Lake Louise Ski Area Reviews

• Overall Rating 5
• Family Friendly 4
• Downhill Terrain 5
• Terrain Park
• Nightlife 4

Date Visited: Nov, 2006

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Full review

Who needs turkey & dressing when you can feast on fresh powder at Thanksgiving?!? My family and I visted Banff last week for the first time and found it simply superb in every respect. Being in Alberta felt a bit like being in Europe - but no jet lag! The mountains are absolutely spectacular, much more dramatic than the Sierras or US Rockies. Steep, sheer cliffs and high alpine lakes abound.

The Lake Louise ski area has fantastic early season snow - I spent most of the weekend in knee deep super-dry powder. The trails tend to be a bit tougher than the corresponding ratings in the US would be. My daughter struggled with some of the greens and I skied numerous blue runs which I'm sure would have black diamond ratings at Heavenly or Breckenridge.

One of the highlights of our visit was watching the World Cup Downhill races taking place at LL last weekend. We even scored some free schwag when we went for dinner at the Chateau Lake Louise, which it turns out was World Cup HQ during the event. There was a street festival in downtown Banff and lots of great deals to be had associated with the "Winterstart World Cup".

Everyone was amazingly friendly, the snow was perfect, slopes almost empty. Only slightly negative part of the experience is the extreme cold. but suck it up, buy a balaclava and ski hard and you won't notice it much. If you've never been to Banff you have to put this one on your list!