Ski resorts in Canada

Half an hour from Penticton in the heart of the Okanagan valley in British Columbia, and a place locals call a hidden gem without much argument. The combination is unusual. Heavy precipitation, around 500 centimetres in a season, together with low humidity. That produces the lightest champagne powder you will find, and the northeast aspect helps it stay dry for longer. Of 85 runs, 43 are graded advanced, so this is a mountain for people who have skied a fair bit. There are also four terrain parks and a separate beginner side, and 1112 acres served by only four lifts means the queues stay short.

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A ski area inside Banff National Park, ringed by the peaks of the Canadian Rockies. From the Standish viewing deck at the top you look down on three alpine lakes called Laryx, Grizzly and Rock Isle, with mountains in every direction. Sunshine Mountain Lodge stands up in the ski area itself. That means you can sleep where the snow is and be out before the day visitors arrive. It is the only lodging on the mountain and it fills early. The Sunshine Super Card gives three free days that also work at Marmot Basin near Jasper and at Revelstoke, along with a discount on every other visit. If you plan to ski several places in the Rockies on one trip, that is where the sums should start.

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Fog and flat light affect Big White more than most resorts. The same cloud that freezes the trees into the towering white shapes the resort calls snow ghosts sits on the mountain for days at a time, so plan for it. There is night skiing, a tube park and an ice rink for those afternoons, and a hotel with its own hot tub is worth the small premium. Otherwise this is a large ski in and ski out village high in the British Columbia interior, self contained and family oriented, with almost every bed on the snow and Kelowna airport an hour away. The terrain is broad and moderate with a great deal of comfortable groomed skiing and excellent gladed runs between the ghosts. Beginners are very well served and prices are modest.

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The largest ski area in Ontario, on the Niagara Escarpment above Georgian Bay, and the main winter destination for Toronto which is around two hours away. The vertical is modest but the operation is extensive, with a large number of runs, thorough snowmaking and night skiing, and lake effect snow off Georgian Bay adds to what falls naturally. The village at the base is a substantial pedestrian development with restaurants, shops and lodging, and it is busy year round. Collingwood nearby is a real town. Weekends are very busy and midweek is far calmer.

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A mountain in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, around an hour from Montreal, with runs on several faces and the largest night skiing operation in North America by lit surface area. That floodlighting is the defining feature, with a substantial part of the mountain open into the evening most nights of the week, which is how the Montreal crowd uses it. The terrain is mostly gentle and intermediate with excellent grooming and good glade skiing, and there is a well regarded ski school. Bromont town below is a pleasant Townships settlement with a food scene and a water park that runs in summer. The whole region is French speaking with an English settler history behind it.

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A community owned mountain in the far southwest of Alberta, near the Crowsnest Pass, and one of the least developed resorts in the Canadian Rockies. It exists because local skiers bought it and kept it running. The terrain is steep and largely ungroomed, with open bowls, chutes and glades and a snowpack helped by storms funnelling through the pass. There is a snowcat operation for terrain beyond the lifts. There is very little at the base, a hostel and some lodging and not much else, and Pincher Creek is the nearest town. Calgary is around two and a half hours away. Prices are low, queues do not exist, and the atmosphere is entirely unpolished. A mountain for people who came to ski.

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The largest of the three mountains above Vancouver, in a provincial park half an hour from downtown, and the venue for the freestyle and snowboard events of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The terrain is a good spread with the biggest vertical of the North Shore mountains and genuine advanced runs, plus night skiing on much of it. There is also a large Nordic area with cross country trails and snowshoe routes, which is separate from the downhill. The snow is coastal and heavy and the mountain sits fairly low, so conditions vary with the freezing level. On a clear evening the view down onto the city is remarkable.

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Five alpine bowls in the Canadian Rockies, filled by a snowfall pattern that locals call the Fernie factor, because storms hit this valley harder than the surrounding area. The terrain is steep and varied with a great deal of tree skiing and open bowl terrain above, and it has a devoted following among people who value snow over facilities. Beginners have a decent area at the base but the mountain is really built for skiers who have found their feet. Fernie town, five kilometres away, is a preserved coal mining settlement with brick buildings and a genuine main street, and it is one of the more likeable ski towns in Canada. Calgary is around three hours away. Prices are lower than at the resorts inside the national parks.

