The Great Canadian Rockies
Suzanne Kingsmill, BA, MSc
Shawville, Que.
Can J Rural Med 1997; 2 (1): 33-35
© 1997 Suzanne Kingsmill
Where the hell am I?" yelled the panicked, disembodied voice coming out at me through the thick fog just as I edged my skis downhill into the great white void. I swear the devil must have prodded me when I yelled back, "In Sunshine!"
Something swooshed slowly by somewhere in the swirl of fog to my left. I thought I caught a muffled "Smartaaass!" before hearing a dull thud and an unearthly groan as whoever it was smashed into one of the monster-sized moguls draped all over the aptly named "Bye Bye Bowl" at Sunshine Village, Banff National Park.
We'd arrived in drizzle in the town of Banff the day before for the rural doctors' conference and were checking out the local slopes to see what they were like, except I couldn't see a thing and only gravity told me which way was down. Then, in one of those sudden and miraculous weather changes that can occur in the Rockies the fog took on an eerie yellowish tinge, and several minutes later the sun exploded through it like a searchlight, vaporizing the fog to reveal the great Canadian Rockies -- along with a half dozen skiers, including my two young sons, littered like flotsam and jetsam on the mounds of moguls below me. From skiing blindly by the measured inch suddenly we were skiing with abandon by the unmeasured mile on sunny, wide open bowls that began above the tree line and descended into the fog-shrouded valley with access to three mountains that make up the Sunshine trio of Lookout Mountain (some great bumps), Goat's Eye (new and no novice trails here: Free Fall has an 83% pitch -- talk about elbowing a mountain!) and Mt. Standish (great bumps and trees).
Sunshine is only 20 minutes from the town of Banff and is the only ski-in, ski-out resort in the park. Cars are left behind at the parking lot and skiers take the gondola up past the take-off point for Goat's Eye and up to Sunshine Village and the 85-room Sunshine Inn. The best skiing is in late February and early March when powder reigns, but spring skiing in the Rockies can be terrific (the rare fog notwithstanding) and lasts well into May.
Sunshine Village is one of three excellent ski resorts close to the town of Banff. Lake Louise is a 1-hour shuttle ride west from Banff and is the largest ski area in Canada, with 4000 acres of magnificent bowls, double black diamond mogul fields, glades and gentle groomed slopes.
If you're heading to Lake Louise be sure to check out the impressive Chateau Lake Louise and Lake Louise itself.
Norquay, 5 minutes from Banff, is mostly below the tree line and has some of the most famous mogul runs in the area. You can buy interchangeable lift tickets for all three resorts, but Norquay also sells 2-hour tickets, so if you're staying in Banff you can catch a few runs in the morning and tour Banff and environs in the afternoon.
There's more to Banff than alpine skiing, even in the off-season months of spring and fall. Banff has a permanent population of 7500 which swells to many times that during the high summer season. The town is chock-full of every kind of store, restaurant and hotel you could want. There's even a Roger's chocolate store here, one of the very few outside of the famous Victoria store where it all started. They create chocolates to make you drool. Take a drive up to the Banff Springs Hotel, the 108-year-old imposing castle, and on the way back check out the Upper Hot Springs and soak in the pool and spa. Alternatively go to where it all began at the Cave and Basin Historic Site where you can see the naturally occurring springs in the cave. It was the discovery of these springs by three Canadian Pacific rail workers that eventually led to the creation of Canada's first national park to protect the springs from overexploitation. Visit the Banff Park Museum in downtown Banff, and for arts and entertainment check out the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies. If you want to travel farther afield there are many attractions within driving distance of Banff, including the hoodoos, impressive spires carved by the wind and the rain that can be found high above the Bow River Valley, and don't forget the Sulphur Mountain gondola for a great view of the Banff area.
Every year more than 5 million people visit Banff National Park, now part of the largest national park system in the world. In fact the area around Banff is loaded with national parks from Jasper, Yoho and Banff to Kootenay, Revelstoke and Glacier in British Columbia, offering endless outdoor opportunities in the winter, not just for alpine skiing but for cross-country and ski touring as well. Although cross-country skiing is pretty well washed out at the lower levels by early April, its near relative, ski touring, is still going strong high up in the mountains.
It's big business in the Rockies, and trips can range from expensive ski-in or helicopter-in luxury resorts to rustic mountain huts, where you bring your own food, bedding and flashlights, to guided winter touring from point A to point B. Booking well ahead is advisable, as these resorts, huts and tours can be very popular.
