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Best skiing in Banff ?

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justinm
Posts: 1219 - Karma: 26
Hey everyone, I'm going to Banff to ski for 4 days in February and I was wondering which mountain has the best terrain for powder skiing in-bounds ? I don't care about their park as that is all we have back east.
Thanks
Jan 16 2013 4:20PM
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FroesenSkeeze
Posts: 638 - Karma: 673
I was just going to post this!! Going up this weekend, and can't decide on 2 days at Lake Louise or 1 at Sunshine and 1 at Louise.
Jan 16 2013 4:21PM
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E-fry
Posts: 601 - Karma: 2,171
louise and sunshine are both fairly equal. I personally like louise but sunshine has back door which can be really good. Don't waste time at norquay.
Jan 16 2013 4:50PM
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jfletcher
Posts: 1208 - Karma: 188
definitely agree with the first 2 posts, Banff is amazing!
Jan 16 2013 4:53PM
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FroesenSkeeze
Posts: 638 - Karma: 673
Really? I heard Norquay was pretty good. I'll keep that in mind
Jan 16 2013 5:01PM
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ChasingFlakes
Posts: 822 - Karma: 1,544
just posted two new edits from last week so its pretty recent. Sunshine and norquay . Thank me with a bump ;)

https://www.newschoolers.com/ns/forums/readthread/thread_id/701505/page/2/
Jan 16 2013 7:04PM
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
Louise has easier access to the steeps, but Sunshine has better snow. Most the super challenging stuff at Sunshine requires a beacon, probe, shovel etc.

Louise much further from Banff than Sunshine so keep that in mind too.

I know you didn't ask about parks but Louise has been killing it the last few years, whereas Sunshines is pretty big but not as flowy.

Norquay doesn't get as much snow as Shine or Louise, but it has a few decent runs off of North American, but not enough to warrant an entire day. They have hourly skiing as well so it's nice for a morning or afternoon or something. It is very close to Banff. It is wayyyyyy smaller than either Louise or Sunshine.

I'd say go 1 day Louise, 1 day Shine.
Jan 16 2013 7:11PM
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will_powder
Posts: 3194 - Karma: 5,445
Sorry for double post.

Don't assume powder conditions. If it doesn't snow, there won't be powder. It's suprising to find out how many east coasters think it doesn't stop snowing haha
Jan 16 2013 7:12PM
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jmasterp
Posts: 1976 - Karma: 233
I saw a unicorn in banff, it was mowing the grass.
Jan 16 2013 7:15PM
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FrenchFry
Posts: 969 - Karma: 3,432
If you want park Louise for sure. I also like louise for skiing more too
Jan 16 2013 7:17PM
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ShredMasterPlus
Posts: 1159 - Karma: 807
For bang for your buck you can get more pow laps in at Louise then almost anywhere. Lifts are in the right places and you don't get lines besides at the base. Never skied sunshine, it has some goods from what I've heard but really short runs besides the dive and I think quite a few chairs to do laps. Personally a big fan of Louise but I'm sure either will be a great time if you hit them with pow. Also Louise is working on there park right now going to be banger.
Jan 16 2013 8:10PM
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Randy_Marsh
Posts: 253 - Karma: 35
sunshine is so bomb if it has snow. I'm not sure about present conditions though
Jan 16 2013 8:51PM
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LukasSchroeder
Posts: 1460 - Karma: 2,683
Loiuse is good for some kinda laid back bowls, but i LOVE sunshine for snow, they also have more terrain so its easy to di same lift with multiple line combinations AAAALLLLL day, probs same with louise but sunshine is sweet on un popular days (weekdays, far away from breaks) but having 1 sunshine 1 louise will be good. Do sunshine first then see weather you want to go back
Jan 16 2013 8:56PM
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ChasingFlakes
Posts: 822 - Karma: 1,544
Sunshine is great , IF you know where to go , the park is number 3 in the big 3 , followed by norquay and louise at number 1 . Louise gets less snow than the shine but the terrain is a little more in your face and as said before , the lift system is very efficient. Norquay can be fun and if your staying in banff at night maybe save it for friday and saturday night to lap the full park at 20$ .
Jan 16 2013 8:57PM
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andrew95
Posts: 2090 - Karma: 124
threads
Jan 16 2013 9:00PM
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cookiemonster69
Posts: 47 - Karma: 531
Sunshine is probably the way to go, Lake Louise is another option.
Jan 18 2013 11:41PM
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gingaskier
Posts: 623 - Karma: 263
Lake louise or sunshine. spend a few days at one mountain and a few days at the other mountain.
Jan 19 2013 12:37AM
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fujarome
Posts: 8630 - Karma: 1,561
went there for a week a few years ago...


