Sunshine Village getting into holiday spirit
Sometimes, you just need to get off to a running start.
That seems to be the attitude at Sunshine Village.
Other resorts tend to spend December opening their mountain hill by hill and quietly preparing for the holiday season, but that’s not how they seem to be approaching things at the Banff resort.
“Once we’re open, we’re open,” said Kendra Scurfield, the media and communications manager at Sunshine.
“We want to really create that lifetime experience and memories that people take home and enjoy,” she added.
As one of the closest resorts to the city, Calgarians who ski and snowboard throughout the winter have become all too familiar with what Sunshine has on offer.
We know about the powder that blankets the Banff National Park resort.
We know about the variety of terrain that has made the ski and snowboard area famous.
People also know about the long season that stretches into lateMay.
There are few — if any — resorts that offer a season as long as Sunshine does.
But look at Sunshine’s event calendar, and it quickly becomes clear that it’s not just the late-spring skiing that extends the season at the resort.
This month alone, there’s the Lord of the Rails snowboard competition, which offers riders the opportunity to show off their most daring tricks, as well as a whole host of holiday-related events designed to help get guests in the Christmas spirit.
Other resorts may be bracing for the inevitable rush that comes around the holidays, but Sunshine is welcoming the holidays.
On the weekends of both Dec. 15-16 and 22-23, the resort will have Santa Claus skiing down the slopes, and there are also torch light parades planned for Dec. 24 and 31.
On Christmas Day, Sunshine will be giving free lift tickets to anyone who comes dressed as Santa Claus — or a reindeer or even the Grinch.
Most importantly, though, guests who make the trip just past Banff are going to be greeted by some pretty solid conditions. As of Wednesday, Sunshine has 78 of its 138 runs open, and slow and steady snow has meant that 164 centimetres of snowfall has blanketed the mountain so far.
These aren’t mid-season conditions, necessarily, but with many of the runs at Sunshine resting at high-elevation, guests to Sunshine aren’t going to be short of terrain that’s covered in powder.
This year, the resort has added a new snow cat, a new executive chef — whose waffles come highly recommended — and even a new avalanche puppy in-training, who is a four-month-old black lab, but it’s worth repeating that he’s a four-month-old black lab and everyone loves that.
If all of that sounds good — and let’s be real, if you’re a skier or snowboarder, it does — it’s probably best to look into the 2018-19 Sunshine Supercard.
The card offers guests a free lift pass on their first, fourth and seventh visits to Sunshine Village, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Marmot Basin and Castle Mountain all-season long, and goes for only $99 for those who buy one before Dec. 25, as well as savings on regular lift tickets on all other visits.