Written by Kathryn
For the next few posts we thought we would describe the
three ski fields we visited around Banff instead of giving a minute description
of every run we did because that would get boring and repetitive to read. This first post will be about Sunshine
Village which is about 20 minutes outside of Banff.
Our arrival Calgary was well timed as it was snowing and
Banff had recently had a lot of snow as well.
Although we weren’t in Calgary long, we couldn’t have asked for a better
first look at Canada. Everything was
covered in snow from a recent storm and it was still gently snowing as we
caught a taxi to the bus station to catch the Greyhound to Banff. The Greyhound depot was rather confusing, Greyhound do not guarantee that buying a
ticket will get you on the bus, and given the number of people on the queue we
were a little unsure whether we would be able to get on.
The bus we were meant to be on was running late which
increased the stress, as we were left waiting in line for 45 minutes after the
scheduled departure time before we were finally allowed to board. The bus did fill up but luckily we were able
to get on it, so all the stress was for naught.
Banff was the first stop the bus made and we were excited to see that it
was still lightly snowing. While it
meant dragging our bags though the fresh snow on the sidewalk to get to our
hotel, it also meant all the ski fields had a fresh dumping of snow.
Banff is exactly what you would imagine a small Canadian
town to look like in the middle of winter.
Snow is everywhere: beside the road, on the road, on the roofs, in your
shoes, everywhere. It is insanely cold, even in the middle of the day. And it
is oh so beautiful in the sunlight. The buildings all use a lot of wood and
stone in the traditional mountain style, and it was fun to just walk up and
down the main street soaking up the atmosphere.
On the advice of our hotel concierge we visited Sunshine
Village first. This is a 20 minute
shuttle ride from Banff to the base of the field, and then a 20 minute gondola
ride through the trees to get to the main village and lifts.
The ski field fans out around a valley so that there are
some runs on either side, one side being steeper than the other. We started out on some relatively easy slopes
to get used to the hired gear and soon found that the dry Canadian snow was a
lot slower than what we were used to at home. This made the runs very enjoyable
as you could really push the boards while always being able to easily rein it
in. It also took some time to get used to the need to maintain higher speeds to
get across any flat bits.
It didn’t take long for us to feel comfortable again and
move onto the more challenging slopes.
One of the things we were most looking forward to was snowboarding
through trees which we have never done before, since Mt Ruapehu doesn’t have
any. Most runs started above the tree
line and then as you moved further down the runs were lined with them and there
was the odd clump which would temporarily divide a track. There are also plenty of side tracks that
have been created by other skiers and snowboarders adventuring off-piste. As we got braver we worked our way onto these
tracks going through the trees, however they require really good control for
tight turns and are not very conducive to going at a slower speed.
We also had a go at a terrain park for the first time. Sunshine has a small terrain park with some
rails, boxes and jumps. We were only
brave enough to try the boxes which came is a few different widths. The fact that they are wider than a snowboard
gives you a false feeling of safety.
Although all you have to do is straighten up and go in a straight line
it is surprisingly easy to go off track or lose your balance as the surface is
very slippery. On the widest box my
board skidded out from under me and I fell on my ass, bouncing once on the box
and being carried off the end into the snow by my forward momentum. Although painful at the time I’m sure it was
very funny to watch.
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