Lake Louise, AB - 1/24 & 1/28/2005

Pictures are below.

Helen and I rode together on 1/24 and I rode alone on 1/28 since Helen didn't feel like riding that day. The area was never that crowded, and all the staff that I interacted with were really, really nice. I got very friendly and helpful advice from two different patrollers on two separate occasions... and both of them were cute :)

The Layout: Lake Louise ski area is just outside of the town of Lake Louise. It's a big ski area, with 4,200 acres of skiable terrain, 3,250 ft of vertical, and a top elevation of 8,650 ft. There are 8 lifts serving 3 peaks. You can find trail maps here.

It was a 12 minute ride from our cabin to the parking lot. There is ample parking at the main base area. On 1/24, a Monday, we parked right in front of the main lodge. On 1/28, a Friday, we had to park much further away, though the parking lots were still no where near capacity.

The first thing we noticed is that the trail map is a little out of date. They’ve removed the Friendly Giant Express from the base area, and the Eagle Chair further up the right of the front side and are in the process or replacing them with a new gondola from the base to the old top of the Eagle Chair. It’s still under construction, but it looks like many of the cars are in place and working, and they’re fine tuning it and working on the loading/unloading areas.

The area is divided into essentially 3 areas: the front side, the back bowls, and the Larch area. The front side is dominated by mellow groomers served by two express chairs (and eventually the new gondola), an extremely slow double, and the summit platter. There is also a huge terrain park near the base area. The back side is made up of 2,500 acres of large, open alpine bowls and glades with only a few groomed runs down. The bowls empty onto a wide track that feeds everyone back to the Paradise, Ptarmigan, and Larch chairs. The Larch area is a mix of mellow cruisers and some steeper tree runs.

At this point it has to be said that I've never seen a more spectacular view from a ski area than I have at Lake Louise. Standing at the top of the Paradise chair, you're treated to a 360 degree view like no other of some of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Banff National Park is beautiful, and seeing it from Lake Louise is a real treat.

The Lift Lines: the worst lift line was no more than 5 min getting on the Glacier Express at the base area on the front side. Beyond that, every other lift line was pretty quick. The place was not very crowded on any of the days we were there.

The Conditions: Lake Louise got hit by the warming cycle that the rest of the Northwest got in mid January. On 1/24 & 1/28 there hadn't been any new snow since the warming, but coverage was excellent all around. The snow on the back is clearly better than the snow on the front. On the front, at the top, the snow was passable, but it deteriorated quickly into boilerplate as you descended. With the warmth, and the snow making, the lowest reaches on the front were more slushy than anything.

The snow on the back is much better, with pretty good snow still on the upper half of the entire backside. Below that, all moguls were rock hard and scraped up, but the groomer down the valley was in fine shape.

The Terrain: For beginners, there is a green run down from every lift except the summit platter. The front and Larch both have lots of blues, groomed and un-groomed.

The back bowls hold the vast majority of the steeper stuff, mostly single and double blacks with a few easier tracks down from each lift. The back would clearly be epic on a powder day. It's pitched over really nicely, and there's a ton of terrain to ride back there. I had a lot of fun on most of the back, even given the poor snow quality. Some of the more interesting runs were Whitehorn I (#33) off the summit, Upper Boomerang (#64) over to Brown Shirt (#31a), Paradise Bowl (36), Paradise Cornice (#56), and ER3 (#50). There was still some soft snow for 2 turns or so dropping off of Paradise Cornice, and I was able to find some untracked on 1/28 over in the Brown Shirt area, which is know for being less traveled and holding snow well.

I passed some guys who were filming for The Ride Guide on OLN over on Brown Shirt. They had hiked up North Cornice (#65) and were dropping down the still untracked face with one camera man below. They looked like they were having a lot of fun :)

I'd say the only real issue I have with the terrain on the back side of Lake Louise is the access to about half of it: you have to go back to the front and head back over to the summit platter to get back to the top of Mt. Whitehorn. I'm not a big fan of surface lifts (though I must say that I'm satisfied with myself for never falling on the platter given the crappy, icy track, and given that I'd never done one before). I'd like to see a little easier access back to the top of that peak without having to make such a long trip. Though, I suppose it's probably one reason it stays a little fresher...

