Member Article: Snowboarding holiday in Banff

Taking the ‘Dive’ at Sunshine Village

Snowboarder and OutdoorsTravel.co.uk member Naeem Alvi took to the snow in Banff last season and found more adrenaline fuelled fun than he had bargained for. Enter the madness of Delirium Dive.

As I approach the gate, my eyes vaguely register the entry light change from red to green. Nearing the summit I feel a familiar mixture of nerves and excitement. My legs grow heavier, and my pulse quickens. Braving a look over the edge, I begin to wonder whether this really was such a grand idea…

Last Winter I was fortunate enough to spend the season in Banff, Canada. Delirium Dive is an extreme freeride zone at the local ski resort, Sunshine Village. In terms of annual snowfall, the season was slightly below average and it looked doubtful that the dive would actually be opened for public access. Fortunately, with some unexpected dumps later in the season, the area caught enough snow to be deemed ‘safe’. When I first saw the dive from the adjacent face of Goats Eye Mountain, I quickly dismissed the idea of taking it on. However, as the season progressed and the same old runs slowly lost their charm, a few of us started to grow restless. Eventually, our sense of ambition proved victorious. Working one evening, I received a text message saying, “Tomorrow morning lets rent some gear and take on the dive”. Never one to back down to a challenge, I tentatively accepted.

Trekking up to the Banff Springs Hotel, the following day I felt surprisingly optimistic. As a group of three, we rented our avi gear and jumped onto the bus.  The lone skier in our group, Michael, had already experienced Delirium the day before, which provided a calming sense of, 'well, if he can do it, I’m sure I can.' Stepping through the safety gate, we were quickly approached by another Skier who asked if he could join us. A strict rule of riding in this area is to always travel in pairs. An idea that we readily accepted when we discovered that our new member was something of a veteran, with over 15 years delirium experience under his belt. The easiest point of access, if you can call it that, is to avoid the extreme entry steeps by trekking along the ridge, down a set of stairs to a less vertical area. This approach, was of course, something we were glad to discover. After ten minutes of rather sketchy traversing we made it to our chosen entry point and waited for the signal. Seeing the thumbs up, we dropped in…

Continued...