CanuckFlyHigh

I have skiied LL about 20 days this year. They have had a fantastic snow year, and have a great base. Second week of April is always a crapshoot, however if I had to guess, you are going to have amazing days. Spring skiing in LL is my absolutely favorite. It is almost always a bluebird sky, sunny, warm, and the snow is soft/slushy enough that it really grabs you still. And the views in the spring are tough to beat!

pickles1107

We really enjoyed our stay here. The meals we had at the hotel were also very good. Great meal at the Fairview, and also really tasty meal at the Lakeview Lounge. We ordered room service breakfast one day that was only decent. What is up with the fake egg stuff hotels use for scrambled eggs? Benedict was pretty good but the english muffin was overdone.

We got really great service from Danielle at the concierge desk. Read the signs in the elevator for the daily activities. We enjoyed an afternoon of free snowshoeing on old school wooden snowshoes from the boathouse.

We ate a meal at the Station down the road. Neat place with cool photos showing the chateau from the early 1900s, but the food was only okay.

Go to the trailhead cafe down the hill for cheap breakfast and lunch - fantastic! Good lattes also.

I only skied for 3 hours the day we left. Conditions were pretty good. It snowed a few inches two nights before. I was surprised on a few black runs near the top to find bare earth. One of the black runs on the front side about halfway down (Men's downhill) was extremely icy.

escape4

Which room type should I be looking for to use a free night cert? Only "Fairmont", or is "Fairmont Mountain View" also eligible for a free night? If only the lake view room is available, can I use a free night cert and pay the cash value difference between the fairmont room and the lake view room, in effect making this a "cash and cert" booking?

Edited to add: I called and they confirmed that the free night cert can be used for a Fairmont room or a Fairmont Mountain View room. Not the lake view room.

gnomey

After much frustration and whining , I finally managed to score a Fairmont MV room at CLL where I can apply for FN cert. I had the choice of second week of June or mid-Sep, and decided on the latter. I thought perhaps the former might be a gamble if ice on lake hasnt melted yet? Hope I made the right decision. Not sure if mid-Sep will allow me to see the changing colors of larch trees

Anyway, the CSR told me I can apply "suite upgrade" or "room upgrade" cert. Which one is a better deal? I dont see it as a 'waste' to use the certs, since I am not sure when would be the next time I stay in Fairmont hotel --- plus they will be taken over by Accor and things might change soon

Thank you in advance for any advice

Jasper2009

September is a great time to experience the Rockies!

A room upgrade cert would get you a Deluxe Mountain View room or a Lakeview room; I'd definitely recommend the latter.

A suite upgrade cert would get you a Jr. Suite, most likely with a Mountain View only.

But I'd contact the hotel directly to see what certs they'll allow you to use. THere have been some reports of the hotel allowing an upgrade to a Lake view Jr. Suite by stacking a room upgrade cert and a suite upgrade cert.

gnomey

Thank you!

So sounds like I have only one way of securing a Lakeview room, which is to use the 'room upgrade' cert

Interesting (re: the last paragraph). I didnt know it is possible to stack both upgrade certs. The phone CSR doesnt seem to indicate it is OK to use both at the same time.

She also said it's better to request for the upgrade, and attach the certs to the reservation now, to secure a guaranteed upgrade, rather than wait till the day of check in, at which time i would be subject to upgrade availability. I know the latter is true, but is the former statement true?

Jasper2009

Yes, definitely request the upgrade asap. The cert is only redeemed upon check-in, so there's no downside to applying it now (even if you end up changing/cancelling your res).

And I should've mentioned that you usually cannot stack certificates, and it's not something the FPC agent would be able to do. However, some properties have a more generous policy or make the occasional exception. I'd just send a friendly e-mail directly to the hotel asking whether there's a way to a get a Lakeview Jr. Suite using your certs (and include your FPC#) and see what happens.

gnomey

Great, thank you so much for the tip! Will email the hotel. Worst case they say no. Like you say, no penalty of securing everything now as if I am still going in mid-Sep. I still prefer to visit there earlier (e.g., July), but it's quite tough. I will continue checking periodically, and just changed the reservation if something opens up.

Random fun fact: I knew abt this hotel + lake since 8 yrs old bc I have a 1000 pieces jigsaw on it and have always wondered where this place was and not until many many yrs later, I found out it was Lake Louise @:-)

CanadaDH

September and June are both great months in Lake Louise. Which is better for you, depends on what you plan to do. Next to July and August, June and September are the most popular months there for tourism, so it must still be good!

June has the advantage of longer daylight hours, and scenery with a lot of snow still capping the mountains. You can tour for much longer in the day. It also has the disadvantage in that the alpine hiking trails will still have snow, and some may not be passable. If you plan is to mainly stay at lower elevations, then snow on the trail will not be a concern. I wouldn't worry about ice on Lake Louise by mid-June. Historically, the ice off is around the first week. It ranges from late May, and the record in recent years for the latest ice-off date is June 13. Higher elevation lakes, like Moraine, Agnes, Peyto or Bow, may hold their ice a week or two longer.

