Trail map
Published by Panorama Mountain Village Inc., panorama by James Niehues; this copy via Panorama Mountain Resort. The current official map is at Panorama Mountain Village Inc..
Routable 3D map
The whole lift and piste network of Panorama is routable in the app: difficulty limits, live lift and piste status, alternative ways to the same place, and a 3D view of the terrain.
Open in SkiAllDayThe verdict
Panorama is a single connected ski area above Invermere, British Columbia, in the Purcell Mountains, locally owned by Panorama Mountain Village Inc. since 2010 and on the Ikon Pass. The operator markets a 1,300 m (4,265 ft) vertical drop across 2,975 patrolled acres and 135 named trails; our own routing graph independently measures a near-identical 1,144–2,445 m span, corroborating the marketed figure almost exactly. Only 10 lifts (plus a 13-passenger snowcat into the newest terrain) serve that ground: 95 km of measured piste against 14.7 km of lift line, one of the sparsest lift networks in this batch, meaning long runs between rides rather than quick laps. Taynton Bowl, patrolled and avalanche-controlled rather than backcountry, is the main draw for advanced skiers; only 8% of the network is reachable without crossing a harder run, so first-timers are better served sticking to the dedicated Discovery Zone than exploring on their own.1234
Goes well for
- Advanced and expert skiers with a full day to spend: the operator grades 30% of its acreage double-black and another 20% black, concentrated in Taynton Bowl and the Extreme Dream Zone, and our own graph finds a 9.2 km longest continuous descent with 1,277 m of vertical, more than the operator's own headline 6.5 km longest-run figure.
- Skiers who want patrolled, avalanche-controlled terrain that still feels like backcountry: Taynton Bowl opened in 2001 as "in-bounds backcountry-style terrain" and needs no avalanche gear or guide, only a check of the gate signage for that day's conditions.
- A quiet mountain: 95 km of piste spread across only 10 lifts keeps skier density low away from the Mile 1 and Champagne base lifts, at the cost of longer runs between rides.
Goes badly for
- Anyone without a car: Panorama is 311 km (about 4 hours) from Calgary International Airport and 161 km (about 2 hours) from the smaller Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook, with no passenger rail and no scheduled day-tripper shuttle beyond winter transfers the resort itself arranges from Calgary.
- Beginners exploring past the marked learning zone: our own graph finds only 8% of the piste network reachable without descending something harder than an easy run, and the dedicated Discovery Zone runs off a standard-speed quad rather than a high-speed lift.
- Skiers chasing a guaranteed powder day: community reports repeatedly describe the snow as inconsistent from one visit to the next, and the operator's own 520 cm annual average is well below the wetter interior ranges around Revelstoke and Rogers Pass to the west.
Key facts
Every card opens. The headline number is the answer; underneath is how it was measured and where it came from.
Elevation 1,300m vertical · 1,150–2,450 m
| Village | 1,150 m1 |
|---|---|
| Lowest piste | 1,150 m1 |
| Highest lift-served point | 2,450 m1 |
| Vertical drop | 1,300 m |
The operator's own mountain-stats page gives a base of 1,150 m (3,773 ft), a summit of 2,450 m (8,038 ft) and a marketed vertical drop of 1,300 m (4,265 ft), one of the largest in North America by that measure. Skiresort.com's independent figures disagree more than the usual rounding gap — a 2,365 m summit and a 1,215 m vertical — and 2,365 m happens to match the elevation of Summit Hut (7,759 ft) almost exactly, suggesting that site's "summit" figure is really the top day-lodge rather than the actual top of the lift network. Our own routing graph, built independently from OpenStreetMap, finds a highest mapped node at 2,445 m and a lowest at 1,144 m, a 1,301 m span that corroborates the operator's own 1,300 m figure almost exactly rather than the aggregator's lower one. The village sits at the same elevation as the lift base.
Pistes 112km 95 km measured from the network
- Easy 31.2km 28%
- Intermediate 24.8km 22%
- Difficult 56km 50%
Marketed vs measuredPanorama markets its terrain in acres, not piste kilometres, like every North American resort on this site: 2,975 patrolled acres across 135 named trails, split by the operator's own four-tier system as 15% beginner, 35% intermediate, 20% advanced and 30% expert. That 2,975-acre total is a real running total, not a round marketing number — it is the roughly 2,847 acres the resort carried after a 16.2-acre 2016 Taynton Bowl glading project, plus the 128-acre "Where the Wild Things Are" expansion opened in 2020, and Taynton Bowl's 750 patrolled acres are counted inside that total rather than added on top. Skiresort.com's independent conversion to piste kilometres finds 112 km, split 31.2 km easy, 24.8 km intermediate and 56 km difficult (28/22/50%), a noticeably more advanced-heavy picture than most of this site's measured splits, consistent with half the operator's own acreage being graded black or double-black. Our own measurement of the OpenStreetMap network finds 95.0 km of marked piste on one connected component, about 15% below skiresort.com's figure and in line with the gap this site typically finds between a marketed and a measured total.
