Ski Canada: Powder Highway BC & Alberta

Traveling in our adventure van north to Alberta and British Columbia Canada for about 3 weeks skiing resorts on the Ikon Pass and camping in our van.

WEEK ONE

Day 1

Thursday January 8 2026

Billings MT to Fernie BC. 8:45 hour drive

Campground: Fernie RV Resort. 1/2 mile on the east end of town. 2 nights

$35/day (tent site w/ electricity) Heated bathroom adjacent to our site

Day 2.

Ski Day #1

Fernie Ski Resort

Fernie BC

Friday January 9 2026

Day ski lift ticket: $103. (not on the IKON pass)

Temp: 25’

10 years ago we were in Fernie in mid March and attempted to ski Fernie. We started immediately by being handed a garbage bag to wear because it was raining slightly at the base. We took two lifts up to get higher hoping to enter a snow altitude but it was raining from there as well. It turned out to be awful so we skied back to the base where they gave us a “rain check” voucher good for 1 year. One year turned to 10 and we are back! Funny thing is Jim still has the rain vouchers. Do you think he’s a “saver”?  

So today was definitely cold enough to snow and they had received new snow for a few days before we arrived. We visited with a resort host and he gave us some ideas where to start skiing. Following his advice we headed up Timber Bowl express quad chair and skied a few runs in the Timber Bowl area. The blue (intermediate) runs were all groomed so we mostly skied a combination of runs in the trees (black) and blue to the lifts. All the snow was nice and soft and the snow in the trees was tracked powder but light enough to easily make turns. We enjoyed this first of 5 bowls at Fernie. 

We skipped the Siberia Bowl to the extreme left and headed next to the Currie Bowl. The snow in this aspect was even better than Timber Bowl. We also enjoyed several runs in this area.

Next we moved over to the Lizard Bowl. This also had great snow and ended up being our favorite of the day. Unfortunately we could not ski the far skiers right up high. It was closed for avalanche safety. But the snow right below it was really good.  

After these 3 bowls we went to the base for lunch. Nothing special here. It was like a regular restaurant with “pub” food. Burgers, chicken strips, etc. I was happy to have a place to warmup. It was a chilly day as there was a bit of wind. 

After lunch we went over to our last bowl… the Cedar Bowl. I’ll be honest my legs were feeling it after lunch so this was harder to ski. The snow was still soft and deep and cut up but my body felt it. We took two laps over in this bowl. To get back to the base we had to take a T-Bar! I haven’t used one of these in years. I think the last one I used was in Whistler and it was just on a flat to connect two areas. This TBar actually pulled us up a hill. Turned out to be pretty simple and we shared the T… neither of us messed the other one up! We took a couple more runs and called it a day. 

Because it was chilly I never took my camera out and I’m sorry about that because the bowls are pretty impressive. We really did enjoy Fernie. It would be amazing on a sunny powder morning because there is so much open terrain to ski! Lots of room to spread out. 

The ski area is literally on the edge of the town. Quick simple drive to the base.

After skiing we returned to our RV campsite. They had great showers in a separate building so that felt great and warmed me back up. 

Our Billings friends, Mark and Jeanne, were returning from a cat skiing adventure at Revelstoke and since we were in Fernie, they made this their destination for the day. We met up at their motel and all went to the Fernie Taproom for dinner.

Busy place on Friday… besides Fish Friday they were having a local raffle drawing for prizes and a possible Grand Prize drawing for a pot totaling $2050! If they chose your ticket you had to go to a big board with deck of cards pinned on it. If you chose the JACK you win the pot. If not, you get a “token” prize and the pot goes up. Guess what?? The ticket winner hit the JACKpot! That was fun to witness. 

We heard all about their cat skiing experience with really, really good snow conditions for 3 days and the pitfalls of one unexpected mistake. Mishap on a traverse caused a knee injury (Jeanne). Dog gone it… bad luck. She could not bear weight on that leg! The guide had to literally ski carry her out to a place they could put her in a makeshift sled down to the cat. Very well handled and she safely arrived and is now on crutches awaiting her diagnosis in Billings MT. Short ski season this year. She’s one of my best ski buddies at Big Sky. We will all miss her this season.

