It’s an annual tradition – hike up the mountain, buy an icecream (there’s a restaurant on top!) and take the gondola ride down. Wait a minute – 8 minute gondola ride up versus two hour hike – why hoof it?

Re-read the first line! It’s a tradition, one we started when our daughter was really young and a treat at the top, superlative views, and a gondola ride down were great motivators. The Sulphur Mountain Gondola is no longer free from the top for tourist trekkers, but the hike is still a yearly favourite for my family.

From the town of Banff, in the heart of the National Park with the same name, drive four kilometres up the hill towards the Upper Hot Springs and park in the hot springs parking lot, just past the Rimrock Hotel. If you park in the lower gondola parking lot, you’ll have a little extra elevation to begin the hike.

Walk towards the pool and just at the corner of the parking lot, you’ll see the wide gravel path leading uphill towards your destination. If there’s not a sign warning you that the gondola ride is no longer free from the top, then you’re not on the right trail!

After a short steep pitch, the mostly forested trail begins an easier zigzag up the mountain, occasionally crossing underneath gondola cars whizzing up and down the hillside. It won’t be a solitary hike – Sulphur Mountain Trail is popular because of its relative ease and proximity to Banff – but you will begin to feel like you’re getting away from it all as you approach the midway point and the remains of the wooden hut that used to shelter early visitors.

Meteorologist and museum curator Norman Sanson hiked and snowshoed up the trail once a week for almost thirty years in his job monitoring weather from 1903 onwards. His goal was small stone hut perched at the summit, of what is now called Sanson Peak. Today’s hikers summit at the gondola, skirt around the building and follow a wooden walkway for about another ½ km to reach the same stone hut.

From this lofty height, visitors have endless views of the Bow Valley, including the Bow River, the town of Banff, Tunnel Mountain, the Rundle Range, Goat Creek and over to Cory and Edith Pass and beyond. And it’s a great place to get a chuckle as you hear the occasional gondola rider whining about the hike (60 m elevation gain) up to top!

Sulphur Mountain Trail Facts:
Distance – 5.5 km one way
Elevation gain – 655 m
Time – Depends on your hiking abilities (usually in the 2 to 3 hour range)