Where to Ski And Snowboard - Sunshine Village opens for Canada Day

Sunshine Village opens for Canada Day

27th June 2022, by Abi Butcher

The snow in Sunshine Village is still so good it will open for skiing tomorrow

Massive snow levels this week in Sunshine Village, Banff, means the ski resort can reopen for Canada Day on Friday (1 July) — the first time in more than two decades.

The resort is located in western Canada and in high season has more than 3,300 acres of skiable terrain within both the Banff National Park in Alberta and Mt Assiniboine Provincial Park in British Columbia.

Sunshine Village closed for the season more than a month ago, celebrating with its annual “Slush Cup” on 23 May but will reopen tomorrow, Tuesday 28 June, for a week, to make the most of the bumper snow conditions over last season that have hung around during a cool spring.

“We had more than 900cm of snow on our slopes this season and we found ourselves in June with a (lot) of snow, so we thought ‘why don’t we see if we can open?’” said Kendra Scurfield, communications director at Sunshine. “Fortunately, Parks Canada has been really collaborative with us and is letting us reopen once again for summer skiing.”

While Sunshine Village hasn’t confirmed exactly how many runs and which ones will be open, they will be the higher slopes, accessed via the main gondola.

“We’re not entirely sure how many trails will actually be open, but it’s more about the novelty of being able to get out and say you skied on Canada Day,” Scurfield said. “It’s going to be very cool to have skiers and snowboarders carving up Canada Day.”

The last time Sunshine Village was open to skiers and snowboarders on Canada Day (1 July) was in 1991.

Read Where to Ski & Snowboard’s independent review of Sunshine Village here.