Lifts 10 7 types in the fleet
- Express quad 2
- Magic carpet 2
- Quad 2
- Double 1
- Gondola 1
- Platter 1
- Triple 1
The operator counts 10 lifts: a village gondola, two express quads (Mile 1 and Champagne), two standard-speed quads, a triple, a double, a platter and two magic carpets in the beginner Discovery Zone. Our own routing graph counts the same lift network and measures 14.7 km of total lift line — against 95 km of measured piste, a piste-to-lift ratio of 6.45, one of the sparsest lift networks in this batch and far higher than a resort like Vail's 2.54. A separate 13-passenger snowcat, Monster X, carries paying riders (about C$15 a trip) into the newer terrain beyond Taynton Bowl's gates; it is not counted among the 10 lifts and does not appear in the piste-to-lift figure.1
Season December – April winter season
| Winter season | early December – mid-April |
|---|---|
| Lift hours | 09:00–16:00 |
Day pass CAD 179 adult, main season
| Adult | CAD 1796 |
|---|---|
| Youth | CAD — |
| Child | CAD — |
| Multi-resort passes | Ikon Pass (2026/27): C$1,889 for age 23+, including 7 days at Panorama; blackout dates (Dec 24, 2025–Jan 4, 2026 and Feb 13–15, 2026) apply only to the passholder lodging discount, not to ski days, per the operator's own page. Ikon Base Pass (2026/27): C$1,279 for age 23+, including 5 days at Panorama. Panorama SnowCard: a locally sold multi-day product in Anytime, Restricted and Midweek tiers, cheaper per day than window lift tickets but requiring the days to be pre-purchased. |
Panorama sells a two-tier day-ticket structure rather than fully dynamic pricing: a lower rate for buying online in advance and a higher window/holiday rate, with peak-holiday pricing applying December 24, 2025–January 4, 2026 and February 14–16, 2026. A single adult day ticket for 2025/26 ran C$179 bought online against C$199 at the window on a holiday date; youth (13–17) ran C$155/$174 and child (6–12) ran C$80/$90 on the same basis. All tickets require a one-time C$5 RFID card. Panorama also sells its own multi-day SnowCard products (from C$79.80 a day on a midweek-only 5-day card up to C$126.33 a day on a fully flexible 3-day card) for repeat local visitors, alongside the Ikon Pass.
Nearest airport about 2 hours Canadian Rockies International Airport (Cranbrook)
| Canadian Rockies International Airport (Cranbrook) | about 2 hours by car |
|---|---|
| Calgary International Airport | about 4 hours by car |
Panorama sits 311 km from Calgary International Airport by the operator's own figure, a drive of roughly 4 hours: west on the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff, then southwest on Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park to Radium Hot Springs, before joining Highway 93/95 north to Invermere and the resort's own access road. Community reports describe the Castle Junction–Radium stretch of that route as having no services and unreliable cellular coverage, with compact snow and frequent wildlife on the road; a Banff-only day trip is shorter but still runs 2–2.5 hours each way by community reports, and mixed mountain weather has stretched the full Calgary run to nearly 5 hours. Winter tires or chains are effectively mandatory on this route. Day skiers park in Lot 2 or 3 and cross a bridge on foot to the open-air Village Gondola; the upper lot is small and not set up for equipment drop-offs.
The mountain
These figures come from measuring the resort's actual piste and lift network rather than from its brochure. Measured from the SkiAllDay routing graph on 9 September 2026. Where the resort publishes a figure of its own, that figure is the one shown.
