 Poster: A snowHead
|
Here's a somewhat hurried and disjointed account of our week in Banff, Albertamaville, Canadialand.
We arrived at The Caribou Lodge at about 1pm local time after a very easy 1.5hr transfer by minibus. I must admit to being caught off-guard by the Scottish accent of the lad that was helping us with our luggage. I expected the accent to be, well, Canadian, I suppose. About an hour after being dropped off our lift passes had been delivered by Michael, the Airtours rep. and Banff resident. For a ski rep., this bloke was pretty good. Enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and not particularly interested in the "hard sell". He just wanted to tell us about Canada, Calgary and, more importantly, Banff and the surrounding ski areas. He's very proud of his country, and this is clear when he recounts important points in Canadian history. He's also very proud of the Trans Canada Highway.
The entrance to the hotel is quite impressive - far more stylish than I'd imagined for the money we'd paid. The room was comfortable - a bit like a large Travel Inn room. It did, however, have some really nice hand-made soaps in the bathroom, which Ms hyweljenkins took a fancy to.
After a quick pint of Molson Canadian in the bar, we decided to venture downtown to see what Banff itself is like. I was surprised that no one was surprised that we were going to walk for fifteen minutes to get there. I suppose Canadians walk some of the time.
We'd decided to take a three day condensed ski tuition package from Club Ski. Although The Caribou as its own instructor, Club Ski seemed good value at CAN$245 per person for about 15 hours' tuition. Michael, sorted the booking out for us and delivered vouchers to us exactly when he said he would.
On Sunday morning we made an early start (6:30) so that we could get to Lake Louise in good time to meet up with the Club Ski intructors. The journey by bus was remarkably easy: bus turns up bang on time; someone loads your kit; sit in a comfortable seat; admire the scenery; etc. No standing, no skis banging about in the passenger area, just comfy seats and another enthusiastic Canadian at the wheel.
We managed to get ourselves a rather high-tech. day locker at Lake Louise, meaning that we didn't have to carry too much gear through the day.
At the Club Ski meeting point a variety of instructors we ready and waiting to give us each a brief "interview". "Can you ski European reds?" "Can you make parallel turns?" "Have you tried the bumps?" They then allocated us a group number between 1 and 7: 1 being the beginners, 7 being those already on the World Cup circuit.
I ended up in Group 5 with three others - bargain. Our instructor, Neil Trevis, immediately came across as a thoroughly amiable chap and showed more than a passing interest in who we were and where we were from. We spent the morning session getting our ski legs back around Lake Louise, with the odd tip and instruction thrown in for good measure. The afternoon session took us through some exercises that were intended to make us aware of bad skiing habits more than fix them. That would come later.
The first three days were spent with Club Ski: one day in each of Lake Louise, Sunshine, then Norquay. Sunshine was my favourite, though I did take the overall gold in the Club Ski Slalom, finishing 0.52 seconds behind the fastest instructor and 1.8 seconds ahead of the second place skier. That's the joy of having 180cm skis and a 13.5 stone hulk of muscle for a body I suppose 
During our day at Sunshine, we were introduced to The Ski Coach (http://www.theskicoach.com/). This is a gadget that's worn like a rucksack, comrising of a curved plastic tube which contains some large ball bearings. The idea is simple: if you've got your stance right the balls move to the other end of the tube as you make a turn. You get both audible and tactile feedback, so you know you've got it right even of the snow is noisy. It's a great gadget, though I speak as one who has no ski instruction qualification at all. While wearing it my skiing improved hugely, which, of course, boosted both my confidence and my speed. The latter causing me a bit of trouble later in the week.
While leaving the hotel for Norqauy on the Tuesday morning, one of the hotel staff was seen running for the Sunshine Bus  yelling "Seventeen centimetres of fresh powder!" By the time we got back there on the sunny Wednesday morning there had been another 15cm. We were second in the queue for Angel Express behind three boarders. We'd already had a go on the Strawberry Chair, but someone had beaten us to the greens off that.
At the top of Angel Express, the boarders shuffled off to get clipped in, while we heading down. Unfortunately we missed the edge of the piste and found ourselves making first tracks in knee deep fresh powder. Nightmare. It was awful, looking back up the hill and seeing our two pairs of tracks. Poor ickle boarders 
The cloud came in at lunchtime, bringing more snow with it. I don't think it stopped snowing until Saturday morning. This made Sunshine completely devoid of sunshine, and very, very cold. Remember when Forrest Gump was talking about "horizontal rain"? We had horizontal snow. CAN$30 invested in a neoprene face mask was CAN$30 well spent.
