ON THE SLOPES IN BANFF

If you ask someone about skiing or snowboarding in Canada, the chances are that “Banff” will come up in the answer (apparently there is another major resort near Vancouver but we can’t say we’ve heard of it!) So what makes Banff so world-famous and, arguably of more significance, what makes SnowSkool choose to operate ski instructor courses and snowboard instructor courses on its hallowed snow?

SNOWFALL

One consideration is that Sunshine Village in Banff is Canada’s most snow-sure ski resort. With Canada’s longest ski season, lasting from mid-November until mid-May, Sunshine Village receives more snow in the average year than any other ski resort in Canada…a touch over 30ft of the fluffy, white stuff to be precise! And because it also has Canada’s highest lift-served skiing, this snow tends to be of a very high quality with a low water content making the snow light, dry and fluffy. Exactly what you expect from Canadian skiing. Sunshine Village’s motto is “Canada’s Best Snow” and they may just be right! Sunshine Village offers access to huge areas of tree-skiing and mile upon mile of backcountry riding terrain.

TERRAIN

Another draw of Sunshine Village is that this fantastic amount of powder snow falls consistently over a skiable area of almost 3500 acres and a vertical drop of 3500ft. Three separate mountains make up Sunshine Village’s in-bound terrain – Goat’s Eye, Lookout and Standish – and each mountain has its own individual character. Whether you ski or snowboard, you will relish the variety of terrain on offer at Sunshine Village…green and blue runs are ideal for perfecting your turns and practicing your drills, black and double-blacks are perfect for those wishing to push their skiing and snowboarding to levels they never thought imaginable. And for the more adventurous, the Delirium Dive, Wild West & Silver City offer off-piste ski terrain that will push you to your absolute limits (and beyond!) or the new Rogers Terrain Park has enough kickers, spines, hips, rails and table tops to test the mettle of any freestyle skier or rider.

THE SKI & BOARD SCHOOL

SnowSkool has been working with the Ski & Board School at Sunshine Village since 2003 and, in that time, we have helped more than 400 young people to become a ski instructor or snowboard instructor during their gap year or career break. The course is intense but it is extremely rewarding:

"In 2011, the Sunshine Village Ski & Snowboard School enjoys its seventh straight season of working with Phil and the SnowSkool team to create a new generation of ski and snowboard instructors in Canada. Each year the SnowSkool Banff programme moves on a notch – our first goal remains maintaining the high pass rate for the CSIA and CASI exams but we also want to develop all-mountain skills...freestyle and race techniques, off-piste and backcountry knowledge and skills and customer service. Come join us this winter in Banff...!"

- Stewart Laver, Director of the Ski & Snowboard School, Sunshine Village.

Interested in finding out more ...

• SnowSkool ski instructors course
• SnowSkool snowboard instructors course