Piste km per lift km
6.45
Piste km opened by each kilometre of lift line. It measures how sparse the lift network is, not how good it is: a high figure means long runs off few lifts, so more skiing between rides but more traversing and more people funnelled onto each lift; a low one means dense lift service, quick laps and short waits, at the cost of repeating the same runs.
measuredLift minutes per ski hour
16 min
Time riding up for every hour spent descending, from the graph’s own traversal times.
measuredLongest continuous descent
9.2 km
The longest run of linked pistes that never rides a lift.
measuredReachable on easy runs only
8%
Share of piste a skier can reach from the base without ever descending something harder than an easy run.
measuredNorth-facing terrain
71%
Piste facing N, NE or NW, from the bearing of each descent. Shaded aspects hold snow longest.
measuredVertical on that descent
1,277 m
measuredUphill on surface lifts
4%
Share of climbing served by drag lifts and platters, weighted by vertical rather than by lift count.
measuredPiste above 2,500 m
0%
measuredMedian piste altitude
1,709 m
Half the piste length lies above this height and half below, weighted by length.
measuredSkiers per piste km
59
At full lift capacity — a ceiling for comparing resorts, not a forecast of your day. Derived from uphill capacity, lift ride times and the split between riding and descending.
measuredAverage lift capacity
1,332/h
People per hour, averaged across lifts. High can mean short queues, or a lot of people arriving on the same runs.
measuredMean piste gradient
28%
Length-weighted across every piste. Comparable between countries in a way that piste colour is not.
measuredPiste measured
95.0 km
measuredLift length measured
14.7 km
measuredHow steep is it, really
Piste colour is set by each resort under its own rules, so a red in one country is a blue in another. Measured gradient is comparable everywhere.
- 11% 0–10%
- 23% 10–20%
- 23% 20–30%
- 22% 30–40%
- 22% 40%+
Guide
One connected mountain above Panorama Village, served by 10 lifts and, for the newest terrain, a paid snowcat. The groomed front side and Sun Bowl carry most of the intermediate cruising; Taynton Bowl and the Extreme Dream Zone carry most of the operator's advanced and expert-graded acreage. Our own routing graph confirms this is a single connected network, not several areas sharing a ticket.
The front side: Mile 1 and Champagne
The Village Gondola and Mile 1 Express rise from the base, feeding the groomed cruising runs that make up most of the operator's intermediate-graded terrain, including Show Off. Champagne Express reaches Skyline and Rollercoaster, a real step up in pace and pitch from Show Off for a progressing intermediate. This side of the mountain also carries the beginner Discovery Zone, with two magic carpets and a standard-speed quad rather than a high-speed lift.1
Sun Bowl: the sunnier, mellower half
Served by the Toby and Sunbird lifts, Sun Bowl catches more direct sun than the main mountain or Founder's Ridge and carries groomed intermediate runs including Sunseeker, Sunna, Stump Farm and Marker's Mark. It reads as the calmer option on a cold, clear day, at the cost of a long, largely flat ski-out back to the lifts serving it.1
Taynton Bowl: patrolled, not backcountry
Taynton Bowl opened progressively from 1999 to its official 2001 debut as what the resort calls in-bounds backcountry-style terrain: 750 acres of exclusively black-diamond and double-black-diamond skiing, avalanche-controlled and patrolled daily, reached through four gates on different aspects of the ridge rather than by hiking or riding a cat. No avalanche gear or guide is required to enter, only a check of that day's posted conditions at the gate, a real distinction from the sidecountry some visitors go looking for nearby, where a Panorama forecaster has told visitors there is not much to find immediate to the resort. A 16.2-acre glading project added to the bowl in 2016.378
Beyond the gates: Monster X and "Where the Wild Things Are"
A separate, paid 13-passenger snowcat, Monster X, carries riders beyond Taynton Bowl's gates into "Where the Wild Things Are," a 128-acre expansion opened for the 2020/21 season with four new double-black runs: The Monster, Get Out!, Spectre and Ridgeback. Unlike the gate-accessed bowl itself, this terrain is cat-served only, typically on weekends, and tickets are sold separately from the lift pass.9
A sparse lift network for the ground it covers
Our own routing graph measures 95.0 km of piste against 14.7 km of lift line, a piste-to-lift ratio of 6.45, one of the highest, meaning sparsest, lift networks measured on this site so far, well above a resort like Vail's 2.54. In practice that means long runs between lift rides rather than quick laps, more traversing to reach outlying terrain, and rider concentration on the few lifts that exist, particularly Mile 1 near the base. It also means the mountain rarely feels crowded once skiers spread out beyond the base lifts.2
| Skier | Verdict | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Confident intermediate | excellent | Skyline and Rollercoaster off Champagne Express are a real step up from the front side's easier cruisers, and 95 km of measured piste on a single connected network gives several days without repeating a run, at the cost of a sparse, 10-lift network that means more traversing and lapping between runs than a resort with denser lift coverage.21 |
