This year I traveled to various different ski resorts in various different countries. By far my favorite was Banff, Canada. Banff contains a total of three mountains that you are able to ski while visiting the resort. My favorite out of the mountains and one of the most entertaining and enjoyable mountains I have ever skied on, was Sunshine Valley.
Banff has a history of being Canada’s first national park. Along with all the skiing available, it also offers several different opportunities to hike and see the beautiful glaciers scattered throughout the mountains.
Every year Banff receives a large amount of snowfall to keep the skiing alive. Most of the days on my trip were snow days, and the days after the snow were great powder days, which is my favorite type of terrain to ski on.
The mountains offer several different levels and types of trails and slopes to ski on. This was good for me because as someone who has been skiing their whole life, my family is on the more advanced side of skiing and we tend to take the more challenging trails. The blacks are filled with tons of moguls to ski on, as well as jumps to do for more adventurous skiers. On the more challenging side, there are also entertaining and difficult double blacks available to do. Some are on the more dangerous side and are off of cliffs and shoots, and others are just rocky and steep terrain. Although these types of runs are challenging for less experienced skiers, they are very fun for the more advanced and adventurous. And because we are on the side of advances and adventurous, the blacks and double blacks were what we spent most of our time on and loved.
Another huge plus is the amount of tree skiing available. As you get higher up the mountains, you will notice that some of the mountains are above the treeline. However, if you stay towards the middle, a great amount of fun diverse tree skiing is available. Although it may seem like because it is lower on the mountain there would be easier runs, that is not at all true and the middle of the mountain still offers a similar level of challenging runs. The tree runs are a great opportunity to see a new point of view on the trails and get some jumps and challenging turns in. My sister and I love going through the trees on the side of normal runs, making the tree skiing perfect for us.
I know I’ve talked a lot about the more challenging sides of the mountains, however, I will say it offers great opportunities for beginners as well. I snowboarded for the first time ever in Sunshine Village. I took private lessons with my sister, and the ski instructor was very nice to the two of us. The bunny hill was easy to navigate and not too crowded. A plus to having an instructor was being able to skip the lines on the lifts. As someone who was new on the snowboard and also in general scared of crowded mountains, the mountains in Banff were no problem for me. While on skis everyone kept their space, and while trying to snowboard everyone stayed away from the person who had no clue what they were doing. Once I had finished with my snowboarding lessons of the day I was forced to do it on my own, and I had no trouble finding greens and blues that would not be deemed too difficult. Making this the best mountain in my opinion for beginner skiers to ski on.
A plus side, besides the skiing in Banff, is the town. The town is filled with several different types of delicious food. A very popular culture that shows up is Asian food throughout the town. Along with all the restaurants the town is filled with various Canada-born brands (for example Canada Goose, Aritzia, and Roots), boutiques, and ski stores. The town also has different activities you can do during the day. There was ice skating, a movie theatre, squash courts, and a lot of viewpoints to visit. This was one of the best ski towns I have ever visited making Banff along with the great terrain and town the best ski resort I visited in 2024.
