Northern Rockies/Alberta 2023 Inland NW/Idaho/Wyoming/Montana Ski Resorts/Conditions/Meetups

[DanoT]

How does Banff Sunshine deal with extreme cold? Was planning to go on Wednesday but not sure if they'll be fully open with -17 F.

When the cold snaps come to Alberta they are always colder and last longer than the B.C. interior. They might open some of the lifts later in the day or as you suggest, they may not open at all. The best time to ski Banff is in the spring. They even sell a March/April Pass.

Most of western Canada is having a poor snow year. Lake Louise has only just broke a 100cm alpine base and Sunshine is only marginally better with a 136cm base....way to skinny a snow pack for the Rocky Mountains. By comparison Sun Peaks alpine snowpack is 190cm, which is about normal, while many other resorts are below normal and Lake Louise is just plain horrible.

 

[Sibhusky]

The forecast for here this week. We're playing catch up.

 

[gratedwasabi]

Awesome day so far at Sunshine. Tons of pow, coverage is rough in some spots but plenty of runs are well covered. Beautiful day, fresh pow, sun is out. What a mountain!

Goats Eye coverage is rough. Lookout is solid. More snow falling.

 

[AJP]

Anyone haven intel on how red and whitewater are skiing right now? I heard whitewater had some lift issues earlier in the year, have they been taken care of?? Planning on traveling somewhere March 7-12, keeping options open.

 

[BS Slarver]

Thanks for cheering me up @Sibhusky !

A group of us BS skiers due into Whitefish in less than 2 weeks. 2 days on the hill and 2 of cat skiing. Keep the faucet on till we get there

 

[Tom K.]

They're always forecasting snow that doesn't show up.

The forecast for here this week. We're playing catch up.

At this point, I'm starting to wonder whether Lucy has once again pulled the ball from Charlie Brown.

Hope I'm wrong.

 

[DanoT]

Anyone haven intel on how red and whitewater are skiing right now? I heard whitewater had some lift issues earlier in the year, have they been taken care of?? Planning on traveling somewhere March 7-12, keeping options open.

Right now Red and Whitewater have below average snow coverage as do many other resorts in western Canada. Sun Peaks is the exception this year with excellent coverage and a thicker base than Red or Whitewater...this is not normal.

 

[David Chaus]

Anyone haven intel on how red and whitewater are skiing right now? I heard whitewater had some lift issues earlier in the year, have they been taken care of?? Planning on traveling somewhere March 7-12, keeping options open.

What Dano said. I was at Red Thurs-Sat, only a little overnight snow and on Friday. North facing slopes are skiing OK, and groomed runs at Topping Creek and Paradise are excellent early in the day. South facing exposures such as the Slides and Powder Fields , and much of Grey are OK at top, then mid—way down deteriorates to crusty coral.

 

[chris_the_wrench]

At this point, I'm starting to wonder whether Lucy has once again pulled the ball from Charlie Brown.

That huge football is looking smaller and smaller...

 

[Tom K.]

That huge football is looking smaller and smaller...

Looking like a couple of inches, along with howler monkey wind.....

 

[Tony]

I've had a busy week and a half. After skiing Bachelor 2/11-12, Schweitzer 2/13-14, I picked up @Skiace at GEG on 2/15, ski Red 2/16 with @David Chaus and 3 other friends who all skied Revy on 2/17. Then the 4 or us (not David) catskied deepest snow ever at Mustang Powder 2/18-20, Whitewater 2/21, Red 2/22-23 and will be at 49 North today, then Bachelor on the weekend. Will post more details when I have more time. Met @charlier at very cold Red 2/23.

 

[dbostedo]

Will post more details when I have more time.

 

[charlier]

I've had a busy week and a half. After skiing Bachelor 2/11-12, Schweitzer 2/13-14, I picked up @Skiace at GEG on 2/15, ski Red 2/16 with @David Chaus and 3 other friends who all skied Revy on 2/17. Then the 4 or us (not David) catskied deepest snow ever at Mustang Powder 2/18-20, Whitewater 2/21, Red 2/22-23 and will be at 49 North today, then Bachelor on the weekend. Will post more details when I have more time. Met @charlier at very cold Red 2/23. View attachment 193732

Great to meet up Tony on cold, but windless day at Red.

 

[slowrider]

Experience Idaho.

Brundage is low keyed & affordable. Friendly doe.

On to Tamarack.

 

[Tony]

Don't want your popcorn to get stale, but after a sunny Saturday with 9,000 people at Bachelor, we had 1" new reported Sunday and arrived to 3" in parking lot and it dumped all day. My original plan was to leave Bend early today and ski Shasta in PM to break up trip home and avoid arriving Bay Area during rush hour.

But 4-6" was predicted today and 6-10" tonight and I still have more free Ikon Bachelor days so new plan (after skiing a lot of new snow today since Northwest opened) is to ski Bachelor AM tomorrow, then drive home. So it may be a while before I post trip summary as I will have some catching up to do when I get home.

Snow at Mustang Powder was too deep if such a thing can exist. Maybe I needed 125-width skis I bought from someone here and have never tried. @Skiace was on 132s that worked well. My 116 mm Super 7s were probably not enough skis. Crop of picture taken by a friend skiing with us. Many more in first link below.

A lot more available at https://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/threads/mustang-snowcat-bc-2-18-20-23.14689/
Bachelor on my way N and on my way S (to be continued)
Schweitzer
Red Mountain Resort
Will post a trip summary when I get home and caught up.

 

[slowrider]

Tamarack,ID skied well with 6" new & 10°f. $40 tics w/ no lines. Real fun place.

 

[slowrider]

Hopped over to Brundage today. Those $40 tics are a great value. I only ski 3-4 hrs anyway. Knock out conditions.



 

[TonyPlush]

Just finished a raging success of a trip to Red & Whitewater.

Wednesday - Red had leftovers from about 10 inches in the past five days. Pockets of sunshine with beautiful views of inverted crowds. Everything skied soft all day, groomers included.

Thursday - Red was dumping snow most all day. The official report says 2 inches, but I don’t know where they measure this because I skied thigh deep powder off Gray mountain and amazing knee deep snow in Powder Fields and High Spirits. Even popular, lower elevation areas like Toppling Creek had 6+ inches of fresh in the ungroomed areas.

Friday (today) - total powder day at Whitewater. They’ve gotten something like 28 inches this week, with 10” in the last 24 hours. Again, it skied deeper. This was probably the most overall powder skiing I’ve done in a single day of destination resort skiing, and that includes a few 20 inch days at Alta. My last run of the day at 3:50 PM still had pockets of mostly untouched 8+ inches, in not very hard to find spots.

These mountains are a special place. Can post more details if people are interested.

 

[KingGrump]

From couple days back.



There are few more SkiTalker here.

 

[KingGrump]

Looks like the 2023 gathering had been officially relocated.