| Advanced or expert skier | excellent | The operator grades 30% of its acreage double-black and another 20% black, concentrated in Taynton Bowl's patrolled, avalanche-controlled 750 acres and the Extreme Dream Zone's 200-plus acres of double-black terrain. Our own graph finds a 9.2 km longest continuous descent with 1,277 m of vertical, longer than the operator's own headline 6.5 km longest-run figure, and the paid Monster X snowcat reaches a further 128 acres beyond the bowl's own gates.129 |
| Second-week skier | good | Show Off beneath Mile 1 gives an easy groomed introduction, and Sun Bowl's Sunseeker, Sunna, Stump Farm and Marker's Mark add a sunnier, mellower intermediate zone away from the main mountain, useful room to progress before meeting the steeper terrain that makes up half the operator's graded acreage.1 |
| First-timer | fair | The operator grades 15% of its acreage beginner and runs a dedicated Discovery Zone with two magic carpets and its own quad chair, but that chair is a standard-speed lift rather than a high-speed one. Our own routing measurement finds only 8% of the whole network reachable without ever descending something harder than an easy run, one of the lowest figures measured on this site, so a first-timer is better served staying inside the Discovery Zone than trying to explore.12 |
| Family with children | fair | Panorama Springs, the largest complex of heated slope-side pools in Canada, and the Toby Pool in the lower village are real family draws, but both are restricted to overnight lodging guests. A TripAdvisor review describes the upper parking lot as too small for day-visiting families, with attendants redirecting them to lower parking and declining equipment drop-offs, which adds real friction to a day trip with young children.10 |
| Skier without a car | poor | Panorama is 311 km from Calgary International Airport, its main gateway, and 161 km from the smaller Cranbrook airport; there is no passenger rail, and beyond the resort's own seasonal winter transfers from Calgary there is no regular scheduled shuttle. A visit here effectively requires a rental car or a pre-booked private transfer.11 |
By car
Panorama sits 311 km from Calgary International Airport by the operator's own figure, a drive of roughly 4 hours: west on the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff, then southwest on Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park to Radium Hot Springs, before joining Highway 93/95 north to Invermere and the resort's own access road. Community reports describe the Castle Junction–Radium stretch of that route as having no services and unreliable cellular coverage, with compact snow and frequent wildlife on the road; a Banff-only day trip is shorter but still runs 2–2.5 hours each way by community reports, and mixed mountain weather has stretched the full Calgary run to nearly 5 hours. Winter tires or chains are effectively mandatory on this route. Day skiers park in Lot 2 or 3 and cross a bridge on foot to the open-air Village Gondola; the upper lot is small and not set up for equipment drop-offs.
By train
There is no passenger rail service to Panorama, Invermere or the Columbia Valley; Via Rail's nearest routes run well north and west of the region.
Where to base yourself
| Panorama Village | The resort's own base at 1,150 m, with the Village Gondola and Mile 1 Express both starting here |
|---|---|
| Invermere 21 km | The nearest full town, with supermarkets the village's own General Store does not match |
| Radium Hot Springs 35 km | A smaller Highway 93/95 town, an alternative lodging base compared against Invermere and Fairmont by frequent visitors |
| Canadian Rockies International Airport (Cranbrook, YXC) 161 km | The nearer of the two airports, with fewer scheduled flights than Calgary |
| Calgary International Airport (YYC) 311 km | About 4 hours by road via Banff and the Kootenay Parkway; the resort itself runs winter airport transfers from here |
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Summit Hut
At 7,759 ft, the highest food service on the mountain: bratwurst, chili, burgers and Mexican street tacos, plus specialty coffees and hot chocolates that regular visitors recommend stopping for even on a day with no time for a full lunch.12
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Elkhorn Cabin
A smaller mid-mountain stop serving soups, baked treats and raclette, the Swiss melted-cheese grill.13
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T-Bar & Grill
A base-area burgers-and-comfort-food stop; a 2025 visitor priced chicken fingers at C$29.99, well above the braised beef ribs at Greywolf's clubhouse restaurant for only slightly more.13
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Alto Kitchen & Bar
A Forno Bravo pizza oven anchors an Italian menu of pizza, sharing platters and mains, rated tastier and broader than T-Bar by at least one regular visitor.13
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Cliffhanger Restaurant, Greywolf Clubhouse
A full-service dining room in the golf clubhouse, a short drive or 20-minute walk from the village, recommended over the village's own quick-service options for a proper dinner.13
What skiers say
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Use Mile 1 mainly to leave the base, then move beyond the central groomers because Mile 1—and sometimes Champagne during race training—is Panorama's only recurring lift bottleneck.1415
A snowHeads thread from November 2009 put normal weekend Mile 1 waits at roughly two minutes, and an r/skiing thread from January 2023 described peak-holiday queues of no more than about five minutes; the outlying and expert terrain remains much quieter.