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A mountain in Kananaskis Country in Alberta, just over an hour west of Calgary, with around 750 centimetres of snow a year and terrain spread over more than 2000 acres. It does not operate as a conventional lift served resort. Access is by snowcat, and the mountain is also used for filming and for guided operations rather than for day ticket skiing. The terrain is wind protected with excellent tree skiing, and the snow record is among the best in the Canadian Rockies. Check what is actually being offered before planning a trip, since the operation has changed form several times. Nakiska is nearby for conventional lift served skiing.

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The closest ski area to downtown Vancouver, reached by a gondola from the edge of the city, with the whole metropolitan area and the harbour laid out below you. That view, especially at night with the city lit up, is the defining feature and the reason a great many visitors ride up without skiing at all. The terrain is modest with a good learning area and floodlit evening skiing on most of it, and the snow is coastal and heavy. There is a mountaintop complex with restaurants, a wildlife refuge with grizzly bears and a lumberjack show, so it operates as a general attraction as much as a ski area.

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A mountain at Golden in British Columbia with one of the biggest verticals in North America and a layout that puts almost all of it above the treeline once you leave the gondola. Four bowls of open alpine terrain sit above a wooded lower mountain, and something like eighty five per cent of the runs are graded advanced or expert. It is a mountain for people who can ski, and it has a reputation to match. Five lifts serve the whole area, so the gondola queues at peak times, but the terrain is enormous and spreads people out. Golden in the valley is a working railway town. Calgary is around three hours away through the Rockies.

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A mountain in the Purcell range of British Columbia above the town of Kimberley, with a long gentle main run called the Ridgeway that is one of the longest lit night skiing runs in North America. The terrain is mostly intermediate with excellent tree skiing on the north side and a snowpack that stays dry because this is deep interior country. It is quiet even at peak times, with five lifts serving a large area. Kimberley itself is a former mining town that rebuilt its centre in Bavarian style in the 1970s, which is either charming or odd depending on your view, and it has a genuine local life either way. Cranbrook airport is thirty minutes away and Calgary is around four hours.

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One of the great views in skiing. The runs on the front face look straight across at Lake Louise, the Victoria glacier and the Chateau on the shore, and the back bowls behind open into wide alpine terrain with nothing built anywhere in sight. It sits inside Banff National Park, which is why there is no development on the mountain and why the wildlife is genuinely wild. Every lift serves terrain of all three grades, which is unusual and useful for a mixed group. The snow is cold and dry and the season runs from November into May. It is also cold in a way that catches European visitors out in January, so dress properly. There is no lodging at the ski area. Lake Louise village and Banff, forty minutes away, are the bases, and the Icefields Parkway north from here is one of the great mountain drives.

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The greatest vertical drop east of the Rockies in Canada, at Petite Rivière Saint François an hour from Quebec City, with runs dropping over 750 metres straight towards the Saint Lawrence river. The view is what people talk about. The river here is wide enough to look like the sea, often with ice floating on it, and you ski towards it the whole way down. The terrain is mostly intermediate and advanced with excellent grooming and a good deal of snow, since this coast catches heavy falls. There is no village at the base. Baie Saint Paul in the Charlevoix region nearby is an arts town with good restaurants, and Quebec City is close enough for a full day.

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A small ski area inside Manning Provincial Park in British Columbia, around three hours east of Vancouver on the highway towards the interior. The terrain is modest with five lifts and a good spread for families, and the snow is drier here than on the coast because the park sits east of the coastal ranges. There is a lodge and cabins at the base, and the surrounding park has an extensive cross country and snowshoe network as well as backcountry terrain. It is a quiet and inexpensive alternative to the resorts nearer Vancouver, and the park itself is the main attraction for many visitors.

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The ski area for Jasper in the Canadian Rockies, quieter and less developed than Banff to the south, which is exactly the appeal. It has the highest base elevation in Canada and a very light, dry snowpack because of it. The terrain spreads across a wide face with a genuine spread of levels, and the upper bowls give open alpine skiing without much of a crowd. Queues are close to non existent even in high season. There is no lodging on the mountain. You stay in Jasper, twenty minutes away, which is a working railway town in the middle of a national park with elk on the streets in the evening. The Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff is one of the great mountain drives, and it is worth a day in itself.

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A mountain in the Eastern Townships of Quebec with a reputation for glade skiing that goes back decades, and one of the largest networks of tree runs in eastern North America. The terrain is laid out as a web of interconnecting trails rather than as distinct top to bottom runs, which makes it easy to wander and hard to get bored. Grooming is deliberately light in places. Sutton village below is an attractive Townships settlement with galleries, a food scene and a strong Anglophone history. Montreal is around ninety minutes away and the Vermont border is close, which brings visitors from both sides.

