Banff's Sunshine Village completely open for the summer season

Beginning on June 24, guests to Banff Sunshine Village will be able to witness all the wonder a summer in the Rockies has to explore. (Supplied)

After two years of disruptions because of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff at Banff Sunshine Village will be ready to welcome guests to enjoy all the resort has to offer during the sunny summer season.

Everything is open and ready to go this June, says Kendra Scurfield, the director of brand and communications at Sunshine Village.

"We want the world to know we're open for summer 2022," she told CTV News in an interview Thursday.

"We'll have our gondola running seven days a week, we'll have our interpretive centre open, we'll have our interpretive guided walks open to allow our guests to enjoy the beauty of the wonderful Rockies."

This is the first time the resort has been fully open to the public since the start of the pandemic, Scurfield said, adding that she is "very pleased" they'll be able to go ahead with their plans.

Some of those plans include recruiting summer staff and plowing trails once the ski season is officially over in May.

The COVID-19 closures at the resort for the past two years was definitely a "challenge", Scurfield says.

"We went from being fully open, having one of the best snow and ski years, being on track to have our record year and then, all of a sudden, coming to a stop."

The following winter season was scaled back, she says.

"Our goal was to be open and stay open and we were successful at being able to stay open from Nov. 10 all the way through to Nov. 24."

The pandemic closure, while a huge hit to the resort's revenue, did present staff with the opportunity to make some improvements, particularly in regards to increasing the capacity of Sunshine Village's parking lots.

"We were able to grow our base area parking lot by about 15 per cent, which netted about 250 new parking stalls," Scurfield said. "We were able to put up new retaining walls to push back and grow our existing surface lot at the base of our mountain."

During the course of the pandemic, she says they were also able to build two large Sprung structures to provide an additional 9,000 square feet of lodge space.

Now that travel restrictions are being loosened in Canada, Scurfield says staff are ready to welcome guests, who are free to travel abroad, back to the resort.

"At Sunshine over the summer, we do have some amazing viewsites so I would encourage people to come and explore just how different the summer side is. Late July/early August is the peak for wildflowers. At Sunshine, we are home to some pretty incredible wildflowers and they can be knee-deep."

The resort opens the summer season on June 24.