The Sun Really Does Shine Here (Banff)

Member Name: stevenkan

Product:	Banff
Date:	27/03/01 (269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Value, Lots of Varied Terrain, Great Snow

Disadvantages: Daylodge could be better

I had the fortune to live in Calgary for two years, and for both ski seasons bought seasons passes for Sunshine Village, nr Banff. So what made me go back?

Firstly, the resort offers superb value for money, both for day skiers and season pass holders.
There is a huge amount of terrain with a total of 91 runs and 12 lifts. The terrain is widely varied with something to suit everyone, nice gentle blues and a gentle skiout through the trees through to Delirium Dive for the experts (note. to go on Delirium you must have an avalanche transceiver, shovel, and partner, there is a gate at the top which will only open when you put your transceiver by it).
Sunshine is 100% natural snow, and there´s normally a lot of it, can we say "powder"!! Although 2000 got off to a slow start.
There are 5 high speed quad chairs so there is hardly any queuing or lineups as Canadians might say!
And for the snowboarders, this year all the hire boards feature stepin bindings.
The staff at Sunshine and most Canadian resorts for that matter are friendly and helpful.
With the pound to dollar exchange rate, you´ll find your cash goes a long way.

Downsides: At weekends there can be queues for the Gondola up which are a pain, and there could be better daylodge facilities. It should be noted that Sunshine want to improve both of these (new/improved gondola and new permanent daylodge on Goats Eye mountain) but hardly any ski resorts in Canada are able to get development permits to do any work.

Summary: