Faces north-west
Panorama Mountain Resort
73.7 km (OSM) 1,152–2,368 m
12% beginner 63% inter. 23% expert
- Vertical
- 1217 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 83
- Lifts
- 10
← Ski Ski area · Canada
SkiBig3
Three Rockies Mountains, One Ticket · Cold, Dry Powder · A Town, Not a Village · Not Lift-Linked
Three separate Banff National Park ski areas — Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt Norquay — sold on one lift ticket and reached by shuttle from the town of Banff, adding up to close to 8,000 acres of high, cold, dry Rockies terrain.
- 33 Lifts
- 1,632 m Base
- 2,686 m Summit
- 1,054 m Vertical
- 279 Pistes mapped
🎟 One pass: SkiBig3 lift ticket covers every lift across the area.
Terrain & aspect
35% beginner 28% inter. 36% expert
- Novice
- Easy
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Flat / ungraded
Slopes mostly face SW.
Aspect derived from run bearings · OpenSkiStats / © OpenStreetMap (ODbL).
The area
SkiBig3 is a shared lift ticket, not a joined-up ski domain. It covers three distinct areas inside Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies — Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise Ski Resort and the small, close-in Mt Norquay — and the honest thing to say up front is that they are not lift-linked. You cannot ski from one to another; you drive or ride a shuttle between them, with the town of Banff (and Lake Louise village further up the highway) as your base. Together the three market close to 8,000 acres of skiable terrain, so this is a big-mountain week measured in acres rather than the piste kilometres a European area would quote. Lake Louise is the largest and most varied, spread across a front face and back bowls; Banff Sunshine sits highest and holds the most snow; Norquay is a compact hill a few minutes above town, good for a short day or a lesson. What ties it together is the setting and the snow — genuinely cold, dry, light powder and one of the longest seasons in North America.
The snow and the scale, from a proper town. The Canadian Rockies deliver cold, dry powder that stays light, and the season here runs long — Sunshine often skis into May. You get three big, distinct mountains on one ticket without living in a purpose-built resort: Banff is a working town with real streets, shops and food, wrapped in national-park wilderness where elk wander the roads. Few places pair skiing this consistent with a base this liveable.
High, cold and open up top, sheltered in the trees lower down. Sunshine sits on a broad, exposed plateau above the treeline where the wind and cloud can bite but the snow is reliably deep and dry; Lake Louise splits between a sunny, mostly groomed front face and a wild set of back bowls that feel a world away from the base; Norquay is a short, honest hill of pitched runs right above town. Across all three the numbers are marketed in acres, not kilometres, and the skiing rewards exploring a mountain over lapping a single link. It skis as a big-terrain, powder-first area first, with plenty of cruising to fill the gaps.
Best known for
Explore the villages
The pass is the same everywhere — the village you base in shapes the holiday more than the valley you ski. 3 base villages, one lift pass.
Banff
1,383 mAn all-round base with real town life and shuttles to every mountain
A genuine mountain town inside the national park at around 1,380 m, and the natural base for the area — real streets, shops and food rather than a purpose-built resort. It's the closest base to Sunshine and Norquay and the liveliest place to spend the evenings, with shuttles up to every hill. Nothing here is ski-in ski-out.
Explore the village →Lake Louise
1,540 mBeing closest to the biggest mountain, away from the crowds
A small, quiet village further up the highway at around 1,540 m, on the doorstep of the biggest and most varied of the three mountains. The setting by the frozen lake is the draw, but it's sleepy after dark with little beyond a handful of hotels. Best if the skiing matters more than the nightlife.
Explore the village →Canmore
1,309 mCheaper beds and town life, with a longer drive to the hills
A working town just outside the park's east gate at around 1,310 m, with its own restaurants and mountain-town character and cheaper beds than Banff. The trade-off is distance — every SkiBig3 mountain is a longer daily drive from here. The value pick for anyone happy to commute to the snow.
Explore the village →- Banff The all-round base — a real town, closest to Sunshine and Norquay, with the best food and evenings.
- Lake Louise On the doorstep of the biggest mountain and the quietest of the three, but sleepy after dark.
- Canmore The value base outside the park gate, with its own town life and a longer drive to every hill.
