Mt. Norquay is celebrating 100 years of operation next year.

I was in the midst of the Rockies – breathing in the scent of whitebark pines, admiring the snow-capped granite peaks – but it was the emptiness of Banff Avenue that stopped me in my tracks. The main drag of this mountain town in Banff National Park is usually packed with cars, RVs and tour buses, the sidewalks thick with visitors, shoulder to shoulder – even on the Bow River walking trail. Not today. Not in January. A ski trip to Banff was a chance to enjoy this overvisited park in peace – more than three million visitors arrived in the 2025 summer but just more than 1.2 million came during the 2024-25 ski season. (These numbers are for independent travellers only, Parks Canada notes. The numbers will grow when group tours are

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