Waiting for bus to Gondola 
The transit bus route info 
The beauty 
Yep shorts in the snow.. thats my boy. 
Love this place 
A Magpie in the tree
We headed up to Banff Gondola, for the evening. We decided we would wait and grab a bite to eat while at the Gondola, which turned out to be a wrong decision at this time on a Saturday night! The only option was some chips, peanut or chocolate bars at the gift shop. The restaurant at the top of the Gondola is reservations only, and it was fully booked when we inquired.
The Sky-Bistro looks like quite an experience, and next visit it will be on our list to do for sure. https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/banff-gondola/dining/
Alpenglow Festival 
Bren and Lorena on Gondola up 
Oh dear gosh!!! were moving!
We wanted to go around sunset to see the Alpenglow Festival in the sky. Check out more official words on the Alpenglow Festival here, https://www.banffjaspercollection.com/attractions/banff-gondola/events/
We grabbed a couple of snacks, purchased our gondola tickets and made our way to the tram entrance. It was a very short wait with lots to look at as we waited. We were amazed at how quick the trams enter and exit the corral platform area. The four of us entered the tram and the worker closed our doors and we were off on our 2292 feet high ride. Well, let me tell you, none of us were expecting the blast off out of the gondola building. We all said a few not so family friendly words and then started laughing!! The view was amazing and we had the 8-minute tram ride to really soak in all the beauty around us. The ride itself, once you get going doesn’t really seem all that fast now. It is enjoyable. Well for 3 of us it was! My son, the Combat Engineer who jumps out of fully serviceable planes with a parachute for a living, was not a huge fan of the 8 min ride. So, of course, being the loving, supportive family we are, we had to give him a bit of a hard time about that. He really did great and began to enjoy the views. You can see the entire town of Banff and all the mountains surrounding Banff, it was truly breathtaking. We reached the top and we began to explore the Gondola summit, the building is beautiful with a lot of exhibits, displays, and a gift shop, there is also a Starbucks as well but it was closed, just like the one at the Gondola base was. We strolled around a bit and then headed out to the boardwalk to make our way to Sanson’s peak
View from gondola 
The boardwalk 
Peace 
Snowy Sanson Peak 
Beauty as far as the eye can see 
Looking up a boardwalk 
Maddi gazing 
Boardwalk steps 
Boardwalk 
Boardwalk 
More boardwalk 
Beauty and the Trees 
Love this kid 
So many smiles 
Me gazing 
On the ride up Sulphur Mtn 
Getting onto Gondola 
Smiles
This peak is named for Norman Sanson, who would walk, every week, for 30 years to check the weather up until 1945. He was 84 years old when he stopped. He recorded his data in a stone building still located on top of Peak. The boardwalk was phenomenal, with lots of lookout points, steps, and turns, none of which Norman would have had way back then. The journey was so breathtaking, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees along the way. We took a bunch of photos and took in so much fresh mountain air , really just taking in all the views. It was pretty clear and flat walking along most of Boardwalk, with only a few icy patches, that could easily be avoided as long you were paying attention.
Along the Boardwalk 
Looking up Sulphur Mtn in Gondola Another view of where we’re going 
Sanson sun 
Peeking inside on top of Sanson peak 
Highest view 
It was icy there this day! 
Looking out from Sanson Peak 
Alpenglow Sparkling and 2 of my favs 
Drink Menu 
Alpenglow Sparkling and Moi 
Love the smiles 
Phillip Alexander Nugent 
Winter Ale Alpenglow Festival 
When we got back to the Gondola summit, Phillip Alexander Nugent was playing live music in the area that overlooked the great sunset, he was really good. https://www.phillipalexandernugent.com/. Be sure to check him out if you are ever in the area. We browsed around the inside of the Summit. There was a small with an Imax type film, it showed a short, bird’s eye view film of the sights surrounding Banff in all 4 seasons. There were interactive structures and some short videos clip walls. I have only a few pics of the inside, as I somehow deleted them, or never really took them, I have no clue what happened with that. (Struggles of being not very tech savvy!) Once we sat down for a drink and to take in some music after browsing, Lorena and I tried the Alpenglow Sparkling, it was very tasty, bonus too, it came with cotton candy. Bren had an Alpenglow Winter Ale, from The Grizzly Paw Brewing Company! We watched people gather s’mores sticks and head out to the outdoor patio to roast their s’mores at the great little fire pits outside. We chose not to do that, not huge s’mores fans, but it was great to see. The younger kids there seemed to love it, as did the young at heart. As the sun began to set the colors on the mountain changed so often, it was such an amazing, calming and peaceful sunset or Alpenglow, I’m still not sure what was what. The picture really don’t to it justice, but hopefully will give you enough to know you must add Banff to your bucket list.
Banff was Canada’s 1st National Park 1885 
Whitebark Pines
Sulphur Mtn Sign 
Safe Travels 
Sundance Mountain Range 
You have arrived! Highest point on Sulphur Mtn 
Space Science on a Mountain Top 
Cosmic Ray Station
When the Sulphur Mountain Observatory, way up top, where Norman Sanson would record the weather weekly was no longer needed, the location seemed to be ideal for a Cosmic Ray Study Station.
Video wall 
Inside theatre Gondola Summit Sign 
Map of entire Summit building 
View from Summit balcony 
Sun pod ontop of Summit building roof 
BBQ pit for s’mores outside 
View of Gondola track 
Another view, can’t get enough 
BBQ pit with fire.. lol 
BBQ pit with Bren in the distance 
The sunset and Alpenglow colors 
Tram coming in 
Gazing 
Tram guy! View from gondola
We made our way back to the tram line up to catch the bus back to town and finally find some food! All of the staff at the gondola were super friendly, the guy who loaded us into our tram was super smiley and made us all smile! Well, remember I said how fast the tram car left the platform on the ride up? Well, the ride down was way crazy faster. I was videoing as we were leaving, I must warn, the video does have some profanities in it, we tried our best not to, but a few just slipped out! Sorry to all that don’t want to hear that, but if you can mute, you should be ok!! The sun was set on the ride down, this allowed us to see more of the twinkle of lights in Banff and surrounding areas. We took a few more photos at the base before hopping onto the great transit system once again and headed back to the hotel for some eats! I love riding the buses in Banff, so many tourists and so many accents to hear.
Good ol fashion binoculars 
It says stay away… 
Going down 
The tram cables 
Banff in the day 
At Gondola Base 
Display at Gondola base Bren and Lorena on Gondola up 
Piggyback me says Lorena!
Join us at The Meatball for our late supper adventure at the Banff Ptarmigan Hotel, our check out day and the trip to the Hot Springs, where we soak up the sun and take in more mountain views from the relaxing Hot Springs!
Some videos have foul language. Please mute if you prefer!
We tried our best to keep all videoing foul language free, but some just slipped right out!
Be sure to subscribe to my blog at the right, or look for subscribe box, so you won’t miss out, still so much to share from our whirlwind Banff visit!
Until next time my friends, be kind to yourself and look out for others.