I’m not a cold weather person. I’m a summer creature; a woman who whips off her tights the second the clocks spring forward. Needless to say, skiing has never been top of my agenda (I’d only tried it once as a teenager) but I’d always dreamed of going to Canada so the chance to take a whistle-stop tour of the Rockies’ top ski destinations was impossible to turn down. I whipped out my puffa jacket and 100 deniers and flew straight to Calgary.

The Rocky Mountains are a 3,000 mile stretch of heroic mountains and beautiful National Parks that reach from British Columbia in western Canada to New Mexico in the southwestern United States. In summer they’re the perfect place for a strenuous hike (watch out for bears); in winter they’re an unbeatable spot to hurl yourself down a snowy ski-run.

Banff National Park is a 90 minute drive west from Calgary. Rising out of the snow, the gothic architecture of the Banff Springs Hotel (fairmont.com/banff-springs/) where I was staying made it look like a home fit for Dracula but inside, the labyrinthine layout and eclectic décor encouraged a more comforting comparison to Hogwarts.

Each of the 8,000 inhabitants of Banff must work in the national park in order to live there and it’s a pretty attractive deal. You can walk down Banff Avenue, the main shopping street and see Cascade Mountain perfectly framed in one direction then glance backwards to see the equally impressive Mount Rundle in the other.

Known as a party town, Banff offers a selection of visit-worthy bars but it was the food that most impressed me. I ate some of the best steak I’ve ever tasted – the wagyu tenderloin at the 1888 Chop House restaurant - and adored a less glamourous but no less mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwich from the Bear Street Tavern.

A winter wonderland in the Canadian Rockies