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On a powder morning, ski the glades directly below Summit Chair first, then move into Taynton Bowl after those lift-served trees become tracked and mogulled.16
A February 2026 r/snowboarding thread comparing Revelstoke and Panorama noted the Summit-chair glades went icy within hours, while Taynton still held powder three days after the storm.
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If you want Monster X, schedule Panorama for a weekend and collect the cat ticket the previous afternoon or during lunch rather than joining the morning Guest Services queue.16
That same February 2026 r/snowboarding thread reported the cat as weekend-only and described long morning waits at Guest Services; operating days can change, so verify the current schedule.
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When wind closes the upper and middle lifts, switch to Sunbird instead of persisting with a slowed Mile 1 Express, and use the lunch lull if Mile 1 is unavoidable.17
A thread on the Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums titled "Panorama, BC February 26, 2026" described a wind event in which only the bottom lifts carried guests; Mile 1 ran at half speed while Sunbird delivered more efficient vertical despite occasional stops.
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As a day skier, plan to use the lower parking area and carry your equipment over the bridge to the slow, open-air Village Gondola rather than expecting an upper-base drop-off.18
A TripAdvisor review from December 2020 described the upper lot as very small, with attendants sending families to lower parking and declining equipment drop-offs — especially cumbersome with small children.
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Only start at the Sunbird or Sun Bowl side if every skier already has a working RFID pass, because the satellite ticket window may open later than the lift.19
An AlpineZone forum thread from October 2023 on Ikon RFID activation described one early-December powder Saturday when the satellite ticket window opened at 10:00 with a single employee on duty, leaving a skier with an activation problem waiting about an hour; check current ticket-office hours before choosing this start.
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For a Banff day trip, allow at least 2–2.5 hours each way, leave before Saturday traffic builds, and enter Highway 93 with fuel, offline maps and emergency supplies.2021
An r/skiing thread from March 2026 on driving from Banff to Panorama in winter described the Castle Junction–Radium section as having no services or reliable cellular coverage, compact snow and abundant wildlife; a September 2024 AlpineZone trip report recorded mixed weather stretching one Calgary journey to almost five hours.
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Confirm the exact parking and ski-storage arrangements for your building before paying a slope-side premium.22
An r/ski thread from June 2025 comparing Panorama and Revelstoke described being assigned parking near the access road and needing about 20 minutes each way to transport skis, despite empty reserved lots beside the accommodation.
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For fast fall-line groomer laps, use Show Off beneath Mile 1 and Skyline and Rollercoaster from Champagne Express.2324
An r/skiing thread from March 2026 and a September 2024 Rise & Alpine mountain-guide review both singled these out as the dependable carving runs; Skyline and Rollercoaster are a meaningful step up from Show Off for a progressing intermediate.
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Use Sun Bowl for mellower intermediate skiing on a cold clear day, concentrating on groomed versions of Sunseeker, Sunna, Stump Farm and Marker's Mark.2523
A September 2022 r/skiing thread and the March 2026 r/skiing thread above both describe the bowl as sunnier and quieter than similarly coloured terrain on the main mountain or Founder's Ridge.
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In Taynton Bowl, continue along the ridge to C-Spine and descend via Stinger, or walk a little beyond the Monster X drop-off, instead of taking the first obvious entrance.16
The same February 2026 r/snowboarding thread noted that Heliface through Ktunaxa funnels into the narrow, heavily mogulled Funnel, and that both the longer ridge traverse to C-Spine and a short walk beyond the Monster X cat unload produced fewer tracks.
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After a modest snowfall, take Get Me Down to its first switchback, walk toward the farther half of Taynton and try White Tail for a sheltered north-facing line.26
A February 2015 trip report on the Liftlines Skiing and Snowboarding Forums recorded patrol recommending this route; White Tail's aspect and scattered trees preserved a forgiving subsurface when other ungroomed terrain was marginal.
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For sustained bumps choose Stumbock's or Tacky, while Black Bear, Tree Time and Hideaway offer lower-profile tree alternatives close to the central lifts.2728
An undated snowHeads thread describes Stumbock's as a long black bump run and Tacky as having exceptionally large moguls; a separate snowHeads thread from November 2010 describes Black Bear as a narrow wooded gully only yards from the main groomers.
