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<\/a><\/p>\nIf you\u2019re lucky enough to reside in some of the frostier corners of the globe you\u2019re enjoying the fact that some resorts are already opened. Were pretty pleased we call Banff, Canada one of our winter bases, thanks to the high elevation and cold temps the cobwebs have been dusted off our boards and we are already counting the pow days we have had.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an interesting start as we had a huge dump of snow late October followed by some warmer temperatures. The upper mountain and alpine got absolutely hammered with snow and the backcountry touring was off the hook. One of the resorts outside of Banff actually opened up a week early and energy levels were very high in town. The timing was perfect as we had Anna, our course advisor\/office wizard , out from the UK to do a little \u201cproduct testing\u201d. Everyone was pretty stoked we could get her out riding pow while most of the resorts in the world are closed, there is a reason we choose Banff as one of the locations to do our winter courses\u2026.<\/p>\n The warmer temperatures did unfortunately mean that while Lake Louise was hammered with snow the last couple hundred meters of trail was pretty bare when our crew turned up but out here in Banff it makes no difference. We still had sunshine village opened and being in Canada\u2019s oldest national park means there are no shortage of other activities to do. We were able to actually relax on our first weekend, which is usually a blur of activity trying to get geared up for the season. Mountains were climbed and beers were drunk so no one was complaining about getting some extra time to get over the jet lag. When we roll into town all the shred shops put on cool welcome tech sessions and give us the rundown on the gear that\u2019s going to help us get the most out of our time on snow. Its pretty to get stoked on new product when you get hooked up with locals discounts and tasty beers to drink when shopping.<\/p>\n It only took 3 days until we had a massive storm roll through to top up the snow levels and give us enough of the good stuff to start making snowmen in town. With a new layer of snow Lake Louise opened with a bang this year, 5 lifts and 47 runs right from the get go meant there was lots of fresh snow around for our first few days of training. Our resort manager Andrew has also been teaching these programs for 10 years so we have an insane amount knowledge of the resort at our fingertips. Were only three days into our time on snow and the group has already had some of their best days ever. When you combine the local knowledge with the fact that Lake Louise has been opening up more and more terrain on a daily basis its not hard to have the best snow experience of your life.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n