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The largest ski resort in eastern North America, in the Laurentians ninety minutes north of Montreal, with a pedestrian village of brightly painted buildings at the foot of the hill that people either find charming or find themed. Either way it works, and it is lively in the evenings in a way few North American resorts manage. The mountain has four faces, so there is nearly always one sheltered from the wind. The Edge and the north side hold the steeper terrain, and the south side gets the sun. It is cold here in January and the wind chill is real, so dress for it properly and plan on warming up indoors more often than you would in the Alps. February and March are more comfortable. Quebec culture makes the difference. The food is better than the North American average and the atmosphere is French speaking and distinct.

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A mountain half an hour east of Quebec City, with runs on three sides and a view down over the Saint Lawrence river that widens towards the sea below you. The terrain is varied with a good vertical for eastern North America, extensive night skiing and a long gondola from the base. Grooming and snowmaking are thorough, which they need to be in a Quebec winter. The real draw is Quebec City itself, which is a walled French speaking city with a winter carnival, an ice hotel nearby and a food culture that has nothing in common with the rest of North America. Staying there and driving out is a better week than staying at the base. It is cold here in January in a way that needs planning for, and February onwards is more comfortable.

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The oldest ski area in the Canadian Rockies, on the mountain directly above Banff town, and the closest of the three areas on the Banff pass. The terrain is compact with a genuinely steep face served by the North American chair, which has a reputation among locals, alongside gentler ground lower down. Night skiing runs here, which neither Sunshine nor Lake Louise offer, and there is a via ferrata on the mountain in summer. Banff is five minutes away, which makes this the easy afternoon option in a week that also covers the bigger areas. The view down onto the town is excellent.

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On Vancouver Island in British Columbia, above the Comox valley, and one of the snowiest places in Canada. The snowpack here is measured in metres and the resort has held Canadian records for depth. The terrain is broad and mostly intermediate with good tree skiing and a large amount of gentle ground, and there is a substantial Nordic network alongside. The snow is coastal and heavy, and the mountain sits low, so conditions vary with the weather more than in the interior. When it is good it is very good. Courtenay in the valley below is the base, and the island setting means you can be on a beach an hour after skiing.

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One of the three mountains that sit directly above Vancouver, reached in about forty minutes from downtown, with the city and the harbour laid out below you while you ski. That view is genuinely unusual. It is the most relaxed and least commercial of the three North Shore mountains, family run in feel, with a good learning area and a strong following among people who ski after work. Night skiing runs most of the week. The snow is coastal and heavy and the mountain sits low, so conditions vary with the weather more than at the interior resorts. There is also an extensive snowshoe and tobogganing area, and the provincial park behind it is popular backcountry terrain.

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The mountain that held the alpine events of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, in Kananaskis Country an hour west of the city, and built specifically for those Games. The terrain reflects that origin, with long consistent race pitches and thorough snowmaking, which it needs because this side of the Rockies is drier than the resorts further west. It is the closest ski area to Calgary, so weekends fill with day traffic and midweek stays quiet. Kananaskis Country around it is protected provincial parkland with a good deal of wildlife, and there is lodging in the valley rather than at the base.

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A quiet resort in the Purcell mountains of British Columbia with over 1200 metres of vertical, a small ski in and ski out village at the base and remarkably few people on the hill. The terrain suits confident intermediates well, with long groomed descents from top to bottom, and there is steeper ground in Taynton Bowl for people who want it. The snow is dry interior snow rather than coastal. There are large hot pools in the village, fed by mineral water piped from Radium Hot Springs down the valley, and soaking in them after a long day is much of the point. Calgary is around three and a half hours away through the Rockies, and Invermere in the valley below is the nearest town.

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An old mining mountain at Rossland in the British Columbia interior, and one of the most characterful ski areas in North America. Skiing has happened here since 1897 and Canada's first downhill race was held on this hill. Three peaks give steep, largely ungroomed terrain with excellent tree skiing and a snowpack that stays dry. There is a cat skiing operation on a fourth peak for people who want more, and the whole mountain has a reputation for being uncrowded to an almost surprising degree. Rossland below is a preserved mining town with a real main street and a strong local ski culture. Prices are well below the destination resorts and the atmosphere is entirely unpolished. Spokane in Washington is the nearest useful airport, around two and a half hours away.