Day 3

Travel Day

Fernie to Invermere BC (131 mi)

Saturday Jan 10 2026

Fairmont Hot Springs for a van lunch and quick soak stop. 

We found an IOverlander (stealth) camp spot near the hockey rink in Invermere BC. Overlooking the Columbia River. 

Day 4

Ski Day #2. Panorama Resort

Invermere BC

Sunday January 11 2026

Cost: IKON pass

Temp: high 30’ F

Our stealth campsite worked out really well. Pretty quiet with the exception of a couple of trains rolling past below us. No whistles though! Nobody cared. 

Start time skiing was 10am. 12 mile drive up to the ski area. Sandwiched between mountains. A small village in the area. From the parking lot we took a small gondola up to the base area. The gondolas were open cars that fit 8/car. 2 sets of 3 gondolas. Pretty simple but useful. You walked across a nice narrow walking bridge over Toby Creek to the gondola platform, then rode up to the base area. There were a couple of restaurants and the main lodge had a big dining area with “washrooms” downstairs. It was a nice big lodge area. 

At the base was a beginners lift and a high speed quad to the mid station. From the mid station was another quad lift “Champagne” taking us 2/3rds up the mountain.  From Champagne you can catch The Summit chair. From the summit skiers right is Taynton Bowl. We did not ski this as it is all “double black”. I don’t know this mountain and there wasn’t any new snow so we chose not to explore that bowl. Everything else on the mountain was good for us. All the ungroomed runs had moguls. The mogul run from the summit “Roy’s Run” had pretty big moguls… not exactly soft either. Jim said Primo size at Vail… just not as long. I said Bronco at Bridger Bowl… but a bit longer. Either way, we did not return to the summit. We skied most of the Sun Bowl, the Champagne lift runs and even ventured over to the Founders Ridge. It was a really long cat trail to get over there so it was a one and done for that area. 

Lunch was at the cutest little cabin called Elkhorn Cabin just a short way down from the top of the Champagne lift. We were early enough to easily get a table with a view. There were two seating areas with a nice warm fireplace in our section. 

The specialty lunch at the cabin was Swiss Raclette. At each table was a raclette griddle. You warm the Swiss cheese underneath and put your potatoes on the top grill. Once melted you smother your potatoes and baguette slices with cheese and the toppings (pickled peppers, onions, gherkin pickles and some jam). That was a first for both of us… I had to google what is Raclette. Also came with either a bowl of soup (sweet potato curry today) or goulash.  We shared and it was perfect. Nice treat. Definitely unique. By the time we left it was getting busy. 

After lunch we skied almost until 3pm trying many different runs every time. The groomers were good. Not icy but not creamy either. You could get a good edge so control was not a problem anywhere. We were so surprised by how long the runs were and the main groomers were very, very wide. Several runs were a little like a rollercoaster with hills and dales to break up the terrain. 

The mogul runs in the middle sections were usually black diamond runs. The moguls on the edges were much softer and not quite as deep as up high, so we enjoyed these runs. They also were long moguls runs as well. 

We had 3 different types of conversations on our lift rides today. First was two young moms skiing with their children. They gave us ideas where to ski today. Second was an older Alberta man (our age) whose only question was “what is going on in your country right now?” He is not impressed with the USA right now. He did not tell us to leave but he wasn’t exactly friendly either. (For an update the USA last week invaded Venezuela, captured Madura for drug running but has taken over their oil and there’s no more talk of drugs. Days later ICE has point blank killed a woman in Minneapolis after a confrontation with her vehicle and we are threatening to take Greenland. It was a good question but impossible to give a good answer.) The third was the cutest 10 year old boy. Just finished his racing day and was in a hurry to catch up with his friends. He lives in Calgary (3.5 hrs away) and this is where his family skis. He was very chatty and polite.

After skiing we headed back to Invermere for the evening. Needed a couple of grocery items and back to our side of the road pullout camping spot near the indoor Ice Hockey/skating rink.  First thing we noticed is that the small layer of snow making the river white yesterday had melted and now had a beautiful frozen glass look!

