Lake Louise - Crown Jewel in the Majestic Canadian Rockies
The spectacular Canadian Rockies have been a Mecca for British adventure seekers since Victorian times. Lake Louise, named after the daughter of Queen Victoria, is the epicenter and nucleus of one of the world’s oldest and most pristine National Parks - Banff. Being unspoiled, unparalleled, unforgettable and relatively undeveloped, it is deservedly a world heritage site.
The Lake Louise Ski Area was pioneered in the 1930s by a British knight - Sir Norman Watson - who envisioned the area as a bigger and better Switzerland. The early Swiss guides, who had thousands of square miles to choose from for North America’s first commercial ski area, chose Lake Louise because of its reliable snow, beauty, vast terrain, seemingly endless runs, and ease of access.
The destination of choice for a ski vacation of a lifetime
By a series of happy coincidences, Lake Louise enjoys several unique advantages that put it in a class by itself.
First and foremost is the spectacular scenery. All mountain resorts are pretty, but Lake Louise is magnificent beyond imagination. Stand on one of the ski area’s three peaks on a sun drenched morning with the panoramic vista of jagged glaciated peaks, impossibly blue skies, and endless, untouched forests spread out - infinity lifts you to a new plane of existence.
Skiers benefit from Lake Louise’s famed natural splendour in more concrete ways too. The scenery is definitely a big draw, making summer the high season, with the happy result that winter visitors enjoy first rate accommodation at bargain basement prices.
Most major tour operators, and in particular Inghams and TUI, offer very affordable packages to Canada, and Banff and Lake Louise in particular.
The Chateau Lake Louise – arguably one of the most superb grand hotels on the planet – is astonishingly reasonably priced in winter, and there are a great variety of other hotels and lodges to suit every taste and pocket, all only minutes from the ski area.
World-class skiing
The skiing is world-class. Size alone puts Lake Louise in the big league. Four thousand acres of skiable terrain, spread over three mountains and four mountain faces, and a vertical of 991 metres make it one of North America’s largest.
But size is only the beginning – quality is what counts, and Lake Louise has that in abundance. The weather is consistently skier friendly. Lake Louise is virtually immune to the melt-downs and unseasonable rains that plague so many other major areas. Yet, paradoxically, Louise’s altitude is very low – summit elevation is only 2,672 metres and the shortness of breath that is such a problem at many US resorts is never a factor here.
World’s most reliable snow
Snow conditions on the sunny south face are supplemented by one of North America’s largest and most sophisticated snowmaking systems, which guarantees a ski season from early November to early May, while the remaining vast three quarters of the area is amply supplied with an abundance of completely natural, dry, light, fluffy Rocky Mountain powder.
Conditions are so reliable that Lake Louise has for almost 30 years hosted nearly 50 World Cups in November and early December, and only one has ever been cancelled, and that because of too much snow.
Ski-Easy from every chair
Another feature that makes Louise unique is its accessibility and appeal to all. Only Lake Louise boasts “a green run down from every chair.” That unforgettable view from the very top can be savoured by neophytes and experts alike, and families or groups of widely varying abilities can tour the entire enormous area together, taking the runs of their choice – green, blue, red, or jet black and meet again at the bottom of the lifts.
Novice skiers are thus able to delight in a ski experience at Lake Louise completely beyond the scope of that offered elsewhere. The intermediate and expert terrain is, of course, plentiful and justly world-renowned.
Unspoiled, uncrowded, unparalleled, unforgettable
With all this going for it, surely Lake Louise must be at times overcrowded? No! On most days, even during holiday periods, you are far from the maddening crowds, and you can ski right onto most lifts, and often have a piste all to yourself. Rare indeed is the skier so fit and fearless that he can’t get more skiing at Lake Louise than he can handle.
Lake Louise is truly the mountain with something – or rather everything – for everyone.
The Village and Après Ski
Lake Louise has established itself as one of the world’s most popular resorts. Nine hotels operate year round, and the après-ski scene has come of age with a full spectrum of dining, partying, and entertainment options.
The Post Hotel has been ranked by Condé Nast magazine as the top ski hotel in North America, while the Chateau Lake Louise, with its magnificent frozen-lake setting compares with the best hotels anywhere, and even the Hostel is highly rated.
There are lively pubs and cozy lounges, swimming pools, hot tubs, and extensive fitness facilities – and always the great outdoors in all its incomparable splendour.
Lake Louise’s timeless, tranquil charm remains unchanged, and there are all kinds of ways to enjoy it – dogsledding, sleighriding, skating on magnificent Lake Louise itself, gliding along one of the numerous cross-country ski runs by daylight or moonlight, or enjoying a delightful dinner followed by a guided torchlight descent to the ski area.
Lake Louise is one place where the man-made truly enhances the natural, and the result is perfection.
FACTS
BA and AC fly daily to Calgary and Britain’s leading tour operators Inghams and TUI offer excellent packages.
Lake Louise: www.skilouise.com, 1(877) 956-8473 (9-Louise),
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Inghams: www.inghams.co.uk, 020 8780 4433
TUI: www.tuitravelplc.com, +44 (0) 1293 645 700
Image credits: Doran Clark - Lake Louise Tourism
