Something for Everyone: Fun Beyond Skiing

You’ve got a passion for skiing, but someone else in the family prefers different activities. Like dining. Or shopping. Or relaxing at a spa.

Then again, they may want to try other snow sports, such as snowshoeing, snowmobiling, dog sledding, skating or an ice canyon stroll.

Well, that’s the beauty of a family ski vacation, whether it’s a day, a weekend or a week.

It’s a great way to bring everyone together while allowing each person to go at their own speed on or off the slopes. Amenities nearby the hills offer various activities and diversions that provide something for everyone.

City Sensations

You can take lessons and get ready for the mountain challenges at smaller learning and teaching hills such as Rabbit Hill Ski Resort in Edmonton. But your fun doesn’t have to begin and end with skiing or snowboarding. If you’re visiting the city, you’ll find superb shopping and night life on Whyte Avenue, fun at the Farmer’s Market in Old Strathcona…and that’s just the beginning.

It’s a trend that plays itself out throughout Alberta ski resorts. Not all the action is on the slopes, as the variety of interests and ages in a family usually calls for something more. If you’re staying the night, the accomodation management is a great source for local information on things to do and see.

West Edmonton Mall is a massive entertainment centre just a quick drive from Rabbit Hill that allows families to come and ski for part of the day, then go play in the water park at WEM, “so you can ski for a while and then hit the surf,” says Rabbit Hill managing partner Bill Oak.

The same goes for Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, where you can take a break from skiing right at the hill and try the sport of bobsleigh by taking a rocketing ride. The Olympic Hall of Fame is there, too, and you can take an audio tour if someone in the family is enjoying their ski lessons.

Just a few minutes away, right next to the site, is Ripley Ridge Retreat, a spa and retreat with chalets where you can get any number of relaxing treatments that utilize home-grown herbs and flowers. Downtown, there are restaurants and galleries along Stephen Avenue.

Edmonton and Calgary, as well as most municipalities in Alberta, have parks that welcome skating, tobogganing, snowshoeing and other enjoyable winter family activities.

Winter Fun in Kananaskis

Turn west instead of east from COP and you’re in the recreational mountain playground of Kananaskis Country within 45 minutes. At the family-friendly Nakiska ski resort, site of the 1988 Olympic Alpine events, you’ve got Kananaskis Village and The Delta Lodge at Kananaskis nearby.

At the Lodge, there’s dining with AAA Alberta beef, and you can relax in the 17-metre indoor salt water pool or get a mind-soothing body scrub at the Summit Spa and Fitness. There are also acres of terrific cross country skiing and you can snowshoe as well.

The ‘Big 3’ ski resorts in Banff National Park (Sunshine Village, Ski Banff @ Norquay and Lake Louise Mountain Resort) are close to side trips and extras. You get the best of both worlds in this protected World Heritage site: access to wilderness and wildlife, but with big city amenities in the laid-back, mountain-living ambience of both Banff and Lake Louise.

Many Activities in Banff Lake Louise

Discover Banff Tours is just one of many outfitting and guiding companies in the region. Discover offers tours including wildlife sightings and historical sites, icewalks at Grotto Canyon or Johnston Canyon, snowshoeing to Paint Pots (a tranquil walk through a valley), snowmobiling (though you go out of the Park), dog sledding to Spray Lakes and much more, including heli-sightseeing.

If you’re an adventurous skier or rider and you’ve prepared for this extravagance in your budget, there are heli-skiing and heli-hiking at operations with offices in Banff such as Canadian Mountain Holidays (CMH) – which offers a family Christmas heli-skiing package this year.

Otherwise, you have arts and culture at the Banff Centre, the kid-friendly Whyte Museum that features audio Museo-Packs, creative dining at restaurants (and even cooking classes!) at restaurants such as Fuze, first run movies at the Lux Cinema Centre and more.

Take the Icefields Parkway, considered one of the most scenic drives in the world, and on the way from Banff or Lake Louise to Jasper (or vice versa). Stop in at the famed Columbia Icefield, where you can take the ride of your life in a specially designed vehicle out onto the glacier.

You can find much more information on things to do in the Banff Lake Louise area at www.banfflakelouiselive.com and http://www.banfflakelouise.com.

Jasper Park Snow Sports

In Jasper National Park, a favourite activity nearby the excellent skiing and riding at Marmot Basin is the Maligne Canyon Ice Walk. Otherwise, you have winter snow sport staples and diversions such as snowshoeing, cross country skiing, wildlife watching and ice skating.

Keys to the Castle

Castle Mountain Resort in southwestern Alberta near Pincher Creek has undergone vast improvements this year with more things to do for everyone.

“For families, now we have some terrain for everyone to play on, so the experienced ones can play on our existing challenges and the less experienced on the new (Haig) mountain,” says Andrew Rusynyk, Castle marketing director. There are nine new runs geared to novice and intermediate.

This a great area for snowmobiling, says Rusynyk. For nightlife, the new Barnaby steakhouse and fireside lounge offers an intimate dining experience, sometimes accompanied by live entertainment!