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On Gun Barrel, stay left to bypass the cliff before entering the glades, and consider Pi only if you are comfortable with a tight, aggressive tree entrance.16
The same February 2026 r/snowboarding thread offered these as local-style recommendations for riders seeking steep trees without mandatory drops; conditions and exact lines still warrant inspection from above.
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Buy a trip's worth of groceries in Invermere before climbing to Panorama rather than relying on the village General Store.2825
A November 2010 snowHeads thread and a September 2022 r/skiing thread both describe the resort's General Store as understocked and expensive, while Invermere has full supermarkets; this matters because most slope-side condos have kitchens.
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For a paid village lunch choose Alto over T-Bar, and consider the Greywolf clubhouse restaurant for a proper dinner.2522
The September 2022 r/skiing thread found Alto tastier with a broader menu, while the June 2025 r/ski thread reported C$29.99 chicken fingers at T-Bar and much better braised beef ribs at Greywolf for only slightly more.
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Compare accommodation in Invermere, Radium and Fairmont before booking the village, but price the hill's immediate lift access and pool access separately rather than assuming either is included.2522
The September 2022 r/skiing thread found town lodging often cheaper, whereas satisfied village guests value the short ski commute; the June 2025 r/ski thread reported that an expensive village room still came with remote parking and weak service.
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If your trip also includes Lake Louise, RED or Castle, compare the current Lake Louise Plus Card against Panorama window tickets before buying.29
An r/alberta thread from September 2023 on the cost of skiing reported that a fourth cumulative Lake Louise Plus Card visit produced a free Panorama day; benefits and sequencing change by season, so confirm the current terms.
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If buying one on-mountain treat, make it a hot drink at Summit Hut rather than planning a full day around the limited mid-mountain food choices.2530
The September 2022 r/skiing thread recommends the summit coffee or hot chocolate at Summit Hut for the view, while an r/Ikonpass thread from February 2025 found few mid-mountain choices and encountered a booked restaurant and a bar cover charge.
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Do not assume Panorama's blue rating means an easy intermediate run; test yourself on Show Off and the Mile 1 terrain before committing to main-mountain or Founder's Ridge blues.2315
The March 2026 r/skiing thread and a January 2023 r/skiing thread both found the ratings inconsistent and several blues unusually steep or icy, while Discovery is genuinely easy but served by a very slow chair and Sun Bowl is generally mellower.
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Do not let Upper Schober's Dream force you out of a Sun Bowl visit when it is too steep or firm; enter Canadian Way from the far side of the Summit-chair base instead.23
In the March 2026 r/skiing thread, a self-described Panorama homeowner identified this as the easier access, followed by Sun Bowl Trail; the return still includes a long, flat ski-out to Outrider and Sunbird Triple.
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Do not treat Taynton Bowl as a quick lap, because its narrow exit can exceed two miles and returning to Summit may require three lifts.3121
An r/snowboarding thread from December 2023 calls the exit exhausting or icy, although the September 2024 AlpineZone trip report found no difficulty; conserve energy and speed before Taynton Trail and Landing Strip.
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Do not interpret reassurance about a cliff-free Taynton route as applying to every double-black line in Taynton or the Extreme Dream Zone.311632
The December 2023 r/snowboarding thread says selected entries have no cliffs, the February 2026 r/snowboarding thread identifies an avoidable cliff on Gun Barrel and highly variable Taynton difficulty, and a January 2026 r/snowboarding thread on Monster X mentions steep trees, rocks, creeks and a difficult exit.
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Do not leave the boundary expecting obvious lift-accessed touring when Taynton already provides the resort's inbounds backcountry-style experience.3330
An r/Backcountry thread from February 2026 on ski touring near Panorama quoted a visitor who spoke with Panorama's lead forecaster and was told there is not much immediate sidecountry from the resort; a February 2025 r/Ikonpass thread reached the same conclusion. Anyone seeking genuine touring should obtain local route and avalanche information rather than improvising from the trail map.
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Keep Panorama dates flexible and examine the previous two or three weeks of snowfall and webcams before committing, because the resort often sits in a Purcell weather shadow.2234
The June 2025 r/ski thread calls the snow unreliable, while a December 2021 r/skiing thread reports excellent seasons and long-lasting powder; the common ground across both is that conditions matter here more than the calendar.
