After Panorama my expectations for Lake Louise were low, based upon its similar reported snowfall. I was very pleasantly surprised by the best lift served conditions of our trip. As explained by a local on the first ride up, the big dumps in November covered up most of the rocks very effectively. There was an extended dry spell with lots of hardpack, but the 2+ feet of snow the week before our arrival restored a pleasant surface.
A key reason that conditions were better than Panorama (ATTENTION Eastern Skiers) is that Lake Louise has 4,200 acres, much of which is wide open alpine terrain. Thus everyone isn't skiing the same lines and there is still some fluffy snow around a week after the last dump.
Weather was mostly overcast and 10-15F with a breeze from the SW on the front side. Larch and Ptarmigan were sheltered and I spent most of the morning in those areas. SE facing Ptarmigan had been trashed by sun on my previous late March visits but had good snow this time. I also skied Paradise Bowl and briefly checked out a big mountain competition there.
After lunch I ran some laps off the Summit platter. The Whitehorn chutes had excellent snow but the usual visibility issue skiing into the void on the north facing 40 degree slopes. There was a pretty good Saturday crowd at Louise, but we got there early and had few lift lines. The Summit platter had a stiff crosswind and thus was only for us fanatics who really wanted to ski up there.
The frontside was harder packed than the bowls but still less hardpack than the groomers at Fernie or Panorama. I was rejuvenated on my 7th day by the interesting terrain and excellent conditions and skied 33,600 vertical.
A key reason that conditions were better than Panorama (ATTENTION Eastern Skiers) is that Lake Louise has 4,200 acres, much of which is wide open alpine terrain. Thus everyone isn't skiing the same lines and there is still some fluffy snow around a week after the last dump.
Weather was mostly overcast and 10-15F with a breeze from the SW on the front side. Larch and Ptarmigan were sheltered and I spent most of the morning in those areas. SE facing Ptarmigan had been trashed by sun on my previous late March visits but had good snow this time. I also skied Paradise Bowl and briefly checked out a big mountain competition there.
After lunch I ran some laps off the Summit platter. The Whitehorn chutes had excellent snow but the usual visibility issue skiing into the void on the north facing 40 degree slopes. There was a pretty good Saturday crowd at Louise, but we got there early and had few lift lines. The Summit platter had a stiff crosswind and thus was only for us fanatics who really wanted to ski up there.
The frontside was harder packed than the bowls but still less hardpack than the groomers at Fernie or Panorama. I was rejuvenated on my 7th day by the interesting terrain and excellent conditions and skied 33,600 vertical.
