Guide to Downhill Ski in Marmot Jasper

I love spending time outdoors and created a guide to downhill ski in Marmot Jasper. It shares tips for the best trip! When blessed with snow at Marmot, it produces lots of powder, creating phenomenal conditions for downhill skiing. This guide provides pre-ski information on parking, buying tickets and appropriate clothing to wear for an enjoyable day. Different runs are described to help you plan out your day with lunch options. The Après-ski details for supper, accommodations and breakfast the next morning are also included.

Before Getting on the Hill

You’ll need to purchase a National Park Pass at the park gate to ski at Marmot in Jasper. It costs $151.25 for a party of two for a yearly pass. The Discovery Pass can also be purchased online. The daily admission is $11/adult.

Parking

To avoid getting up early, you can pay for parking and reserve a spot in the first parking lot through the KERB app.

Parking lots two, three and four offer free parking. Lot three is the biggest of the three. Parking lot four is the first parking lot that can be reached from higher up the mountain. They all provide access to the hill to ski down to the chalet to purchase tickets.

The bottom of the hill allows you to embark on Eagle Express Quad Chair and Canadian Rockies Express bringing you to two different locations on the mountain.

Tickets

The tickets are a reloadable physical card. In the 2024-2025 season, they’ve added your name so you can easily keep track of your card. You’ll need easy access to it to scan before each chair lift.

Tip #1: A zippered pocket on a sleeve holding the card makes it easy to wave by the scanner, opening the gates to the chair.

Here are your lift ticket options:

• Costco has two consecutive day passes available for one person when purchasing in-store.
• If you plan on going for a least three days, consider buying an Escape Card online for $103.95 and purchasing a 50% off lift ticket for $78 on your desired ski days. The card is reloadable as mentioned above, so you can add as many lift tickets to your Escape card as you’d like. The ski days can be added together or separately when you decide to go skiing. There are no blackout days, and you get added perks of 10% off food at the Marmot cafeterias and 30% off accommodations.
• If you go less than three days, it makes more sense to purchase a lift ticket online for the day you plan on skiing. The prices will vary based on the day you pick. It can be anywhere from $125 to $140. Once arrived at the hill, the reloadable card can be retrieved at the kiosk outside or at the outdoor ticket office.

Appropriate Clothing

The day will be long if you aren’t properly dressed. I typically run on the colder side. Here are the following layers I recommend for an enjoyable ski day at Marmot Jasper:

Top Layers

• bra
• Merino 250 Top Base Layer 1/4 Zip Long Sleeve – Women’s
• MEC T3 Merino Base Layer Long Sleeve Top – Women’s
• Thick fleece
• Sentinel Insulated Women’s Jacket (similar to mine that was discontinued with insulation and powder skirt to keep the snow out of your jacket)
• Chaos Multi Tubular Headwear – Unisex (will do wonders to protect your face against the potential wind)

Bottom Layers

• underwear
• Merino Pant Base Layer for Women
• Fleece pants
• Downhill Skiing Shell pants
• Thick wool socks that go halfway up your calf (if the socks are too high and tight, they can constrain blood circulation on your calf and make it uncomfortable to ski. Make sure the socks aren’t too high and fit nicely).

It’s important to wear layers to easily add more clothing or take them off if you get warm. Remember that you’ll feel warm with the layers standing in your ski gear, but as you go up the chair lift, it can feel cold and you might be thankful to have them. The weather and temperature tend to be different at the top, mid-mountain and down at the chair lift. You need to wear enough layers to stay warm on the coldest part of the mountain. Keep that in mind when getting dressed.

The jacket’s powder skirt is handy when falling to prevent snow from rising onto your upper body. There is nothing worse than feeling the cold snow on your back or stomach.

I typically use two tubular headwear, one to protect my head and neck and another one to protect my cheeks and nose.

Heat Packs

Handwarmers and foot warmers can be a lifesaver in cold weather. I wear two sets of mitts and still end up with cold hands when I ski Marmot in Jasper without hand warmers.

Something to keep in mind, when you initially buy the heat packs, they provide eight hours of warmth, but over time, they lose their potency and become less effective not lasting as long. Mine lasted for five hours and I needed to change them after lunch. If you’ve had them for a while, they might not be as effective as when you first purchased them. Bring a couple of packages to last you the entire day.

Tip: As we found out if you put old packages directly on your hands, they turn your hands black. Put the heat packs between your mitten layers to prevent black hands.

On the Hill

Eagle Express Quad Chair and Canadian Rockies Express Chair can both be accessed from the base of the hill. Eagle Ridge Quad Chair and Paradise Chair can be accessed by mid-mountain and Knob Quad from further up the mountain.

Knob Quad

The new Knob Quad chair goes higher up the mountain opening up more runs. It now runs closer to the ground compared to higher up, when it previously took your breath away. It’s a much more enjoyable chair to ride now. Kris went to investigate the new area. As you can see from the picture above, he was in the deep snow. He tested the snow, and it reached three-quarters of the way up on his poles. Sometimes, the Knob Chair is closed due to the volume of snow that accumulates up there, like when we went. They did avalanche control for a lot of the morning to make it safe for skiers to ski in the afternoon. Due to the snow, it can make it hard to see the different runs and Kris almost ended up in a double black unexpectedly.

Tip: Only head up the Knob Quad if you’re an experienced skier.

