After doing a bit of hiking the past two days, we were determined to return to the ski hill today. Fortunately, the temperatures and ski conditions were excellent. And, perhaps more importantly, so were the crowds!

We arrived rather early to get parked close, and to be on the hills early. Here we are, ready to go, just waiting for the lifts to open.

Once the lifts opened, we headed up to carve up the freshly groomed trails.

Here’s a video of Nadine skiing down her first run of the day.

We spent the day skiing mostly the front side of the mountain, and a little bit on the back side. Unfortunately, we were unable to ski Larch, as it was closed the entire week we were here, as the lift was down and waiting for parts.

Instead of returning to the Whitehorn Bistro for lunch, we decided to get food at the main lodge and eat it on the porch overlooking the base of the hill. We finished eating, and headed back up for a few more runs.

The sun was nice and bright for most of the day. Below is a nice shot of the main lodge as we’re coming back down on our last run.

After returning to the van, we once again headed over to Lake Louise, since the weather was a bit sunnier than earlier in the week. It’s getting late in the day, and the lake was mostly in shadow, but it was still a beautiful sight.

We walked around the main skating area and ice castle for a bit. When we return next winter, we plan to stay in Lake Louise instead of in Banff, so perhaps we’ll get a chance to go out skating, which I haven’t done in probably 30 years!

Here I am, standing on the snow bank, gazing up at Mount Whyte.

Before returning to the car, we watched a bit of a very typical Canadian sport played all across the country… pond hockey (but with more impressive background scenery).

And here’s one final image of Lake Louise on our way back to the car.

It was a tiring but very good day! We returned to Banff, had a nice dinner in the Gold lounge, and relaxed at the hotel for the evening.