Ski in Banff Mount Norquay

Skiing in Banff Mount Norquay

Banff Mount Norquay - Ski Resort in Canadian Rockies (1739m to 2135m)

The original of the three Banff Ski areas, smallest and still the closest, with great skiing including several top to bottom blacks.

Banff Mount Norquay

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Banff Mount Norquay Ski Facts

Banff Mount Norquay Ski Facts

		Expert Skiers
		Intermediate Skiers
		Beginners
		Snowboarding
		Snow
		Apres-Ski
	15	Black Pistes
	8	Red Pistes
	10	Blue Pistes
6		Ski Lifts
396m		Max Vertical
2135m		Highest Lift
1739m		Lowest Piste
1739m		Resort Altitude

Banff Mount Norquay

The Canadian ski resort of Banff Mount Norquay has direct access to 24 individual pistes, served by 6 ski lifts.

The ski resort itself is above 1500m, so skiing or boarding back to the resort is usually possible. With skiing above 2000 metres, snow cover is generally reliable.

Snowmaking :- Banff Mount Norquay is able to augment natural snow, with 8 Snow Cannons.

Ski Lift Capacity :- The 6 Ski Lifts of Banff Mount Norquay are able to uplift 5,000 skiers / snowboarders per hour.

There is an airport within two hours drive, so ski weekends, snowboard breaks and short ski holidays to Banff Mount Norquay are perfectly feasible.

Skiing in Banff Mount Norquay

Visitors staying in Banff have to choose between four possibilities every morning - to ski Norquay, Sunshine, Lake Louise or lash out on a day's heli-skiing. The three fixed lift ski areas together offer 6,000 acres and 200 plus trails offering skiers and snowboarders of any ability countless challenges. From wide-open bowls and tree-lined glades covered with fresh, dry powder, to meticulous groomed slopes and state-of-the-art snowmaking. Skiers and snowboarders can easily visit each ski area during their stay and then settle at the mountain that suits their style or choose a heli-ski excursion to find the truly untracked snow.

Sunshine is the oldest ski area, established in the 1930s but has been expanding rapidly in recent years with new high speed quads including the Goat''s Eye express which was the world''s fastest on opening and the

Continental Divide. After a short ride from Banff, skiers hop on a gondola ride to stunning upper alpine terrain with wide-open bowls and tree runs carved through the forest. The resort has terrain to suit all abilities.

For advanced skiers and snowboarders the Delirium Drive, the ultimate front country adventure with pitches of 40 degrees and vertical footage of 1919 feet. Delirium will be located on the north face of Lookout Mountain. Sunshine Village also offers the only on-mountain accommodation in Banff National Park and services including pubs, lounges, dining, live entertainment and day care. The world's fastest high-speed quads dominate the three different mountain faces available to skiers. With close to 30 feet of snow each year and the longest season in the Rockies, Sunshine Village's 100 per cent natural snow is generally

regarded as some of the world's best.

For scenic grandeur, imaginative terrain design, and sheer size, the Lake Louise Ski Area, 57km (35 miles) west of Banff ranks with the finest in the world. One of Canada's largest ski areas, Lake Louise offers skiers and snowboarders of all abilities virtually unlimited skiing and riding. Skiing Louise's vast terrain is over 11 square miles and is spread across four mountain faces, offering open powder bowls, glades, chutes, and over 100 groomed trails. Featuring some of North America's most exciting terrain, Louise is also a skier friendly mountain with a green, or easy run, from every chairlift on the mountain. Tied together with a system of 11 interconnecting lifts, Lake Louise has an abundant amount of natural snow (15 feet in the bowls), backed up with Canada's largest snowmaking system, Louise has dozens of long protected tree lined runs, and 65% of the terrain below treeline, you can ski at Louise even when it is snowing.

As the pioneer ski resort in Banff National Park, Mount Norquay completed its first chair lift in 1948 and has continued to change with the times. Recently fully revamped with new lifts and runs as well as an expanded fleet of grooming and snowmaking equipment, Norquay's beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain is spread over 25 tree-sheltered runs. The brand-new lodge sports post and beam wood construction, cathedral ceilings, fireplaces and wrap-around sun decks. Night skiing is also offered every Friday. With five lifts, including two quads, Mount Norquay is the smallest of Banff's three areas, but also the closest, only 6km (4 miles) and served by a free shuttle bus from the town's hotels. Last season Norquay opened a new section of terrain known as the American Basin - located to the skier's right of the North American run its expert terrain includes a wide open powder bowl.

Snowboarding in Banff Mount Norquay

Banff Mount Norquay's commitment to Snowboard Park building and maintenance has been enhanced with the purchase of a Turbo Pipe Grinder. This newest piece of equipment is made in Europe and costs $70,000 to purchase. Snowboarding continues to be an important part of the Norquay market. The snowboard park includes two halfpipes, one competition level and one intermediate. It also includes a semi-permanent boarder cross track and other park features such as gab jumps and table tops of varying size and difficulty.

Banff Mount Norquay Aprés Ski

Banff has a lively après ski scene with 50 or so bars and night spots, some of the most popular including Wild Bill's, Whiskey Creek, the rose and Crown, Paddock Bar and The Works Nightclub. The Banff Centre, which began life as a summer theatre school in 1933 is an internationally renowned cultural centre for the arts, providing resources and instruction to professional performing artists. The Banff Centre presents a number of events year-round, including music, dance, opera, theatre, films and lectures.

The last ten days of January traditionally sees the resort's famous Winterfest, which has run for more than 80 years. Events start to roll with the ever-popular Town Party (1500 people and five bands at the Banff Springs Hotel), and continue with the Snow Ambassador Contest, Art Walk, Bar Golf Pub Crawl, Wine Challenge, Snowboarding competition, Oktoberfest in January, giant tug of war, and outdoor snow carnival relay races, just to name a handful of the over 30 events which make up the Festival. The Annual Mountain Madness Relay is a local favourite - a five-person relay race from the top of Mount Norquay to Central Park. Other facilities available throughout the summer include a four screen cinema and night skiing is possible on Mount Norquay.

Banff Mount Norquay Snow Reports by e-mail

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Banff Mount Norquay in brief

Banff Mount Norquay Ski Resort is:
Very good for Expert Skiers.
Excellent for Intermediate Skiers.
Very good for Beginners.
Very good for Snowboarding.

Banff Mount Norquay Snow Forecast

Map of Banff Mount Norquay