As a Sunshine local, I read with much amusement the "reviews" of my home hill. People that say it is boring or flat, have obviously not accessed "the dive" (you can huck a 100 feet of air there) or Silver City (a no fall zone) or the Wild West chutes, or any of the double blacks off Goats Eye Mountain which are still excellent in late April. Moreover, it has been open until the July long weekend(winters of 91 and 92, they could open most years, but being in a National Park, it is difficult to get Parks Canada approval), still lots of snow. The only thing to contend with then are mosquitoes and the odd lightning storm. Other than Mammoth or Snowbird or Timberline, how often can you ski on snow (not a glacier) in the northern hemishere in July. I have hiked there in August and there are still pockets of snow!

As for Apres ski, yes, there is not much on the hill, we like it that way, if you want a "city" go to Aspen. That said, there is lots of action and great dining in Banff. The food on the hill however is also excellent and they change the menu each season.

As for the "flat" sections, just carry a little speed............and bring your snorkel as the pow is champagne light and plentiful.....

Sunshine Village. It's beautiful, all right, but downright boring as a ski area. Of course, all the double black runs, and Delirium Dive and the other areas that require avvie gear were closed, so perhaps I'm not giving it a fair chance. So I'll bump up my rating of its downhill terrain, giving the benefit of the doubt. The green runs required an inordinate amount of traversing to get down to the bottom, but it seemed like an excellent mountain to ski for intermediate skiers.

As for apres ski, there is none. The last beer, as has been noted, is served at 5 PM! Fortunately, Banff is where everybody stays, and that town is beautiful, and pretty insane for partying. But for me, having a beer after skiing - at the ski area - is almost mandatory.

And let's take just a moment to mention the lift ticket prices. Nearby Kicking Horse is twenty bucks cheaper.

Overall, though, I did have fun. It's close to Banff, and the views are spectacular. Apparently New Year's is too early there to open the good stuff. I'll give it another shot sometime later in the season.

The rankings seem a little wierd. There is absolutely NO apres ski scene at sunshine. They serve the last beer at the bottom of the hill around 5 and the gondola closes, so unless your at the top of the hill with the other 30 people... The terrain is ok, but lots of flats and short runs. Banff is fun, but for riding in the area try fernie, kicking horse, lake louise, red mountain or silver star. Everyone parties in every ski town anyways, and the beer all tastes the same.

Sunshine lived up to its name this past week with sun, sun, sun. Cool, crisp temperatures kept snow crystals to packed powder instead of tranforming them to corn. Wide open terrain on Angel Express and Continental Divide Express pulled out the urge to drop in big, loopy carves.

With "go anywhere" views, we reveled in above treeline wide-open carving with lots of stops for just gaping at the scenery. In the distance one direction, Mt. Assiniboine's horn stood prominently, while in the opposite direction, you could pick out Mt. Temple.

While Wild West wasn't open (snow report says it is now), Delirium Dive was. And I just had to take a look. For those, like me, who might consider skiing the double-black only in new soft powder, you can hike up beside the avy transceiver-activated entrance gate to watch more stout-hearted skiers drop in. A few with tranceivers, shovels, probes, steep savvy, and guts perused the best shots. Two climbed down the stairs to traverse across a knife-edge to their line; others launched down a near vertical chute. My stomach did a few loops just peeking over the edge.

Rogers Terrain Park--a huge park covering nearly 12 acres--was abuzz with the skilled and unskilled. We watched a few launch big air beauties interspersed with a couple splats that looked painful.

By the time we worked our way over to Goat's Eye, some of the powder had been scraped off, making us work a bit harder at slicing our edges into the hard pack in high trafficked areas. Nevertheless, the natural terrain--especially down an unnamed circuitous treed loop--put a smile on our faces. The bright sun left a little burn and memories of a good day.

User Photos (click to enlarge)

Big. Really big. It takes a a minute or two to fathom the sheer scale of Sunshine Village as you get out of the gondola that ferries skiers and riders the spectacular 1,600 or so vertical feet to the mid-mountain village base area. 3,300 acres, 3,500 feet vertical. The stats are impressive. Snow? When I asked the Austrian guy on the chair lift why he was there, he looked at me like I was an idiot, shot me a one-word answer and resolutely resumed his survey of the Rocky Mountain landscape unfolding below us: "Snow." All 33 annual feet of it.With more than half of its terrain above the tree line, Sunshine won't disappoint those craving endless wide-open bowls to carve. Steeps? No shortage in that department. This writer wasn't up to it, but by all accounts Goats Eye and Lookout Mountains have the goods and then some. Feeling suicidal? Climb into Delirium Dive from the top of the Continental Divide Quad and take it for a test drive. Trees your thing? Head for the lower mountain -- you'll need days to explore everything on offer. An intermediate Eastern skier, I couldn't get enough of the seemingly endless snow fields off the Continental Divide, Strawberry and Standish lifts -- in three days I just scratched the surface. And I couldn't get enough of the almost non-existent lines, uncrowded slopes and laid-back atmosphere. Big-time skiing, small-town vibe. Perfect.