Banff & Lake Louise (SkiBig3)
Banff: the back story
The back story
About Banff: the back story
Banff grew from three railway workers’ discovery of hot springs in 1883 into Canada’s first national park. Mountain guides from Switzerland and Austria brought skiing in the early 1900s, the first runs were cut on Mt Norquay in 1926, and today three resorts, Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt Norquay, share one lift ticket inside the park.
The railway and the springs
In the 1870s the Canadian Pacific Railway pushed its coast-to-coast line up the Bow Valley, and in 1883 three railway workers came upon a series of natural hot springs on Sulphur Mountain. Parks Canada notes that Indigenous peoples knew these springs long before. Competing claims followed, and in 1885 the government set aside a reserve to protect them.
Canada’s first national park
Expanded in 1887 and named Rocky Mountains Park of Canada, later Banff National Park, it became Canada’s first national park and the world’s third. A townsite grew, the Banff Springs hotel welcomed its first guests in 1888, and the Upper Hot Springs have drawn bathers since 1886. Banff National Park is today part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Canada’s first national park, and the world’s third.
Skis arrive
Skiing came with Swiss and Austrian mountain guides in the early 1900s, who built ski jumps and taught local children. The pioneer Gus Johnson chose a slope on Mt Norquay, a thousand feet above the town, and the first runs were cut there in 1926. The Banff Ski Club built the first cabin in 1928, set the first slalom courses in 1929 and hosted European teams in the 1930s; when the cabin burned in January 1938, the North American Lodge replaced it in 1940, and the North American Chair, the locals’ Big Chair, has turned since 1948.
Three resorts, one ticket
Today the SkiBig3 brings together Banff Sunshine, high on the Continental Divide 15 minutes from Banff; the Lake Louise Ski Resort, with 4,400 acres across four mountain faces; and Mt Norquay, seven minutes from town, with the only night skiing in the park. A single SkiBig3 lift ticket covers all three, with complimentary ski shuttles from your hotel.
A park first
Everything here happens inside a national park. You need a Parks Canada entry pass, it is illegal to feed, entice or disturb wildlife, and Parks Canada asks you to keep at least 30 metres from deer, elk, sheep and moose and 100 metres from bears, wolves, cougars and coyotes.
Our advice: base yourself in Banff for restaurants and the hot springs, add two or three nights at Lake Louise, and buy your SkiBig3 tickets online, where they cost up to 15% less.
Why it's on our list
- 1883: railway workers find the hot springs
- 1885: the reserve that became Canada’s first national park
- 1888: the Banff Springs hotel opens
- 1926: first runs cut on Mt Norquay
- 1948: the North American Chair
Banff through the years
Dates from Parks Canada (parks.canada.ca), Mt Norquay (banffnorquay.com) and Fairmont Banff Springs, read October 2026.
Timeline
- 1883three railway workers find hot springs on Sulphur Mountain
- 1885a reserve is set aside around the springs
- 1886bathers come to the Upper Hot Springs
- 1887Rocky Mountains Park, Canada’s first national park
- 1888the Banff Springs hotel opens
- 1926Gus Johnson’s first runs on Mt Norquay
- 1928the Banff Ski Club’s first cabin
- 1940the North American Lodge
- 1948the North American Chair
- 6 November 2026Sunshine and Lake Louise plan to open (tentative)
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Banff: the back story before you go.