Pampered at Panorama Resort

Posted: Aug 18, 2009

Source: The Wandering Balloon

When Pinkbike asked me to write an article on Panorama, I questioned their sobriety. They are more than aware of my biking ability and sending me off to bike with riders who bike six days a week sounded nuts. Embracing this challenge I put a fresh chain on my bike and finally invested in a full-face helmet. As any typical nine to fiver living in Calgary I don’t get out on two wheels as much as I should. But I packed ready for a couple days of wet weather biker mania.

Full story inside,

It rained nearly the entire drive out from Calgary Friday night so I knew the trails would be either very muddy or very tacky. I was, of course, hoping for the latter. Getting to Panorama is easy once you get to Invermere BC as it's just 18km west of town into the mountains. Here's a breakdown of distances from other major towns:

* Banff - 167km
* Calgary - 292km
* Edmonton - 590km
* Regina - 1056km
* Golden, B.C - 136km
* Cranbrook, B.C - 148km
* Fernie, B.C - 240km

Thankfully Central Check-In at Panorama Mountain Village is open 24hours to embrace late arrival guests, such as myself. A new guy, Jerry, helped me get sorted out and directed me towards Tamarack lodge. It was easily located and I pulled up to the parkade entrance looking forward to finding my bed. A slight hurdle in the underground parking; it was in serious need of some of those nice yellow lines. You know the ones I mean, the lines solely invented to help people align their vehicles. It seems that the poor guests at the Tamarack simply cannot park properly without them. So, after successfully finding a spot I unloaded my gear… How many trips should it take to haul things up to your room for the weekend? Let’s just say that I did more than one and acknowledge that I may have over packed. The overall accommodations were a top-notch suite where I thoroughly enjoyed rest.


Saturday morning presented cloudy, rainless skies and a ten o’clock meeting with JC Morley, Guru of Amazing Biking a.k.a. Bike Park Supervisor. We met at the bottom of the lift, which was easy to locate because there is only one running during bike season. (it keeps up with the traffic, in fact we never really had to wait at all) JC began my initial mountain tour with, Rocking Horse. Surprisingly this trail wasn’t the easy green run I’d been expecting; no, it probably shouldn’t be your Mom’s first taste of downhill. This trail is more of an advanced green run, whatever that means… maybe teal?

Here are couple shots of JC showing me what I can aspire towards on Hell’s Bells:


The biking trails at Panorama supply a wide range of options encompassing all levels of ability with my own comfort zone securely resting on the intermediate trails. At Panorama I found these to be both the green and blue runs. (and the teal, ha) Their signature trail is Crazytrain, which was untouched by me, as it’s a double black diamond. No thanks. For the beginner of beginners, Let it Ride is without question the most friendly, it’s 3.2km boasts a wide friendly trail that winds its way down the mountain to the base.

Of course, if you are fresh to downhill it’s always advisable to take a lesson, especially at Panorama. Not simply due to the challenging terrain but also since you’d be riding with the lovely Steph Adams. This is Steph’s first season teaching at Panorama, she taught previously at Blue Mountain in Ontario and is more than a decent instructor; she’s also a seasoned rider and bike enthusiast. Lucky for me I was treated to some complimentary instruction and we spent the afternoon doing runs focused on berms and my struggles with tight cornering. She really has a great knack for breaking everything down into digestible pieces and understanding the level that I am currently capable of riding at. Heck she even drew me a picture in the dirt to avoid any confusion.


Panorama offers starter packages for a taste test to the sport. The “Let It Ride Package” is a 3-hour Group Lesson, including a top-line Kona Mountain Bike rental, protective gear and lift ticket for only $119. Regular lift tickets are $39 adults 19+, $37 youth 13-18 and $22 junior 6-12.

The trail building crew pride themselves in their bike park and as usual was hard at work on a new addition. After our third lap we stopped in to check on the progress being made and found Lachie and Rhys were putting the finishing touches on the second section of Mercy Me. Trail building is way more ‘official construction site’ and much less ‘two guys in the bush with shovels’ than I had envisioned.


Mercy Me is a blue trail designed as a building block for those who aspire to hit the jumps on Hell’s Bells. I took in the full length of the new trail when it opened Sunday. There were plenty of other very pleased intermediate riders looking to hone their skills. Mercy Me hasn’t quite made it on the map yet so look for it just off of Let It Ride.

Later we embarked on Look Out, (I thought it’s name was given as a warning, “look out below, something insane is coming”… but was pleasantly surprised when I realized they must be referring to the insane view that you get of the valley as the trail crosses open meadows) I found more incline with less roots and cornering, which was better suited for speed. Apparently the top section of Look Out is also newly improved.

The Panorama crew gave me the full experience and allowed me to partake in the end of day sweep. The sweep is done after the chair lift has shut down for the day and all the mountain bike clients have started their decent. If for some reason you find yourself stuck on a trail after the lift is shut down one of the friendly faces of the Sweep crew will find you.


Unfortunately wireless hasn’t made itself at home all over the mountain but it can be found in a few fairly convenient locations. For me it ended up being the T-Bar & Grill, where I enjoyed free Internet while allowing Charlie (T-Bar Manager) and his friendly staff to look after me with beer and munchies.

Now, if the biking isn’t enough to peak your interest, the view from the top of the Mile One chair lift certainly will. In fact, Saturday there were two afternoon weddings mere meters away from the chair lift unloading area. It was quite the juxtaposition between the mud spattered bikers and the pristine white brides.


Luckily anyone staying at the resort gets a complimentary sightseeing pass for the lift up. Which is something the entire family can enjoy. There were actually several small groups of hikers heading for the summit. These pictures barely do it justice as I was assured the view is better without the cloud cover.


Already sore and slightly bruised from my full day riding on Saturday I was looking for a more laid back Sunday. My weekend was nicely rounded off with some easy biking with Hayley Wilson, Panorama’s Marketing Coordinator. The conditions were so fantastically tacky Hayley pronounced them, “Like a powder day at the bike park.” It could not have been put any better than that. We enjoyed a good few hours of trails before I was completely beat and decided to head home. It was the end of a really great weekend. My new helmet shown here post riding:


Panorama has a great deal to offer the whole family. If you haven’t made it up here yet this year there is still three solid weeks left of riding. Of course there is always next year, you might want to add this one to your to-do list.

-The Wandering Balloon