The Food and Lodges: on 1/24 we ate at the Temple Lodge in the valley off the back side. It's a decent sized lodge, but it was really dark inside. Poorly lit with small windows. The food was so-so. I didn't like the chili there. Zucchini bits, small cups, and no cheese, onions, or sour cream available. Not the worst ski area chili I’ve ever had, but way below average, and it talked back for the rest of the day.

On 1/28, we ate at the lodges at the main base area. We sat in the Whiskeyjack lodge because there was more open seating, but we got food from the Lodge of Ten Peaks right next door, because the food looked better. Both lodges are nice, and both are better lit with bigger windows and more natural light.

The Town of Lake Louise: Lake Louise is a really small town. We didn't explore much... didn't seem like much reason too. There is a very small grocery store that only has the basics, and there is a decent board shop right near the grocery store that has a good selection of everything, and what looks like a good tuning service. There is lodging in Lake Louise, though not at much as in Banff. It runs the same spectrum, from yet another Fairmont to your basic hotel rooms.

Pictures and Videos: these are some of the pictures that we took that I think are more interesting from a snowboarding perspective. If you want to see the really nice artistic ones, check out Helen's site at Artgeekstudios.

This is the top of the Summit Platter. The track was pretty icy both days I was there. They had a helpful sign at the bottom, which I failed to get a picture of, that warned of this and politely suggested that you stay off the platter if you didn't know what you were doing :)

This picture begins a 180 degree view from the top of the platter (visible on the left edge) clockwise around to the summit. The TC1 runs through the valley below.

Lake Louise (the lake) is the white circular patch in the center of this picture at the base of the mountains. Lake Louise (the town) is visible in the lower left.

The summit is up to the right.

A close up shot of Lake Louise. The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise is visible at the edge of the frozen lake. It's a beautiful hotel, and maybe someday when I'm really rich I'll stay there for a week.

This is a zoom in on the town of Lake Louise. It's right off the TC1.

This picture begins a 180 degree view from the top of the summit platter counter clockwise around towards the summit. Oh, the only person I saw fall off the platter was the skier in the blue one-piece, visible in the far right of the picture. Somehow he fell off about 5 feet from the top... I have no idea how. He actually managed to have a yard sale, too... they had to stop the platter while he collected his skis and poles :)

Continuing around, looking off the back side.

... and around...

... and around. The ski area boundary is the ridge along the left. Brown Shirt (#31A) is the hump in the middle-right of the picture.

A view of the summit from the face between #64 and #65.

Looking from between #64 and #65 back towards the top of the Top of the World chair that comes over from the front. The top of the chair is in the center of the picture.

Looking from the same place as above, down the valley towards the base of the Paradise chair, which you can't really see from here. The cut runs on the hill in the distance is the Larch area.

Continuing around counter clockwise from the last shot.

And a little further to the left. When I saw the OLN camera man, he was standing on the top of the hill below, filming guys dropping down on the other side of the ridge just skiers left of where this picture was taken. I dropped down from here, then traversed over behind him and chatted with the guys who had been riding down. They were having too much fun :)

A zoom in of the top of the Paradise chair, shot from the same place as the pics above. The top of the Top of the World chair is visible on the left. Everything you see in this picture is in bounds.

The obligatory monkey shot :)

The 7 pictures above this one were taken just next to the rocks in the center. There are two skiers traversing into the slope from the left.

A view from the top of the ridge between the Paradise chair and "The Diamond Mine" (the area above run #51 on the trail map), looking towards the back. The Paradise chair is visible to the left.

The view along that ridge. There is a lone boarder out on the peak, deciding where to go. (He didn't go the fun way...)

This was a mistake, but I liked it...