Canada Guide
Alberta and the Rockies
Lake Louise resort
Banff National Park's other main centre, LAKE LOUISE, is very different from Banff – less a town than two distinct artificial resorts. The first is a small mall of shops and hotels just off the Trans-Canada known as Lake Louise Village. The second is the lake itself, 4.5km from the village (and 200m higher) on the winding Lake Louise Drive, the self-proclaimed "gem of the Rockies" and – despite its crowds and monster hotel – a sight you have to see. You can walk between the two, the uphill hike from the townsite to the lake totalling 2.7km on the Louise Creek Trail or 4.5km along the Tramline Trail. But, really, you're better off saving the walking for around the lake and taking a taxi ( 
403/522-2020; around $10) from the village (if anything, save the two linking trails for coming down from the lake).
A third area, Moraine Lake, 13km south of the village, has almost equally staggering scenery and several magnificent and easily accessed trails. All three areas are desperately busy in summer while in winter things slow down a little, though crowds still turn up for some of Canada's best powder skiing at the nearby resort.
Hikes around Lake Louise
All the Lake Louise hiking trails are busy in summer, but they're good for a short taste of the scenery. They're also well worn and well marked, so you don't need to be a seasoned hiker or skilled map-reader. The two most popular (the Lake Agnes Trail and the Six Glaciers Trail) finish up at teahouses – mountain chalets selling welcome, but rather pricey, snacks.
Winter sports in and around Lake Louise
Website: www.skilouise.com
Telephone: 1-877/754-5462
In a region already renowned for its skiing Lake Louise stands out, regarded by many as among the finest winter resorts in North America. In addition to skiing and snowboarding there are hundreds of kilometres of cross-country trails, numerous other winter activities, and landscape that's earned the area the title of "North America's Most Scenic Ski Area" from Snow Country magazine. It's also Canada's largest ski area, with over forty square kilometres of trails, plenty of mogul fields, lots of challenging chutes, vast open bowls and some of the best "powder" on the continent.
Skiing started here in the 1920s. The first chalet was built in 1930, the first lift in 1954. The resort's real birth can be dated to 1958, when a rich Englishman, Norman Watson – universally known as the "Barmy Baronet" – ploughed a large part of his inheritance into building a gondola on Mount Whitehorn. Further lifts and other developments followed. More would have materialized had it not been for environmental lobbying. Further protests forestalled a bid for the 1968 Winter Olympics and put an end to a plan for a 6500-bed megaresort in 1972. Even so, the resort has grown, and now regularly hosts World Cup skiing events. The only drawback is the phenomenally low temperatures during January and February.