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During a warm or spring day, concentrate on the upper third rather than judging the whole mountain from the village conditions.21
The September 2024 AlpineZone trip report recorded an April visit with spring mush around the 3,800-foot base while the approximately 7,756-foot summit still held midwinter powder, demonstrating how sharply conditions can change over Panorama's vertical.
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On the second or third day after snowfall, prioritize Taynton Bowl and the Extreme Dream Zone over groomers and Summit-chair glades.1635
The February 2026 r/snowboarding thread and a March 2026 r/skiing thread on double-black difficulty both found groomers icy again within about 24 hours and the lift-served glades tracked quickly, yet continued finding Taynton powder stashes three days later.
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On a firm freeze-thaw day, avoid early Founder's Ridge and wait for the sun to soften Sun Bowl while following the grooming report.213637
The September 2024 AlpineZone trip report and an undated Newschoolers thread both found Founder's Ridge icy from its aspect and freeze-melt cycle; a February 2024 r/snowboarding thread recommended Sun Bowl as the sunnier option that improves later in the day.
History
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1962
Fritz Zehnder and Guy Messerli establish the resort's present location, with a warming hut, a rope tow up what is still called "Old Timer", and a parking lot.8
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1968
Twelve local businessmen form Panorama Ski Hill Company Ltd.8
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1975
The Horizon Chair is installed, extending the vertical to 3,200 ft.8
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1978
Calgary-based Cascade Development Group, led by Alan Graham, buys the resort.84
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1984
The Champagne T-Bar is added to serve what the operator's own history dates as the resort's first Men's World Cup Downhill; Wikipedia's account instead puts Panorama's first World Cup races, a men's downhill and Super G, in 1985; the two sources disagree by a year.84
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1993
I.W. Resorts Limited Partnership, an Intrawest subsidiary, buys the resort.84
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1995
The Extreme Dream Zone opens, adding more than 200 acres of double-black-diamond terrain.8
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2001
Taynton Bowl officially opens as in-bounds backcountry-style terrain, after a limited first opening in the 1999/2000 season.83
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2007
Panorama hosts a women's giant slalom and slalom, its eleventh and final FIS World Cup races since 1985.4
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2010
On February 26, a group of local investors buys the resort back into community ownership, forming Panorama Mountain Village Inc.84
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2015
Panorama hosts the IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships (Para-alpine).4
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2016
A C$120,000 glading project adds 16.2 acres to Taynton Bowl, bringing the resort's total to roughly 2,847 patrolled acres.7
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2020
"Where the Wild Things Are", a 128-acre expansion served by the new 13-passenger Monster X snowcat, opens beyond Taynton Bowl's gates with four double-black runs: The Monster, Get Out!, Spectre and Ridgeback.9
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2022
Panorama hosts the World Junior Alpine Championships.4
Nearby and comparable
- Lake Louise
Also reachable via the Kootenay Parkway/Highway 93 corridor from Banff; a Lake Louise Plus Card visit can convert into a free Panorama day under season-specific terms.
- Revelstoke
A four-to-five-hour drive further into the BC interior, with roughly double Panorama's annual snowfall and a far denser lift network for its size.
- Big White
A similarly family-oriented Okanagan resort, but with a much larger dedicated beginner and low-intermediate terrain share than Panorama's own 8% easy-reachable network.
- Silver Star
Another interior BC resort with a colourful, walkable village similar in spirit to Panorama's own, though smaller in skiable terrain.
- Sun Peaks
Canada's second-largest ski area by terrain, on the same Ikon Pass tier as Panorama but with a denser lift network relative to its piste length.
- Whistler Blackcomb
The benchmark for scale in BC skiing, with several times Panorama's lift count and piste length, and correspondingly heavier crowds.
Questions
How big is Panorama, and how does the terrain break down?
Panorama's operator counts 2,975 patrolled acres across 135 named trails, split by its own four-tier rating as 15% beginner, 35% intermediate, 20% advanced and 30% expert. Converted to piste kilometres by skiresort.com, that is 112 km split 31.2 km easy, 24.8 km intermediate and 56 km difficult. Our own measurement of the OpenStreetMap network finds 95.0 km of marked piste on one connected component.152
Is Panorama's marketed 1,300 m vertical real?
Yes. The operator markets a 1,150–2,450 m, 1,300 m vertical range, and our own routing graph, built independently from OpenStreetMap, finds a highest mapped node at 2,445 m and a lowest at 1,144 m, a 1,301 m span that corroborates the marketed figure almost exactly. A separate aggregator, skiresort.com, publishes a lower 1,215 m figure built on a 2,365 m summit that appears to be Summit Hut's own elevation rather than the actual top of the lift network.125
What is Taynton Bowl, and do I need special gear to ski it?
