November 4, 2020
The early blast of arctic air that graced us at the end of October has left a wintery wonderland in its wake at Sunshine Meadows. Though most of the snow is gone from valley bottom, the higher elevations have decent early season coverage. Ever keen to break out the snowshoes (coverage be damned!), we decided to get an early start on the season and scout out conditions at Sunshine Meadows!
This year, White Mountain Adventures will be offering a brand-new program – The Snowshoe Summit Explorer, in addition to our classic Snowshoeing on Top of the World Program, the best Banff snowshoe. Our new program will be approximately 1.5 hours and will be catered to families and people looking for a leisurely snowshoe with spectacular views.
As Sunshine Village is not yet open to the public, we took the scenic route and hiked/snowshoed up the Lower Canyon/Ski Out. There is decent coverage almost all the way up from the parking lot – though not enough for a scratch free ski. We managed to hike up to the village with just boots as the base was quite supportive (when we weren’t on the ski-out). Once at the village, we put on the snowshoes and headed to the summit of mighty Mount Standish!
Upon reaching the summit, we were greeted with howling winds, reminding us that winter is in full affect at 2300m. The snowpack was around 50cm deep in most places and was heavily wind affected. Sunshine Meadows had full coverage and Rock Isle Lake looked to be frozen. The weather cleared up long enough to give us a clear view of Mt. Assiniboine! Sunshine Village has some of the best views in the Rockies and we are keen to share them with guests via snowshoe. We finished up our scouting/program development day and headed back down the way we came up, concluding an awesome workday!
Check our video of our early season adventure: Full Sunshine Snowshoe from Base.
Looking to add a snowshoe trip to your list of things to do in Banff? Join one of our guided Banff snowshoeing tours, or visit us at 202 Bear Street in Banff for your best selection of snowshoe rentals
