As an avid Canadian skier, I can say that Lake Louise and Sunshine Village are the only Canadian ski resorts that arent massively overrated by Americans, cough cough Tremblant, Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Mont Ste Anne (aside from Whistler on a slow weekday)
Fantastic documentary. I've always loved Banff and I've been fascinated by the ski history of the region. It's so cool how much effort you put in to making these videos. Please keep it up!
@@Skier72 Absolutely! Also interesting how much uncertainty there is regarding lifts and infrastructure. I've got too many questions about what the lift setup looked like, especially in the early days right around the gondola. Wondering if you might have any more information on that?
@@sirmax016 Have a look at this blog, you'd appreciate it. lakelouiselowdown.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/a-look-back-early-days-of-skiing-in-lake-louise/ If I understand correctly, skiers could either park at the base of the gondola or drive to the temple lodge. The temple lodge had 2 lifts (the smaller rope tow and Poma). When the gondola was built, there was no infrastructure around where the current day base is. There was one or two runs below the current base that are now abandoned, but essentially lead down to the highway. So one could ski the entire length of the gondola. The Eagle Poma extended further up from the top of the Gondola (close to where the current Gondola ends). Most likely, when the Ptarmigan chair was built, it was no longer necessary for skiers to drive up to the Temple lodge. I think when the Olympic chair was built, that's when the new parking lot at "upper Whitehorn" was constructed, which is the current base area of the resort.
I am so addictrd to your ski area history and lost ski area vids. Makes me want tour several of the lost ski areas in the winter, and walk them in the summer. Really interesting content. Thank you for doing this.
I worked at Lake Louise during the 2010-11 season and absolutely loved it, was a lifty on Paradise. Incredible skiing and a great atmosphere. Brilliant video, very interesting history, look forward to more!
I was lucky enough to get my hands on a pass for one year. At Lake Louise theres always something new. Deep snow, deep history. Also Paradise chair >>>>
Excellent video and the period footage is great. In the 80's I worked as a liftie on the Olympic Chair and the Summit Platter and what a fantastic and fun job that was. Charlie Locke was a good guy to work for and his nametag just said, 'Area Supervisor'.
Well done, this is an incredible walk-through time at one of the greatest ski resorts in North America. Everything that makes it difficult to develop is also what makes it so special. 20 years since my time working there, I think I'll be doing a trip next season to reconnect with its beauty.
Great video! Man that brought back some great memories. That Olympic Chair was so high. It was scary. I also enjoyed the terrain the eagle chair had. I seem to remember some good glade skiing around Eagle. It's great Louise wants to expand but they need to also replace the older chairs. Paradise needs to be upgraded and IMO they should get rid of the gondola with a 6 seat bubble chair. I remember when Paradise was installed and I turn 50 next week 😂. Quite the history Lake Louise has. I can't wait to try Upper Juniper next season!
Thanks Paul! At lease Paradise always has the least amount of lines at the resort, though those Yan chairs are quite uncomfortable. Hopefully a new Eagle chair is on the resort's mind, that's the last big piece missing in their lift infrastructure in my opinion
Well done! This was totally worth the wait and I learned some new things I didn't know before about Lake Louise's history. I really want to ski there someday.
Great video! Thanks for putting this together! It took me forever to get through as I kept pausing to read the newspaper clippings. I would love to see more on the history of World Cup racing in the area, as I bet there is plenty of politics and drama to be found lol.
Castle Mountain is the unsung hero of powder fall line skiing in Alberta. I had a seasons pass in 2012 and was on one of the first chairs for Deep Wednesday. Over 1 metre of bottomless blower powder over night ! The greatest resort powder day of my life ! ! !
Hi Whyatt. Did you ever have detachable 2 person or 3 person chairs in the USA / Canada? This is something that was really popular in Europe, particually Switzerland and Austria, not so much in france and itally. As such, by the mid-1980's, there were more detachable doubles and tripples than quad chairlifts of any type.
