How To Spend A Ski Day At Lake Louise

If you’ve got the Lake Louise Ski Resort on your ski bucket list we’ve got the game plan to have the perfect day on the mountain. As two wannabe ski bums who’ve been fortunate enough to ski a lot resorts around the world “The Lake” remains one of our favorites for good reason. 

Skiers and boarders can find everything at the resort, which is wide open and runs to trees and challenging steeps. All of it has an incredible view. We may be biased, but Lake Louise has some of the best views of any ski resort in the world.

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The Perfect Ski Day At Lake Louise

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Sort Your Tickets

It’s typically best to not buy lift tickets at the window these days. You have a number of options for lift tickets you can purchase tickets online directly, a package from SkiBig 3, or the Plus Card which offers good savings. Local’s always benefit from a season pass, but families have always found value with tickets purchases with partners in Calgary such as Costco.

With the inclusion of SkiBig3 on the Ikon Pass more and more visitors are coming for a ski holiday. It makes Banff a tremendous destination for those with the season pass. We personally think a trip here and to Revelstoke is the best destination on the pass for a multitude of reasons. Lake Louise is also on the Mountain Collective for pass holders.

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Grab A Coffee

Head to a local coffee shop for some morning energy to tackle the hill. The early bird gets the worm if you’re after fresh corduroy or powder. Lifts start spinning at 9:00 am so hit up Eclipse, Whitebark, or Trailhead Cafe on the way to the hill. The resort also serves up coffee, but we consider it more of a a mid-day pick me up if needed.

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Get Situated

Want to know some of our favorite gear? We recommend Trew outfits for great style and comfort. We always wear Smith Vantage helmets, and love Smith’s Goggles as well. Cameron is wearing his trusty Squad Mags.

We’ve long moved past the point of rentals and travel on any ski trip with our gear. Banff has a great ski shop with Monod Sports and every snowboarder in the region has bought some gear from the legendary Rude Boys. It’s one of the best snowboard shops in the world!

If you need rental equipment you have wide range of choices in Banff and Lake Louise. You can find everything you need for rentals at the resort or in town at spots like the SkiBig3 Adventure Center. If you plan to ski multiple resorts we generally advise getting your rentals in town to save time each day.

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First Lap Of The Day – Juniper Chair

No matter your skill level, we recommend the first lap of the day be down the Juniper Chair. We’ve never waited in a line to go up the lift and it has some tremendous groomed runs back down the mountain. We love Buffaloberry, Blueberry, and beginners can try Easy Street.

That is unless it’s a powder day where you’ll want to get as high as possible early in the day and head for some the resort’s tree runs while they prepare to open the big alpine terrain. We’ve always been fond of the Pika Trees.

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Pipestone

Once you’ve got your legs underneath head back up the Juniper to Lake Louise’s newest lift. Pipestone Express is a high speed lift with a bubble and heated seats that whisks you to the top of the mountain where you’re spoiled for choice with runs.

For a groomed run our favorite down the front of the mountain is Charlie’s Choice to Upper Wiwaxy. It offers some of the best views on the mountain and it’s a wide open run perfect for laying out big turns. Plus it’s mellow enough for almost anyone to enjoy.

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Paradise

After a few laps down the frontside of the mountains it’s time to head to our favourite area of the resort the “backside.” You can access it from the Pipestone Express or Top of the World. It’s a huge area known for its powder, advanced runs, alpine bowls, and technical chutes. If you’re a beginner you can still scope the terrain with an easy lap down Saddleback which works its way down to the Paradise chair.

More advanced skiers and riders should can either head straight up the Summit Chair or test out the conditions right from the top of the chair. There’s a bunch of good expert and advanced runs such as Vertical Cornice, Wounded Knee, and Rodney’s Ridge. After you hit the runs head back up the Paradise chair for another lap.

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Head To The Whitehorn Summit

Experts and advanced skiers should head up the Summit Chair to the uppermost section of the resort. The amount of the terrain that can be skied from the chair is astounding with a sweeping bowl of chutes and gullies down the backside the various aspects of the Whitehorn Mountain and the West Bowl. Each of them is larger than many ski resorts in the world.

Both rocking our Trew outfits. We always wear Smith Vantage helmets, and love Smith’s Goggles as well. Cameron is wearing his trusty Squad Mags and Natasha in 4D Mags!

Intermediates can still head up the chair to ride the Boomerang run or give themselves a challenge with Upper Boomerang, an easy alpine slope with phenomenal views from the top.

The options are endless and really depend on conditions, but we love to ski in “zones.” The different areas include the Whitehorn, the lettered Gullies, and the Boomerang Ridge. There’s a lot to explore, but our favorite areas are the gullies and runs from the hike up the Boomerang Ridge. However, they’re all expert runs with technical terrain that is not to be taken lightly.

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Grab Some On Mountain Food

It’s probably time for some lunch at this point. We’re big on pocket snacks most days on the mountain, but those on holiday we get the appeal of an on mountain restaurant. You’ve got two great options for dining on the mountain the Temple Day Lodge or the Whitehorn Bistro.

The Whitehorn Bistro has the best food on the mountain, but for its history charm and location we love to recommend the Temple Day Lodge. It connects nicely from the backside, but you can reach the Whitehorn Bistro with a lap back up the Paradise Chair.

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Larch Mountain

After some food head up the Larch chair and mountain for some great groomed runs. Lookout is a great beginner run that is one of our favorite runs to recommend on the mountain. After a lap head across the way to Ptarmigan for a lap down Pika another great run.

Intermediate will really love Larch as Lookout is great for everyone, but the groomed run of Larch has a great sustained pitch and it’s rarely crowded. Experts can enjoy the groomers or challenge themselves with the Lookout Chutes or Tower 12 for some the most challenging tree skiing on the mountain. The two expert runs are steep, have cliff bands, and tight tree exits.

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Ptarmigan Chair

At this point you skied almost aspect of the resort it’s time to head back up to the front side and ski whatever you feel like. Eagle Meadows to Wiwaxy is a great way down the front side for beginners while advanced riders are spoilt for choice as is always the case at Lake Louise. A short hike up past the ski patrol hut to Eagle Flight usually delivers snow even late in the day.

After a fresh snow we love to give the park crew sometime to get the park back into great shape. So when we’re in the mood the afternoon is the time we love to hit up the park. Lake Louise has a great park setup with an intermediate park on the upper part of the mountain just below the Glacier chair and advanced to expert park at the base. This makes the chair the one to hit up for park laps.

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Apres Ski

Okay truth be told the apres ski scene in Banff is not legendary. However, Lake Louise still delvers some great vibes at the end of the day perfect for an after ski beer at the Banded Peak Base Camp. They also set up a cool Ice Bar midwinter around the Ice Magic Festival. If you’re staying in Banff there is no shortage of cool spots to head such as Three Bears Brewing, High Rollers, or Banff Ave Brewing.

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One Day Isn’t Enough

It shouldn’t be surprising that with 4,200 acres of skiing, one day is nowhere near enough time to explore the resort. We didn’t even talk about the massive West Bowl zone!

Honestly, a whole season skiing the resort isn’t enough time. We’ve spent years riding at the resort and still haven’t explored every nook and cranny. There is so much beyond the marked runs and so many different ways to ski or ride the various runs.