PlanetSKI Is Still Skiing. Just!

10th May 2025 | Words & Pictures: Marie Taylor & Alex Cove. Sunshine Village, Canada.

Last modified on May 18th, 2025

We report from Sunshine Village in Alberta Canada where there are still turns to be made. This weekend the resort closes with its legendary Slush Cup event. UPDATED

Sunshine Village near Banff in Alberta has one of the longest ski seasons in Canada.

The resort calls it a day after this weekend on Monday May 19th with its legendary Slush Cup.

The three-day Slush Cup festival kicked off on Saturday, May 17^th, with the SlushShine Rail Jam.

On Sunday May 18th is the Watergate Banked Slalom.

Banff Sunshine’s Slush Cup is the longest running end-of-season pond-skimming event in North America.

100 people to ski across the 110-foot pool of melt water, as they compete for the crown of “Mr and Ms Slush Cup”.

They will be judged on execution, completion, style, costume, and attitude.

This year’s event will be judged by a panel of Canadian Winter Olympians including Mikaël Kingsbury, Rachael Karker, Tyler Turner and Brendan Mackay.

In the meantime there was some fresh snow last week.

PlanetSKI has been enjoying some deserted slopes earlier this May, where it felt like we had the mountain pretty much to ourselves.

Who said skiing is over?

Not bad for a mid-week day in May:

Of course we aren’t the only ones out enjoying the spring skiing.

Arriving at the base of the ski area it seems there are many others who can’t quite let go of winter.

The car park was surprisingly busy for a mid-week day.

Sunshine Village, Alberta, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI

It is a lovely added bonus to the season to be heading up to make some ski turns at this time of year.

Sunshine Village, Alberta, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI

And at the top of the gondola:

Not all the terrain in the resort is open now as the season draws to a close, but there is enough.

Goatseye chair closed a few days ago, and we were able to ski Wolverine and Jackrabbit chairs on the last day they were open.

Sunshine Village, Alberta, Canada. Image © PlanetSKI

Feast your eyes on the views:

What’s left open now is Strawberry, Angel, Wawa, Standish, Divide and Teepee.

The home run back to the car park at the base of the resort is now closed.

It’s not worth starting the ski day until about 10:30am, once the snow has a bit of time to soften and as the day goes on it gets slushier in places.

It was quite hard at the top of Divide with some chilly winds yesterday, but the snow was groomed well and made for some great spring skiing.

Softer, slushier snow is on Standish, Strawberry and Wawa with pretty good snow cover at the moment.

There is still lots of fun, skiable terrain with jumps, ski-cross and rails.

Skiing at this time of year is a completely different experience to the main part of the season with a relaxed, chilled and low-key vibe.

People know things are coming to an end and are simply making the most of the snow before it melts.

Overall it hasn’t been a great season for snow but March proved to be good and the signature off piste run Delirium Dive did open for a good amount of time this winter.

Summer operations at Sunshine Village will begin mid-June and we’ll be back to see the beautiful sunshine meadows with a carpet of wildflowers.

Anyone who has bought a season pass for the 2025/26 season can visit sunshine meadows for free on their pass.

Look out for some updates from us over the summer months.

In the meantime there are still a few turns to be made.

In British Columbia, Canada, the Blackcomb glacier at Whistler is aiming to be open until May 21st if conditions allow.

While in Quebec on the east coast Sommets Saint-Sauveur is open at weekends until Monday May 19th.

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