Best of Sunshine Village and Post Hotel

  We woke up to a fresh white paint job on the surrounding mountains; it snowed about 6 inches over night and we were off to Sunshine Village to ski some fresh pow in the sunshine. The drive from Lake Louise was a short 50 minutes and the mountain scenery left us awestruck,  Sunshine Village is a big resort with long, long, long runs. We skied up top, played in the park and took some long runs down to Goat’s Eye, then back up the gondola to lunch at the Sunshine Village hotel mid mountain and checked out their new 2 story loft rooms with amazing views. If you stay here you get access to the mountain at least 30 minutes before the general public and anyway, how many hotels do you get to take a gondola to? You and the small amount of other guests are the only humans you will see once patrol takes their last lap as you sample fine cuisine, spa, sit by the fire, and play hot tub Bingo. It is the only ski in and ski out property in a National Park and has just 84 boutique rooms. If you haven’t skied hard enough there is also night time snow shoeing and tobogganing. If you stay over on a weekend don’t miss the Veuve and Oyster bar.

We skied the long run all the way to the parking lot and headed back to Lake Louise. Tonight we checked into the fabulous Post Hotel and Spa in Lake Louise. We were met by Swiss born owner Andre Schwarz, an ex ski pro and a major force in the Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance. He and his brother George have made their mark in Canada by building one of the top hotel properties in the world. The rooms are large and sumptuous and most have a real fireplace that needs just one match to roar. Their indoor salt water pool, spa, and steam room are the perfect way to relax after a long day skiing. There is nothing that you touch in the room that hasn’t been given the utmost care and attention, from the Dead Sea salts with the sea shell to spoon them into your Jacuzzi Tub, to the cozy down quilt comforters, to the turn down chocolates. We’d worked up quite an appetite skiing and we were at the right place because food is one of the best parts of the experience at the Post. I don’t know if there are words to describe the seared Foie Gras we had as an appetizer. I do know we saved the dishwashers a lot of work as we mopped up every drop with the wonderful homemade bread. The wine cellar has a collection of over 30,000 bottles and was named a Grand Award Winner by Wine Spectator. The Bison Tenderloin was topped with a Drambuie Honey Butter and melted in your mouth. We were beyond stuffed, but that didn’t stop us from ordering the Apple Crumble topped with house made cinnamon ice cream and the Tonka Bean Creme Brulee. We waddled off to bed and were out in about 2 seconds flat.

After our amazing dinner last night, I was sure I would not need to eat again in the near future, but as we were headed to Lake Louise to ski for the day, we thought we should put a little something in our tummies. After the best Buttermilk Waffles with Canadian Maple Syrup ever, we jumped in the Post van and made our way to the slopes. We were treated to another wonderful day of spring skiing and phenomenal views. After another great ski day we relaxed in the pool and then met friends in the charming and intimate bar. We said good bye and made our way to our table by the window for dinner. I had to order the Foie Gras again to make sure that the night before was not a fluke. I can now confirm that it is one of the best seared Foie Gras I’ve had, France included. I decided to eat light and followed it with a Cream of Hokkaido Squash with Curry Soup. I had to have dessert since it was my last meal at the Post. Already plotting, as we walked back to our room, I convinced the team to get up an hour earlier so we could have one last breakfast before we drove back to Calgary and our flight. I’m sure I should have branched out and tried some of the other fabulous menu items, but I couldn’t bear not to have one last Buttermilk Waffle with real Canadian Maple Syrup. At least this am, I didn’t have to button my ski pants!