SkiBig3 Winter Preview: Expanded Terrain, Faster Lifts, and New Dining Options

Brought to you by SkiBig3.

Getting There: From Prairies to Peaks

There is a moment on the Trans-Canada Highway when the city of Calgary falls away, and the view ahead becomes a wall of limestone and shale. Banff National Park is close enough to Calgary International Airport to make the trip feel easy, but a few miles into the drive, and you’re in a different world. Years ago, I was behind the wheel of a rented Crown Victoria, driving a group of colleagues to a meeting at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. My friend, sitting shotgun, who was from Calgary, nudged my shoulder and said, “Look,” glancing at our colleague in the backseat who was visiting western Canada for the first time. In the rearview, I saw an expression of disbelief, held in silence. A snapshot of when the world suddenly becomes much bigger and far more beautiful than you can imagine. That feeling – the sense that Banff operates on a completely different scale – is what makes this a ski trip that resets expectations and creates lifetime memories. This winter, that experience gets even better with expanded terrain, faster lifts, and smoother connections across the valleys. 

• Related: SnowBrains Forecast: Up to 60 cm for SkiBig3 Through Saturday

The town of Banff sits in the valley, surrounded by towering peaks in one of the world’s great alpine wildernesses. Its modern tourism story begins with the hot springs and the railway, though Indigenous Nations have long-standing ties to the Bow Valley. The Îyârhe Nakoda, Tsuut’ina, and Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) Confederacies, alongside the Métis Nation of Alberta and the Ktunaxa and Secwépemc Nations, knew these mountains, waters, passes, and springs long before Canada established its first National Park here in 1885. By 1926, the story had moved up to Mt. Norquay, where Gus Johnson cut the first ski runs above town, and the Canadian Rockies’ first ski resort began to take shape. The Banff Ski Club built the first cabin there in 1928, set the mountain’s first slalom courses in 1929, and helped make Norquay one of the early proving grounds for alpine skiing in Canada.

SkiBig3: One Pass, Three World-Class Resorts

For skiers and snowboarders, SkiBig3 is the through-line. Banff skiing is spread across three independent resorts: Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise Ski Resort, and Mt. Norquay, with the towns of Banff, Lake Louise, and Canmore holding the hotels, restaurants, gear shops, and après between ski days. A SkiBig3 ticket lets visitors choose how to use their ski days across the three mountains: one day at each, extra time at Lake Louise, a Sunshine powder day, or a Norquay night ski on Friday or Saturday. With the Ikon Pass offering five to seven days across the region, and the Mountain Collective including two days each at Banff Sunshine and Lake Louise, SkiBig3 is an easy choice for pass holders planning a destination trip to western Canada. Free ski shuttles connect Banff with all three ski areas, with multiple pickup and drop-off points around town. The SkiBig3 Adventure Hubs, located in Canmore and Banff, handle rentals, fittings, tickets, and package details. The SkiBig3 app adds snow conditions, trail maps, webcams, weather, and shuttle schedules.

Though unified under the SkiBig3 pass, each of these mountains offers a completely different experience. At Banff Sunshine, the skiing crosses the Continental Divide, allowing you to ski between provinces, and, due to the ultra-high elevation, the season stretches from November well into May. Lake Louise brings big terrain, from back bowls to long groomers with open valley views. Mt. Norquay is the soulful heart of the valley, known as Banff’s backyard, with some of the deepest history in Canadian skiing. It is a steep, punchy mountain with serious local history, and the only resort in the Canadian Rockies with night skiing. All resorts offer terrain for every ability and have been reinvesting in their guests’ experiences and infrastructure every year. 

New for Winter 2026-27

The first sign of the coming season arrived in the dog days of summer. SnowBrains reported early snow at Banff Sunshine and Lake Louise in late August, with winter-like conditions brushing the high country. Early snow followed a winter that set records, or came close, across the three mountains. Banff Sunshine recorded its second-snowiest season with 404 inches (1,025 cm) of snow – an abundance that allowed the resort to reopen for a rare stretch of summer skiing in June and July. Lake Louise broke a 75-year-old December snowfall, and Mt. Norquay recorded 47 inches (120 cm) in December alone.