We had never ski toured before so, after the conference, we chose the latter option, took our two sons and two expert guides, who happened to be close family members from Calgary, crossed the Great Divide and stopped at dusk at Roger's Pass in Glacier Mountain National Park. In the little layby parking lot with the Rockies towering overhead we strapped the unfamiliar skins onto our rented mountaineering skis (much more substantial than the light cross-country skis we were used to back east), hoisted our packs loaded with food and bedding and by the light of our headlamps skied in through the gloaming and the towering evergreens to a cabin operated by the Alpine Club of Canada 1 km from the Trans-Canada Highway. By the time we reached the hut it was dark, and our two sons tumbled blindly into the cabin and scared the wits out of two Germans tourists (who spoke no English) who were quietly reading by candlelight in the kitchen and with whom we were to share the cabin. Our plan was to use the hut as a base and ski the Selkirk mountain range by day, the best highway-accessible ski touring in North America. Even so it had taken us all afternoon to get there from Banff!
It was avalanche season, and our trusty guides made sure all six of us were outfitted with transceivers, avalanche probes, shovels and emergency supplies, and they drilled us in what to do if an avalanche should hit. They stressed that we would not be able to ski if they felt the danger was high.
For 3 days we zigzagged up the spines of mountains hugging the tree line, sometimes climbing slopes of 40° marvelling at how well the skins worked, and how empty the Rockies are, with no ski lifts, no crowds, no line-ups, just open vistas and untracked snow everywhere. It was too late for the famous Rocky Mountain powder: we skied in mashed potato conditions which, strange as it seems, turned out to be ideal for learning how to telemark: we never got out of control but we sure got drenched. Each day, after 6 to 8 hours of climbing up, skiing down and climbing again we headed back exhausted, except for the kids, who wanted to play soccer!
On our last day we met a group of 12 high up in the mountains out on an avalanche course. They had slept that night in a huge snow cave carved out of the mountain side and were using it as a base. As we talked about avalanches the air seemed to dance and take on a life of its own, and a low throbbing sound grew to a dull roar as someone pointed excitedly across the valley. We watched as a cornice on top of the mountain released and began to plunge down the sheer rock face high above us, its frightening power silencing us as the snow crashed down into the valley, gaining momentum and smothering the smooth, untrammelled areas with a rough, thick, gluey mass of destruction. I fingered my transceiver and wondered about the survival chances of anyone caught in something like that.
After supper that evening as the six of us lay comatose around the fire our quiet German twosome suddenly came to life. It began very softly at first with a deep, rich baritone. The strains of "Norwegian Wood" slowly grew louder and louder until the rich sound filled the entire cabin. The six of us, as if on cue, sat up to listen as the first voice was joined by a clear resonant tenor, the likes of which you'd pay big bucks to hear. Our two German friends turned out to be professional musicians on holiday! In sucession they sang the first verse of just about every hit we knew from the '60s and '70s, the foreign English words on their lips sounding as natural as if they were singing in their native tongue. Although they never did sing the "Blue Canadian Rockies" (they'd never heard of Valdy), their impromptu concert was a great ending, to a great week, in the great Canadian Rockies.
Ski touring:
Alpine skiing
- Sunshine Ski resort. Box 1510, Banff AB T0L 0C0. Tel.: 403 762-6500. Vertical drop: 1070 m
- Lake Louise. 505, 15508th St. SW, Calgary AB T2R 1K1. Tel.: 1-800-258-snow. Vertical drop: 1645 m
- Banff Mount Norquay. Box 219, Ste. 7000, Banff AB. Tel: 403 762-4421. Vertical drop: 497 m
Accommodation
- Banff/Lake Louise Tourism Bureau, Box 1298, Banff AB T0L 0C0. Central reservation number 1-800-661-1676 will give you information on accommodation, recreation, restaurants, shopping and ski resorts.
- Banff National Park, Box 900, Banff AB T0L 0C0. Tel.: 403 762-1550. Banff National Park Home Page will get you all the information you might want or point you to new and exciting links. Search for Banff National Park
or key in www.worldweb.com/VertexCustomers/p/ParksCanada-Banff/index.htm.
- Banff Visitor Centre, 223 Banff Ave., Banff AB. Tel.: 403 762-4256. Everything you want to know about what to see and do.
