Northern Rockies/Alberta SkiBig3

[Yepow]

We already have the Ikon pass, so free is better than $75 x 2.... But I get your point.

I guess the Big 3 is NOT the powder highway. So we will likely wait to see what the season looks like before making a decision. One of the benefits of driving.

The back side of Pano does sound interesting, but I am a snow snob, so unless it is scheduled for some fresh, we'll stick to SSV. Have to do LL for the views and to stay at the Post Hotel for at least a couple of days. It looks like the places I remember staying at as a little kid in Europe. All of them were called the Post Hotel.

The Delirium Dive guides sounds intriguing, but if we do that, it'd probably just be me, and that makes it expensive. Do they ever group people together? And are there mountain tours of the three hills? I don't want to waste a day or more just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. If push comes to shove, we could do a lesson I suppose.

SSV brings the snow conditions! Which is not to say that it sometimes isn't a bit crusty after 9 days with no snow, but it almost NEVER is actually icy or freeze-thawed or anything like that in January. The village *starts* at 2200 meters and most of it goes up from there. The benefits of a 20 minute gondola ride to get to the village. That's close to the summit elevation of Pano (2450m) and actually higher than the summit of anything at Fernie And yeah, LL will be great for strong skiers who know not to just hang out on the frontside groomers

The Dive requires a beacon (the gates to it open with that) and probe and shovel and partner, and there is a distinct possibility that the dive might not be open in early January. Totally depends on snow conditions. The "day in the dive" is pricy for sure--IDK if they have a group thing into the dive. I've never been in it. (Excuse me, I'm an intermediate)

There are snow hosts for free tours of getting around. SSV has 9 lifts, but reasonably short runs. I've run all the lifts on a day several times, so it's not like zipping between countries in Europe or anything like that, so exploring on your own isn't horrendous and several of us can likely point you at which runs to try first, given an overall pattern of what you like to ski. SSV do an early bird 9-10am lesson that's fairly cheap and they certainly can tour you on that. There are a few pieces of local knowledge on how to get up and down between Goat's eye chair and the village.

 

[Mike Rogers]

The Delirium Dive guides sounds intriguing, but if we do that, it'd probably just be me, and that makes it expensive. Do they ever group people together? And are there mountain tours of the three hills? I don't want to waste a day or more just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there. If push comes to shove, we could do a lesson I suppose.

You need a partner to ski the dive, but most solo people just wait at the gate and ask groups if they can join. Lots of people have asked to join liz and I, and I have never said no. If it's a fun lap, we sometimes team up for the rest of the day.

Louise also has "ski friends" who run tours. They'll show you around for free, but I don't think they will take you to the double black terrain.

 

[Jerez]

Thanks. Both above posts very helpful.

 

[Mel]

Great intel on LL and SSV. Thank you!

We were looking at late January but the idea of 40 below gives me pause, so we may rethink the timimg. We were going to drive up from CO stopping at Jackson and Big Sky so also trying to keep that weather in mind too.

I feel a bit like the Farmer’s Almanac of the Canadian Rockies, but in general…

November - bring your least favourite skis
December - limited terrain early in the month, often a cold snap sometime late Nov/early Dec, Goats Eye mtn at SSV usually opens well before Christmas, but often takes until the new year to get enough coverage for the south side chutes open
January - dry but less often cold. It can obviously be cold any time, but cold snaps tend to be brief. Opening of the south side chutes is hit or miss
February - most common time for a cold snap. Not quite as dry as January, but we rarely get huge powder days. The pattern of 5-10cm regular refreshes starts, and stays cold enough that it rarely gets icy at SSV. Usually everything is open, and you’d spend much of your time on Goats Eye based on what you like to ski
March - “warm” and more snowfall. Best time of year IMO
April - still good, sometimes crusty in the morning, warmer
May - locals with passes

As for the Dive (and Wild West), I will start with the caveat that I don’t ski them! My kids do, and love them. You need a beacon, probe, and shovel, as well as a partner with the same gear. There’s a gate that lets you through with a beacon and buddy. Not guaranteed to be open every day, as it can be very weather and wind dependant. If you want to do it but don’t have the buddy, gear, or the confidence with unfamiliar terrain, you can book a “day in the dive” lesson. I believe they supply the gear including beacon for the day, but I think it’s private only (no groups). If you’re interested in that or a regular lesson, im happy to PM you some instructor recommendations. There’s some excellent and very well qualified instructors there. Or I can lend you my teenagers as buddies and tour guides but I will warn you that the three most dangerous words I’ve ever heard are “mom, follow me!”

as for tours, they have free tours daily leaving from the main village area around noon. The hosts are all volunteers who know the mountain well. Divided by ability, but it tops out at blue/black. They won’t take you on any double blacks. They can also direct you to other runs to try out on your own based on what you’re interested in.

The Post Hotel is fantastic. Ask for a tour of the wine cellar. Even if you don’t like wine, it’s visually pretty stunning. And the food is great. I much prefer it to the Chateau Lake Louise.

 

[Sibhusky]

Agree 100% on the Post.

