Canadian Rockies Shopping
224 Bear Street
Banff , Alberta
Canada T1L 1BL
Tel: 403 762 2591
www.mountainmagic.com
Occupying a funky, four-story edifice in downtown Banff since 1975, Mountain Magic is piled to the ceiling with stuff for mountaineers, including tents, used telemark skis, camp fuel, and mountain bikes. This is the kind of place where the employees are grizzled experts and rock climbers scan the well-thumbed bulletin board looking for partners.
Open daily 9 am to 9 pm.
Samson Mall
Lake Louise , Alberta
Canada T0l 1E0
Tel: 403 522 3636
www.lakelouisewilsons.com
Not many shops in the ski-snowboard universe are specialized enough to rent telemark skis, but Wilson does. It takes its role as Lake Louise's premier winter-sports shop so seriously, it insists all staffers ski or board—and gives them a four-days-on, three-days-off schedule to ensure they do. Wilson's owners invested $100,000 just in the tuning room, where you can get hand-finished wax and edge work. And if the airline loses your luggage—or if you just haven't packed warmly enough—Wilson's rents skiwear from IceBreaker, Marmot, and others.
Open daily 9 am to 8 pm.