My first visit to Louise was the last day before the shutdown. A group of parents and children, novice to expert. We were actually staying at Kicking Horse which had already closed so we drove 45 minutes to Louise. The day before we had skied Revy.

Most lifts at Louise have a green run so groups of mixed abilities can ski lifts together. Big plus. Lines did not extend last the ropes (but, a Tuesday).

Well-groomed with good snow on trails but steeper runs got icier. Views are magnificent. The backbowls are above the treeline, feeling more like Europe.

There’s lots of big terrain right off the lifts. Enough for days in good snow. The back of the main mountain is a long ridge line forming wide bowls with short cliff bands and some chutes. However, the bowls were scratchy in the truly steep stuff and mogulled everywhere else, as it hadn’t snowed for a week. Louise would be great on a powder day. I would avoid weekends - Calgarians flock here, apparently. It’s so close to Kicking Horse you could sneak away for a day like we did.
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Warning for IKON pass holders. We skied LL on Fri Jan 31. The place has some nice/challenging terrain and the skier volume was pretty low. However, 2 issues came up when we returned on Sat. Feb 1.
1. If you're used to Utah/WY/Colorado powder, forget about it. The weather here (being that the elevation is so much lower) is quite variable and warm, similar to Whistler. It rained on the 1hr drive from Banff all the way to the LL exit. At the mtn rained turned to a wet, heavy yucky snow. ala Sierra Cement.
Also, LL reported 11" Fri night to Saturday AM but we didn't see anything near that. It was maybe 4" of wet yucky snow.

2. LL gets extremely busy on weekends. The Saturday we were there was worse than Vail or Copper or Jackson on a holiday weekend. Folks in line said that the Previous Saturday was similar so we don't think it's an isolated event.
Check out the picture attached. It was Laughable and was like this most all day long. It reminded us more of what we've heard New England lift lines are like on a holiday weekend. The Picture says it all.

Would suggest not making the effort of flying to Calgary, driving the 2-2.5 hrs to LL then the hour back to Banff to your hotel when you can get better snow and lift lines at other Ikon resorts. Jax, Aspen, Steamboat, Snowbird/Alta/Deer Valley, Copper, WP we skied on Ikon this yr and last yr and none of them were EVER this crowded. And the snow quality was light years better at the higher elevation resorts. The main crowding issue is LL only has a 4 pack chair and 6 pack gondy at that base and as you can see in the picture (Note: it's NOT Photo shopped) you have to be able to Climb UP the mtn to get in what was a 45-60Min line.
Weekdays it may be nice but our weekend was rainy/heavy yucky snow (like whistler can be) and had miserable lines....
Our suggestion is that your ikon ROI is better served at other more easily accessible and crowd ready Ikon resorts.
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After reading so many positive and great reviews I decided to hand out the 100$ lift price to try it out.
What I recieved from riding the hill is a less than stellar experience.
The staff and most of the people are 10/10 and very pleasant to be around. But unless your looking to carve iced out runs and be on the most crowded hill you will ever experience I would recommend choosing another. I had a few good tree runs that I would go run again, besides that I have no reasons to ride lake Louis again.
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To say that the Lake Louise area is gorgeous would be an understatement. Lake Louise definitely has the wow factor. Lake Louise ski resort has huge terrain with lots of variety for all ability levels including more than adequate terrain to keep experts very happy. Lake Louise is our favourite of the Banff ski resorts for the terrain.

Other pros: some fast lifts; and well developed facilities and services. 