New for 2026-27, SkiBig3 is focusing on flow, progression, and access, starting with Richardson’s Ridge at Lake Louise. After adding roughly 200 acres of terrain and a high-speed detachable quad in early 2026, the resort is building out how skiers move through that area. Grove Glade will link the top of Merlin’s directly to the Richardson’s Ridge chairlift, giving skiers a groomed green route into the pod. Pikaboo will become a second connector between the Paradise and Richardson bases. Lake Louise has also expanded its intermediate and advanced terrain, and new snowmaking is being added around the ridge. Upgrades to the Top of the World Chair will improve loading capacity, reliability, and speed.

At Mt. Norquay, the changes are closer to the ground. After its centennial season, the resort is moving into the Norquay 100 Vision, including plans to replace the North American Chair, known locally as The Big Chair, with a modern gondola. The immediate change is a new surface lift between the Main Lodge and Tube Park, which has tripled the size of the learning area. For Norquay, it adds more room at the bottom of a mountain known for moving quickly into steeper terrain.

Banff Sunshine offers an elevated après experience for 2026-27. Building on last winter’s additions, the GOAT Club returns for its second season at Goat’s Eye Lodge, featuring live entertainment and afternoon DJs spinning from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. every weekend and holiday. At the mid-mountain hub, skiers can also warm up between laps at a new indoor cocktail bar and the Coco Lab Coffee & Hot Chocolate Bar. At the village base, the historic Centennial Day Lodge is getting a thorough refresh to its restaurant spaces and guest amenities, complemented by the first full winter season of the outdoor Coco Lounge patio—with fireside seating and spectacular views of the surrounding Rockies.

Balancing Access and Wildlife Preservation

Banff has remained the foundation of alpine tourism in western Canada for a century because access here has always depended on care for the land and wildlife. Millions of people come through the region each year, while the town’s permanent population is capped at approximately 8,000 residents. Banff also enforces a “need to reside” clause, requiring people who live in town to prove their work belongs inside the park. Because of these restrictions, Banff avoids the town sprawl and empty second homes that can shape other mountain communities. The result is a global destination that still operates as a small mountain community, with daily life tied directly to the place visitors come to see.

The same care is built into the roadways leading into the park. The drive from Calgary passes between forest-covered wildlife overpasses and above underpasses that let animals bypass the Trans-Canada Highway safely. Banff’s wildlife crossing system has become one of the most closely watched examples of highway-wildlife design, with Parks Canada recognized as a global leader in wildlife mitigation work. For visitors, the crossings are an early reminder that this is a living landscape as much as a destination. The care built into Banff is not separate from the trip. It is part of why arriving here feels different.

The Hot Springs and Seamless Trip Planning

A winter trip to Banff is incomplete without a visit to the Banff Upper Hot Springs. The steaming mineral water marks where Banff’s tourism story began. For a post-ski reset, two new options round out the apres scene: BASIN Glacial Waters at Chateau Lake Louise and Canmore’s Everwild Nordic Spa, both offering thermal pools, saunas and cold plunges for tired legs.

The Rimrock Resort Hotel, terraced into the slopes of Sulphur Mountain, debuts a $115 million transformation this winter as North America’s first Emblems Collection property. The luxury resort features 320 redesigned guestrooms, four dining options and, true to its nineteenth-century origins as a wellness retreat, a 9,600-square-foot bathhouse with a mountain-facing infinity pool and a hydrothermal circuit.  Restaurants, shops, galleries, and snowy walks through town, including a stop at the Dusty Boot Saloon, fill the time between ski days.

• Related: Banff and Lake Louise, Alberta, See Historic Snowfall as SkiBig3 Surges Into Winter

People visit Banff because it is beautiful, and because the scale is undeniable. There are few places on Earth where mountains, wildlife, history, and winter come together like this. When it is time to plan a Banff ski trip in the Canadian Rockies, SkiBig3 pulls the practical pieces together: pass options, lodging packages, town shuttles, the Adventure Hub, and the SkiBig3 app. The upgrades for 2026-27 add more terrain, better movement, and more room for skiers and snowboarders of all levels. The snow is falling, and November is weeks away.