Taynton Bowl is 750 acres of exclusively black-diamond and double-black-diamond terrain that opened officially in 2001. It is avalanche-controlled and patrolled daily and reached through gates on the ridge, not by hiking into uncontrolled ground, so no avalanche gear or guide is required, only a check of the conditions posted at the gate that day. A separate, paid 13-passenger snowcat, Monster X, carries riders beyond the bowl's own gates into a further 128 acres of double-black terrain opened in 2020; that cat-served ground is a different product from the gate-accessed bowl itself.389
Is Panorama good for beginners?
Partially. The operator grades 15% of its acreage beginner and runs a dedicated Discovery Zone with two magic carpets and its own quad chair, but that chair is a standard-speed lift rather than a high-speed one. Our own routing measurement finds only 8% of the whole network reachable without ever descending something harder than an easy run, one of the lowest figures measured on this site, so a first-timer is better served staying inside the Discovery Zone than trying to explore the wider mountain.12
How do you get to Panorama, and how long is the drive?
Calgary International Airport is 311 km away by the operator's own figure, roughly a 4-hour drive west on the Trans-Canada Highway through Banff and then Highway 93 through Kootenay National Park to Radium Hot Springs. The smaller Canadian Rockies International Airport in Cranbrook is 161 km away, about 2 hours. There is no passenger rail service into the Columbia Valley, and beyond the resort's own seasonal winter transfers from Calgary there is no regular scheduled shuttle for day skiers.11
What does a lift ticket cost at Panorama, and is it on the Ikon Pass?
For 2025/26, a single adult day ticket ran C$179 bought online in advance or C$199 at the window on a peak-holiday date, plus a one-time C$5 RFID card. Panorama is on the Ikon Pass, which for 2026/27 costs C$1,889 (full pass, age 23+) for 7 days at the resort or C$1,279 (Ikon Base) for 5 days; the pass's blackout dates apply only to the passholder lodging discount, not to ski days, per the operator's own page.638
References
Every claim on this page carries a numbered marker linking here, and every reference links back to the passages that used it. Numbers not yet checked against a source are marked like this.
- 1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Mountain Stats & Figures
- 2. ^ a b c d e f g h SkiAllDay routing graph, computed from OpenStreetMap
- 3. ^ a b c d Panorama Expands Taynton Bowl & Enhances Accessibility
- 4. ^ a b c d e f g h Panorama Mountain Resort
- 5. ^ a b c Ski resort Panorama
- 6. ^ a b Winter Lift Tickets
- 7. ^ a b Panorama Expands Taynton Bowl
- 8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k History of Panorama
- 9. ^ a b c d Monstrous Expansion Unveiled at Panorama Mountain Resort
- 10. ^ Panorama Springs Pools
- 11. ^ a b Getting Here
- 12. ^ Summit Hut
- 13. ^ a b c d 2024/25 Winter Dining and Takeout Guide
- 14. ^ Panorama mid Feb?
- 15. ^ a b Views from Panorama, BC this past weekend!
- 16. ^ a b c d e f Best Spots Revelstoke and Panorama?
- 17. ^ Panorama, BC February 26, 2026
- 18. ^ Expected more!
- 19. ^ IKON & RFID | Page 2
- 20. ^ Banff to Panorama in winter snow
- 21. ^ a b c d Ikon BC trip
- 22. ^ a b c d Panorama or Revelstoke
- 23. ^ a b c d Panorama for a beginner intermediate skier?
- 24. ^ Panorama Ski Resort Review & Mountain Guide
- 25. ^ a b c d e Tips & tricks for visiting Panorama in BC for the first time?
- 26. ^ Panorama, B.C., Feb. 27, 2015
- 27. ^ Panorama Mountain any good
- 28. ^ a b Will I like Panorama? (I hope so.....): I'm back and I did :-)
- 29. ^ Cost of Ski/snowboarding
- 30. ^ a b Panorama Trip Report
- 31. ^ a b Panorama Taynton Bowl
- 32. ^ Panorama Monster X Skiing
- 33. ^ Ski touring near Panorama, canada
- 34. ^ SUN PEAKS OR PANORAMA
- 35. ^ Panorama Double Black Difficulty vs. Other Resorts Question
- 36. ^ Panorama
- 37. ^ Panorama conditions?
- 38. ^ The Ikon Pass at Panorama
Page last updated 9 September 2026.