Researched route, Icefields Parkway
Icefields Parkway
A short skin to treeline above the Peyto Lake lot, then laps in open trees that are avalanche terrain, under a bowl with a long record.
Bow Summit is the high point of the Icefields Parkway, near Lake Louise, and the slopes above its Peyto Lake parking lot are one of the busiest places to ski tour in the Rockies. It's a short skin: 1.8 km and about 176 m of climbing to the end of the track, on a bench at treeline at the foot of an open bowl. The skiing is laps on both sides of that track. The open trees above it, where a guidebook and trip reports describe many parties lapping, are avalanche terrain below slopes with a long record of slides. The trees below are gentler and close-grown, and big slides from above have reached them. The track is the common, well documented way to the skiing. What you ski there is your call. We built this route from research and haven't skied it ourselves.
We built this route from our own extensive research. All resources are cited on the dashboard. We haven't skied it ourselves, the routes illustrated may not be the best line choice, use your own judgement when planning. Remember you are still responsible for your own tour.
Last checked October 18, 2026.
| Distance | about 3.6 km round trip, 1.8 km to the end of the skin track |
| Elevation gain | about 176 m |
| Slope angles | mostly 15 to 25 degrees in the trees below the track; 25 to 34 degrees in the open trees above it; 35 to 49 degrees on the open slopes and bowl above those; terrain data reads low |
| Trailhead | 2,090 m |
| End of the skin track | about 2,250 m, on the bench at the foot of the bowl; terrain data reads 2,254 m, and a guide's report puts the top of the gentle terrain near 2,300 m |
| Nearest town | Lake Louise |
| Pass required | Parks Canada |
| Skied by us | Not yet |
From Lake Louise, head north on the Icefields Parkway. Bow Summit, the Parkway's highest point, is about 40 km and 35 minutes along. Turn left at the Peyto Lake sign. In winter the access road is usually plowed as far as the first lot, the one with the outhouse, and closed past it. Park there. After a big storm the lot may not be plowed yet, and one guide's report describes leaving the car at the turnoff instead.
You need a Parks Canada pass to stop anywhere in Banff National Park, this lot included. We found no closure for Bow Summit when we checked Parks Canada's bulletins on 2026-10-29. The Parkway closes now and then for avalanche control, so check 511 Alberta before you go. Parks Canada asks drivers not to stop inside the signed avalanche zones along the road. There's no cell service on the Parkway, so leave your plan with someone who isn't coming.
Expect company. This is one of the most visited touring spots in the Rockies, and guiding companies run AST 1 field days here.
From the outhouse end of the lot, a short skin track climbs to the summer road up to the tour bus lot. The road is closed to cars in winter and makes an easy, almost flat uptrack: about 0.6 km and 40 m of height to the upper lot.
From the upper lot, head south into the trees. Our line follows the mapped summer trails, gentle at first through the forest, then a steeper rising traverse of about 50 m up to the bench at treeline, about 1.6 km from the car. The skin track moves from winter to winter. A trip report describes one straight up the slope from the lot that crosses the road, and another says guided groups often set a well angled one. Take whichever suits your group.
The bench is an old fire road running south along treeline, close to flat. Reports to Avalanche Canada put the standard skin track's end about 180 m along it, at about 2,250 m at the foot of an open bowl, and our line ends there too. The bench itself carries on south a long way, and its southern stretches sit more and more under the avalanche slopes above.
The skiing is laps from the track, in two kinds of terrain. From about 1.3 km the forest above the track opens up into tree islands and clearings, and a guidebook and trip reports describe many parties climbing into them and skiing back down to the track. These open trees read 25 to 34 degrees on our data, which reads low, so slopes are steeper than they appear. They're avalanche terrain. A guidebook calls this slope the North Shoulder, and above it are the shoulder's ridge and the open bowl, steeper again. Below the track the trees are gentler, mostly 15 to 25 degrees, and a guidebook describes dropping into them from the old road and skinning back up. In the aerial photo they're close-grown forest, and a trip report warns they get thick lower down, so laps there are short and come back up to the track. The track gets you to the skiing. Which runs you ski, above the track or below, is up to you.
When you're done, get back onto the skin track from wherever your last lap ends. Ski down to it if you're above it, or skin back up to it if you're below. Trip reports say the forest below the laps is thick with no clear way through, so the track is the way out. Follow it back along the bench and down through the trees to the bus lot, then take the closed road down to the car at the first lot.
The slopes above the track. This is where the area's history is, and it starts right above the lap area. The open trees lead up to open slopes of 35 to 45 degrees facing east and northeast, with couloirs behind them. A guidebook and trip reports describe fatal accidents and many close calls on these upper slopes over the years, and a guidebook points to wind loading off the icefield to the west and big convex rolls. Reports to Avalanche Canada's Mountain Information Network over the last four winters show the same thing. Most slides were on these steep east and northeast alpine slopes and in the couloirs, most often wind slabs, with the bigger natural slides breaking down to weak snow near the ground.
Where the lap area ends. The open trees give out at the shoulder's ridge, and where the track ends they give way to the open bowl. Above that is the steeper ground where the biggest slides started. The open trees below it are avalanche terrain too, and people have set off slabs in them. In December 2023 two skiers were caught when a wind slab, size 1.5, released on a steep east slope above a rock slab. In November 2024 a size 1 carried a skier on the upper slope below the ridge. In December 2024 a skier set off a size 2 at treeline, and in March 2026 a party set off a size 1.5 on a wind loaded roll just above the trail along the bench.
When the upper slopes release, they don't always stay up there. In February 2023 a natural size 2.5 broke to the ground above the tour lines and ran into a gully skiers sometimes use. In February 2024 another natural size 2.5 sent debris down over skier tracks to about 2,250 m, below the bench. The 2023 report also points out an avalanche path that crosses the main trail on the old road. A guidebook warns that paths from the alpine have reached the trees below the road, and the bent and snapped trees in parts of the forest show it. The trees below the track are the gentler ground, not ground out of reach.
The days it happened. Some of the biggest natural slides came on days the forecast rated Moderate in the alpine. On other days reports describe whumpfs and cracking on the way up through the trees. The snowpack here is often thin, with weak, sugary layers near the ground.
Gullies and water. A deep gully splits the area in two, and a drainage below the bench has high sidewalls, deep enough to bury someone well under. Early and late in the season it can have open water.
Tree wells. Trip reports describe people stuck upright in tree wells, and saplings hidden under the surface leave holes you can't see. We'd stop on firm ground and keep partners in sight.
Other people. On a busy day there can be parties on the slopes above you. It's worth a look at who's above you, and who's below, before you drop in.
The calls here are about where you lap: above the track or below it, how far up and how far south. Above the track you're in avalanche terrain. Below it, and south along the bench, you're under it. The signs to act on are recent avalanches on the upper slopes, whumpfs or cracking in the trees, new wind loading or blowing snow at treeline, fresh cornices on the ridge, a quick warm up or strong sun on the upper slopes, and parties on the slopes above you.
Turning around costs very little here. The car is less than 2 km away and nearly all downhill. Whether to go is your call on the day. Read the forecast and decide from what you find.
About 176 m of climbing, and the judgement to know when you're exposed. The climb is short, but the open trees that trip reports describe many parties lapping are avalanche terrain, the slopes above them are steeper still, and slides from above have run below the track. Its name as a place for first tours and courses comes from the easy access, not from any rating. We'd bring full avalanche gear, the training to use it, and partners who have both.
What we can't tell you yet. How it skis on the day, how tracked out it is, and how long your laps really take. One source says a fast group reaches the bench in under half an hour. The dashboard's estimate uses your own pace.