My wife snowboards because of me. She tried it early in our relationship, and it stuck. So when our daughter was born, she didn’t stand a chance; we’re now a snowboard family. Right now is our favourite time of the year to hit Banff’s Sunshine Village. We love spring skiing, and not just because of the affordability of the Sunshine Spring Pass.
As the one who dragged everyone into the sport, I’m also the one who usually organizes everything to get equipped and up the mountain. Here are some tips for getting a family around Sunshine Village, our home hill.
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Table of Contents
Sunshine Spring Pass
First, it makes sense as a family to go for a season pass. That way, you don’t have to stress about getting your kids up and being at the hill first thing. A pass gives your family freedom and flexibility. Spring skiing on the Sunshine Spring Pass is valid from March 9 until the Slush Cup, which always takes place on the Monday of Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend. This year, that’s May 20, which means the Sunshine Spring Pass nets you 73 days of skiing and snowboarding in the Canadian Rockies.
There are several different options, from individual adult passes to family passes to child, youth, student, and mid-week passes (perfect if your kids aren’t in elementary school). More info on passes can be found here.
The Base
This is where you park, get lift tickets and board the gondola. The rental shop is conveniently located beside the gondola if you’re renting gear. There is a Java Station for coffee in the morning and Creekside Bar + Grill for apres ski at the base, but more food options await up the mountain.
This is also where you check in to Sunshine Mountain Lodge, Banff’s only ski-in ski-out hotel. (Check out the outdoor hot tub beside the Standish lift!) Drop your bags here, and they’ll find their way to your room while you hit the hill.
The Gondola
The big difference between Sunshine and other ski resorts is the gondola. Unless you’re one of those people who skin their way up the road and earn their vertical (respect), you must go for a ride.
We use the gondola as a gear-up opportunity. We tighten our boots and helmets, then line up our goggles and playlists. We stretch (space permitting) and enjoy the views. People pay for gondola rides to see what you’re seeing; this ride is a beautiful bonus to us.
Getting Off at Goat’s Eye
Before you get to Sunshine Village itself, the doors will open at Goat’s Eye Mountain station. They’ll let you know it’s not the Village, as there are fewer facilities (Goat’s Eye Grill and Beavertails) and more challenging runs.
If you and your crew are advanced enough (no green runs), you can start your day here and avoid the early crowds. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of the ride to the Village.
If our family is skiing anytime before 2pm (a perk of purchasing a season pass is skiing when you like), we always get off at Goat’s Eye.
The Village
Here, you’ll find a large selection of food options, including Mad Trapper’s Pub, Nikko Ramen, Lookout Lounge, The Alpine Grill, and Eagles Nest Bistro. For snacks and hot drinks, check out the Chimney Corner, Java Lift Coffee Bar, and The Coco Lab. Each of these is a warm-up opportunity, so space your visits throughout the day.
Most people like to eat at noon, so we usually hit lunch before or after and enjoy the lack of lines over the lunch hour. Read the crowds and let the lift lines push you around these mountains.
Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard School
Our daughter has been sliding around Sunshine Village since she could stand on two skis and was in the on-hill Tiny Tigers Daycare. (Thankfully, she’s grown up and snowboards now.) We would spy on her when she went out in her snowsuit and would pizza and fries down the enclosed daycare hill.
We may snowboard, but we don’t speak the language to teach it—and your kids (especially teens) probably don’t want to hear it from you anyway. So, half-day lessons worked well to get her sliding sideways. The school desk is inside Old Trappers Pub, where you can sign up for lessons even on the day of.
Lift Selection
Now, we hit the lifts as a family but split up depending on the runs. Sunshine is comfortable, as all lifts have nicely padded quad chairs (bonus: Teepee Town is covered and heated). As quads imply, it fits a family of four, and you can easily help the young ones on and off. It’s almost a shame that they may never know the art of the T-Bar.
Most lifts have green, blue and black options – except Goat’s Eye and Teepee Town – which lean toward expert and intermediate. For more gentle runs, start on Strawberry and make your way up to Wawa.
Angel and Great Divide give you a lot of vertical feet quickly but are intermediate-level and up. With the mountain covered in high-speed quad lifts, you won’t spend much time in lift lines. That said, the crowds tend to move around, and you may have to shift to avoid them.
For example, Goat’s Eye is busy at the end of the day as people head down the ski-out and stop for a few last runs. This leaves the Village chairlifts almost empty, allowing your family to enjoy Angel all alone.
Tips For Getting Away
I don’t know which is worse: getting everyone up and out at the beginning of the day or getting tired legs loaded to head home.
Sunshine runs a bus system that stops by request through the parking lot (remember your row number). If the parking lot is full, the buses continue up to parking spots along the access road. The bus heads to the last spot first, meaning you’ll get home faster the further away you park.
Banff is a national park; passes are required, and your car may be checked in the parking lot. (They’re sold at the entry gates into Banff National Park.) It’s also not unusual for the RCMP (our police service) to set up check stops on the road, so enjoy responsibly.
Of course, best is not leaving and spending the night at Sunshine Mountain Lodge. If you make that happen, your ski day will have turned out better than ever.
—Written by Dan Pigat
