Just spent an afternoon skiing in Banff Sunshine Village. We had a nice snowfall on Sunday and the weather was predicted to be beautiful for Monday. Since we hadn't hit the slopes yet this year we figured that this would be the perfect timing. And it was! What a gorgeous ski area. In my opinion it has everything. It has the most amazing 360 views, lots and lots of sunshine, lots and lots of snow and runs of all difficulty. For me, being an average skier, having a choice of green runs is really great. But when I bring more advanced skiers, they can do more difficult runs and we can all meet up at the upper village and enjoy drinks in the sun at one of the establishments. If you would wish to stay on top and not drive back and forth to Banff, there are accommodations right there next to the lifts. How much better can it get.
What is Sunshine Village?
So for those readers not familiar with the area. Banff Sunshine Village is a renown ski resort in winter, famous for Canada's best snow and three mountains of diverse terrain. It is located on the Continental Divide of the Canadian Rockies within Banff National Park in Alberta and Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia. It is one of three major ski resorts located in the Banff National Park. Because of its location straddling the Continental Divide, Sunshine receives more snow than the neighbouring ski resorts. The Sunshine base area is located 15 km southwest of the town of Banff. A gondola will take you up to the Upper Village with a stop halfway for the Goat Mountain runs.
Sunshine Meadows, the area around the Upper Village is also a world class summer destination. Wildflowers abound and the 360 views will not only include the majestic peaks around the alpine area, including Mount Assiniboine, but also include three alpine lakes. A range of hiking trails in the area ensures a great day spent on the mountain. Also hiking to the famed Mount Assiniboine can be done from this point. Mount Assiniboine is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Ranges of the Canadian Rockies. However because of the large amount of snow that this area receives, hiking in from this side to Mount Assiniboine can only be attempted later in the season like July. Assiniboine Pass and Wonder Pass access routes are usually snow free earlier. I have tried several years to walk in from Sunshine Meadows but every time there was too much snow and I had to hike in via Assiniboine Pass, which by the way is a very beautiful route as well.
A Bit of History
Apparently the area was first discovered in 1841 by Governor George Simpson of the Hudson' Bay Company, on his quest to find quicker routes to the Columbia District. It was later explored in the late 1850's by the Palliser Expedition. It was only after the Canadian Pacific Railway arrived in Banff in the late 1880s that the area took off. Bill Peyto may have been the first person to bring tourists through the Sunshine area on its way to Mount Assiniboine. The Sunshine Meadows area became a favourite summer camping spot in the early 1920's. The area of the meadows named Teepee Town got its name from the sheer amount of those early campers. The Brewster Brothers started to bring up people to camp here. They saw the potential for skiing in winter when they realized how much snow the area received. The Old Sunshine Lodge (now housing the Mad Trappers Saloon and Bruno's Bistro” was first established in 1928-1929 by the CP Rail Company as a summer lodge for the “Trail Riders of the Rockies”. In the late 20' and 30', ski enthusiasts started to explore the Sunshine Meadows area and Jim and Pat Brewster leased the cabin in 1934 and started offering ski vacations. In 1941 a rope tow was built and in 1951 after it was taken over by George Encil a “Ski-Kuli_ lift was added.In 1961 Cliff and Bev White took over and they envisaged the resort the way it is now. They added the Sunshine Inn (now Sunshine Mountain Lodge), the Daylodge and opened up the slopes of the Great Divide Chairlift. They also ushered in the modern era by opening the first gondola, which replaced the buss access to the area. Since 1981 the resort was taken over by Ralph T. Scurfield from Calgary, who with his sons have been shaping the resort further to what it is today. Making many improvements on the runs, lifts and gondola, making it into the great resort it is today.(source: Wikipedia)
More Information
If you want to find out more about how to get there, what to do, where to stay, trail and weather reports etcetera, it is best to visit the website of Banff Sunshine at www.skibanff.com. It not only has the information for the winter activities, but also for the summer activities. For the latter you find a button at the top right that says “Switch to Summer”.
Enjoy
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