Canada has huge attractions for both skiers and snowboarders, with frequent snowfall, generally quiet pistes, spacious and often luxurious lodgings and a warm welcome. Unlike those in Europe, every resort has a ski area boundary marked by signs or a rope, and everywhere within this boundary, however steep and gnarly, is avalanche controlled and patrolled.
Canada has resorts to suit all skill levels. Tour operator package prices are not cheap, largely due to the airfares. However, there are direct flights into Calgary and Vancouver, the two most convenient international airports for resorts in western Canada, home to the best snow and terrain. Lift passes are also expensive but you may save money by buying them in advance through UK tour operators and resort websites.
Where to go
Best for powder: Revelstoke, BC
Image Credit: Robert Tadlock
This is the new favourite, recently transformed with a gondola and two fast chairlifts. With the biggest vertical in Canada and around 3000 acres of slopes, it gets huge amounts of powder on a terrain that is mostly ungroomed and steep. There are wonderful tree glades and a big open bowl accessed through a cliff band. The ski-school offers half-and full-day sessions, where they show you around the terrain. There’s also a snowcat-skiing area right by the lift-served slopes and heli-skiing can be booked at the base area. The first part of a new resort village is now complete with a hotel, restaurant, bar and coffee shop. You can also stay in unpretentious Revelstoke town, a five minute drive away, with a daytime bus service and a fair choice of restaurants and bars.
More info: revelstokemountainresort.com
Best for experts: Fernie, BC
Image Credit: Owen Richard
Fernie has long had cult status among locals in the western Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia because of its abundant snowfalls and the adventurous nature of its steep, ungroomed terrain, largely in the shelter of trees. This makes it superb for experts, so long as you know where you are going – a lot of the runs are difficult to find and involve long traverses. To get the most out of the terrain, get shown around early in your holiday – the resort offers two-day Steep and Deep Camps. There are also great snowcat operations nearby: Island Lake Catskiing and FWA's Powder Catskiing. The resort village is convenient but small, with few places to eat and drink – Fernie town, a couple of miles away, has a much better selection of bars and restaurants. Situated just a few minutes' walk from the town centre, Park Place Lodge is a large, well-serviced hotel offering competitive rates and decent facilities, including an indoor pool and fitness area.
More info: skifernie.com
Best for beginners: Sun Peaks, BC
Image Credit: Yannick Carer
Canada is a long way to go to learn but Sun Peaks is a great place to start. It has a friendly, attractive, small village comprised of low-rise pastel-coloured buildings having a vaguely Tirolean feel, and a short traffic-free main street. The ski area is made up of three peaks: Mount Morrisey, Sundance and Mount Tod. The nursery slopes are right by the village centre and lifts, and there are long easy green runs to progress to, including the five mile top-to-bottom run on Mount Tod, which has a vertical of over 800m. The ski school runs half- or full-day Ski/Snowboard packages, which include equipment hire and lift pass as well as lessons. For the more experienced there's some good intermediate cruising on blue runs, easy groomed gladed tree runs, plus some seriously steep black runs. The slopes were expanded by over 500 acres of challenging terrain last season, and Sun Peaks now claims 4200 acres, bringing it level with Lake Louise. The only Canadian resort with more terrain is Whistler.
Accommodation
The resort's signature property and only full-service hotel, the plush Sun Peaks Grand, is the best in town thanks to its position right on the slopes by the lifts. It also offers an onsite food shop, boutiques, restaurants and a nightclub, plus an outdoor pool and hot tub.
Alternatives
Silver Star (skisilverstar.com) is a compact, car-free resort with a good beginner area right by the village and easy runs to progress to. More info sunpeaksresort.com
Best for ski-in/ski-out convenience: Big White, BC
Image Credit: Christine Rondeau
Canadian and US resorts aren’t known for their ski-from-the-door convenience, but some have been purpose-built for easy access to the slopes. Big White is one of the most convenient, being a modern resort with virtually all of its hotels and apartments ski-in/ski-out, with the main lifts starting below village level. Even the main street through the centre of the resort is designated a ski run and can be traversed to get back to your accommodation.
The terrain suits intermediates best, and the abundance of snow combined with lots of trees for shelter means it's a great place to learn powder. There's also an area called Happy Valley at the bottom of the village offering activities such as ice skating, snowmobiling, tubing, ice climbing and snowshoeing, served by a gondola that runs till 10pm. The village has limited après and shopping, but there are some decent restaurants.
Accommodation
Stonebridge Lodge declares itself “the best accommodation bar none at Big White”. Being ski-in/ski-out and slap bang in the centre of resort, with a range of spacious, stylishly decorated apartments (most with private outdoor hot tubs), it's hard to argue with that.
Alternatives
Panorama is a purpose-built resort, with some lodgings set right at the lift base, and others slightly below, linked by a little gondola. See below. More info bigwhite.com
Best all rounder: Whistler, BC
Image Credit: Kcxd
Whistler’s two linked mountains (Whistler and Blackcomb) combine to make the biggest ski area in North America, which more or less automatically puts the resort on the shortlist of most transatlantic visitors – and certainly intermediates who like to rack up the miles without repeating the same slopes. For beginners, there are excellent nursery slopes, and top-to-bottom green runs to progress to. For experts, the high open bowls offer a wide range of possibilities, with regular snowfalls streaming in from the nearby Pacific. And there are world-class terrain parks. The purpose-built resort village is big and busy, with lots of bars and restaurants, a lively après scene at the lift base from mid-afternoon onwards, and a wide range of shops. There’s also plenty for non-skiers to do, from zip lines to eagle-watching tours.
