Banff (AB) or Cooke City (MT) for mid April back country ski trip?

[Slim]

@sparty bonus points for descriptive writing!

I don’t think we’d rent sleds. My wife grew up snowmobiling here in northern Minnesota in the 90’s.
Taking that to mountain snowmobiling in the 2020‘s is like saying I grew up in Holland, so I know how to bike, so I can rent a DH bike in Big Sky bike park…

 

[sparty]

@sparty bonus points for descriptive writing!

I don’t think we’d rent sleds. My wife grew up snowmobiling here in northern Minnesota in the 90’s.
Taking that to mountain snowmobiling in the 2020‘s is like saying I grew up in Holland, so I know how to bike, so I can rent a DH bike in Big Sky bike park…

Hah.

If you're just trying to eliminate long approaches, you don't need to really know how to ride a mountain sled. If you want to shuttle (and ride tandem), it helps. Source: I never really figured it out (couldn't get my sled up on edge on command) but still got plenty of places I'd never have made it to with my skis alone. I do hear that the current generation of sleds is easier to carve on.

Regardless, I think you've got a choice between minimal driving to access skiing (Cooke) and more non-skiing options (Banff). Can you even get to the geysers and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone in mid April? That could be in the purgatory stage for park roads (closed to over snow travel but not yet open to wheeled vehicles), but I've never tried that time of year.