ALBERTA
Quieter and great for deals, Alberta in the low season offers affordable options for clients looking to avoid the crowds, says Laura Gelder
While many choose to go to Alberta at the height of summer or winter, spring and autumn are great-value alternatives with plenty to see and do.
One of the benefits of flying in the shoulder season is more choice and availability – British Airways will recommence flights to Calgary from March 29 and WestJet starts flying daily from April 29. Rocky Mountaineer will also be resuming its luxury train service from late April.
Because demand is lower you’ll find more affordable deals for your clients and savings on airfares and accommodation will allow you to upgrade their experience, whether that’s upgrading their room category or adding a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as a helicopter trip over the Rockies.
From late April to mid-June (excluding the local bank holiday weekend in May), and late September through to the end of November, the parks quieten down considerably and seasonal attractions start to reopen, such as the must-see Columbia Icefield Glacier Adventure
(opens April 19, 2019).
Late ski deals
Alberta’s resorts enjoy some of the longest ski seasons in North America, with Banff National Park-area resorts like Lake Louise and Sunshine Village boasting powder well into May. Sunshine Village has the longest non-glacial ski season in North America – an impressive seven months of skiing and snowboarding.
While European visitors may find the Rockies a tad colder than Europe's slopes, the later they go the warmer the conditions. Spring skiers will enjoy an average of seven hours of sunshine a day in April, with average daytime temperatures in Banff, for example, 8°C in April and 14°C in May.
Now is the perfect time for clients to start taking advantage of early bird ski deals for next season.
Wild encounters
Rising temperatures can also mean a better chance of seeing wildlife in the beautiful National Park surroundings. Spring brings with it sightings of grazing young in the lower valley elevations with calving season in May for elk, deer and bighorn sheep.
Mid-September into October brings large concentration of elk during the rutting season. Clients may even be treated to a bear sighting as the bears emerge from their hibernation in April.
Golden days
In autumn there's Larch Season to consider. This is a magical but brief period, usually from the middle of September through to the beginning of October, when the needles of the Larch trees turn a dramatic golden copper hue before dropping.
Top places to see this fall phenomenon include Kananaskis country, in particular Chester Lake; Jasper National Park, the Skyline Trail or the Jasper Sky Tram are great viewing points; and Banff National Park, most notably Larch Valley.
Starting by Moraine Lake, the Larch Valley and Sentinel Pass trail takes hikers through sweeping larch meadows and past rocky spires for a sky- high view of the colours.
Local festivities
Top shoulder-season events include the Jasper Dark Skies Festival (October 18-27, 2019), with little light pollution making for some of the brightest starry skies, and Book Festival (October 26 to November 3, 2019) with its stories of ground-breaking expeditions told by global explorers.
Edmonton's International Beerfest, which takes place March 22-23, 2019, will offer over 300 beers to taste, while Calgary's International Film Festival sees the city taken over by movie moguls (September 18-22, 2019).