CALGARY – Our ski hill is bigger than yours.

It’s a point that Tourism Alberta is making to American skiers who may be mistaken about the size of their slopes.

What matters is the “relief size” of a mountain and its “wow factor,” not altitude, the province’s official marketing agency explains.

“While the peaks in Colorado, for example, top out at 14,000 feet (about 4,270 metres) and ours at 11,000 feet (3,350 metres), we have more visible vertical since our valleys were carved deeper,” Tourism Alberta says in a press release.

That makes the Canadian vertical more impressive, unless you were planning to ski all the way to sea level in Colorado.

In seeking to lure Americans to Banff-Lake Louise and Banff National Park, the agency is also highlighting the plentiful snow, advantages of being in a national park and its No. 1 selling point: the recent decline in the Canadian dollar.

“Not only are you getting a 25 per cent discount off everything, but the colourful bills make you feel like you are paying with Monopoly money.”

Ski-and-stay packages are currently available for US$72 per person per night, Tourism Alberta says.