Category Archives: ski banff

Free Skiing and Riding Christmas Day at Mt Norquay

Banff National Park,  AB – Mt. Norquay’s third annual Santa Shreds for Free takes place Christmas Day, 2014 offering a free day pass to those that arrive fully dressed as Jolly St. Nick, Mrs. Claus, an Elf or even a Reindeer.

“It’s less expensive to go buy a cheap Santa Suit than to pay for a lift pass, and you get to keep the suit”

“It’s less expensive to go buy a cheap Santa Suit than to pay for a lift pass, and you get to keep the suit,” said a Norquay guest taking advantage of the offer in 2013.

High Alpine Dining – The newly renovated Cliffhouse Bistro, will be open daily throughout the holiday season starting December 27th to January 4th. Norquay guests are invited to ride the historic North American Chair and take in legendary views of Banff whilst savoring the inspired flavors of new Executive Chef Morne Burger.

Experience winter in Banff from a whole new perspective. No longer exclusive to skiers and snowboarders, winter sightseeing from the North American Chairlift is available all season long, offering foot passengers the option of taking the chairlift up and down the mountain.

It’s going to be a great winter at Mt. Norquay – discover all that Banff’s closest resort has to offer.

All ski resorts in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies will be open this weekend and to celebrate, we are offering a FREE 3-day Tri-Area ski pass to one lucky Twitter follower (CA$279.09 value with tax). The Tri-Area ski pass covers Banff Norquay, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise ski resorts as well as the ski shuttles from Banff. Banff Norquay celebrated it’s earliest opening ever and is currently open weekends until November 30 2012. Sunshine Village and Lake Louise are set to open for the season this Friday, November 9 2012.

To enter, follow all you have to do is:

  1. Follow us on Twitter @HolidaysCanada
  2. RT the tweet below

One of tweeters who RT will be chosen at random to win the 3-day Tri-Area pass. The pass must be redeemed and used this season. Good luck and happy skiing!

Incredible Spring Skiing in the Canadian Rockies

With more and more bear sightings coming in, it’s hard to think about skiing and snowboarding….but you must!!! 2011 has so far been a record breaking year for snowfall and with the lower temperatures, the powder conditions are that of mid-winter.  Environment Canada predicted a later spring which has so far proven to be true.

Where to head? Sunshine Village in Banff National Park is still rocking with incredible snow conditions and no crowds. Even Easter was quiet this year due to it being a little later in the year than usual. Sunshine Village will wrap things up for the season on May 23 2011 with the 83rd annual Slush Cup. There is lots more going on including the Sunshine Village 3rd annual Bikinis for Breast Cancer fundraiser.

The video footage below was taken in March and April this year in Sunshine Village’s backcountry. These skiers are experienced expert locals and have all the right backcountry gear so please do not imitate!

Enjoy these excellent extended ski conditions and be sure to look out for bears, wolves, deer, elk and big horn sheep (to name a few) on the spring ski bus to Sunshine Village from Banff!

Thanks for reading and feel free to share your spring skiing and boarding experiences with everyone below!

New travel domains, Canada

Below are a few new travel domains utilizing the new .co domain extension.

Rocky Mountain Holidays now has the following:

Ski Holidays Canada now has the following:

Thanks for reading and enjoy all this snow we have been receiving!

Good Bye Summer, Hello Autumn

The summer seems to have flown by this year.

It’s September 30 2010 and less than 2 weeks ago, the ski resorts in the Canadian Rockies received 20cm of fresh snow and we experienced way below average temperatures. The Canada Ski Blog posted some photos of this September snow. This last week, we have experienced above average temperatures (in the 20s°C) with sunny skies giving us another opportunity to take advantage of the many summer activities in the Canadian Rockies. This is typical of the Canadian Rockies as we are in the mountains at higher elevations.

Just check out the colours in the recent pictures taken in the Canadian Rockies. This is what we love about the autumn.

Autumn in Canmore

Cascade Mountain, Bow River, in the Autumn

The Rocky Mountaineer train departing tomorrow from Vancouver, October 1st 2010, is the company’s largest departure in their history, and will set a record for largest passenger rail train in North American history – a total of 1331 guests! This is one of the last Rocky Mountaineer train departures for 2010, but we already have 2011 packages in place with early-bird savings of up to $1,400 per couple.

50%OFF Panorama Lodging early-bird deal ended today but we have many early-bird deals for the 2010-2011 winter season, some of which are soon to expire. We are seeing some of the best ski accommodation deals in Banff this year with free nights accommodation and free ski deals for stays of 7 or more nights.

The early-birds will definitely be getting the best deals on ski packages and summer packages.

We hope you had a great summer and we thank you for reading our blog. We always love to hear from our readers so please feel free to post any relevant comments you may have.  Wishing you safe and happy travels.

Ski Banff – Douglas Fir Resort


We are pleased to announce that we have finally added the Banff Douglas Fir Resort to our website. Although we do not list all our hotels on our site, we believe that the Banff Douglas Fir Resort is one of the best family accommodations in Banff and definitely worth considering.

