Tops Guns, Top Runs: Home Grown Favourites

Some of Canada’s best skiers choose Alberta to flex their skis and sharpen their senses, because even the province’s ordinary runs are extraordinary.

From the groomed rollers of Marmot Basin to the powder-filled glades of Castle Mountain, the blitz-quick steeps at Mount Norquay and all the mountains in between, there are hundreds of runs to quench the thirst of every level of skier. And all of them are within easy driving distance from Calgary and Edmonton.

The phenomenal champagne powder and diversity of runs straddling Alberta’s Rocky Mountains keeps Canadian ski racing legend Ken Read living in the area.

Read is one of the most recognizable names today in the Canadian ski industry, thanks to his legendary racing exploits as a member of the Crazy Canucks and his ongoing commitment to the sport. Read burst onto the World Cup ski scene as a fearless 20 year old who shot from obscurity like a bullet from a gun down the slopes of Val D’Isere in 1975.

Today, as president of Alpine Canada Alpin, the organization responsible for the country’s World Cup team, Read can ski whatever he wants.

Ken Read’s Fave Runs

“Sunset into Wiwaxy and into Juniper at Lake Louise,” says Read, outlining his favorite intermediate run. “It’s more than 1,000 metres of vertical and you’re able to keep turning, turning, turning the whole way down. You get the incredible view at the top and I love just being able to do constant GS turns down perfect groomed slopes.”

Sunset is a gently descending run to the left of Top of the World chair, a six-seat express lift that’s line-up free even on the busiest days. From the top, the hamlet of Lake Louise and the lake itself are spread out below with the shear walls of breathtaking Mount Temple rising straight off the valley floor. It connects with Wiwaxy, whose alternating pitches from gentle to moderate make it a favorite with families.

But instead of following Wiwaxy into the base area, Read prefers to branch off it mid way down onto the slightly more challenging and secluded intermediate run called Juniper, which meanders happily past the world-famous Telus Terrain Park.

On the days when he’s in the mood for some serious speed, Read points his skis down Mount Norquay, minutes from downtown Banff. Gun Run, so named because it once provided access to the mountain’s avalanche guns, is built for speed and it’s where Read goes to find some release.

“It’s skier’s right, off North American Chair,” he says. “It’s steep and when it’s deep in there it’s something else.”

Grandi’s Great Runs

Like Read, Thomas Grandi also spends a lot of his time at Norquay. It’s where the two-time World Cup winner learned to race slalom and giant slalom as a youngster. These days, when he’s not racing or training to race, he likes black diamond runs. So much so, says Grandi, that he can’t think of the name of a single intermediate run.

“I would say my favorite expert run is Mount Norquay’s Lone Pine on a powder day,” he says. “It’s a straight shot down the fall line. It just goes straight downhill. It’s great when it’s deep and a leg burner in the bumps.”

Lone Pine is a spacious, full-throttle speed run with incredible views of the town of Banff below. Skiers can access it by heading right from the North American chairlift. On a mogul day the run’s an outrageous thigh burner.

Ruben’s Stress Releasers

Shona Rubens is used to burning thighs. Although a relative rookie on the World Cup circuit, she proved fast enough to compete in the Olympics in Turin, Italy after just a handful of races on the World Cup circuit, including 15th place at Lake Louise last year.

When she’s not training, or traveling to the next World Cup event, Rubens heads to Nakiska. The computer-designed mountain was built for the 1988 Calgary Olympics and is just 45 minutes west of Calgary.

“For cruising, I would say Mighty Peace,” she says, of her favorite run at Nakiska. Mighty Peace is accessed from the Silver Chair and descends next to it on skier’s left.

“It’s really nice and cruisey and there are a few rollers, which are fun,” says Rubens. “It’s really easy to carve nice turns. It’s not too steep or too flat.”

Rubens’ favorite expert run is a whole other kettle of fish. She likes freeskiing down Whitehorn Chutes at Lake Louise, she says, and calls them some of the most challenging runs Alberta has to offer.

“On a good powder day they’re unbeatable and they hold powder for a long time,” says Rubens.

Whitehorn Chutes are a series of steep and narrow couloirs that descend Lake Louise’s fabled backside. They’re characterized by cliffs, rocks and other challenging features and are popular with advanced skiers. The only way to access them is by traveling up the Summit Platter T-bar and skiing straight ahead over the backside.

Hjorleifson’s Hairy Runs

It’s the kind of terrain that’s favored by Eric Hjorleifson, a highly accomplished freeskier with several movie credits under his belt.

“I pretty much like anything on the backside of Lake Louise, the Whitehorn gullies and Brownshirt and the Eagle Ridge gullies now that the chairlift has been replaced with the gondola,” says Hjorleifson.

Both the Whitehorn and Brownshirt areas are accessible from the Summit Platter and like Whitehorn, Brownshirt is a series of steep and difficult gullies, hemmed in on both sides by cliffs and prone to deep powder. It’s an area best left to advanced skiers.

When Hjorleifson isn’t ripping laps down some of the steepest terrain in Alberta, he likes to warm up and cool down in the terrain that was until recently served by Eagle Chair. That chair has been replaced with a gondola and for some reason nobody skis there anymore, says Hjorleifson.

“There’s good tree skiing,” he adds. “It’s not too steep and there’s good snow.”

Hodgon’s Hit Runs

Down at Castle Mountain Resort, near the city of Crowsnest Pass in the southwest corner of Alberta, Pete Hodgson has been making a name for himself by skiing for the Warren Miller film crew.

Hodgson grew up skiing Castle and he admits he’s got a soft spot for the resort’s incredible terrain and says he likes to warm up with a few laps on South Run, which is accessible by taking the Sundance Triple Chair, following Easy Street from the top of Sundance and then branching off onto South Run midway down Easy Street.

“There are some fairly steep sections to get your speed up and then there are some rollers, which are really fun,” he says. “There’s a lot of variety.”

When he’s not ripping it up at Castle, Hodgson likes to head to Sunshine Village in Banff National Park. The resort is famous for its experts-only Delirium Dive and Wild West runs.

But Hodgson is still a big fan of the 75-year-old resort’s original black diamond terrain, which is accessed from the recently upgraded Standish Chair. Called Garbage Chutes, the steep and technical terrain unfolds largely under the chairlift.

“They’re a lot of fun when there’s snow in them,” says Hodgson. “They’re steep and run out into a coulee bottom. There’s a lot of variety, including cliffs, chutes and rockbands. There’s one chute that you have to straightline, so you definitely get some speed up.