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Tuesday, March 7, 2006,
Hello from Banff - Arrival in Banff and
Skiing at Norquay
Driving along the TransCanada Highway
On Sunday, after our high-intensity day in Calgary
and after stocking up on groceries in the Mount Royal Area,, we
left the city to head towards the Rocky Mountains. It was an interesting
drive on Highway 1, the Transcanada Highway, heading towards the
mountains. There were some interesing looking clouds on the horizon
that kept us entertained on the drive and it didn't take us any
more than about an hour and 15 mintues to get to Banff. We checked
in at the Banff Rocky Mountain condominium resort and settled in
for the evening to relax after a couple of really hectic days.
Banff Avenue, looking at Cascade Mountain
Yesterday after a leisurely breakfast we got up to take a drive
through Banff.
Banff is a quaint mountain town with many different hotels, restaurants,
shops and galleries. We drove down Banff Avenue, the town's main
street, and since I had to pick a package up at the Fairmont Banff
Springs Hotel, we briefly explored this historic landmark. When
Canadian Pacific built the railroads in the 1880s towards the West
Coast, they determined that the Banff / Lake Louise area had tremendous
potential for tourism and CPR built the Banff Springs Hotel in 1888
to develop this area for all the travellers who were keen to discover
the rugged beauty of the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
The impressive Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
After our very brief introductory exploration of this impressive
building we decided to go skiing at Norquay,
just 10 minutes from downtown Banff. On our first full day here
we wanted to take it easy a bit since I am just getting over a major
chest cold. I figured a couple of hours of local skiing would be
enough of an initiation to the Canadian Rockies.
Driving up to Norquay, looking down at Banff
Norquay
refers to itself as "Banff's Best Kept Secret" and it
has been around since 1926. Incidentally, Norquay is home to Thomas
Grandi, Canada's World Cup GS 2 time Champion. This ski resort is
also the only one in the Banff area that offers night skiing.
What we found great was that Norquay offers the so-called “Ski
& Ride by the Hour” passes and a 2 hour ticket was only
$29, a great value. We drove up from the town on a forest road with
many switchbacks and stopped several times at different lookout
points to look over the Bow Valley and the Town of Banff. The vistas
of the surrounding mountains are simply magnificent.
Welcome to Norquay
We arrived at the ski resort not much later (Norquay is only 5
km from the Town of Banff), and since it was a Monday, the slopes
were nice and empty. Norquay’s elevation at the base is 1,630
m (5350 feet) and at the top it is 2,133 m (7000 feet). The vertical
drop is 1650 feet and the resort has 32 runs. About 20 % of its
terrain is geared towards beginners, 36% towards intermediate skiers,
28% to advanced and 16% to expert skiers. According to their website,
Norquay also has a terrain park that features gap jumps, table tops,
and hits for all levels of riders. We , however, decided to stick
to our good old trusted skis and forego the jumps and table tops....
Base lodge at Norquay
The runs on the south side looked extremely imposing, and most
of them are single or double black diamonds. The slopes are extremely
steep and covered with all sorts of bumps and moguls and this was
an area we didn’t feel confident enough to tackle. I am sure
expert level skiers would have a ball there.
Great mountain panoramas
We started with the first of four chairlifts and worked our way
northwards and thoroughly enjoyed the extremely well-groomed blue
runs. As a matter of fact, Norquay offers a Grooming Guarantee that
ensures that the runs are always in perfect condition. We flew down
a few of the single-black diamond runs, and because of the excellent
grooming there was no problem at all, even for two non-experts like
us.
Looking at Mt. Rundle
At one point we ventured onto the northernmost trail which connected
horizontally along the hill to the last run which was a double-black
diamond run at the top. It was very steep, with lots of moguls,
and very narrow, probably no wider than 3 m (10 ft). That was a
slightly unfortunate choice since we got bumped a little by the
topography, but once we had made it through that dicey stretch,
the slope improved and we enjoyed our run to the bottom of the hill.
After our 2-hour ticket was finished we relaxed for a while in
the spacious chalet at the bottom and watched the skiers coming
down the hill. We both commented that Norquay was a very pleasant
skiing experience and a great initiation to the Rocky Mountains.
Related Articles:
An overview of our discovery of the
Canadian Rockies
Arrival in Calgary and our
whirlwind tour of the city
Discovering Canada Olympic Park,
one of Calgary's most visited attractions
Our fabulous dinner at Il Giardino's
and a connection with one of Calgary's most successful entrepreneurs
- an Italian-Canadian immigrant success story
Comfort, luxury and our celebrity
breakfast at the Historic Twin Gables B&B
Calgary's Kensington area and a
meeting with a local entrepeneur who went from Vietnamese boat person
to successful restauranteur
Arrival in Banff & exploring
a local landmark: the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel
Our first skiing experience: perfectly
groomed trails at Norquay
High altitude skiing on the
Continental Divide: Sunshine Village
Exploring Canadian history: the
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise
Skiing in the largest ski resort in
the Canadian Rockies at Lake Louise
A real adventure: dogsledding in
the Canadian Rockies
A gondola trip to the top of
Sulphur Mountain and discoveries of Banff
Our final walk through downtown
Calgary - discoveries of downtown
An interview with Tourism Calgary:
what to see and do in Calgary
An interview with
Tourism Banff Lake Louise
Useful Websites:
Tourism
Calgary
Tourism
Banff Lake Louise
Canada
Olympic Park
Ski the Big 3:
Banff, Lake Louise and Sunshine
Banff
National Park of Canada
Useful books about Calgary and the Canadian Rockies:
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