Accommodation
Nestled right at the foot of the Blackcomb slopes, the ski-in/ski-out Fairmont Chateau is Whistler's landmark hotel. It offers classic elegance and extensive amenities, such as a choice of seven on-site eateries and a spa complete with 60ft outdoor heated pool (which even plays music underwater).
Alternatives
Although nowhere else compares to Whistler, Panorama has excellent terrain for beginners, experts and adventurous intermediates. It's a bit limited for blue-run skiers, though. In Lake Louise, all three sectors have plenty to amuse intermediates and experts alike, though you can’t count on deep powder. For beginners, there are good nursery slopes at the base lodge.
More info: whistlerblackcomb.com
Best for value: Banff, AB
Image Credit: Andrew E. Larsen
Banff does not offer the lowest on-the-spot prices, but it has one key advantage over other Canadian resorts: tour operators offer great-value package holidays there. The town sits at one end of a beautiful scenic drive through mountainous national parks and there are a lot of lodgings to meet summer demand. In winter, these lodgings are relatively cheap Banff itself is a jolly little town with more than 100 bars and restaurants and countless souvenir shops. It has three ski areas, each a free bus ride from town. Tiny Norquay is only a few minutes away, with just 190 acres of terrain; Sunshine Village, 20 minutes away, is a fair size (3358 acres), and enjoys the most snowfall; and Lake Louise, 45 minutes away, is the largest area, with 4200 acres served by nine lifts.
Accommodation
Banff Caribou Lodge on the main street is affordably priced, warm and welcoming. As well as a homely atmosphere, it has an on-site steak restaurant and fully equipped spa to recommend
More info: inghams.co.uk
Alternatives
Jasper, which serves the nearby Marmot Basin ski area, is a big summer destination like Banff – so it also has plenty of competitively priced lodgings in winter. Kimberley is a small resort with ski-in/ski-out lodgings offering some keenly priced packages.
Best for charm: Silver Star, BC
Image Credit: Andy S
The core of this cute village was built in the 1980s along the lines of a 19th century mining village. It is based around a tiny traffic-free square lined with brightly-painted Victorian-era style buildings, wooden sidewalks and faux gas lights. One side of the village opens right on to the slopes. Equally brightly painted individual houses built in the same style are dotted around the slopes above. Nearby, there’s a nice little natural ice rink on a lake and a tubing hill. Nearly all accommodation is either ski-in/ski-out or less than 30 seconds walk to the snow. The slopes suit all standards, with a mixture of easy green runs, intermediate cruising on well-groomed trails plus a dense network of single- and double-black diamond runs plunging through the trees, many of them top-to-bottom mogul fields. The ski school has an excellent reputation.
Accommodation
The upmarket Snowbird Lodge condos offer the ultimate luxury ski-in/ski-out accommodation in the village. Just a few steps down to the village centre, all except studios have private hot tubs on the balconies, plus there's a fitness room and 24-seat theatre.
More info: ski-i.com
Alternatives
Tremblant (tremblant.ca) has a charming village, purpose-built in the style of Old Quebec, with narrow cobbled streets at the foot of a small area of varied slopes. The ski area has been expanded, and is now the second biggest in Canada.
More info: skisilverstar.com
Best for families: Panorama, BC
Image Credit: Robert Linsdell
The largely car-free resort village is on two levels, linked by a free gondola. The upper village has lots of accommodation from which you step out straight on to the snow, with no traffic in sight. It's based around a skating rink and outdoor hot pool complex, with swimming pools, water slides, hot tubs and a sauna – all free if you are staying at one of the five residences that are collectively known as the Upper Village Condos. There is a good range of childcare options available – Wee Wascals childcare centre looks after children aged from 18 months to five years, a combination of childcare and ski school is available for kids aged three and upwards, and a list of babysitters is available for out-of-hours care.
The mountain has a 1220m vertical, one of the biggest in North America, and there is terrain to suit beginners, adventurous intermediates and experts. RK Heliski is based in the village, with a big lodge and heli-pad; it specialises in taking out first-timers and provides special fat skis or snowboards to make powder easier.
Accommodation
Just a short walk from all Upper Village amenities, the Upper Village Condos are a great choice – not only are they comfortable and spacious, your room key also gives you access to the outdoor pools and sauna
Alternatives
Sun Peaks is a small purpose-built village with one main, traffic-free street and comprehensive childcare facilities through the Sundance Kids Centre and the ski school’s Sun Tots and Sun Kids programmes. Big White has lots of convenient ski-in/ski-out accommodation, Tot Town Daycare in the main square, and kids ski school programmes.
More info: panoramaresort.com
Best for scenery: Lake Louise, AB
Image Credit: quantz
Lake Louise, set in Banff National Park, offers spectacular views from the ski area of peaks and glaciers including Mount Assiniboine. The view from the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise hotel of the Victoria Glacier above frozen Lake Louise itself, is simply stunning. The Lake Louise ski area offers runs to suit all standards, including lots of ideal intermediate terrain. There is no accommodation at the ski area, but it's only a couple of miles drive or bus ride away from Lake Louise village.
Accommodation
For the most spectacular views imaginable, book a room overlooking the lake in the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise. This beautifully-proportioned, luxury hotel, in its iconic position on the edge of the water, offers extras such as a private concierge service to tend to your every need. See Alpine Answers.
Alternatives
Banff is the main resort in Banff National Park, with Mount Rundle next door and many other spectacular peaks nearby. Whistler offers spectacular views from the top of glaciers and high open bowls and ridges, plus the views down to Fitzsimmon Creek from the Peak 2 Peak gondola – the world's longest and highest lift of its kind, which connects Whistler and Blackcomb peaks – are breathtaking.
More info: skilouise.com
Title Image Credit: Alex Indigo (www.flickr.com) (Image Cropped)