Mt. Norquay is celebrating 100 years of operation next year.DAN EVANS/Supplied
I was in the midst of the Rockies – breathing in the scent of whitebark pines, admiring the snow-capped granite peaks – but it was the emptiness of Banff Avenue that stopped me in my tracks. The main drag of this mountain town in Banff National Park is usually packed with cars, RVs and tour buses, the sidewalks thick with visitors, shoulder to shoulder – even on the Bow River walking trail. Not today. Not in January. A ski trip to Banff was a chance to enjoy this overvisited park in peace – more than three million visitors arrived in the 2025 summer but just more than 1.2 million came during the 2024-25 ski season. (These numbers are for independent travellers only, Parks Canada notes. The numbers will grow when group tours are added at the end of its fiscal year in March.)
Les Routes Blanches restores the tradition of village-to-village cross-country skiing
Visiting midweek in January, I felt that quiet calm even at the top of the ski runs that look over Banff Avenue at Mt. Norquay. It’s one of three ski resorts in the national park and renowned for its notoriously steep slopes. At the other end of the resort, however, where easier “blue” runs can feel more like expert blacks, I found my fun and even better views. I am not sure I’ve ever gotten off a chairlift and felt surrounded by nature. I had to stop for a while to admire the pine-filled valley, which spread from my ski tips to the horizon like a sea of green cupped by snow-capped mountains. Eventually, I gathered myself to ski into it.
Mt. Norquay celebrates 100 years of operation in 2026. It’s a local’s mountain and rocks a retro eighties vibe. No one here wants the glam of, say, Lake Louise. I was surprised to never wait in a line – not for a lift, not for a coffee, not for a lunch table in the impressive cathedral-ceiling wooden-beam lodge. There’s peace in that, too.
Since I was staying at a downtown hotel without a car, every morning I schlepped to the free shuttle bus stop in my ski boots, waiting on the sidewalk with dozens of other skiers. Any time I talked about the bluebird skies and grand views I’d had in the mountains, I always heard back: “Just wait until you ski Lake Louise.”
And they were right.
Skiing at the Lake Louise resort, which is opening 200 acres of new terrain later this season.REUBEN KRABBE/Supplied
All day amongst the wide open runs and within view of four mountain faces, I pulled off my mittens too many times to take too many photos of the cloud inversion. Sunlit swirls of fog pooled in the valley below, parting occasionally to reveal the grandeur of Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise in the distance. Slopes in the Lake Louise ski area are certainly busier, but slowing down to soak in the scenery from mid-mountain restaurants or hidden corners of the forest you’ve got to boot pack into bring moments of Zen. (Later this season, Lake Louise opens 200 acres of new terrain, offering intermediate and beginner runs, including treed runs.)
The third ski resort – Banff Sunshine – has the only ski-in/ski-out hotel in the park and I looked forward to an overnight in the mountains after a long ski day. Guests arrive by gondola to Sunshine Mountain Lodge and the charm of this did not disappoint: Floating in a candy-coloured cabin through an alpine forest to 2,195 metres was one of my most delightful hotel arrivals in recent memory.
The true luxury at Sunshine is the location – it’s a can’t-miss ski day. All that swooshing through powder in the resort’s bowls where snow, mountain peaks and sky meet so prettily, then snuggling into a bubble-heated chairlift to explore more than 3,300 acres of skiable terrain (some runs even cross into B.C.).
So I was disappointed when I discovered that the lodge is in need of a decor overhaul. Much of the furniture in my room was tired and scuffed. There were two ratty bathrobes in my closet – one fell apart as soon as it came off the hanger. Even the hotel’s enormous outdoor hot tub was missing tiles while slices of pool liner moved like seaweed in the whirlpool jets. (And yet, it still lured me in for a soak under a bright ceiling of stars.) This season, upgrades are under way, with about 20 per cent of the rooms already refreshed and common areas now offering the ability to “work from ski resort.”
What I loved best at Sunshine Mountain Lodge was that once the lifts closed, overnight guests could enjoy the peace and quiet of the mountain. Good family-friendly après here included complimentary s’mores and sunset snowshoe hikes.
Sunshine Mountain Lodge has the park’s only ski-in/ski-out hotel.Noel Hendrickson/Supplied
Surprisingly, my most memorable moment of winter bliss occurred in one of Banff’s busiest viewpoints: the shores of Lake Louise. This winter the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise’s new indoor-outdoor spa lets you (literally) soak in the view, but it was the lake’s skating rink that got my attention.
One morning before sunrise, I watched the flashing blue lights of a Zamboni smooth out the skating area from my room. I decided to swap skis for skates and was first in line at the rental shop.
For a long time, I was the only one on the ice. The rhythmic scrape of my blades on the rink was magical and meditative. I couldn’t believe I had this iconic view to myself. When snow began to fall, I looked up and let the flakes melt on my skin.
I was in a living snow globe. Except instead of feeling shaken, I was at peace.
Visitors can swap their skis for skates on Lake Louise.Catherine Dawson March/The Globe and Mail
If you go
Mt. Norquay, Lake Louise and Banff Sunshine are independently owned resorts, and they are all on the IKON pass. Lift tickets can be purchased individually and deals on visiting all three are available.
I rented one set of skis to use at each resort. SkiBig3 is the promotion arm of all three resorts. It sells lift tickets and runs a gear shop downtown. Rentals picked up here mean you can leave them at any Banff hotel or ski resort before heading home. Adult gear rentals from $54.50/day.
Skiing in Banff National Park without a car is possible by using the free resort ski shuttles (anything from a small school bus to nearby Norquay to a coach bus for the 40-minute run to Lake Louise). Just make sure you get on the right one as there are multiple buses, often arriving at the same time. Just about everyone walks to the shuttle in ski boots.
Après alternative: a guided nighttime walk in Johnston Canyon. This very busy daytime spot is deserted in the dark. Guides at Discover Banff Tours kit their guests out with headlamps, ice cleats and a hiking pole to walk along the easy, flat pathways through the soaring cliffs. The moonlight reflecting off the snow lights up the canyon so delicately that you’ll soon snap off the headlamp to enjoy its ethereal glow between the jet black pines. Even those who’ve walked this canyon before will find it peaceful and magically transformed in the dark. Guided night walks from $100.
The writer was a guest of Banff & Lake Louise Tourism. It did not review or approve the story before publication.