It’s a little bit of a shock for two children to come, from the East Coast of Canada, and see the Rocky Mountains for the first time. Nothing was quite as amazing for them as the ride on the Banff Gondola to the top of Sulpher Mountain. You just can’t experience the full grandeur of the Rocky Mountains from the ground. To really experience the views of snow peaked mountains for miles, you have to take the Banff Gondola, run by Brewster Travel Canada, to the top of Sulpher Mountain.
My daughter’s were a little nervous of the gondola ride at first, but ,after they realized how smooth and comfortable (and safe) the ride was, they started to enjoy the amazing views!
The Banff Gondola was first constructed in 1958. The trip up the mountain takes 8 minutes and the gondola can take 650 passengers each way every hour! That’s incredible.
On the top of Sulpher Mountain, there is the Alpine Lights Restaurant, a gift shop, coffee shop, picnic area and a 1 kilometre interpretive Summit Walk. We took the Summit Walk to the Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site on Sampson’s Peak. The views were even more incredible at the end of the hike! Samson’s Peak is 7,486 feet above sea level!
On the top of Sulpher Mountain you can find Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Golden mantled ground squirrels, Hoary marmots, Clark’s nutcracker and the Grey Jay. It was amazing to me that there were ground squirrels living at the top of the mountain. We grabbed a cute photo of one snacking on his lunch!
While you might get caught up in taking photo’s of the incredible views on Sulpher Mountain, don’t forget to ask a stranger to take a photo of your whole family. It will mean much more to your family if you are all in the family photo when you look back on your trip later!
There is also a 1-2 hour-long hike you can take to get down the mountain if you are adventurous!
Brewster Travel runs the Banff Gondola as well as many other sightseeing tours and travel experiences all over Canada.
Disclosure: I was provided with passes on the Banff Gondola in order to write this review. My opinions are my own.
Ah the view sounds so fab!! I’ll have to put this on my bucketlist for when we finally explore that area! Love that you guys took a family pic up there… always an easy one to forget!