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Thread: Opinions wanted: Castle Mountain Chalets VS Storm Mountain Lodge

  1. #1
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    Default Opinions wanted: Castle Mountain Chalets VS Storm Mountain Lodge

    Looking for a 2 night cabin getaway soon, and have kind of narrowed it down to these two places just due to the proximity to Calgary (and Banff for dinner). Has anyone stayed at both, if so, which did you like more?

    Open to other suggestions as well. If anyone knows of one with private hot tubs, that'd be even better (within 3 hours of Calgary, and doesn't need to be in Banff)

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    I have not been to either but Storm Mountain looks really cool from driving by it on 93.

    The other one I would suggest is Deer Lodge in Lake Louise. Amazing old hotel and it has a great hot tub on the roof. https://crmr.com/deer/photos/
    _____ASP______

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    Had lunch at storm mountain. Looks like a neat place to stay.
    Quote Originally Posted by killramos View Post
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    You realize you are talking to the guy who made his own furniture out of salad bowls right?

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    I’ve got a GC for storm mtn but haven’t booked yet. The log cabin with wood fire looks far above any of the cabins at Castle. Also, from everyone who has stayed there, make sure you have at least one dinner there. Apparently rivals anything you’ll find in Banff

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    Storm Mountain is very nice and the food is great. But it's fucking expensive.
    Ultracrepidarian

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    Check out baker creek, stayed there before Christmas and it is excellent

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    Already made reservations at Storm Mountain. I'll report back on it.

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    Stayed there over the weekend. It was a really nice get-away for us and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

    That being said, it's too expensive for what it is. The cabins are about 12 sq.ft smaller than necessary, and I say 12 sq.ft specifically because that's the size of a standard closet. There's literally nowhere to put your luggage and clothes that isn't on top of the small table in the cabin (making it unusable), or right in front of the small furnace gas furnace (which is never a good idea). They are historic cabins, so I can see why they don't want to hack them up for more space, but still... not exactly enhancing the romance when there's shit just piled up like a teenagers bedroom.

    Speaking of the small furnace, our thermostat was broken. I set it to 20*C before going to sleep the first night, and woke up to it being about 10* in the room, but the thermometer saying it was 25*. I know things break, but you can't tell me that this POS thermostat just happen to break in the first 6 hours of us being there. I suspect from the against-code wiring I saw elsewhere, that maintenance is a problem at this facility. It also didn't help that they disabled the fireplace flue damper, so it's wide open 24/7, creating a shit ton of drafts with out the fire going (and also making it difficult to start the fires to begin with). And on to the fire... very romantic... also, because they only supply pine wood, and the damper is wide open, we must have burned an entire fucking tree in the 2 days we were there. 1/2 of which hadn't been seasoned properly. 1/3 of the stack that was sitting beside our front door was in a pile of snow and frozen together, unusable.

    The restaurant itself. The ambiance was fantastic, and the food was delicious. Definitely on par with the higher end Banff restaurants. However, if you're looking at their "Cabin & Cuisine Package", don't bother. It's only a deal if you get the most expensive item on each of the menu's, even then you only save maybe $20. When we got home I did the math on what we ordered and we actually spent $4 more on the package than if we didn't. I'm glad we only did that for one night.

    In summary, I really liked the idea of the cabins, but there's enough issues with them that I wouldn't want to pay the $300 per night again. If my wife really, REALLY wanted to do it again, I'd pony up the extra $70 a night for the "Family Cabin", just to have somewhere to put our stuff. I think I'd rather just stay at the Rimrock or Banff Springs Hotel for that price though.
    Last edited by Tik-Tok; 03-12-2018 at 10:29 AM.

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    Thanks for the review.

    Banff is just generally expensive. You're competing against foreign tourists whose currencies are trouncing ours. One of the last times we were in Banff the table next to us were very happy because all the prices were 30% lower for them because they were Americans.

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    We're booked for the 24th, so good information. Sounds like bringing the dog is a stupid idea if the rooms are that small as is.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Brent.ff View Post
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    We're booked for the 24th, so good information. Sounds like bringing the dog is a stupid idea if the rooms are that small as is.
    The area between the fireplace and couch was probably 8'x10', so lots of room for the pup (or two consenting adults and no-pup), but that's not usable space for your clothing/luggage. It could have been just our cabin too, not sure if they are all the same or not. If I were the owners, I would probably move the couch closer to the fireplace, and put a dresser behind the couch.

    Edit: Actually, thinking about it, the couch was a fold-out bed, so that's probably why it wasn't positioned closer.
    Last edited by Tik-Tok; 03-12-2018 at 11:32 AM.

  12. #12
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    So we stayed there on saturday, and didn't really feel cramped in there, even with two full sets of ski touring gear that needed to be dried, a dog and her associated bed,and other items.
    Agree on the food, very expensive. We did not get the 'deal', and ended up spending probably an extra $30 then had we...guess thats what happens when the wife buys the most expensive meal there! Glad we brought our own bottle of red for the room after as well, the beer was ungodly expensive.

    Super cozy tho, and the fireplace was a nice touch. Funny that you mentioned how quick the wood burnt, as we noticed that too. Was putting more wood on that thing every 5 minutes

    Proximity to good ski tours definitely was a nice touch. We did Taylor Lake on sat and boom lake on sunday, and waking up late and still getting a tour in is pretty awesome

    Edit: also think that earlier in winter would be better as it gets darker earlier. Having the sun up to nearly 9:00 doesn't quite have the same ambience for dining and the fire in the room
    Last edited by Brent.ff; 03-26-2018 at 11:23 AM.

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