PlanetSKI’s Canada Road Trip Heads North to Jasper & Marmot Basin

The road to Jasper from Lake Louise is without doubt one of the best ski road journeys in the world – The Icefields Parkway.

232kms and a 4+ hour drive in the winter.

It passes through some of the finest glaciated mountain terrain that you will find next to a paved road.

• No towns
• No petrol stations
• No mobile phone signal

We have posted about the journey itself in PlanetSKI’s rolling blog on our continuing two-month Canadian ski adventures:

• PlanetSKI’s Canadian Adventures: Part Two

The main reason we made the journey to Jasper is the fabulous ski resort of Marmot Basin.

It is a 20-minute drive from Jasper with 914m of vertical decent and 1,720 acres of varied terrain.

As it says, it has the highest base elevation of any ski resort in Canada with the skiing going up to 2,612m.

• 30% novice terrain
• 30% intermediate terrain
• 20% advanced terrain
• 20% expert terrain

Marmot Basin has it all in my view – great beginner area, good intermediate and progression slopes and then some challenging advanced terrain.

What it lacks in size it more than makes up for in variety and quality of terrain.

 

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Since my first visit in 2015 the highest lift, Knob Chair, has gone even higher.

It was an old and slow 2-person:

For those interested here is my report from 2015: Banff to Jasper

It has been replaced by this high-speed quad:

The lift goes over 120m higher and it opens up a whole range of advanced terrain.

I chose it as the spot to do a PlanetSKI snow report.

 

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The Vice President of the resort, Brian Rode, explains the new lift’s significance:

 

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Unlike many North American resorts Marmot Basin actually has some great on-mountain restaurants.

There is a mid-mountain lodge, and in the base area there are self-service &  served options.

For me it is a traditional and old-fashioned ski resort where time slows down and one simply appreciates being in the heart of the Canadian Rockies.

It is not flash and it is certainly not brash – just a genuine and authentic Canadian ski hill.

By European standards it is a small ski area, but you know what you have and you just need to make the most of it and savour your turns.

It is not a resort for those that want to clock up the piste miles, but few resorts in North America are.

If you take the five largest resorts across the USA and Canada (Whistler, Park City, Palisades Tahoe, Vail, Big Sky) they would fit into Les3Vallees in France with room to spare.

But, size is not everything in my view.

Then there is the black diamond advanced terrain of Marmot Basin.

Here’s one of the entry gates at Eagle East:

And this is what it leads to:

It was something of a revelation to me on this visit.

 

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I am pleased to say we made it round to Tres Hombres:

Marmot Basin sees up to 4,000 people per day at busy periods.

More often than not it is fairly deserted.

And lets not forget the views:

 

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Most Europeans fly into Alberta’s capital, Edmonton, to the east and it is then a three and a half  hour transfer to Jasper.

Calgary, to the south, has more flight options but the resort journey comes via the Icefields Parkway and the route can, and does, close due to the weather and avalanche risk.

It has shut two times already this winter for avalanche control.

Edmonton is a far safer bet.

“Access is one of our biggest hurdles as we are not as easy to reach as other resorts like Lake Louise, Sunshine Village and Kicking Horse,” said the marketing manager, Cameron Mahler, to me.

“But that also brings some advantages as there are rarely lift queues and people that make it here have made that bit more of an effort and are committed.”

 

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The resort is one of the first to open in Canada, usually in mid-November and remains open until the first weekend of May.

Interestingly it is popular with the British school market.

This February half-term week there will be around 350 British school children in the resort mostly brought by SkiBound.

The resort is also popular with the Dutch with direct flights from Amsterdam to Edmonton and, like many Canadian resorts, the Australians are here in numbers.

The resort works with a range of UK Tour Operators:

• Eagle Expeditions
• Equity
• GB Travel
• Inspire Ski
• Select School Travel
• Simply Snowsports
• SkiBound
• Sno ‘n’ Ski
• True North Travel

The resort had a very narrow escape from the flames of the Jasper Wildfires in July 2024.

A third of all buildings in Jasper and much terrain surrounding the town was destroyed.

The fire threatened the ski resort.

That’s the Marmot Basin ski area is in the distance on the top right of the image.

The journey to the resort from Jasper resembles a war zone.

 

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Then, just a few turns on the road to the top, the burnt out trees stop as the wind changed direction and the resort escaped the flames.

The town of Jasper did not fare so well and a third of its buildings and much infrastructure were destroyed.

Re-building though is underway.

The town had been evacuated so there was no loss of life amoung the inhabitants, though one firefighter died.

In our next post we will be reporting on the fire, its impact on tourism and how Jasper is rising from the ashes.

It is a remarkable tale of resilience and symbolises the spirit of one of the finest ski towns in Canada.

If you want to find more about the resort then check out its web site: Marmot Basin

This autumn the resort will be at The London Snow in Olympia in London.

Brian and Cameron will be there to tell you more.

Marmot Basin comes HIGHLY recommended by PlanetSKI.

See here for other recent PlanetSKI resort reviews from Canada:

• PlanetSKI resort review: Kicking Horse, British Columbia, Canada.
• PlanetSKI resort review: Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada
• PlanetSKI hits the steeps of Sunshine Village

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