Canada is the ultimate bucket-list ski destination. The Rockies pack a powder punch and the scenery lives up to the hype and is as spectacular as everyone says. The hotels are superb and spread across National Parks and world class Ski Resorts. What’s more, the ski season is long, the slopes are often quiet and the Canadian hospitality is unrivalled.
Perhaps surprisingly, skiing in Canada is possible in all 10 of Canada’s provinces. But of course the biggest and best known of Canadian ski resorts are in British Columbia, neighbouring Alberta, and Quebec in the east. Much of BC’s skiing is actually in sub-ranges of the Columbia Mountains like the Monashees, Cariboos, Purcells and Bugaboos. Whistler, Canada’s most famous resort, is in the Coast Range, while Quebec’s mountain’s, like Tremblant, are in the ancient Laurentian range. Some 90 minutes from Vancouver, BC, the Olympic resort of Whistler (including its close neighbour Blackcomb), likes to style itself the most popular resort in all of North America. Its biggest rival is Alberta’s Banff and Lake Louise, where the so-called ‘Big 3’ ski areas include Sunshine and Banff's local ‘hill’, Mt Norquay.
They say comparisons are odious, but how do ski resorts in Canada differ from those in the USA? They don’t hugely, but there are a few differences. Canada’s mountains are in general much more dramatic and Alpine in appearance than those in the American Rockies (the awe-inspiring Bow Valley mountains you see from the upper slopes of Lake Louise are a good example). But this is odd because America’s mountains are generally higher. The reason for this phenomenon is that Canada’s mountains tend to start at a lower altitude, so the vertical drop is often bigger. And looks bigger. Because Denver is already perched almost exactly a mile high at 5,280 feet, many Colorado mountains don’t appear to be as high as their Canadian counterparts. And of course being further north than the USA, good snow conditions are pretty much assured, regardless of altitude.
