White Mountain Adventures — Local services in Banff

I booked the snowshoeing tour with this company and deeply regretted this decision — I was turned away by the guide without a refund on the grounds that I was not wearing winter pants. I come from a homeland of snow and drastically cold temperatures and never had to own winter pants to go snowshoeing at temperatures of about -30 degrees Celsius, which I have done many times before, while it was not nearly as low of a temperature here on the day of the tour. I was wearing a warm winter coat, gloves, winter hat, three layers of upper wear (including thermal upper wear), winter boots, and thermal bottom/underwear under an additional layer of pants, and all my thermal wear is actually water resistant. I believe the guide’s name was Kristy who did not let me participate in the tour and destroyed my plans for the day, while also leaving me without $100+ that I paid for this tour. This presented me with a significant financial burden as I am still a student not making nearly enough money to lose it like this. I understand that she didn’t want to be liable for me getting my legs wet because of snow but everyone on the bus had to sign the liability waiver to participate in this tour so it’s very bizarre to me that I was not allowed to participate given that she wouldn’t be liable for me in any case. Plus, to mention again, I was wearing a thermal underwear that is winter repellent. Another person was also denied participation by her together with me, although he was wearing insulated pants. Her reasoning to deny him in participation was, quoting word by word, “if I let you participate, I will have to let her [me] participate, which I will not do”, which is objectively wrong and absurd. This guide also denied another person in participation, who burst into tears because of it but still wasn’t afforded any refund. A half an hour later, another tour guide came to pick up another group from our hotel to take them to a different tour (Johnston canyon) and I explained the situation to her asking if my attire was appropriate for her to let me participate in that tour, and she responded “yes” and was very surprised to hear that I was denied in participation. Based on the reviews here below, it seems like positive reviews are coming for other guides, and I just got very unlucky with this particular guide that was leading my tour. Although it seems like it is a particular guide’s issue, another person who was not allowed to participate together with me had to call two heads of the company requesting a refund, and did not get it in the end. So it is a shame that White Mountain Adventures decides to not care about their customers like this. I wanted to book a different tour to the canyon with this company later this week but instead will never use its services again. I will definitely do a chargeback for this trip with my credit card company.

At the end of the day, I got an automated email from this company, with a part of this email saying “We hope you enjoyed your tour today. We would love for you to join us again on a future program… We value our customers above all else and we hope we've exceeded your expectations.  So much of our business depends on word-of-mouth, and we'd love if you could share your positive experience with others. Below are a set of links to make it easy for you to leave a review.” You did NOT exceed my expectations, White Mountain Adventures, in fact, you completely...

This is was my first trip to Banff. This tour was recommended by a local woman, an event planner, I met on the airplane flying in to Calgary. I told her we were strong bike riders already and she said we'd enjoy it.

So, we bought two tickets for a 4 hr tour, costing $343. While booking online, the questionnaire asked what our bike riding experience was and indicated that we were "experienced."

The next day, the tour took off exactly on time. We were joined by 3 other customers, all women who appeared to be in their mid-fifties and not in very fit shape. We were shuttled to the start of the trail at Johnston Canyon where we first took a short hike to see the Lower Falls. The hike through the canyon was very beautiful, but extremely crowded on a short board-walk, being constantly jostled by other tourists more than in a crowded airport concourse. I was also disappointed that we didn't hike all the way to the Upper Falls. I think this would have been too much exertion for the women we were hiking with.

After the short hike, we hopped on the e-bikes that were in the back of the shuttle that drove us up. The bikes were well maintained and ran very smoothly. They operate only in pedal assist mode, with the throttle being deactivated.

Again, however, the inexperienced fellow customers we were with were at an extremely basic skill level. One woman even had to ask twice how to stop the bike, both times being told she needed only squeeze the breaks, just as on a regular bike.

The ride itself was fairly scenic, but not something we couldn't have seen on our own, anywhere else in the park. It was mostly flat, and mostly on the shoulder of a well traveled two lane paved road. The only wildlife we saw was one lone deer on the side of the road.

Our guide, Leah, was excellent. She was knowledgeable, patient with the other guests, and very friendly and outgoing. She works full time as an RN which I hugely respect.

But in all, I was a little disappointed with this tour. The pace was extremely slow to accommodate our out of shape guests. And the hike was brief, only going half way up a very easy trail teaming with other tourists, some even pushing baby strollers. I am unsure as to why the registration even asked us our experience level if we were still going to be paired with other tourists who probably hadn't hiked or ridden a bike in many years.

Was the whole experience mildly pleasant and peaceful? Yes. Was our tour guide good? Yes. Would I recommend this tour to anyone other than older, out of shape, inexperienced riders/hikers. No. Go see Johnston Canyon on your own time and rent an ebike from any one of the many other rental companies in the town of Banff, and go explore...

My family and I signed up for the First Tracks Snowshoe Tour in winter (Jan 2020) with White Mountain Adventures and let's just say that was the most amazing experience we had throughout our entire time in the Canadian Rockies. I’ve always enjoyed exploring the great outdoors so I had a few things on my check list when I was looking for a tour/activity. And I’m happy to share that we’re all glad to have found and stuck with White Mountain Adventures.

To my understanding, the access to the trail they had was unique to their company, and it really takes you far away from the usual, crowded touristy treks. Once you're there, it's just you with the mountains, lakes and woods. It’s peaceful and adventurous, but also very safe (good for everyone of all ages)!

I’d like to highlight that our guide, Alex Mowat, was extremely knowledgeable and fun. We learnt so much more about the national park, wildlife and history from him - and a lot of these are very in depth information you may not be able to find easily online. He could also point out mountains in the distances and tell us exactly what they are called as well as the story of how they were founded and named. He makes you feel like you’re travelling with a friend rather than a tour guide.

Apart from experiencing snowshoeing at the Continental Divide (very cool), we also got to try authentic maple taffies made atop a frozen lake! I have a feeling that if kids were on this tour, they’d love this segment the best.

Last but not least, with thanks to Alex and White Mountain Adventures, my boyfriend and I got engaged on the tour! Both of us thought it was a beautiful place and actually did a double proposal at the same time and same location. Alex was very kind to help us document the moment. Quoting Alex, the Continental Divide ended up bringing two people together!

Thank you for being such a great sport and the itinerary is simply perfect. We are already planning for our next trip back and we’ll definitely go with White Mountain Adventures again! For whoever’s looking for a wonderful time in Banff, look no...