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Ski Resorts in Canada | Ski Chalets Canada | Ski Hotels in Canada
Skiing in Canada is a once in a lifetime holiday. Not only is the snowfall near perfect, knee deep and utterly magnificent with the lightest snow you will ever find literally piling down from the sky, but it is also breathtakingly beautiful, with many of the resorts sitting on protected national-park. The cherry on the cake is that it is quite possibly the friendliest ski region you will ever find!
The snow record in Canada is outstanding, boasting a super long ski season and some of the most groomed runs on the planet. From the mighty Whistler in British Columbia with its world class skiing and snowboarding and double diamond runs to the more authentic smaller family friendly resorts like Tremblant and Sun Peaks, Canada really does have it all.
In Canada, unlike Europe, every resort has a ski area boundary marked by signs or a rope, and the area within, no matter how steep and vicious it looks, is avalanche controlled and patrolled. This is just one of the attractions for world class skiers, along with the fact that the pistes are quiet and spacious, groomed to perfection and every liftie you encounter will have a beaming smile on their face!
Canada Ski
The two main flight hubs of Vancouver and Calgary both have direct non-stop flights and serve the mega resorts Banff, Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Whistler. Banff, nestled in the Banff National Forest is a lively Canadian Rockies town offering some of the best in après- ski in Canada. The scenery is staggering, and the fact that it is sat in the National Park means that there is always unbelievable wildlife to see, particularly from the shuttle bus, heading up the mountain.
Why not ski the Big 3 in Canada’s Rocky Mountains; Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Mount Norquay. These three resorts could not be any more different in terms of character but they are all neatly linked by the excellent ski bus service and conveniently share the same lift pass. Lake Louise is simply stunning and the whole Bow Valley Mountain range is almost too perfect to be real. More of a peaceful village with literally a few hotels, a liquor store and a petrol station, Lake Louise is astonishingly beautiful and for skiing, it offers big bowls, long runs and lots of terrain for all ability levels. Stay in Lake Louise and use it as a base to explore Mount Norquay, Sunshine Village, Kicking Horse, Fernie and Panorama since there are many excursions and heli-skiing trips that leave from here.
The quintessential Canadian ski resort of Fernie is laidback and friendly, perfect for the more adventurous skier and snowboarders but also good for families since there is a great nursery area for beginners. Fernie is reputed to have the best powder in the Rockies. It falls and falls and perhaps sometimes, too much!
Western Canada (essentially the territories of British Columbia and Alberta) have terrific snowfalls and are consistently reliable in terms of season longevity and snow depths. It is this abundance and quality of snow that results in superbly maintained trails giving rise to the phrase “groomers” owing to their immaculate presentation. In addition, the back bowls and back country skiing is something to behold with off-piste potential being omnipresent.
For those wanting to escape the masses (not that Canada has any sort of a problem with crowded slopes), then snow cat, dog sledding and heli-skiing is on offer by a variety of well-established operations such as Mike Wiegele/CMF and Monashee Powder.
The scenery in Western Canada is more Alpine than the US resorts. The vertical is usually greater and the mountains are a lot more interesting and rugged, rather than the series of hills that places like Breckenridge offer. Eastern Canada (essentially Quebec for the UK market) offers something different in that the resorts are small, lower altitude and more marketed towards the family. Mont Tremblant offers a great ski in/ski out base with a beautiful village and French flair.
Like The States the Canadian resorts are all more recently constructed and so lack the charm, tradition, and individuality of the European ski villages. All of the Canadian ski resorts are “manufactured” to a quality of standard with corporately owned large hotels and condo accommodations dominating the village. These are invariably well designed and constructed but they do have a slight “Disney” feel to them. If you can put that aside, which shouldn’t be difficult, then you would probably return year after year as many Brits do. Catered chalets are available in Whistler but they are few and far between. In Canada it is quick and easy to eat out and so the chalet options have severely dwindled in recent years.
Snowfinders guests have particularly enjoyed both The Chalet Mountain House in Whistler and the Chalet Alice in Whistler.
A special mention should go to the palatial 5 star Four Seasons Hotel, Whistler and to the ever popular 5 star Westin Resort and Spa, Whistler. Snowfinders’ Hayley raves about the Delta Sun Peaks Resort , Sun Peaks - as well as The Chateau, Lake Louise - which she described as being “Just amazing”. Over in Big White The Stoneridge Lodge – gets a very loyal following from our guests too.
The season in Canada runs from late November through to May. Over in Whistler the season even extends into June or July depending on the conditions with the two mountains (Whistler and Blackcomb) alternating each year in their turn to open over the summer. Whistler is more coastal and so the temperatures are not as severe as those resorts in the interior of Canada. Villages such as Banff and Fernie can easily hit the -40s at the coldest parts of the season. As with Europe though these figures can sound a lot worse than they are and wrapped up skiers in these dryer climates often feel warmer than walking around central London in mid-January!
Canada benefits from having a choice of direct flights into the country with British Airways, Air Canada, Air Transat, and Monarch all flying to either Calgary (Banff, Lake Louise, Panorama, Kimberly, Fernie, Kicking Horse, Golden, etc.), Vancouver (for Whistler), or Montreal (for Tremblant). Connecting flights are available to Kamloops (for Sun Peaks), Kelowna (for Silver Star and Big White).
If we are taking about skiing “across the pond” then Canada takes the lion’s share of the UK market. The Canadians do everything that the American’s do, although we would say that they are just the little bit more sincere and British-like in their attitudes. The fact is that the two main flight hubs of Vancouver and Calgary both have direct non-stop flights and serve the meg-resorts Banff- Lake Louise-Sunshine (Ski the Big 3) and Whistler.
Western Canada (essentially the territories of British Columbia and Alberta) have terrific snowfalls and are consistently reliable in terms of season longevity and snow depths. It is this abundance and quality of snow that results in superbly maintained trails giving rise to the phrase “groomers” owing to their immaculate presentation. In addition, the back bowls and back country skiing is something to behold with off-piste potential being omnipresent. Avalanche protected terrain within the resort boundaries offer a variety of challenges for those new to off-piste to expert gurus alike. For those wanting to totally escape the masses (not that Canada has any sort of a problem with crowded slopes) then snow cat and heli-skiing is on offer by a variety of well-established operations such as Mike Wiegele/CMF/, and Monashee Powder.
The scenery in Western Canada is also more Alpine than the US resorts. The vertical is usually greater and the mountains are a lot more interesting and rugged, rather than the series of hills that places like Breckenridge offer. Eastern Canada (essentially Quebec for the UK market) offers something different in that the resorts are smaller, lower altitude and more marketed towards the family. Mont Tremblant offers a great ski in/ski out base with a beautiful village and a French flair. The native language is French and so it has a unique experience to skiing unlike anywhere else in North America.
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