There were only ever 4 detachable triples built, all in the US. 1. Andirondack express, Gore Mountain (VonRoll, 1984, removed 2014) 2. Silver Streak Express, Mt. Bachelor (Doppelmayr, 1983, removed 1997) 3. Sunnyside Express, Alta (Garaventa CTEC, 1999, removed 2023), now operates at Red Lodge Mountain. 4. Ruthies, Aspen Mountain (Poma, 1997)
It took long enough to get the video out, but glad it finally happened. Next in this "series" will be Mt. Norquay, though I have no idea when I'll get that out.
Just one update at time 32:00: The new 6 person buble chair begine at intersection of run#13. So, skiers from Lower juniper, gondola, and glacier could access this lift. Check lakelouise's 2D or 3D interactive maps. They will upgrade the print map next ski season.
Great video!👍👍 You might want to fact check the Temple Lodge re-construction dates. I lived at the new Temple Lodge the summer of 1979 (+/- a year). I think it was re-built in 1978 after it burned down.
Very well made video, as stated by other commenters this was 100% worth the wait. Had no idea Richardson's Ridge had been proposed for so long! Also some really good footage of unmodified Yan detachables and type 6 fixed grips in operation for those who are into lifts. Not sure if there's anything to this, but is Parks Canada part of the reason Upper North Axe and the Platter at Nakiska are basically abandoned? I would also be interested in learning more about the Nakiska and the specifics of how it ended up as part of RCR.
Thanks for the compliment! Nakiska is in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park, which is managed by the province of Alberta. Banff is a national park, and is managed by the federal Parks Canada in Ottawa. Inadvertently, the the environmentalists were the ones who caused the government to clear a new mountain for skiing. Becaues of the pushback against having the Olympic games at Lake Louise (an already developed mountain), another mountain was cut, lifts and snowmaking were installed, and an athlete's village was built.
So there's a few parts to it. We'll start with the Olympic Platter. The upper slopes are prime habitat for bighorn sheep, and given that Nakiska is in a provincial park (not managed by Parks Canada, but Alberta Parks) there's a lot of restrictions on those upper mountain areas. Second, the upper platter pretty much only existed to service the Men's Downhill course and wasn't ever officially open to the public, although I have no doubts people did go up there over the years. On trail maps that show the platter it's almost always tagged as "temporary" and some sources incorrectly state that it was removed after the olympics. Purportedly the only reason it's still there is to make it easier for ski patrol to perform avalanche control work above the advanced terrain below. Upper North Axe and its accompanying run Bearspaw, sometimes called "upper grand trunk", were not accessed via the platter. There was a traverse that cut skiier's right across the mountain above the Eagle Tail and Bobtail expert runs, labeled "North Axe Access Road" that provided access to the area, though to my knowledge it was always technically an out of bounds area. Upper North Axe made up part of the ladies downhill course. I've heard some reasoning as to why it was closed over the years but my best guess is that it was not worth maintaining the long traverse (especially with the liability of the area technically being out of bounds) to service two short, otherwise unremarkable black runs that dropped you into low-intermediate learning areas around the Silver chair. Bearspaw actually stayed on trail maps as a hike-up for a number of years even after the access was no longer shown. Nakiska is ultimately a ski-racing training hill primarily and I guess they figured the shorter training run was worth not having the athletes need to take multiple chairs and a long traverse to start a run.
@@mattiatorX I appreciate the additional information! My mother has a picture of her riding up the platter lift (apparently they would run it, and no one would stop you from riding up). They still open Bearspaw and the Women's Downhill, though it's technically out of bounds. But I've witnessed patrollers up there.
@@Skier72 I do distinctly recall skiing the long traverse to get to those runs as a kid, but it's been probably over a decade since I've been to Nakiska (living in Banff for a chunk of that time will do that). I have a memory that's probably not entirely accurate of being taken on the traverse with a friend my age, loving it, and trying to take family up and them refusing to do it because it was "out of bounds".