Canadian Rockies Express Quad Chair

This picture was taken just past the Canadian Rockies Express Quad Chair. As mentioned before, this chair runs from the base to the top of the mountain. From this location, blue, green and black runs can be accessed. We liked certain runs over others depending on whether they were groomed or not. With the large amount of snow that fell, the powder runs were fun but did require more energy to turn into the snow. Once we tried the blue and green runs, we were able to determine which ones we’d like to repeat. They do offer a variety of steepness on the runs for different preferences. From this location, different levels of ski runs are available for your convenience. Many runs run parallel to each other so that your partner can ski a harder or easier run next to you.

We enjoyed skiing S-Turns down from the green Basin Run as it was nice and easy when we had less energy in the afternoon.

Paradise Quad Chair

Paradise Quad Chair, found on the right side of Marmot Basin, can be reached at mid-mountain. Many of the runs underneath this chair are black, but you can head to the far left once disembarking from the chair, passing the Canadian Rockies Express Quad Chair to reach all the different levels of runs over in that direction. Both chairs give you access to all the runs on the left side of the mountain. The chairs offer different access points. You’ll need to embark Paradise Quad Chair if you want to do the black runs to the right of the mountain.

Kris and I decided to try a more challenging black run, under the Paradise Chair, as our first run of the day, thinking we could do it with all the powder. We were successful and had fun turning into the deep snow mogels but it did require a lot of energy from both of us. We were happy that we started with this run as the first one of the day, as opposed to the end of the day when we had less energy.

Marmot Basin is an awesome hill for families, offering a variety of runs. The black runs are comparable to the blues at Lake Louise making it easier to boost your confidence to complete black runs there.

Eagle Ridge Quad Chair

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to head to Eagle Ridge Quad Chair as it was closed due to maintenance. That section of the mountain also has green and blue options with multiple black runs for those interested in trying something different.

Lunch at Paradise Chalet

Paradise Chalet, mid-mountain, offers a cafeteria with burgers, chicken fingers, and poutine from 9:30 A.M. to 3 P.M. The food isn’t stellar, but it will fill you up midday while you ski at Marmot in Jasper. I find it easier than having to head back to the bottom of the mountain, where it tends to be busy, or going to our vehicle to find a packed lunch. It’s more expensive this way, but I find it’s easier to have a quick lunch and head back out to ski on Marmot in Jasper.

Après-Ski

After all your hard work, you deserve to relax, eat a delicious supper and maybe even enjoy a cocktail!

Supper

Here are three suggestions for supper depending on the type of food you want and your budget.

Jasper Pizza Place

Jasper Pizza Place has the most affordable food out of the three options. It mostly has pizza but also offers other dishes like tortellini, which Kris and I enjoyed. Most prices range between $20 to $30 a plate.

The Fiddle River is a classy restaurant serving seafood, steak and pasta. They offer a three-course supper for $45. Kris and I enjoyed a meal there too. The food is delicious. If you want a fantastic meal with your partner, dress up and head to this location for date night.

Mad Grizzly

Mad Grizzly has a variety of local fusion dishes ranging from $20 to $40 a plate, with some items being even more expensive. I ate the taco salad with chicken, which was delicious and worth the price. They have a nice selection of cocktails.

Breakfast

The following morning, if you have some downtime, head over to Chateau Jasper. They have a nice selection of food like pancakes, waffles, eggs, French toast and more for $12 to $20. They also have coffee, hot chocolate, apple and orange juice.

Accommodations

Here are two hotel recommendations based on your budget.

Tonquin Inn

The Tonquin Inn is the third hotel when you enter Jasper from the northeast. It has rooms starting at $197 a night. They have a pool, gym and restaurant on site. Some rooms also offer a kitchenette if that interests you. It’s a nice budget friendly hotel. It’s a fifteen-minute walk from restaurants located in town.

The Crimson Hotel

The Crimson Hotel offers a queen studio for $264 a night plus tax. They have a pool, gym and restaurant on site. Some rooms have a kitchenette as well if you like to prepare breakfasts and lunches with a microwave, fridge and a sink. There is parking on either side of the lobby. In the winter months, additional free parking is available across the street. They provide earplugs at night in case the train nearby keeps you up. The restaurants are a five to ten minute walk from this hotel, making it a nice and convenient place to stay.

Final Thoughts

Go ski at Marmot in Jasper for a fantastic time! The runs offer a variety of difficulties and they have many runs at all levels for everyone’s taste. It’s an awesome place for beginners, moderate and advanced skiers. Everyone will be happy at the end of the day. I love the option to ski parallel to Kris so he can enjoy a more complicated run while I can enjoy my blue and green runs. It’s nice to have the option to try easier blacks too. I find the blacks at Lake Louise intimidating, but when skiing at Marmot, I can slowly build up my confidence and challenge myself on groomed or powder runs. Marmot offers spectacular conditions when there’s a lot of snow accumulation! Go have an amazing ski and enjoy relaxing in the town afterwards!

Additional Links

• Best Downhill Ski Day in Lake Louise
• Downhill Ski Sunshine or Lake Louise?
• What are the Benefits of Skiing?
• 5 Awesome Outdoor Skating Rinks
• Jasper Hikes: Best Memories

Trip Ressources

• Book your flights with ​Expedia​
• Book your hotel with ​Booking.com​ or ​Hotels.com​
• Book your vacation rental with ​Vrbo​
• Book your experiences through ​TripAdvisor​ or ​Manawa​

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