SUNSHINE VILLAGE
Ski & Snowboard Resort Review
Sunshine Village Ski Resort, CANADA, receives an average of 396 inches of snow per season with excellent terrain for all levels and a very efficient and well laid out lift system.
Sunshine Skiing and Snowboarding Terrain
Sunshine Village has interlinked ski and snowboard terrain spread across three mountains; Goat’s Eye Mountain Lookout Mountain and Mount Standish. The terrain ranges from extreme inbound steep, cliff drops and chutes to mogul runs, treed terrain and long groomed linked trails and beginner areas.
Advanced Skiing and Snowboarding
The double black diamond terrain on the upper areas of Goat’s Eye Mountain is steep, wide and ungroomed leading down into heavily treed terrain and tight steep mogul runs.
On Lookout Mountain all the terrain on the left hand side of the Angel Express Chairlift is advanced, #70 Horto’s Revenge trail leads into some tight powder filled treed terrain.
Confident advanced skiers and snowboarders head directly for the double black 'Delirium Dive', an extreme inbounds area below the summit accessed by a 15 foot cliff drop or man made stairs. The Sunshine Ski and Snowboard School has guided tours for first timers in 'the Dive'. To ski or snowboard in Delirium Dive you must carry correct avalanche equipment and have at least one other person with you.
The most challenging steep mogul runs on the mountain are under the Mount Standish Express Chairlift, the moguls are huge and being under the chairlift you also have a critical audience judging every turn!
Intermediate Skiing and Snowboarding
Intermediates can access the entire mountain on groomed trails at Sunshine. Each chairlift has at least one intermediate trail leading down from it.
The long World Cup Downhill trail on Lookout Mountain, located on the left hand side of the Continental Divide Express Chairlift, is a particular favourite for intermediates to test their speed and turning skills. Angle Flight trail, also on Lookout Mountain is a fast trail great for morning warm up runs.
On Goat’s Eye Mountain the 2 mile long (3.1 kilometres) Sunshine Coast trail is seemingly endless winding its way across the mountain face.
Beginner Skiing and Snowboarding
First timers learn on the ‘Mighty Mite’ gentle sloping wide terrain serviced by the Ski School Magic Carpet on Mount Standish. Once confidence grows catch the Strawberry Chairlift to access longer trails.
The Continental Divide Express Chairlift on Lookout Mountain has the long 1.5 mile (2.5 kilometres) corduroy groomed easy #34 Green Run trail leading from the summit back down into the Village.
The Wolverine Express Chairlift also has long winding tree lined beginner trails winding all the way down to the Gondola Base station.
The Sunshine lift pass is valid for skiing and snowboarding at the surrounding ‘Banff Mountains’ of Lake Louise and Norquay.
Sunshine Terrain Park
The eight acre Rogers Terrain Park is located on the right hand side of the Continental Divide Express Chairlift. It has boxes, rails, jumps and tabletops suitable for intermediate and advanced freeriders.
Free Mountain Tours at Sunshine
Free mountain tours depart from behind the map board in the Sunshine Village at 12pm everyday. The tours show intermediate and above level skiers or snowboarders around the mountain and if you are lucky the hosts will point out some secret powder stashes.
GPS Ski and Snowboard Tracking at Sunshine
Sunshine has the ‘Slope Tracker GPS’ system available to skiers and snowboarders. It works by wearing a tracking device which automatically records every turn, trail, difficulty rating, speed, calories burned and vertical feet travelled in one day using global position system technology. At the end of the day you receive a poster showing all the trails you skied and snowboarded in order and a print out of speed and vertical statistics. The cost is $25 per day.
Other Activities at Sunshine
Other activities at Sunshine include snow biking, tobogganing and snowshoeing.
Shopping at Sunshine
The shopping in the Sunshine Village is very limited, there are just three different shops to rent and buy ski and snowboard equipment and accessories from.
For an extensive range of ski and snowboard equipment, clothing, souvenirs, antiques and galleries go to the nearby town of Banff.
Sunshine Restaurants
The restaurants at Sunshine range from cafeterias to fine dining. The Lookout Bistro is a full service restaurant serving gourmet cuisine complemented by an extensive wine list.
The Alpine Grill is open for breakfast and lunch serving pizzas, pastas and big salads.
The Deli in the Day Lodge has sandwiches, soups and takeaway coffees.
The Goat’s Eye Gardens, at the base of the Goat’s Eye Express Chairlift has a cafeteria and BBQ sundeck.
Sunshine Nightlife
In the Sunshine Village Mad Trapper’s Saloon has happy hour après ski cocktails and remains open until midnight every night with lots of dancing and live entertainment.
The Chimney Corner Lounge is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner; it has live bands and DJs throughout the season. For a really lively nightlife scene go to the town of Banff, it is just 10 miles away. For more information about Banff click here.
More About Sunshine
Sunshine Village accommodation
Get directions to Sunshine Village
Your Sunshine Ski & Snowboard Resort Reviews
Ken B, Calgary Canada, June 2006 Sunshine is snow sure and an easy drive out of Calgary and is usually not crowded, except occasionally when the gondola can bottleneck early on busy days. A lot of the advertised vertical is taken up by the access gondolas rise over the run below which is more of a home trail at days end. Although I wouldn't rate it as Canada's best for advanced skiers it is still a challenging resort with runs such as Delirium and other secret stashes i wont divulge, of international standard if only a little short.
Pippa Black , UK , March 2006 I've been to Sunshine 4 times in the past few years and each time it gets better and better - or maybe I get better and better! This last trip was with a couple of girlfriends and we had a blast. (Snowboard all day - party all night..) We are all about the same level ability so we stuck mainly to the intermediate pistes and only ventured into the advance ones by accident! - or if Sophie was drunk again and she didn't know where she was going! Don't be put off by the fact that you can't stay 'on mountain' the trip in and out of Banff doesn't take long and Banff is a great place to base yourself as you can ride at other resorts if you want.
| Top 10 Resorts | Top 5 Videos |
|---|---|
| 1) St Anton | 1) Aspen Terrain Park |
| 2) Breckenridge | 2) Kitzbuhel movie |
| 3) Telluride | 3) Hakuba Japan review |
| 4) Mount Hutt | 4) Steamboat Worldcup |
| 5) Alyeska | 5) Chamonix Resort |
| 6) Red Mountain | |
| 7) Flims Laax | |
| 8) Aspen Snowmass | |
| 9) Beaver Creek |
|
| 10) Chamonix | |
Statistics |
|||||||||
Elevation |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Average
Snowfall |
|||||||||
396
inches |
|||||||||
Lifts |
|||||||||
12 |
|||||||||
Trails
- view
map |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Terrain
% |
|||||||||
|
|||||||||
Halfpipe |
|||||||||
1 |
|||||||||
Terrain
Park |
|||||||||
1 |
|||||||||
Resort
Website |
|||||||||