Mount Norquay
Mount Norquay is the closest resort to Banff, just 6km and ten-minutes' drive from downtown. Skiing started on the mountain's steep eastern slopes in the 1920s. In 1948 it gained Canada's first-ever chair lift, immediately gaining a reputation as an experts-only resort - "steep and deep" in local parlance - thanks largely to horrors like the famous double-black diamond Lone Pine run. This reputation has only recently disappeared, the result of a complete revamp and the opening of a new network of lifts on and around Mystic Ridge to provide access to intermediate terrain and 25 runs suitable for all levels of skiers and boarders alike. An express quad chair was installed in 1990, together with two surface lifts, two double chairs and a quad chair. As a result Norquay is now equally renowned for its uncrowded beginners' slopes as for its expert runs, the terrain breaking down as follows: Novice (11 percent); Intermediate (45 percent); Advanced (28 percent); and Expert (16 percent). The average snowfall is 300cm, and there's snow-making on ninety percent of the terrain. The season runs from early December to mid-April. The highest elevation is 2133m, giving a vertical drop of 497m to the resort's base elevation at 1636m. Amenities include a visitor centre, ski school, rental shop, day-care and - on Wednesdays - the promise of night skiing. Lift tickets are around $35 a day. Accommodation is in Banff, with a free shuttle bus making the tour of local hotels for the short trip to the hill. For more information on the resort write, call or fax Banff Mount Norquay, Box 219, Suite 7000, Banff, AB T0L 0C0 (tel 762-4421, fax 762-8133, www.banffnorquay.com ).
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