September is statistically a drier month, so better chance of clear skies for hiking, and less snow on trails. However, by the start of September, you will start to get fairly cold weather at higher elevations, and some snow blowing in (which typically doesn't last on the ground too long). Mid-September is still a bit too early for the changing of the larch trees, but it does vary each year depending on the weather. You might see some early signs of changes, but the tail end of the month is more likely to have the bright orange colours.

Personally, I'm going in mid-August this year. I even managed to score Lake O'Hara bus tickets for this trip after years of trying. I finally get to hike the famous Alpine Circuit there!

gnomey

Wow, didnt even know abt this Lake O'Hara. Have to read up more. Congrats to you!

Hmm, what you say pique my interest again for June. How soon does the lake turn to turquoise color after ice-off? It sounds like it needs one or a few weeks to achieve that

http://banffandbeyond.com/did-you-kn...aw-until-june/

my guess is based on some of the photos I see here (where there are half-broken ice floating around)

CanadaDH

The turquoise colour should be there within a week of ice off. It depends on the concentration of suspended rock flour, which can vary as the flow of water changes. To get an even more vibrant colour, hike one of the trails above it. Looking down on the lake vs. across it provides a very bright colour.

Here's a nice video of the Lake O'Hara area.


Basically, it's on the other side of Mt. Victoria behind Lake Louise. Parks Canada rigidly caps the number of visitors to the area to minimize impact. They run two busses per day, taking in a few dozen people. Anybody can hike in, but it's 12 km up and 12 km out a boring old fire road, just to get to the lake from where all the great hikes begin. Tickets for the entire season are normally gone in under a minute of the season's allotment going on sale. Now I just have to hope for good weather on the day for which I have tickets.

dc2005b

Does anyone have experience staying at CLL in October? Of course the weather is variable but I'm hoping to split my long weekend between CLL & Banff and explore the outdoors area solo (not with guides or tour companies), However since my visit will likely be after the Canadian Thanksgiving I'm wondering if I’ll find many restaurants and shops also on hiatus during the slow season before skiing starts?

For the rooms, I have Ovation Award Certificates for One Bedroom Suite or Gold Level room. I'm hoping to either pay upgrade to Lake View Suite or downgrade to Lakeview Junior Suite, there doesn’t appear to be a huge difference between rooms from looking at the website with both photo examples showing an alcove of sorts with windows to the lake, apart from square footage is there any huge advantage of 1BR versus Junior Lakeview Suites (especially in view: full versus partial, etc)?

Thanks for your advice!

CanadaDH

October is transition time. The Canadian Thanksgiving weekend is sort of the unofficial end of the summer season before places close for a break before gearing up for the winter season.

Depending on the weather, the last week of Sept and into first week of Oct is normally "larch season", when the larch trees in the subalpine are turning a vibrant yellow/orange. It is popular with hikers, particularly at Moraine Lake and Lake Louise. However, it is also getting cold, and snow is often on the ground at higher elevations.

If you're visiting after Thanksgiving, you will probably miss the Larch crowds but also the colours. The restaurants will certainly be open at the Chateau, but many other Banff businesses may very well be on a seasonal close.

I can't recall exactly when, but sometime in the late fall, the CLL closes the gold floor for an annual deep cleaning and round of maintenance upgrades. I think that is for a few weeks in November, but do check before selecting your dates if you wanted to upgrade to the gold floor.

The lakeview Junior Suites and the lakeview 1 Bed Suites should have a similar view. The 1 bed suites have 2 separate rooms, more windows, and sometimes a wider angle of view, because they are positioned where the building wings connect, and you can have windows in each room angled slightly differently. I wouldn't let that be a determining factor in your decision. The Junior Suite is pretty much a regular room with a bump-out area by the window.

CanadaDH

You might find this helpful in seeing the difference between rooms, junior suites and 1-bed suites. I took these photos from the floor plans on the back of my room door on some recent stays.

Below is a floor plan of the 5th floor of the main building.



The highlighted room, 519, is an example of a 1-bedroom suite. You can see how large it is, and how there are windows in slightly different directions. Not highlighted is the ensuite washroom at the back, which is also very large.

581 and 583 are examples of a junior suite, which you can see are only slightly larger than a regular room.

The image below is from the gold floor:



The layout is a bit different from the lower floors, with larger rooms. There are very few non-lakeview rooms on the gold floor.

dc2005b

Thanks for all the great information CanadaDH!

I see on the website some of the 1BR suites have what appears to be a decorative fireplace. Can you confirm if it is just decorative or are some functional?