally tracked out.

Photos from end of week celebration outside Temple Lodge. Not only did @jimk have a small cooler with beer to share, he also had some Ullr and Fireball. Dave Bostedo who organized Gathering and @jimk

Me with jimk and ULLR

A couple more of our group. Guy in orange jacket is from Northern BC and was there with his daughter who is in front of him.

Guy in group named Tex edited photo above to put Neurodrive on a snowboard holding his drink.

We loaded Ptarmigan chair and skied blue runs to get to main base after 4 PM. This was my only day with over 20K vertical.

Map of my day, then detail map of Summit chair runs.

Banff, AB Saturday, March 28, 2026
I could have gone to Norquay and maybe should have tried harder since it was their 100-year anniversary celebration, but I had already used my five Big3 Ikon days and it was nice to not rush through breakfast and packing. And as it was Lucia was not out of the room until a couple of minutes after our 11 AM checkout. We walked Banff Ave over Bow River and while Lucia checked out some shops I walked further to Cave and Basin Historic Site.

Longish but uneventful trip home with a couple of hour drive to get to YYC, fuel and return rental car, then very long walk across entire terminal to Alaska check-in. Then ~1.5 hr flight to Seattle, similar length layover and similar length flight to Oakland arriving at 11:30 PM (SJC has 10 PM curfew). Bags were out in less than 10 min and our son was there a minute or two later for the almost 1.5 hr drive home including stop to leave him in Santa Clara. Great getting through immigration and customs at YYC and not having to go through security or re-check bags in Seattle.