Banff Drops Skijoring After Review Finds Event Needs Major Overhaul

Banff & Lake Louise Tourism has cancelled skijoring in Banff after concluding the event would require a fundamental redesign, including ticketing and controlled access, and was no longer economically viable to continue.

The announcement comes about six months after organizers began reviewing the event following January's skijoring weekend, which exposed the challenges of hosting the rapidly growing event within Banff's fixed transportation and public infrastructure.

"With the event's growth in popularity, it was clear that it would need to be fundamentally redesigned, to include ticketing and controlled access," said Banff & Lake Louise Tourism president and chief executive officer Leslie Bruce.

Bruce said the organization evaluated alternate venues, attendance and economic data, and consulted partners and local businesses before measuring the event against its goals of increasing overnight visitation, improving the visitor experience, supporting the local community and reflecting the destination's identity.

"Considering the return on investment for Banff's economy, as well as the weather-dependent nature of the event, we determined that it wasn't viable to continue."

Mayor Corrie DiManno later described the weekend as "a real wake-up call" as the town develops its broader visitor management strategy.

"I think that the Skijoring Saturday was a real wake-up call for us," DiManno said during a recent interview on the Overheard Podcast.

She said the event showed the town something it had not experienced before.

"We saw what it looked like when a growing Calgary decided to come on the same day at the same time, and it created this never-before-seen compression."

DiManno said the experience reinforced the need to plan for future growth in visitation.

"My biggest fear is that, if we don't plan in earnest for the future, we could have a skijoring every Saturday of the summer 10 years from now," she said.

January's skijoring weekend exposed the challenges of accommodating the event's rapid growth. Although daily traffic volumes were slightly below peak summer levels, record hourly surges in vehicle arrivals and departures created congestion that affected parking, sidewalks, emergency access and transit operations. The event also produced the busiest day in Roam Transit's history, but demand still exceeded available capacity as congestion delayed buses operating in mixed traffic.

Bruce said the decision, while disappointing for some, came after months of evaluating the event and its long-term viability in Banff.

"While this is a disappointing outcome, the decision was made thoughtfully, and in the best interests of our members and community," Bruce said.