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Why Mt. Norquay Ski Resort's a hit with the locals
by Jessica Pook | 16 October 2019
For almost seven months of the year, Mt. Norquay Ski Resort in Alberta, Canada, is covered in a blanket of snow. For locals living here, a love for winter is not only advisable it’s a necessity.
Luckily Gord Fielding, Snow School Director at Mt. Norquay Ski Resort, is passionate about two things: winter and skiing, and spends his days on the slopes running ski schools and training a team of 130 instructors.
Considering its heavy snowfall (Mt. Norquay can have up to 15 ft. a year), skiing is still a relatively new activity in Banff, even amongst locals, and only started becoming frequented by visitors 35 years ago. Even now, 80% of skiers on Mt. Norquay are local to the area and just 20% are international visitors, so tourists are guaranteed a healthy dose of local culture along with great skiing.
Gord learnt to ski when he was 14, and has been a ski instructor at Mt. Norquay for 25 years. In his expert opinion there’s no better place to learn. The smallest of Banff’s Big 3 ski resorts (consisting of Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt. Norquay), Mt. Norquay has a ski season that starts at the beginning of November and closes at Easter, when the slopes quieten down.
As Mt. Norquay has the lowest elevation of the three resorts, it’s the perfect starting point for beginners to find their feet and get used to the altitude. Says Gord: “We’ve made significant changes to our beginner terrain and now have fantastic facilities for people that want to learn how to ski. Our 11 green runs are not as long as those at Sunshine or Lake Louise so make for a great warm up and introduction into skiing.” He adds: "Once you build up confidence here then you’re ready to take on the other two.”
The other benefit of skiing at Mt. Norquay is that the slopes are quiet, especially in comparison to most European resorts. With just 5,000 beds during the winter season, clients may find that they have the slopes to themselves on those early morning runs. Gord says: “We have generations of Banffites that ski here. We have one guy who’s 96 years old and this is the only place he’s skied. People like that they aren’t overcrowded and can enjoy the 360-degree scenery across four mountain ranges.”
But Mt. Norquay is not to be underestimated. It also has more black runs than both Lake Louise and Sunshine, so is more than capable of providing intermediate and advanced skiers with challenging terrain.
For non-skiers there’s also a diverse range of activities. Clients can try tubing (sliding on an inflatable donut) on the largest tubing run in Canada, or walk the many snowshoe trails. And as Mt. Norquay is only 10 kilometers from downtown, there’s also the option to ice skate on The Bow River, the closest natural ice surface to the town of Banff.
Talking of his time as a ski instructor, Gord finishes: “I’m so lucky that my passion is my profession. In the mornings Norquay is so peaceful that sometimes I’ll pass deer and elk. I pinch myself everyday.”
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