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Banff 11/24-11/29
- Thread starter ilovepugs
- Start date
ilovepugs
Angel Diva
I came at the right time! Snowed the first day I was on snow, sun the next day, and snow again today. 10” since I arrived. Tomorrow will be much colder though so I hope my layering strategy is up for the task!
ilovepugs
Angel Diva
Oh, I tried out the Factions on Sunday after the ski show. The Factions like to be driven quite a bit harder than I wanted to drive them early season… will revisit in early 2023 once my skiing muscles feel stronger.
I brought a powder board and the unicorn skis which are 90mm twin tips and pretty damp but don’t need to be driven too hard. The unicorns are honestly perfect for me in these conditions, they don’t throw me too hard on choppy snow but they have a low swing weight and I felt pretty comfortable picking my way down bumpy blue lines. Still working on flow and finesse but I just had to pole plant and initiate the turn and the skis did exactly what I asked!
@elemmac just cuz I know you’ll ask ;) — the Capita Equalizer is amaze-balls in fresh snow, super fun and responsive but catchy on flats. Which unfortunately Sunshine Village has a lot of and I had a few kind of painful face plants. I also boob dialed my mom a few times as a result. If I hadn’t gassed myself out on day 1 I would have had a lot of fun getting down steeper stuff on this powder day but had to call it when I was doing an easy (and very familiar to me) black run and my stupid board just. wouldn’t. toeside. turn. cuz I was too darn tired! I think it’s going to be amaaaaaaaazing at Revelstoke.
ilovepugs
Angel Diva
My favorite place away from home
two more days on snow too! I do miss my family though.
ilovepugs
Angel Diva
Still lazy and tired (this vacation was to slide on snow and rest) but I'll add a note on logistics since I usually find logistics-type stuff the most helpful for ski trip reports. @Ski Sine Fine you might be interested.
Flew nonstop from Montreal to Calgary, checked a ski bag for a very reasonable $35 CAD on Air Canada. Calgary airport is super easy for car rentals and ground transport. On the ground side, the airport is split between the international and domestic terminals. They are connected via a long hallway.
Both bus transit options to Banff, the Banff Airporter and Brewster Express, have a counter on the domestic arrivals side of things where you check in prior to your scheduled trip. I'm not sure if they have anything in the international arrivals terminal. I did end up taking the Banff Airporter but honestly between the two, both are perfectly fine. I read the signage at the Brewster Express counter and it said their buses have wifi; Banff Airporter does not. Trip took about 2 hours with a stop in Canmore.
The bus dropped me off right at my lodging so that was easy.
The ski bus from Banff to the resort is also quite straight forward. The town of Banff is small and from what I can tell, all of the major hotels/accommodation is just a short walk from a ski bus stop. They are marked with SkiBig3 sign posts. Everyone is required to take a seat on the bus; if the bus runs out of seats, they will call another one. So, no need to worry about not being able to get a ride to the resorts. Same on the way back -- if one bus fills up, they will start up another bus.
A note on car rentals:
Unlike the Denver airport, where the rental car counters are a long bus shuttle away, the car rental counters at Calgary are an easy crosswalk away.
I skied on Friday with a lovely woman who posts on SkiTalk who is local to Calgary; Sunshine Village is her home hill. She said that it is very uncommon to be able to rent cars with real winter tires; all season tires are much more common. Highway 1 between Calgary and Banff is straight and does not include any high-speed sharply curvy turns (unlike, say, I-70 in Colorado) and according to my ski friend, people are generally OK with slowing speeds down when conditions are bad and it's fine to camp out in the right lane going at a comfortable speed in all seasons. My only previous experience with Banff has been in the spring where no snow tires were remotely necessary, but I think I'd be way more comfortable driving from Calgary airport to Banff on all seasons than I am driving from Denver airport to any of the resorts on I-70, which I've done before.
Since Dr Pugs and I also plan to do a trip to Revelstoke and Banff mid-winter, I asked my ski friend if we should buy chains for driving through Rogers Pass. She said no - if there was any avalanche risk, the pass would just be closed and chains would not make a difference. (FYI to @elemmac again! Ymmv of course.)
Aside from being freaking gorgeous, having a huge variety of terrain and being affordable to Americans thanks to the exchange rates, Banff is one of my favorite places to go for a ski trip because it's so darn easy to get to from northern Vermont -- as long as the border's open. Much easier than, say, Reno, that's for sure, and the airport experience is massively better than Denver, too. Last April, it was also pretty easy to get to from San Francisco (direct flight) and my mom had a pretty easy time flying home to Boston via Toronto airport.