Here are just some of the accommodations we offer at this resort hotel:

The facilities for children and fantastic. They have two indoor waterslides and a new indoor playground. This indoor playground measures over two storeys in height and 28 feet in length and is Western Canada’s largest hotel indoor playground. More details on this hotel can be found by clicking on the links below:

We are also offering a “kids ski free” promotion as part of a ski package in Banff as well as additional early bird savings. This saving apply to Banff Norquay, Lake Louise and Sunshine Village ski resorts! Contact rocky-peak Ski Holidays now, for more information on the 2008/09 winter ski package promotions!

Ski Banff at Sunshine Village 2008 – APRIL POWDER DAY!

With 45 cm of new snow in the past 24 hours Sunshine Village is currently sitting at 64cm in the past 2 days! Due to this extreme snowfall, the Aaron Pritchett Concerts have been cancelled for this weekend (April 19 and 20). This Concert will be rescheduled.

Sunshine Village is scheduled to close at the end of May 2008.

April 2008 – Banff-Lake Louise-Sunshine events

Tuesday April 1st 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Beer Factor – Hoodoo 18+ only 10pm – late
Red Hot Karaoke – Wild Bills 18+ only 10pm – late

Wednesday April 2nd 2008
Wild West Wednesdays – Wild Bills 18+ only 8pm – Late

Thursday April 3rd 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Final Hockey Night: Ottawa vs. Toronto – Elk & Oarsman 5:30pm

Saturday April 5th 2008
Suds plays on the Kokanee Deck – Lake Louise Mountain Resort

Sunday April 6th 2008
TV Rock – Aurora’s 18+ only 9pm – Late

Monday April 7th 2008
Get Wild (Bake your own calzone)– Wild Flour Bakery 5pm – 6:30pm

Tuesday April 8th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Beer Factor – Hoodoo 18+ only 10pm – late
Red Hot Karaoke – Wild Bills 18+ only 10pm – late

Wednesday April 9th 2008
Wild West Wednesdays – Wild Bills 18+ only 8pm – Late
Ski Norquay Closed for the Day

Thursday April 10th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Ski Norquay Closed for the Day

Saturday April 12th 2008
End of Year Beach Party – Ski Norquay

Sunday April 13th 2008
Projected closing of Ski Norquay

Monday April 14th 2008
Get Wild (Bake your own calzone)– Wild Flour Bakery 5pm – 6:30pm

Tuesday April 15th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Beer Factor – Hoodoo 18+ only 10pm – late
Red Hot Karaoke – Wild Bills 18+ only 10pm – late

Wednesday April 16th 2008
Wild West Wednesdays – Wild Bills 18+ only 8pm – Late

Thursday April 17th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info

Friday April 18th 2008
Rob Bosinger Memorial Weekend – Sunshine Village

Saturday April 19th 2008
Rob Bosinger Memorial Weekend – Sunshine Village
Suds plays on the Kokanee Deck – Lake Louise Mountain Resort
Aaron Pritchett playing at Sunshine Village 2pm

Sunday April 20th 2008
Rob Bosinger Memorial Weekend – Sunshine Village
Aaron Pritchett playing at Sunshine Village 2pm

Monday April 21st 2008
Get Wild (Bake your own calzone)– Wild Flour Bakery 5pm – 6:30pm

Tuesday April 22nd 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Beer Factor – Hoodoo 18+ only 10pm – late
Red Hot Karaoke – Wild Bills 18+ only 10pm – late

Wednesday April 23rd 2008
Wild West Wednesdays – Wild Bills 18+ only 8pm – Late

Thursday April 24th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info

Friday April 25th 2008
ANZAC Day

Saturday April 26th 2008
Spring Episode ’08 – Lake Louise Mountain Resort
Kokanee Freeride – Lake Louise Mountain Resort
Coors Light Peak Party illScarlett playing – Sunshine Village

Sunday April 27th 2008
Spring Episode ’08 – Lake Louise Mountain Resort
Coors Light Peak Party illScarlett playing – Sunshine Village
Projected closing of Lake Louise Mountain Resort

Monday April 28th 2008
Get Wild (Bake your own calzone)– Wild Flour Bakery 5pm – 6:30pm

Tuesday April 29th 2008
Greek Night – Balkan visit www.banffbalkan.ca for more info
Beer Factor – Hoodoo 18+ only 10pm – late
Red Hot Karaoke – Wild Bills 18+ only 10pm – late

Friday April 30th 2008
Wild West Wednesdays – Wild Bills 18+ only 8pm – Late

Sunshine Village – ALL LIFTS OPEN

ALL LIFTS AT SUNSHINE VILLAGE ARE NOW OPEN!

Goat’s Eye Mountain opened on Friday December 7th 2007 at 11am. All of Sunshine’s lifts are now open. Excellent conditions through-out on 125cm base with 72cm fresh powder in the previous 6 days. Skiers and boarders were raving about the deep powder on Goat’s Eye Mountain!

To get to Sunshine Village and for Ski Holidays in Canada, contact rocky-peak Ski Holidays.