It had been a long time since I’d been to Canada. As a young gymnast my team and I had travelled by train through the Rockies toward our competition venue in Vancouver. Honestly, we probably didn’t appreciate it. We were too busy dashing up and down the train, giggling and trying not to get caught by the coach eating sweets we’d got from the buffet car. But after being invited by Inghams to go on a six-day press trip to promote Canada wintersports, I couldn’t wait to properly take it in. So off I went to Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper on behalf of Sport magazine.
I had vowed to one day ski in the wilds of Canada and now I have, I’m wondering why I left it so long
Nobody’s home
Yes it’s a journey and a half from the UK, nine and a half hours from London to Calgary. Yes it can get frickin’ freezing. We were there in February, and a taxi driver tells us sometimes it gets so cold your eyeballs freeze. But it’s so, so worth it.
With beautiful powder, well-groomed pistes, stunning scenery, and best of all, empty slopes and no lift queues, wintersports just doesn’t get much better than this.
And the dangerous creatures? Well, that just adds to the buzz, non?
Running riot
Three of the world’s best ski areas can be found in Banff National Park – all conveniently covered by one Tri-Area lift pass – and I skied two of them.
A 25-minute drive from the wild west town of Banff, Sunshine Village sits 7,200 feet above sea level. Once a snowflake falls in November it stays put until May, leaving bambi-legged beginners with vast swathes of pistes on which to learn.
Gung-ho GPS-tracked charlies have the opportunity to pelt down the likes of powder-filled Delirium Dive, oft voted one of the world’s scariest ski runs.
Lovely Inghams rep Lisa Tyrrel and moi off snowshoeing
Make like a local
Away from Sunshine’s slopes you can make like a local by walking in an innuit’s snowshoes, a slightly more laid-back way to appreciate the natural beauty. The silence of a still, wooded glade splinters with the crunch of snow underfoot.
At night, live music pulsates through the town, but for me it’s time to bed down at the luxurious Fairmont Banff, a dramatic imposing five-star hotel.
Fairmont Lake Louise resides next to a stunning natural ice rink
Lakes, forest and glaciers
The second of the national parks’ ski areas and Canada’s second largest ski area at over 4,000 acres, Lake Louise, combines a plethora of mountains, lakes, forests and glaciers.
Skating around the frozen lake at the spectacular Fairmont Lake Louise becomes a blur of mountain, forests and snow as you pile round the uneven ice.
Canada wintersports
Pistes are suitable for all abilities but are famed for their vertical challenges some of which require a further hike even after you’ve reached the top of the highest chairlift.
With runs names such as ‘elevator shaft’ it doesn’t require the ski guides to tell you that “once you fall here, you stay fallen” but they do anyway.
Beginner’s might want to avoid the snowboard/ski park with vertical jumps and slides.
Barely a skiier to be seen – very different to the Alps in February
Canada wintersports
Assuming you’ve survived the day skiing, dog sledding is a further option.
Six surprisingly lean dogs drag your sled along a snowy path through woods. Glimpses of the open lake and mountainous terrain to come are revealed.
Whether seated in the sled solo or with a partner you can chill out and absorb the views. Or, like me, you can have a go at ‘mushing’ – the guiding hand of the proper musher standing rather snugly behind you. Hairing through the breathtaking views to the howls of the dogs is exhilarating.
So gonna get me some dogs to commute with when I’m back in London
Third time, still lucky
So you’ve covered Sunshine Village and Lake Louise ski areas – now you need to head to Jasper. The infamous Marmot Basin cannot be missed out.
Yes it’s another 291km further north but to get there you go down one of the most stunning road routes in the world, the Icefield Parkway. Surrounded on all sides by jagged mountain peaks, jutting out of the forest like a mouthful of teeth, the journey is worth it alone.
A slightly nervy Annie from Handbag.com heading off for her first lesson
There are so many runs from the top of each lift that it’s easy to be able to ski off in different directions from your party. Differing ski levels are catered for via alternative slopes but you can all meet at the end of the run.
A snow park at slopes’ end enables beginners to hire a guide to give them some pointers on the best way to launch stylishly into the air. Or, perhaps more importantly, landing at the end.
Stunning scenery on an ice-canyon walk at Maligne Canyon
Away from the slopes and a fish-eye river bed view is an unnerving way to spend a few hours.
A few months later and the Maligne Canyon will be filled with water from the mountain’s melted snow. The roaring water forms the marble-smooth walls through which we’re walking.
In February, however, glistening waterfalls are frozen in mid-splash revealing icy nooks, cascading frozen waterwalls and the bluest ice you’ve ever seen.
That hole we’re looking at? Just don’t fall in – you’d get swept under the ice to Kingdom come
One of my favourite trips. Ever.
Oh, and the bear claws and cat paws thing? You’ll need to watch the video below.
Article first published in Sport magazine, February 2014.
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