@ski diva I really recommend revisiting your Banff Diva West idea sometime! Maybe a spring skiing visit so the group can avoid the really cold temps? Tomorrow is going to start at -10 degrees Fahrenheit
Flew nonstop from Montreal to Calgary, checked a ski bag for a very reasonable $35 CAD on Air Canada. Calgary airport is super easy for car rentals and ground transport. On the ground side, the airport is split between the international and domestic terminals. They are connected via a long hallway.
Both bus transit options to Banff, the Banff Airporter and Brewster Express, have a counter on the domestic arrivals side of things where you check in prior to your scheduled trip. I'm not sure if they have anything in the international arrivals terminal. I did end up taking the Banff Airporter but honestly between the two, both are perfectly fine. I read the signage at the Brewster Express counter and it said their buses have wifi; Banff Airporter does not. Trip took about 2 hours with a stop in Canmore.
The bus dropped me off right at my lodging so that was easy.
The ski bus from Banff to the resort is also quite straight forward. The town of Banff is small and from what I can tell, all of the major hotels/accommodation is just a short walk from a ski bus stop. They are marked with SkiBig3 sign posts. Everyone is required to take a seat on the bus; if the bus runs out of seats, they will call another one. So, no need to worry about not being able to get a ride to the resorts. Same on the way back -- if one bus fills up, they will start up another bus.
A note on car rentals:
Unlike the Denver airport, where the rental car counters are a long bus shuttle away, the car rental counters at Calgary are an easy crosswalk away.
I skied on Friday with a lovely woman who posts on SkiTalk who is local to Calgary; Sunshine Village is her home hill. She said that it is very uncommon to be able to rent cars with real winter tires; all season tires are much more common. Highway 1 between Calgary and Banff is straight and does not include any high-speed sharply curvy turns (unlike, say, I-70 in Colorado) and according to my ski friend, people are generally OK with slowing speeds down when conditions are bad and it's fine to camp out in the right lane going at a comfortable speed in all seasons. My only previous experience with Banff has been in the spring where no snow tires were remotely necessary, but I think I'd be way more comfortable driving from Calgary airport to Banff on all seasons than I am driving from Denver airport to any of the resorts on I-70, which I've done before.
Since Dr Pugs and I also plan to do a trip to Revelstoke and Banff mid-winter, I asked my ski friend if we should buy chains for driving through Rogers Pass. She said no - if there was any avalanche risk, the pass would just be closed and chains would not make a difference. (FYI to @elemmac again! Ymmv of course.)
Aside from being freaking gorgeous, having a huge variety of terrain and being affordable to Americans thanks to the exchange rates, Banff is one of my favorite places to go for a ski trip because it's so darn easy to get to from northern Vermont -- as long as the border's open. Much easier than, say, Reno, that's for sure, and the airport experience is massively better than Denver, too. Last April, it was also pretty easy to get to from San Francisco (direct flight) and my mom had a pretty easy time flying home to Boston via Toronto airport.
@ski diva I really recommend revisiting your Banff Diva West idea sometime! Maybe a spring skiing visit so the group can avoid the really cold temps? Tomorrow is going to start at -10 degrees Fahrenheit
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echo_VT
Angel Diva
When this happens to me it means my feet are not perfectly in the middle and I’m somewhat heel heavy. That’s on a true twin tip, not sure if the Equalizer is…!
Flowergirl88
Certified Ski Diva
Thanks for the trip report and photos!!! We go out to Lake Louise in three weeks!!! I'm getting super pumped now!!!
echo_VT
Angel Diva
What great details @ilovepugs ! Thanks for sharing! I will have to remember to ask you if we head out that way. Or I should bookmark this. When I traveled to Banff, I got picked up by friends that drove a stick shift (back in my single days circa 2007)… and the other couple times traveling as a young family from nyc, we got there early season and we rented a stick shift car with 4WD and hoped we didn’t need it. We didn’t. We skied but then decided to do a tour of the hot springs bc the snow wasn’t that good. The kiddo did ski lessons at Sunshine. She LOVED it. Although it’s been over a decade I credit Sunshine for really positive experiences for a 4 year old kid starting to ski.
Flowergirl88
Certified Ski Diva
We were thinking of skiing five days at Lake Louise... we're staying at the Lake Louise Inn, so super close! BUT... do you think we should try to hit up Sunshine or Norquay? My kids will have just turned 7 years old, and wasn't sure if it was just 'easier' to chill and hang at Lake Louise. They can follow reasonably well on blue runs with experienced people! I'm just an okay intermediate, and my husband's a step below me. LOL! My girls and I do loooooooooooove the sport though!
ilovepugs
Angel Diva
Are you an east coast skier? I think SSV (Sunshine Village) is better for green and blue skiers - more variety of green and blue trails, less steep than Lake Louise. Aside from some of the cat tracks, the green runs at both places would likely be rated blue trails in the east in terms of steepness.