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The greatest lift served vertical drop in North America, at over 1700 metres from summit to base, on a mountain that only opened in 2007 and still feels like it is being discovered. The snowfall in this part of British Columbia is enormous and consistent, and the terrain is serious, with long steep descents, bowls and glades. It suits strong skiers, and there is a cat skiing and heli skiing operation running from the same base for people who want more. Seven lifts serve the whole mountain, so there are queues at peak times on the main gondola, but the runs are long enough that the mountain rarely feels crowded. Revelstoke town below is a working railway and logging town with a good main street, and the drive in along the Trans Canada Highway can be affected by weather, so allow time.

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A ski in and ski out village painted in bright Victorian colours at the foot of a mountain in the British Columbia interior. The effect is genuinely cheerful, and the village is car free once you have parked. The front face is gentle and groomed with the village at the bottom. The back side is steeper, north facing and heavily gladed, and it holds cold snow far longer. One of the largest Nordic networks in North America runs from the same base, which makes this a good choice for a group where not everyone skis downhill. Hotels and condos in the village are quiet and family oriented at moderate prices, with almost no queues. Night skiing and a tube park fill the evenings, and Kelowna airport is an hour away.

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A mountain in the Laurentians in Quebec, north of Montreal near Mont Tremblant, and one of the older ski areas in the region. The vertical is modest and the terrain is mostly gentle with a good learning operation and night skiing, and the mountain is used mostly by families from Montreal. The Laurentians have a dense concentration of ski areas within a short drive of each other, so a week here can cover several mountains. Mont Tremblant is around half an hour away for a bigger day, and Montreal is roughly ninety minutes.

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A mountain in the Laurentians an hour from Montreal, in the village of Saint Sauveur, and one of the busiest ski areas in Quebec because of that proximity. The vertical is modest but the operation is extensive, with a large number of runs, thorough snowmaking and one of the biggest night skiing programmes in the country. Much of the traffic arrives after work. Saint Sauveur village is lively with restaurants and shops and a genuine social scene, more so than most ski towns of this size. There is a water park that runs in summer, and the surrounding Laurentians have several other areas on the same pass.

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A mountain twenty minutes north of Quebec City, in a natural bowl with runs on three faces, and the largest night skiing operation in Canada by lit terrain. That floodlighting is the defining feature. A very large share of the mountain is open into the evening, which is how the Quebec City crowd uses it. The bowl shape shelters the runs from wind, which matters a great deal in a Quebec winter, and the terrain parks here have a strong reputation. Quebec City is close enough that staying in the old town and driving out is the better week. Mont Sainte Anne is on the same pass.

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The second largest ski area in Canada, in the dry interior of British Columbia, and almost unknown outside North America. A small pedestrian village sits at the bottom with runs coming down to the doors, which makes it genuinely ski in and ski out in a way few Canadian resorts manage. The skiing is uncrowded, varied and forgiving, with long groomed cruisers and some of the best tree skiing in the region. Interior snow is cold and dry rather than coastal and heavy, so conditions stay good long after a storm has passed. Hotels and condos in the village are quiet and family oriented at moderate prices, and the lift queues barely exist. Kamloops airport is forty five minutes away. There is not much nightlife. Snowmobiling, dog sledding and a night ski are the evenings, and the days are what you come for.

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Two mountains north of Vancouver, and by some distance the largest ski resort in North America. There is terrain for every level, but the mountain earns its reputation with strong skiers. Alpine bowls sit above the treeline on both peaks and the vertical drop is bigger than anything else on the continent. The Peak 2 Peak gondola strung between the two summits is worth a ride in its own right and holds records for both length and height. The snow is coastal, which means heavy, plentiful and occasionally wet at the base. Late season here is often excellent, because the upper mountain keeps its depth long after the lower runs have softened. Whistler Village is the most developed resort village in North America and closer to a small town, fully pedestrianised, with restaurants, bars and shops to match. The good tables go early. Accommodation spreads across three villages with a free shuttle between them, and Vancouver is around two hours up the Sea to Sky highway.

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A small mountain above Nelson in the British Columbia interior with a large reputation, built on a snowpack that is both deep and dry and on terrain that is almost entirely ungroomed above the lower runs. Three lifts serve open bowls, chutes and widely spaced trees, and the mountain has a devoted following among skiers who prefer the snow to the facilities. Beginners have a limited area. Nelson down the hill is one of the more distinctive towns in western Canada, a preserved heritage settlement on Kootenay Lake with an arts scene and a strong independent character. The lodge at the base has a well known kitchen. Spokane in Washington is the nearest useful airport at around three hours.

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