The Lake Louise Ski Resort in Canada is potentially one of the most beautiful places in the world to ski or snowboard. Ski Lake Louise Canada for the “wow” factor where the views are nothing short of spectacular!
The backdrop adds so much to the great skiing and snowboarding experience, but that’s not the only reason that people flock there in droves. The Lake Louise ski area is a world class ski resort, it’s very family friendly, and the terrain provides a lot of choice for all levels of skiers and snowboarders.
Ski Lake Louise: Pros and Cons
Pros
- Lake Louise offers phenomenal vistas so don’t forget to take your camera.
- The Lake Louise Ski Resort has lots of great terrain for all ability levels, including lots of long fall line runs.
- Most of the lifts are high speed.
Cons
- If you’ve never been spoiled with deep powder then you’ll love Lake Louise, but it doesn’t receive a lot of snow so LL generally isn’t an ideal destination for powder hounds.
- There is no lodging at the ski resort, so if you’re looking for ski-in ski-out accommodation you’re out of luck.
- Like Banff, a Lake Louise ski holiday can be pretty expensive.
Pro or Con Depending On Your Perspective
- Rug up well because it’s often very cold, but at least the cold temps are good for the snow quality.
- Lake Louise is a reasonably sleepy hollow in the evenings.
Ski Lake Louise
Lake Louise Ski Resort is the biggest of the
Banff ski resorts, and one of the largest ski resorts in Canada weighing in at a massive 1,700 hectares (4,200 acres). The
Lake Louise skiing terrain is vast and spread across three areas: the frontside; the backside powder bowls; and the Larch area. This is no
Whistler Ski Resort, but it’s still huge!
The frontside has plenty of sedate runs and wide groomed intermediate boulevards, and with a vertical rise of nearly a kilometre, many of these runs might get your legs screaming. The backside is awesome for experts and this area has chutes, gullies, rooooolly steep bowls, and the Ptarmigan and Larch areas have some good glades.
In part due to its proximity to Calgary, the Lake Louise ski resort can get very crowded, particularly on the frontside of the mountain, and on a powder day it can get skied out in less than an hour and mogul mania ensues. If you want fresh tracks you have to work hard for them.
For such a large ski area, Lake Louise Banff surprisingly has only 10 lifts, of which 3 are magic carpets. With the exception of the Paradise chair, the Lake Louise ski area is serviced by modern fast lifts. The long Grizzly Express Gondola is very impressive and provides a great opportunity to appreciate the stellar views.
Lake Louise Snow
Whilst the Lake Louise ski area has amazing terrain, the snow quality and quantity is probably not its forte. The average annual snowfall is rather modest at only 3.6 metres (140 inches), which is half of the average for a western Canadian ski resort. Ski Louise often has very low temps so the quality of the powder that falls is generally very dry and fluffy. However the snow quality is often not well maintained, particularly on the frontside where a sunny aspect and high traffic results in frequently slick slopes.
Where is Lake Louise Canada?
Located in the majestic Banff National Park, Lake Louise Alberta is 57 km from the town of
Banff Canada (about 40 minutes by road), and 180km west of Calgary.
There are three parts to Lake Louise. Firstly there’s the actual lake where the
Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is located. About 5km down the road is the little sleepy village of Lake Louise, with a small collection of hotels and a few shops. Another few kilometres further on is the Lake Louise ski resort.
It’s not essential to have a car, but it can be very handy to provide some flexibility to get to the Lake Louise ski resort and to get around elsewhere.
Other Banff Ski Resorts
Lake Louise is one of three Banff ski resorts, with its neighbours being
Norquay and
Sunshine Village. You can enjoy all three resorts on an interchangeable lift ticket.
If you don’t have a car, all the resorts are accessible via complimentary shuttle buses from various Banff and Lake Louise hotels.
Lake Louise Accommodations
Unfortunately there’s no ski-in ski-out accommodation or on-mountain lodging at Lake Louise, but there are accommodations a few kilometres away in the quiet and peaceful village. Lake Louise accommodations consist of a handful of hotels and lodges, a hostel, and the gargantuan
Chateau Lake Louise on the lake.
Lake Louise Accommodation Listings
Facilities and Nightlife
The Lake Louise ski resort has world class facilities and services, and it seems like a very well run resort.
Down the road in the village, there are only limited amenities and very limited après activities or nightlife. Lake Louise is more of a little hamlet than a town, and there are just a few shops and several restaurants in the village and at the Chateau. And if you’re not lucky enough to stay at the Chateau Lake Louise, it’s still worth a visit to enjoy the lake views and a chic cocktail.