Flowergirl88
Certified Ski Diva
We are east coast skiers... sort of! I learned to ski out in Whistler and have spent more time on west coast snow than east coast snow! My kids learned at Stowe last year for an entire week, and then we hit up the local DC slopes a lot during night ski to get away from the crazy crowds! BUT... they did great on a few of the blue runs with MarzNC and Bill when we met up at Alta last year! BUT... the 'less steep' has me thinking that we should DEFINITELY go to Sunshine Village at least twice! Thanks for the tip!!!
Ski Sine Fine
Angel Diva
Thanks for the on-the-ground report. Super helpful. I’ll be flying Air Canada Dulles->Toronto->Calgary. And Brewster Express it is.Still lazy and tired (this vacation was to slide on snow and rest) but I'll add a note on logistics since I usually find logistics-type stuff the most helpful for ski trip reports. @Ski Sine Fine you might be interested.
Flew nonstop from Montreal to Calgary, checked a ski bag for a very reasonable $35 CAD on Air Canada. Calgary airport is super easy for car rentals and ground transport. On the ground side, the airport is split between the international and domestic terminals. They are connected via a long hallway.
Both bus transit options to Banff, the Banff Airporter and Brewster Express, have a counter on the domestic arrivals side of things where you check in prior to your scheduled trip. I'm not sure if they have anything in the international arrivals terminal. I did end up taking the Banff Airporter but honestly between the two, both are perfectly fine. I read the signage at the Brewster Express counter and it said their buses have wifi; Banff Airporter does not. Trip took about 2 hours with a stop in Canmore.
The bus dropped me off right at my lodging so that was easy.
The ski bus from Banff to the resort is also quite straight forward. The town of Banff is small and from what I can tell, all of the major hotels/accommodation is just a short walk from a ski bus stop. They are marked with SkiBig3 sign posts. Everyone is required to take a seat on the bus; if the bus runs out of seats, they will call another one. So, no need to worry about not being able to get a ride to the resorts. Same on the way back -- if one bus fills up, they will start up another bus.
A note on car rentals:
Unlike the Denver airport, where the rental car counters are a long bus shuttle away, the car rental counters at Calgary are an easy crosswalk away.
I skied on Friday with a lovely woman who posts on SkiTalk who is local to Calgary; Sunshine Village is her home hill. She said that it is very uncommon to be able to rent cars with real winter tires; all season tires are much more common. Highway 1 between Calgary and Banff is straight and does not include any high-speed sharply curvy turns (unlike, say, I-70 in Colorado) and according to my ski friend, people are generally OK with slowing speeds down when conditions are bad and it's fine to camp out in the right lane going at a comfortable speed in all seasons. My only previous experience with Banff has been in the spring where no snow tires were remotely necessary, but I think I'd be way more comfortable driving from Calgary airport to Banff on all seasons than I am driving from Denver airport to any of the resorts on I-70, which I've done before.
Since Dr Pugs and I also plan to do a trip to Revelstoke and Banff mid-winter, I asked my ski friend if we should buy chains for driving through Rogers Pass. She said no - if there was any avalanche risk, the pass would just be closed and chains would not make a difference. (FYI to @elemmac again! Ymmv of course.)
Aside from being freaking gorgeous, having a huge variety of terrain and being affordable to Americans thanks to the exchange rates, Banff is one of my favorite places to go for a ski trip because it's so darn easy to get to from northern Vermont -- as long as the border's open. Much easier than, say, Reno, that's for sure, and the airport experience is massively better than Denver, too. Last April, it was also pretty easy to get to from San Francisco (direct flight) and my mom had a pretty easy time flying home to Boston via Toronto airport.
@ski diva I really recommend revisiting your Banff Diva West idea sometime! Maybe a spring skiing visit so the group can avoid the really cold temps? Tomorrow is going to start at -10 degrees Fahrenheit
Questions about checked bags. Reading Air Canada’s website, it says skis must be in a hard case. I have a sportube so that’s not a problem. But that also means I’ll have to check a regular bag for clothes if I wish to bring my boot bag as carry-on. Not a big deal in the scheme of things. Just curious if they’re really adamant about that, and adamant about not having anything else in the case other than skis and poles and boots.
If your skis are in soft bag, they will not take responsibly for damage. Also DO NOT pack your ski bag full. They actually removed DH's stuff and put it all in box one time on the way to WB.
That part seems to apply to WestJet too. Only skis and poles in the equipment.. As far the Sportube, I've also put a pair of hiking shoes and extra gloves between the skis in the tube.
That part seems to apply to WestJet too. Only skis and poles in the equipment.. As far the Sportube, I've also put a pair of hiking shoes and extra gloves between the skis in the tube.
