Just five minutes from the charming ski-resort town, the Banff Gondola whisks passengers on an eight-minute trip up Sulphur Mountain. Each gondola holds four passengers in glassed-in comfort.

From the upper gondola terminal, visitors enjoy a 360-degree view of the surrounding valley, mountains, and village of Banff from a height of 7,486 feet above sea level. The terminal includes two levels of view decks, a gift shop, snack shop, and interpretive board walk.

The day of our visit was too windy and cold to experience the Summit Ridge interpretive boardwalk, which leads visitors to the Cosmic Ray Station National Historic Site of Canada, and the historic Sanson’s Peak Meteorological Station. But skiers and snowboarders were still out on the slopes, enjoying the snow.