Dinner tonite was jasmine rice and a stirfry of broccoli, bok choy, onion, garlic with a spicy chili garlic sauce. I thought I’d brought pot stickers but nope… so meatless tonight. Good though.

We are comfortable in our van and the cooking logistics have been really easy. We have magnetic blackout window covers so it’s dark and cozy inside sleeping at night.

Day 5

Invermere BC to Lake Louise AB

90 miles 2.5 hour drive through the Canadian Rockies

Monday January 12 2026

Early in the morning the wind kicked up. There’s a snow storm expected today. We are taking the short but mountainous drive over the Canadian Rockies to Lake Louise (near Banff). We plan to camp at this National Park for two nights and ski two days at Lake Louise. With our IKON pass we get 5 days total at Lake Louise, Banff Sunshine and Mt Norquay.

The drive was snowy but not terrible. We followed the Kootenay River to its headwaters, and crossed the Continental Divide which is the border to Alberta and down into the Bow River valley of Lake Louise and Banff.

It snowed last night in Lake Louise about 8” and the campground is deep in snow. We arrived early and decided to checkout our campsite and the bathroom/shower facility. While parked at the bathroom there was a small camper van stuck in the road just ahead. A couple of guys were trying to dig out. Since we were there and it was deep snow between the shower house and our campsite we decided to take a shower now. After showering Jim decided to give the van (that was clearly still stuck) a hand with his Maxtrax traction boards that he bought for us to use in just such a situation. Worked immediately… the guy cancelled his tow truck. His next Amazon purchase will be the Maxtrax! (Cheaper than a tow truck!)

While Jim was helping I was sitting in the van next to the shower building with a metal roof. All of a sudden the deep snow on the roof sled off like an avalanche. It must have been 2’ deep on the roof. I watched it slide off and literally pile up within inches of burying the the front right side of the van! I was glad we weren’t closer and also I wasn’t walking out of the shower building to the van when it slid. Hate to think of those consequences.

We found a nice cafe in the Lake Louise village connected to a Canada Hostel for late lunch/dinner. After that we took the short drive up to “the” Lake Louise and Fairmont Chateau. There was a small crowd of people out on the frozen lake… there were a few snowmen too! Beautiful place. We hope to come back before we leave if the sun ever shines to see the spectacular mountains. 

About 4:30 we returned to our campsite. The campground has a few more people after skiing…mostly with adventure vans. Everyone is trying to avoid getting stuck in the deep snow on the road. It’s plowed but very soft. The park service told Jim earlier that they closed the campground today to anymore reservations. I imagine they’ll open it up when the conditions change.

Tomorrow we will ski Lake Louise resort. It is just a few km drive from our campground. You can see it easily when you leave the campground.

Day 6

Ski Day #3

Lake Louise Ski Resort

Tuesday January 13 2026

Cost: IKON

Woke up to more snow! 17 cm fresh and 24 hour total was 37cm… 15”!!! Some early morning risers in the campground were getting stuck again. It amazes us that some of their vehicles are rear wheel drive. I don’t think we’d even contemplate bringing our van if it wasn’t at least front wheel drive. The Mercedes Sprinters are 4wd. (Ours is a Dodge ProMaster front wheel). We also have chains… so I’d say we’re prepared. But we never had a problem getting out this morning.

We were at the ski area around 9am this morning. We found a great parking spot on the road that turned out to be really close to the main lodge. Pure luck not knowing the parking situation. Quite a bit of it is paid..$30/day (cdn)

Upon arrival we noticed they had a 2 hr mountain tour at 10am and a host told us they rate them from green, blue, double blue and black. We had enough time for a warm up run before meeting so we did that and then joined the Black group. There were actually 3 hosts with our group. It was pretty big…12 of us!

They took us up 2 chairs to start and a blue run warmup to make sure we were worthy. That went well so we headed up to the Summit. This area had great big open bowls and we were early enough that plenty of it was untracked. The snow was at least knee deep everywhere. It wasn’t super “cold smoke” dry but light enough density to make some easy turns.