I personally loved sunshine and everything about it. We went there maybe 3 days out of 7. My buddy felt exactly the same about louise, where we spent the next 3 days.

If you have the time and the means, give them both a try. Guarantee you won't be disappointed by either, but you'll find the little differences that push one ahead.
Jan 19 2013 1:01AM
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M.M
Posts: 1696 - Karma: 4,490
he gon take long time before he mozz dis grass
Jan 19 2013 11:29AM
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pussy_puncher
Posts: 194 - Karma: 69

i reccomend sunshine over louise because sunshine has fun cliffs. also about 1hr 30min further east at kicking horse is pretty dope, it has some really good big cliff lines

Jan 20 2013 3:59AM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,298
this! i wouldn't try to go without a 4 wheel drive car tho. But once you get there its worth it. We went there after it hadn't snowed for a week and still found pow and big lines, if you have the time you should definitely spend a day there, but i wouldn't stay there, Golden is pretty slow.
Jan 20 2013 7:13AM
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Jombob
Posts: 113 - Karma: 97
I spent the last 5 winters at sunshine and if you know where to go you can find powder any day from January through to April.
If you aren't interested in park I'd recommend taking some warm up laps on Standish through Virgin chutes then Garbage chutes. If Delerium Dive is open get some Avi gear and get a lap in there it has everything from mellow lines down the middle to some epic pillows off Hayes Hill. If the wild west is open get some laps in there too, it is possible to do laps of this on goatseye.
I don't know your skiing level but sunshine is also great for slack/backcountry access but you have to know what you are doing and where you are going.
Jan 20 2013 7:43AM
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andrew95
Posts: 2090 - Karma: 124
do sunshine or louise have on hill demo shops? if so what brands/how much
thanks
Jan 20 2013 9:53AM
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FroesenSkeeze
Posts: 638 - Karma: 673
Just got back from riding in Banff this weekend. We went to both Sunshine and Louise. In my own OPINION, I liked enjoyed Louise better. The gondola was more efficient in the terms that there are a lot more runs available on it. I liked the terrain better as well, and the park was a bit better. The rock gardens, although not HUGE amounts of snow, were so much fun. However, sunshine had better snow, and although we went on a friday instead of saturday to Louise, it was not very busy at all. There are more parks at sunshine, and they are all pretty good, except the placement of the largest park is stupid because it is out in the open and it gets really windy. Overall, sunshine has a larger variety of terrain too, and tons of lifts. Also, the staff is more friendly at sunshine. Both resorts were unreal, but I have to say I enjoyed Louise a little bit more. That being said, we didn't do much hiking at all, and that plays a big part too, so keep that in mind. If you are going to go for more than one day, I would definitely recommend going to both.
Jan 21 2013 12:08AM
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-Marc-
Posts: 865 - Karma: 207
Shine has an on hill Salomon demo with all the Rocker series skis and Suspects and what not, don't think louise has anything
Jan 21 2013 1:21AM
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Keegar.c
Posts: 1 - Karma: 10
Lake Louise does high performance rental, so you pay like 45 bucks to rent the skis for the day. Not your typical demo style but a pretty sweet way to try some different skis.

Skis they carry in high performance

HEAD: Sacrifice, Oblivion, and Rock and Roll

Dynastar: Cham series they do have a pair of 127's a a couple of the 105's

Blizzard: Bodacious, Cochise, Bonafide, Gunsmoke

Lots of other skis but these are what would appeal to most people on NS.
Jan 25 2013 10:00PM
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ldc_
Posts: 48 - Karma: 47
Agreed. Definitely go to Golden if you can. I prefer Sunshine but you can't really go wrong whatever you choose.
Jan 25 2013 10:38PM
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m-ruta
Posts: 160 - Karma: 168
Another vote for Golden here. Fully worth the drive. I don't know my way around Sunshine so I can't comment and Louise is fun but Kicking Horse kind of puts it to shame, even though it's not in Banff.
Jan 26 2013 12:28AM
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ankhou
Posts: 505 - Karma: 238
...And if you're going that far you may as well push a little further and check out Revelstoke :)
Jan 26 2013 1:36AM
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___ASP___
Posts: 3857 - Karma: 459
.





keep your eye on who has the most new snow when you arrive, even though they are close they can get completely different conditions


as others have said, you can easily make the drive from banff to golden in 1.5-2 hours which would be well worth it to check out kicking horse for a day


if you only want to stick around banff though i would vote Louise but if you have 2 days why not check out both?
Jan 26 2013 2:00AM
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