The last three days we skied together. We soon figured that as the lift service was so efficient we could afford to stop for the odd coffee and still get in as much piste time as we would in Europe. We spent a fair bit of time on The Continental Divide, fiddling about in the moguls and freshly lain powder. Ms hyweljenkins took a nasty fall right under the Wawa Quad. I was further down the slope capturing the moment. She was rather shaken up, having managed to land on her head, just as she did last time we skied powder together. She's know the proud owner of a nice Giro 9.
Our last day on the slopes, Good Friday, brought in hordes of people. Literally tens of them, meaning that on some occasions we had to queue for five minutes for a ride back up the mountain.
We managed to get to the top of Angel Express at about 9:15. The light was awful - very flat, and not helped by the blizzard conditions (by UK standards, that is). While traversing to lose a bit of speed on our way to The Continental Divide I caught an edge and went over quite hard. As I went I saw that my right arm was across my stomach, somehow stuck to my jacket. I'd already ditched my poles, and was just thinking about the last fall I had in Livigno in 2003. That put me in trauma clinic and 6 months of physio with rotator cuff tendonitis. I landed about 10 feet from my skis, which ended up parked neatly together, tip to tail. I was mashed. When I'd come to I couldn't breath. After a few seconds I'd decided that my shoulder was fine, but my ribcage and stomach were both telling me, "Pain is a good thing. It reminds you that you're not dead." At that moment I couldn't decide which was best.
I writhed around, trying to get air in, but just couldn't. After what seemed like just a couple of minutes I felt a hand on my shoulder and a man's voice asking me if he could help. When I saw who it was I was even more impressed with Canadian skiing. It was one of Sunshine's many medical piste patrollers. He put me right with a couple of exercises to try that would determine the seriousness of my injury. He diagnosed nothing more exciting than, "Yeah. You've knocked the air out. That's horrible. Nothing broken, though." We chatted for a few minutes, probably to help me settle down a bit. He said that many of the medical patrollers are proper doctors that just want to ski. In return for looking after crash victims he gets a free lift pass for the season. I joked that he'd been lying in wait for me, but he assured me that he was just doing his rounds and saw me go over from a few hundred metres up the piste. Fantastic.
Unfortunately, due to a combination of the weather, the light, and me being rather shaken, we cut our last day short, heading back to Banff at about 2:30. I don't feel as though I missed anything, because I'd already had a brilliant time. I'd also won a gold medal.
My advice to anyone considering going to Canada, Banff in particular, is go. It's superb. There's no overbearing "Have a nice day" type of customer service, but the people are genuinely friendly. For me the customer service is in the little things. Someone from the ski area turns up in advance of the bus to make sure that there are enough seats for the people. If there aren't, he radios for another one. Someone loads and unloads your skis/boards on to the gondolas for you. The lift attendants are chatty, they brush the seats down to clear snow and ice from under your bum. The lift attendants organise the lift queues very carefully, authoratively, but politely. Handmade soap in the bathroom. A note from the room attendant to welcome you to your room. A resort rep. who does what he says he's going to do. Enthusiastic ski instructors. Did I mention that I won a gold medal.
We ate at ...
The Caribou Keg (OK - a bit better than a Beefeater)
Saltlik (superb)
The Maple Leaf (so good we went twice)
Trappers (Sunshine Village - great value lunch menu)
The Sunshine Inn (great value lunch menu)
Fairmont Banff Springs (need I say anything?)
I can't remember where we ate in Lake Louise, but it was upstairs. We had fresh pasta, and it was god.
I didn't eat in Norquay. I just don't like Service Station food.
Pros
Extremely friendly people.
No language barrier.
Great snow, even in April.
Stunning scenery.
Efficiency.
More than substantial meals for £5
First tracks in 14" of powder
Elk walking through the hotel's drop-off point on our first morning.
Cons
Long flights - it took us 18 hours from our front door to the hotel.
A bit more pricy than getting to Europe.
Wanting to forget about European skiing for ever.
More than substantial meals for £5.