Base in the town of Banff for the widest choice and the shortest hop to Sunshine and Norquay, accepting a longer shuttle or drive up to Lake Louise. Stay up at Lake Louise village to be on the doorstep of the biggest mountain and closer to the quiet, but with far less to do after dark. Canmore, just outside the park's east gate, is the value option — cheaper beds and its own town life, at the cost of a longer daily drive to every hill. None of these is ski-in ski-out; you shuttle or drive to the snow wherever you sleep.
Skiing, by level
Beginners
Well catered for, and spread across the mountains. Sunshine has gentle high-altitude runs with good snow underfoot, Lake Louise keeps green terrain reachable from the top of most lifts rather than trapping beginners at the base, and Norquay's small size and short lifts make it a calm place for a first day or a lesson.
Intermediates
The bulk of a SkiBig3 week. Lake Louise's long groomed front-face runs and Sunshine's wide, rolling upper terrain give confident intermediates day after day of cruising, and the shared ticket means you can move to a different mountain when one gets tracked out or wind-hit.
Advanced
Strong, especially at Lake Louise. The back bowls and the runs off the summit ridges hold steeper, more committing lines than the groomed front suggests, and Sunshine's Delirium Dive and the terrain around Goat's Eye add serious pitch. Norquay's North American run is a short, steep classic.
Experts & off-piste
The reason committed skiers come. Lake Louise's back bowls and Sunshine's controlled but genuinely steep hike-and-gate terrain — Delirium Dive and the Wild West beyond — put big-mountain lines within a lift ride, several requiring an avalanche transceiver to enter. Beyond the ropes the national park is deep backcountry, and that is guide, kit and avalanche-knowledge territory, not a casual poach.
A mountain a day off one ticket
The point of SkiBig3 is variety, so use it: a powder morning on Sunshine's high plateau, a day working Lake Louise's front face and back bowls, and a short, sharp session at Norquay above town when time is tight. They aren't linked, so plan around the shuttle or a car rather than skiing between them, and let the weather decide — pick the sheltered mountain on a storm day and the high one when it clears.
The back bowls of Lake Louise
Ride to the top of Lake Louise, drop over the back, and the groomed front face vanishes behind you. The back bowls open into a wide sweep of ungroomed terrain and ridgelines that feel remote despite the lift below, a place to spend a whole afternoon linking lines. It needs snow to have filled in and a clear head for where the pitches steepen, but it's the terrain that defines the area.
Powder and wildlife in the national park
This is skiing inside a national park, and it shows. Between the cold, dry snow and the drive up through spruce forest and along frozen lakes, you share the setting with elk, bighorn sheep and the occasional wolf track across the road. The skiing is the reason you came, but the wilderness around it — quiet, big and genuinely wild — is what people remember.
Snow & how the mountain faces
Among the most dependable in North America, with cold as both the reason and the price. The Rockies here are high, continental and dry, so the snow that falls stays cold and light rather than turning heavy, and the season is long — Sunshine regularly runs well past the Alps' close. The trade-off is genuine cold; deep-winter days on Sunshine's exposed upper mountain can be bitter and wind-scoured, and that same exposure closes the top lifts in a storm. Norquay is the lowest and least snow-sure of the three, leaning on snowmaking, while Lake Louise's back bowls need to fill in before they open. What you rarely get is rain or a thaw.
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
On the map
The area and its base villages on the live map — pan and zoom to explore. The official piste maps are one tap away beneath it.
Legend
Run difficulty
- Novice
- Easy
- Intermediate
- Advanced / Expert
- Freeride / Extreme
- Unknown
Run types
- Downhill — groomed
- Downhill — ungroomed
- Downhill — gladed
- Nordic (groomed)
- Ski tour
- ☾Lit (night)
- △Not patrolled
- →One-way
- ❄Snowmaking
Lifts
- Operating
- Operating (private)
- Non-operating
- Lift station
Slope-gradient grading
Downhill / ski tour
- Flat<3°
- Easy3–14°
- Intermediate14–22°
- Advanced / Expert22–45°
- Freeride / Extreme>45°
Nordic
- Easy<6°
- Intermediate6–9°
- Advanced>9°
Aspect (sun exposure)
- N — least sun
- E — morning
- S — most sun
- W — afternoon
Legend after OpenSkiMap
How to get there
By air
Calgary (YYC) is the gateway and the only sensible one, ~approx 1.5 to 2 hours west to the town of Banff along the Trans-Canada Highway, with Lake Louise around 40 minutes further up. It's an easy, well-served run of highway, though winter weather can slow it.