Ski hills have remarkably low negative impact on the natural environment, especially in winter season. Ski hills also provide incredible outdoor recreation opportunities for Canadians and tourists. It’s very unfortunate that Parks Canada has a long, long history of preventing the development of these ski hills in Banff and Lake Louise. The 1970s proposed development would have created a true World class destination at Lake Louise. It’s so unfortunate. Great video of the LL history. 😁🇨🇦👋
Yes exactly. I understand not wanting to overdevelop the national park, but when you had environmentalists protesting against adding more chairs to a lift, or making a ski run safer by removing 10 trees, I have to wonder what's their main goal. As I said in the video, many wanted the complete removal of the ski resort and any overnight accommodations, which is a radical viewpoint. At the end of the day, Banff National Park was created for the enjoyment of Canadians and Tourists. If we block any development due to "environmental fears," it ultimately deprives everyone of being able to enjoy our beautiful land. In my opinion, responsible development should be encouraged in the Bow Valley corridor. Plenty enough is already not developed.
@@Skier72 yes, it’s frustrating to see it happen decade after decade. When accommodations, parking and facilities are limited or restricted it really limits enjoyment. Next will be a quota system to limit public access. 90% of people just want to enjoy the “nature” and scenery that’s
I think Sunnyside will add 1 or 2 new (short) trails, though overall it will be in the same footprint as the current ski area. It'll just better utilize the terrain. Richardson's Ridge will absolutely enlarge the 4200 skiable acres. I'm not sure by exactly how much though.
@@Skier72 Currently Sun Peaks Resort is Canada's second largest at 4,270 acres. Richadson's Ridge at LL might force Sun Peaks to expand their Orient Ridge Chair all the way up the ridge.😊
Frankly, the plans from the 70's would have turned the area into a mini-Whistler. The appeal of Lake Louise is that it *isn't* a bloated, commercial village like the resorts across the border in BC. Especially hate the idea of removing iconic historical places like Chateau Lake Louise in "exchange" for high rises. Gross. I think the new plans they've proposed for area expansion are much better even if it does mean some areas like the Elevator Shaft and Ford Hill in the Larch pod are now out of bounds terrain (with Ford Hill quickly re-foresting last I looked). Then again, my "dream" expansion would be running the ptarm in the summer (or allowing walk-downs) to let people skip the long walk along the road to start backpacking into the Skoki Valley, which is *even more* untouched wilderness.
Oh yeah, I don't think VLL would have been appropriate for the site (especially removing the Chateau Lake Louise). I do think it's too bad a singular hotel was never allowed to be built at the base. An entire village, as you said, would have been too much.
Very interesting. Interesting to see that disagreements with parks and people not wanting any development have a long history! Crazy that government wouldn't allow Olympic skiing in bow valley... And then they built nakiska 😮... And then the threat to close louise down!
'Waffle' always made me smile, set between the Wall and Awful Awful, the name made sense And since it was covered in moguls, it looked like a waffle as well.
I lived at the Lake for the better part of six years, including two winters 89-90 and 91-92. This included the introduction of the high-speed quads and some of the best snow winters the hill had seen in years. I'll just say this: Charlie Locke hated the fact that hotels like the Chateau made all the money and he got only a portion of the tourist dollars. He did nothing for the local ski crowd and ultimately shot himself in the foot. I knew so many people who worked in LL and didn't ski (I know, crazy) and thought you needed to be an expert to ski Louise. He missed opportunities left and right to grow the local ski population because he was jealous of the hotels and restaurants in the area.
@@Skier72 No Problem great video none the less! I´m sure i would butcher several names as well when trying to speak fluent English for Videos. Interesting enough that youtube decided to show me your channel right after i started uploading the first Test videos of my ropeway Modell Prototype. The algorythm is strange
To be fair Queenstown NZ is the best example of what would have happened if you left it unchecked, which is overpriced and tacky and workers living in their cars