Realising that Britain has really bad customer service.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
hyweljenkins, great report, very much enjoyed reading it, esp the bits about how smoothly run Banff is, the intriguing Ski Coach, the medic patrollers and the bronze you won
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Nice report! I see you only stayed a week - I'd always thought in terms of doing two weeks if I went that far...
How long does it take to get from Banff to each of the ski areas?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Ian Hopkinson, Buses are very well organised and take around 45 minutes to Lake Louise, 25 minutes to Sunshine (plus another 15 minutes on the gondola) and around 15 minutes to Norquay.
hyweljenkins, I had Neil on a Club Ski Programme at New Year and found him to be very good also.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
The resort is low so jet lag is not compunded by altitude as it would be in the US Rockies. I wouldn't go to the higher stations of Utah or Colorado for less than 10 days for this reason alone
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A great account Hyweljenkins, I loved Banff too, and although you can't beat Whistler for the convenience, I preferred Banff, and would love to go back, we miss those wings at Trappers, and would love another lazy lunch at Sawyers Nook.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
hyweljenkins,
Now I want to back 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
Ian Hopkinson, we wanted to go for eleven nights but couldn't get return flights. We left booking quite late - we didn't get around to it until last September. Although I didn't feel jet-lagged during the day, I did wake up at 4:30 every morning and could only make it until about 11pm. Mind you, we were routinely getting up at 6:30.
I should have dropped these statistics in, too. They're from the Navman X300 that I bought after that thread about a speedo gadget for your poles. They're downhill measurements only as the device discounts the time you're on a lift. The battery ran out on day three, so there's a few hours' data missing.
Average Speed: 13mph
Max Speed: 42mph
Miles skied: 107.22
Vertical feet: 61,220
It would be great if these things had an SD slot so that they could record telemetry for downloading to the PC.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
hyweljenkins, I wake up to 4:30am every morning when I go ski-ing in Europe! 
Did you get the impression that this season was typical for the time of year?
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Snow through April quite typical for the higher Canadian Rockies. I had good powder days in LL & Sunshine at the beginning of May. I thought the Club Ski programme was more of a club/guiding set up than concentrated tuition but seems to sell well to Brits.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
hyweljenkins, did you go package or diy?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ian Hopkinson, pretty typical by all accounts. We were lucky that the "Spring Dump" started while we were there.
fatbob, our experience of Club Ski was definitely instruction, though we did cover a lot of terrain, repeating only a few runs in each resort. I spoke with a Scottish couple that really didn't like the three day set up because it meant that they had to spend time with their kids after the three days had finished!
slikedges, package. Next time I'll try it myself I think - it all seems very easy, particularly the navigation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
hyweljenkins, Great report, it certainly sounds tempting, Banff is on our wish list  How does the atmosphere compare to say Austria or other European resorts?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
IncogSkiSno, I've only been to Austria once, and that was to Westendorf in 1993. The night time atmosphere is more relaxed - less about getting trolleyed and more about having a nice, quiet meal and a few beers. There are a couple of nightclubs that looked interesting, but I just didn't have the energy!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
IncogSkiSno, I'd agree with hyweljenkins - that's how we spent our evenings, some drinks in the bar of our hotel, a nice meal, maybe a few more drinks and then to bed. It's like staying in a normal small town rather than a ski resort (of course the slopes are some way away). Certainly not an Austrian apres-ski atmosphere
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
hyweljenkins, I hate you
Of all the the many resorts I've been to Banff has been my favourite. Excellent report. I've kept off Snowheads for a while as this has been the only season that I haven't been skiing for at least two trips. I sneak back on and you remind me so eloqently of what I've been missing.
Roll on next season!!!!!!!!!!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
hyweljenkins,
Glad to hear you enjoyed Banff, and Club Ski: I've skied with both Neil and his wife, Ryoko - like all the Club Ski instructors I've had they are top-notch.
I feel really guilty because I haven't been to Banff for a couple of years now - at the moment we're kind of hooked on Whistler, but intend to get back there soon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Ken Lingwood, but I'm cuddly!
Acacia, Ryoko is lovely. Neil would just stop and gawp whenever he saw her skiing. We had to close his mouth for him to stop the draught! Their son, Ken, ended up in hospital after crashing into a rail. Nothing serious, apart from the bragging rights.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