By rail
There is no practical scheduled rail service to Banff for skiers; the historic line through the park runs tourist and freight trains rather than a commuter link. Plan on road from Calgary — a shuttle, transfer or hire car — not the train.
Transfer up
The three mountains are not lift-linked, so moving between them means driving or riding the resort and town shuttles that run from Banff up to each hill. In town you can get by without a car, but a car adds flexibility for reaching Lake Louise and juggling the mountains around the weather.
Best time to go
The season is long, so the question is what you're after. February and March are the sweet spot for cold, deep snow with slowly lengthening days, and are the safest bet for the back bowls being open. December and January bring the coldest, driest powder but the shortest, sharpest days — bitter on Sunshine's exposed top. Late season into April and May, when Sunshine is often still turning, gives sunshine and softer spring snow up high. Christmas, New Year and the February holiday weeks are the busiest.
- Season opensEarly-to-mid November at Lake Louise and Sunshine, snow-dependent
- Season closesSunshine often into mid-to-late May; the others earlier
- Early openingearly-to-mid November, snow-dependent
- Best snowFebruary and March
- Long spring skiingApril into May, mainly at Sunshine
Good to know
Can you ski between the three mountains?
No. Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt Norquay are separate ski areas joined only by the SkiBig3 lift ticket, not by lifts or pistes. To ski more than one in a trip you drive or take a shuttle between them from the town of Banff, so plan your days around a mountain each rather than a link.
Where should I base myself?
The town of Banff is the natural choice — a real town with the best food and evenings, and the shortest hop to Sunshine and Norquay. Stay up at Lake Louise village to be on the biggest mountain's doorstep but accept a quiet night, or in Canmore outside the park gate for cheaper beds and a longer daily drive.
Is it very cold?
It can be. This is high, dry, continental Rockies terrain, which is exactly why the snow stays cold and light and the season runs long — but deep-winter days, especially on Sunshine's exposed upper mountain, can be genuinely bitter and wind-scoured. Pack for real cold and use the shared ticket to move to a sheltered mountain when the top hills close in.
Nearby ski areas
Other resorts within reach if you're combining trips or comparing.
~approx 94 km away
~approx 163 km away
Faces west
Revelstoke Mountain Resort
83.6 km (OSM) 514–2,224 m
35% beginner 35% inter. 31% expert
- Vertical
- 1709 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 61
- Lifts
- 7
~approx 206 km away
Faces north-east
Fernie Alpine Resort
82.3 km (OSM) 1,059–2,097 m
23% beginner 48% inter. 29% expert
- Vertical
- 1038 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 102
- Lifts
- 10
~approx 247 km away
Faces east
Silver Star Mountain Resort
111.1 km (OSM) 1,146–1,886 m
29% beginner 41% inter. 30% expert
- Vertical
- 740 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 141
- Lifts
- 11
~approx 276 km away
Faces south-west
Big White Ski Resort
95.9 km (OSM) 1,512–2,271 m
31% beginner 42% inter. 28% expert
- Vertical
- 759 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 101
- Lifts
- 16
~approx 286 km away
Faces south-east
Sun Peaks Resort
154.5 km (OSM) 1,200–2,087 m
25% beginner 45% inter. 30% expert
- Vertical
- 887 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 171
- Lifts
- 13
~approx 516 km away
Faces north-west
Whistler Blackcomb
299.3 km (OSM) 653–2,259 m
26% beginner 41% inter. 33% expert
- Vertical
- 1606 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 420
- Lifts
- 36
~approx 739 km away
Faces north-east
Big Sky Resort
238.2 km (OSM) 2,078–3,402 m
27% beginner 38% inter. 35% expert
- Vertical
- 1325 m
- Pistes (mapped)
- 289
- Lifts
- 45
Getting to SkiBig3
Book an airport transfer up to the resort, or pick up a car at Calgary (YYC) — search and compare without leaving the page.
Ski data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via OpenSkiMap & Skimap.org. Basemap © OpenFreeMap / OpenMapTiles. · Weather data © Open-Meteo.com (CC-BY 4.0), ERA5 reanalysis. Village grouping & editorial: mynext.holiday. Transfers via Kiwitaxi; car hire via Travelpayouts.