Courtesy
Words and photos: Colin Field
At Sunshine Village Resort our son falls in love with the mountains. We hit an uncharacteristic sunny spell and the vistas from atop the Continental Divide Express Quad are absolutely incredible. We’re met with bluebird skies and views of the Sunshine Meadows and Mount Assiniboine. We shred the groomers down to the Mount Standish Express and do laps through the trees before breaking for lunch at the Day Lodge.
Over the past three days, we’ve skied Sunshine, Norquay and Lake Louise. We have a multi-day, multi-mountain pass, so on our fourth and final day of skiing from Banff it’s our 7-year-old son’s choice on where to ski; he chooses Sunshine without hesitation.
The Family that Skis Together…
We’re on a three-generation ski trip. My wife, son and I flew to Calgary, picked up Grampa and headed to Banff for a week of skiing. Our son had never really skied in the mountains. We ski at Blue Mountain on a bi-weekly basis, and we’ve done a couple trips to Vermont and Quebec, but we’ve never skied really steep slopes. And after a few laps at Sunshine, he’s in love.
After lunch, Grampa and I throw on some skins and head up the Ramparts slack-country above the Wawa Quad Chair.
There isn’t much fresh snow, so we soon drop back down to find my wife and son lapping Star Trek and the Waterfall. My son’s skiing skills have improved exponentially over the past few days and as I follow him down the luge-like run that is Tin Can Trees, I can hear him singing:
“You are my sunshine
my only sunshine
you make me happy when skies are grey
you’ll never know dear how much I love you…”
It’s a special moment. One that I will remember forever.
As the day comes to a close, my wife and son hop in the gondola back to the parking lot, while Grampa and I race them on the run directly below the lift. We laugh and wave at one another, but Grampa and I bomb a few sections and easily win.
As far as a day of skiing goes, this day is perfect. Thank you, Sunshine, for the wonderful memories. We’ll be back ASAP.
