Congratulations Venice Queen,
You should be able to take the whole family as if I recall it is a $10K SkiMax voucher - I'm sure they are not too concerned how you use it.
I've been fortunate to ski Canada the last two seasons and I can recommend Big White in late January or Banff/Louise in March/April. Choose when you want to go and then do your research as the temperatures, resorts and conditions vary widely. This year it was -40C at the resorts around Banff in January so I'm glad we weren't there then.
You'll have a great time - I can't wait to get back myself.
Thanks for your suggestions, Ross, they're really helpful, I thought of you when I won the trip as I remembered you had won a couple of ski trips. We've pretty much decided April will be a good time to go as it won't be so cold (can't even imagine how cold -40C would be
) and are very much looking forward to seeing Banff/ Lake Louise.
Thanks to everyone who has posted, your messages are very much appreciated, what a wonderful online community this is!
Banff is definitely the go at that time of year - it's a lovely little town that has lots of things going on after skiing - plus there's a couple of supermarkets if you want to save on food. It has good shuttle buses (free with ski ticket) to Sunshine Village (my favourite resort) and Lake Louise. Just make sure you stay close to one of the bus stops as lugging around gear is not fun.
Feel free to PM me if you want more info or advice.