We are skiing Lake Louise and Sunshine ski resorts in Banff. This is mountain skiing right in the heart of the rugged Canadian Rockies. It is hard to concentrate on the skiing when your eyes keep turning to the scenery.
Lake Louise Ski Resort
We skied two days at Lake Louise. Monday was a bluebird day – beautiful, calm, sunny. Wednesday was 90% sunshine. No new snow for a bit now, however really nice conditions. The front face is fun, however the back face into the bowls is amazing.
One surprise is that we got to hold a wolverine, so what more can you ask for. Little known fact – wolverines are being trained for avalanche rescue. 
They have superior smell and instinctively dig for prey in avalanches. The trick is to prevent them from mauling their prey, in this case the avalanche victim. Second little known fact – a single wolverine can bring down an elk. Check it out – its on google so it must be true. Don’t worry – it was not alive, and we are not bringing it home.
We took the short drive from the ski resort over to the lake which is reigned by the Ice Queen. Cathy and were there this past summer, so I included a summer shot to show the contrast.
Sunshine Village Ski Resort
Tuesday was Sunshine. Sunshine is rather unique in that you ride a gondola from the parking lot up to the lodge that sits over 7000 feet in a bowl. It was supposed to be another bluebird day, however….the winds were strong, it was cold and we had very flat light when we arrived. Sunshine has great volunteer guides, and they got us skiing the lower runs in the trees for the first part of the day. After lunch, it brightened up and we skied the runs above the tree line. Again drop dead gorgeous scenery and challenging skiing.
Background: 11 day ski trip in Canadian Rockies
Our 11 day ski trip takes my brother and I on a 1000 km drive from Calgary across the Rockies to Vancouver. Along the way, we stay and ski in Banff / Lake Louise, Alberta, in Revelstoke, British Columbia and in Whistler, British Columbia. This is bucket list stuff for skiers.
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