Banff Lake Louise / Boarding & freestyle

Lake Louise claims the largest terrain park in North America—Showtime—featuring a 2,000-foot (610-m) vertical ride with bumps, jumps, and a superpipe off 'Easy Street', accessed by the Glacier Express or Friendly Giant chairs. The Summit Platter Poma lift on the front side of Mt. Whitehorn is something of a challenge in itself for snowboarders, but there are some great hikes off the top to your left. For great powder head to the Back Bowls and keep far left to Brown Shirt. It’s worth the detour, as are Upper Boomerang, North Cornice, and Wild Gully.

For trees, head to Ptarmigan Chair and trails such as The Equalizer, Turn or Burn, or Ptarmigan Chute 2. Carvers should try Meadowlark, Home Run, and Gully on the Front Side, and Larch in the Larch Area for fresh corduroy on nicely groomed trails. There’s good beginner terrain on the front side and in the Larch Area. Novice classes stick to the Sunny T-bar, which serves an excellent beginner area.

Norquay
Banff@Norquay suits intermediate snowboarders best, but experts will find plenty of challenges here too. Excellent grooming and snowmaking makes it fun to cruise, whether to carve arcs or just go for it. Some trails are rolling rides with the odd lips for catching air. The snowboard park has a halfpipe and is groomed at least five nights a week. On Friday nights you can board under floodlights.

Sunshine
At Sunshine Village the lower Mount Standish is the place for riders. The Dell Valley makes a natural halfpipe near the Strawberry triple chair, and the area between the Wawa quad and the Standish Chairs is a natural terrain park with lots of natural hits, a quarterpipe, lips and drops. There is a halfpipe on Strawberry Face. If you like to hike for your turns, there are plenty of choices. You’ll find lots of awesome cliffs, chutes and gullies, plus wide open bowls.

Start off with a hike up from the tops of Standish Chair, Wawa quad, and Goat’s Eye Express. The marked trails in these areas are also favorites with snowboarders. Be warned though—there are a few flats including one on Lookout Mountain when you're coming out of Bye Bye Bowl or South Divide. It requires a hoof up the last section, which is actually a little hill that then drops you back into the main area so you can work your way to the lifts.