About half way down this bowl we stopped to gather. There was a family with a teenager and probably 10-11 yr old kid. The kids were struggling a bit and the youngest had a fall that had him all tangled up. The snow was pretty deep for him and his skis were narrow carving skis… not conducive to floating on top. One of the hosts was helping the kids and the lead guide offered a suggestion to have one of our group (who’s local) take us to another area so we wouldn’t have to wait long. Six of us took that option and our new guide Dave took us to the Ptarmigan lift to ski the glades in there. This was an amazing area with so many choices of lines in the trees to take. I did my best to keep Jim in sight in there. We instantly lost the other four in our group. It had moguls in the trees but with all the new snow it was soft and pillowy. It was a really long run, kept going and going. Eventually Jim and I popped out and waited awhile looking for the rest. They showed up and had skied quite a different path than we did. After that run it was pretty close to the 2 hour limit so we all split off.

Jim and I stayed on the back side for more runs and found a lunch lodge there. After lunch we went to Palisades lift and discovered the Palisades bowl. This was a huge bowl that turned out to be really long. I had “lunch legs”… meaning sluggish, but found the energy to ski it respectably. By afternoon the powder was all cut up and the weather was a bit warmer so the snow was denser. The turns required more energy than the morning untracked powder!

We took another ride up the Summit lift to ski the frontside called the West Bowl. There were several big bowl chutes to choose. Another amazing big long bowl that eventually channeled down into tree glades before a big catch road taking us back to a main lift. By the time we finished this I was ready for some nice groomers to finish the day.

Boy oh boy… we had a big day😊. The views from everywhere were simply stunning. I took some photos but I hope it’s sunny tomorrow and the scenery will be even better! At this point… Lake Louise ski resort is my favorite. Not expecting any new snow tomorrow so it will be packed powder. I like that too.., it’s soft and malleable.

Meanwhile back at the campground the roads have been plowed. Much easier now. At one of the sites near us a group had built a nice snow shelter around their fire pit and picnic table.

Day 7

Ski Day #4

Lake Louise Ski Resort

Wednesday January 14 2026

Today wraps up our first week of skiing and van camping. We’ve done well on both accounts.

Started early again this morning skiing shortly after 9am. As we pulled into our parking spot this morning the sun was just hitting the peaks above the resort. It started as a beautiful bluebird day!

Jim spent a few minutes getting some idea from a host of where to start the morning… what area warms up first and softens the snow. By the end of the day yesterday the snow was getting pretty warm and the groomed runs on the frontside were really “smooshy”. We headed up and over the top to the back side and tried a new lift that just opened this year… Richardson Ridge. The views of the whole backside were really good this morning with all the peaks in full glory.

After a few groomed runs we decided to go for a black run. Hard as a rock with bumps. One and done! Back to the front side to try another area we hadn’t skied yesterday. Once again the runs in the sun that were groomed were nice but the shady ones were pretty firm. Just that kind of day! Waiting to warm and soften.

We had lunch at the base area today. Nice old lodge with lots of tables and good view of the mountain.

After lunch we went back to the top. It seemed like the snow had softened a bit to try something ungroomed. Jim wanted to try a different run in the West bowl. It started out very soft and nice. It was good until the last section before the catch trail. The snow got deeper and really heavy… much harder to turn. Good thing that didn’t last too long!

We took another run to try a different place we noticed might be sunny and soft off the groomed run. Once again it was good until we got to a certain elevation and the snow became really dense and cut up. Enough of that! By that time we’d had enough for the day so made the last run to the base.

We enjoyed Lake Louise and today was really special because we had beautiful sunshine views all morning. The clouds rolled in after 1:30 or so.

Back in the van and headed the 30+ miles to Banff. We’re camping at another National Park campground just about 1 mile outside of Banff. This campground is quite a bit different than the Lake Louise one… quite a big bigger. There are several campers here too.

Tomorrow starts Week 2! We plan to ski Banff Sunshine Resort for the next two days, then spend a layover day (Saturday) and mosey around Banff.