Back Bowls . . . worth the price of admission. Super steep areas. Must ride the Ptarmigan or Paradise, old school lifts, in order to do laps. I entered near the Top of the World lift.
Larch Area . . . Rock Garden was miserable, not enough snow. Ask around before embarking. The Lynx Run (#147) was nearly untracked in the afternoon. Never skied to main base from the Larch Area, rode the Ptarmigan up the ridge to access the front side. It looked like a long haul via a cat track to get back around to front side base if you choose to ski, and near as I could tell, it required some hiking. Seek local advice on conditions before skiing to the base.
Temple Lodge . . .nice place for lunch, no need to make the journey to the front side for sustenance.
Gondola . . . . Nice way to get to the ridge top, but didn't seem that great for laps on skis. If snowboarding, I would have lived here. Nice wide open boulevards for 2000+ vertical feet.
Top of the World . . . Spent the most time here, trees were wide open, never really skied a run, stayed between the runs for most of the day. Never really hit a bad stretch of snow. A fun place to poke around and find new chutes. The area between the Top of the World and the Gondola was wide open with few skiers.
Never made it to Summit Platter, probably should have.
All and all, a great place to ski. Certainly I had the benefit of fresh snow, but also a place I would gladly pay a return visit. Scenery was spectacular. On the front side, you look across the Bow River Valley to Lake Louise and the mountains that encircle it, further down the valley is Lake Moraine and the famous peaks from the Canadian 20 dollar bill. But it's the back side that makes you feel like you've crossed into a new world. In most western ski areas, the runs all begin at the top of a mountain, not the case at Louise, the Canadian Rockies simply tower above you, no matter where you go nor which way you look.
If skiing multiple days, get a Ski Louise card. The 1st, 4th, and 7th days are free with 20 dollar discounts on the other days, and the pass is good for Lake Louise, Kicking Horse, and Revelstoke. Costs about a 100 bucks, but pays it for itself if skiing 4+ days at any of those areas in a season. Also, half day rates start at 12:30pm. And watch the weather. . . .this place can be dry and it can get cold. The weather for our trip was fabulous, but I'm not so sure I want to be riding those chairs with -20 temps and a strong wind blowing.