A major con for Lake Louise is the minimal snowfall. When the powder falls it’s generally very dry, but you could be waiting a while for it to fall and it often doesn’t fall in large volumes. LL can get really icy, bumped up, and it’s often bloody freezing!
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Lake Louise is my favorite ski resort in the Banff area and one of my favorites anywhere. I visited this past spring and conditions were incredible. Fresh powder almost every day for a week and tons of snow everywhere. The terrain is incredible and super varied. For expert skiers, the back bowls off the Summit lift are amazing. Some of the steepest, gnarliest terrain anywhere and the chutes are comparable to Jackson Hole for example. The Summit lift is a super old poma style lift, and not the best, but once you figure it out it is fine...the terrain more than makes up for it. Then there is lots of great intermediate terrain as well. I did some green runs, there seemed to be lots of beginner options, but I tend to like to stick to intermediate to expert runs. There were a lot of families, so the beginner terrain must be pretty good. All the runs were really long, unlike at Sunshine where they were really short. I liked Sunshine too, I just preferred Lake Louise, as did everyone in my group, so we skied most days there. The scenery...omg, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. And the lodges and food options were great. I haven't had sushi at a ski resort before...super fresh and yummy, which was unexpected being in the middle of the mountains. The staff are all really friendly and overall we had a great time. Usually we choose a different resort every year, but this one we will come back to for sure! You have to ski Banff and Lake Louise, it is amazing.
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Lake Louise is probably the most scenic ski resort in the world and is a place the whole family would enjoy. The lake has lots of terrain and it is very diverse and split into three areas.

The front side has long groomed runs which are great for intermediates and beginners. The larch area is a mixed bag of terrain from green runs to experts and has some awesome tree skiing. The back bowls are amazing and perfect for advanced riders looking for a challenge. The terrain park is massive and is well suited for beginner to pros.

Though Lake Louise has all this awesome terrain the snow conditions is a real let down. While the back bowls and larch area normally have a good snow pack and are great on powder days, the front side conditions can change drastically in one day. The morning can have fresh snow while the afternoon can be super icy and bumpy. If staying in Banff the tri-area lift ticket is great value and you can choose between Louise and Sunshine depending on conditions.


In conclusion, great for families, lots of terrain, very diverse, often bloody freezing, variable snow condtions,normally deserted during the week, good lift system, great on a powder day and a few days after, otherwise go to sunshine.
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Lake Louise is awesome, I go there every March break. They've got a little bit of every type of skiing. I love skiing everything off paradise, and the back bowls. Lake Louise also has a a good range of things to do in the terrain park. The break down of the terrain is 25% beginner, 45% intermediate, and 30% expert. Lake Louise is one big family, everybody is so helpful and nice. To say the least I highly recommend skiing at Lake Louise, especially if you like tree skiing. I suggest tree skiing in "East Bowl Trees", "Pika Trees", and "Deer Run Trees".
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We spent the day at Lake Louise yesterday and were pretty disappointed with the icy conditions. This was day 1 of our week vacation after travelling across Canada from NB. We are happy that we decided to spend day 2 at Sunshine Village! The conditions were fantastic and we had a great day!

It's too bad the hills won't post the actual conditions so people can make informed decisions. We won't be going back to LL on this trip, and will think twice about booking next year.
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Lake Louise is situated in one of the most beautiful regions of the world. Amazing vistas and views of lake Louise while you ski. Super long cruiser runs and some decent powder if you can get up the lift right away.

The place can become disgustingly packed and somewhat unsafe on weekends and holidays.

Lake Louise lacks nightlife, but it's just 25 min to Banff, which is off the hook!
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It had been 5 years since my last visit to Lake Louise which happened to be in December which was early season. Yeah, skiing was good then but somewhat limited due to snowpack. This last visit was the third week of April and everything was open. WOW, tons of great terrain for every ability. We were fortunate enough to get there after 16" of dumpage occurred. During our visit we hooked up with long time local Sandy Best who showed us all the sweetness the mountain had to offer. We lucked out with some decent weather the first day where we skied the Larch Chair and backside getting in our fair share of powder and groomers. On the second day then the skies opened up giving us untracked and bluebird. We made some fun laps in the Whitehorn area and T-Bar. Plenty of steeps and challenging chutes in these grounds. This zone was by far the highlight of the trip.


Being late in the season crowds were down, which meant plenty of choices without lift lines. We stayed at The Inn at Lake Louise which was very affordable and proved to have nice accommodation. The Inn is close enough to walk to several eating choices like the Pub which had some great pub style food and beers. I will definitely be back again next March when I know there's total coverage as this place is huge and has a lot to offer. See Bob's video here


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