 

[dovski]

SSV brings the snow conditions! Which is not to say that it sometimes isn't a bit crusty after 9 days with no snow, but it almost NEVER is actually icy or freeze-thawed or anything like that in January. The village *starts* at 2200 meters and most of it goes up from there. The benefits of a 20 minute gondola ride to get to the village. That's close to the summit elevation of Pano (2450m) and actually higher than the summit of anything at Fernie And yeah, LL will be great for strong skiers who know not to just hang out on the frontside groomers

The Dive requires a beacon (the gates to it open with that) and probe and shovel and partner, and there is a distinct possibility that the dive might not be open in early January. Totally depends on snow conditions. The "day in the dive" is pricy for sure--IDK if they have a group thing into the dive. I've never been in it. (Excuse me, I'm an intermediate)

There are snow hosts for free tours of getting around. SSV has 9 lifts, but reasonably short runs. I've run all the lifts on a day several times, so it's not like zipping between countries in Europe or anything like that, so exploring on your own isn't horrendous and several of us can likely point you at which runs to try first, given an overall pattern of what you like to ski. SSV do an early bird 9-10am lesson that's fairly cheap and they certainly can tour you on that. There are a few pieces of local knowledge on how to get up and down between Goat's eye chair and the village.

The Day in the Dive is a private group lesson, at least it was last season. I believe they limit groups to four people max and actually do a couple runs with you to make sure you are able to ski it. They provide all the avalanche gear, but do not guarantee that Delirium Dive will be open that day, so you may spend a lot of $$ but not get ot ski it.

SSV really does have some of the best and most consistent snow conditions of almost any resort in North America. We go there every year in April during my kids spring break and it never disappoints. We also like Lake Louise, but in Spring with the freeze thaw cycles it can be hit or miss.

While technically not part of the Powder Highway a nice Ikon pass holder road trip could be Banff (Sunshine), Lake Louise, Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Red Mountain, Schweitzer and Big Sky. All of these mountains are on the Ikon pass so if you have the time this could be a fun road trip. The resorts in Canada will be way cheaper in terms of accommodation, meals .... etc. I would also recommend checking out Whitefish as that is a great mountain with reasonable prices but is not on the Ikon pass.

 

[graham418]

November - bring your least favourite skis
December - limited terrain early in the month, often a cold snap sometime late Nov/early Dec, Goats Eye mtn at SSV usually opens well before Christmas, but often takes until the new year to get enough coverage for the south side chutes open
January - dry but less often cold. It can obviously be cold any time, but cold snaps tend to be brief. Opening of the south side chutes is hit or miss
February - most common time for a cold snap. Not quite as dry as January, but we rarely get huge powder days. The pattern of 5-10cm regular refreshes starts, and stays cold enough that it rarely gets icy at SSV. Usually everything is open, and you’d spend much of your time on Goats Eye based on what you like to ski
March - “warm” and more snowfall. Best time of year IMO
April - still good, sometimes crusty in the morning, warmer
May - locals with passes

That pretty much sums up all of Alberta and BC.

 

[freeskier1961]

I respectfully disagree with "SSV really does have some of the best and most consistent snow conditions of almost any resort in North America"
I've skied all over North America and do not find this to be the case. Zrankings I believe puts SSV overall rating at 39th with a snow quality rating of 52.9 out of 100.
They are all good with a great snow year, just some are better.
LL and SSV skied very nicely last February with great conditions. Powder days!

 

[DanoT]

Zrankings I believe puts SSV overall rating at 39th with a snow quality rating of 52.9 out of 100.

While I don't have a problem with Zrankings on quantifiable stuff like annual snow volume and vert, they snow quality analysis is suspect if they give Banff-Sunshine (new name for SSV) a snow quality rating of only 52.9 out of 100 as it is a place where rain and wet snow are rare for most of the season.

 

[freeskier1961]

regardless of zrankings..in my experience and humble opinion all things considered is that SSV does not have "one of best and most consistent snow conditions of almost any resort in North America".
I do agree that rain and wet snow are rare. As I mentioned earlier we had good snow conditions there last season.
What is their average inches of snow per season? This in my opinion contributes to quality of coverage and number of potential powder days.

 

[Mel]

Zrankings overall scores include a lot of stuff not relevant to the actual skiing (like the town ambiance), and in their section on methodology they don’t clarify in any way what they use to measure snow quality (which they separate from snow quantity), so as far as I’m concerned it’s not reliable for that metric. Accurate data from Environment Canada generated this for last season compared to historical snow water equivalents:

So yes, last year (especially last December) was unusual, but there is consistent snowfall, usually within a fairly predictable range, and the temperature stays cold enough to keep much of that snow. It’s really rare to get huge powder days in the Canadian Rockies, but more days are reliably good, which matters a great deal to me as I don’t have a lot of flexibility in my ski days.

SSV also has the advantage of elevation, so the only place with human- made snow is at the bottom of the ski out, in the village area, and (I think at the top of waterfall run since the 2013 floods changed the course of the waterfall a bit.

So it matters a bit what you mean by consistency - do we get regular, predictable huge powder days? Definitely no. But is the snow always skiable without ice, dirt, or rain, and with regular snowfall to refresh it? Absolutely.

 

[JoeSchmoe]

Zrankings overall scores include a lot of stuff not relevant to the actual skiing (like the town ambiance), and in their section on methodology they don’t clarify in any way what they use to measure snow quality (which they separate from snow quantity), so as far as I’m concerned it’s not reliable for that metric. Accurate data from Environment Canada generated this for last season compared to historical snow water equivalents:
View attachment 178535
So yes, last year (especially last December) was unusual, but there is consistent snowfall, usually within a fairly predictable range, and the temperature stays cold enough to keep much of that snow. It’s really rare to get huge powder days in the Canadian Rockies, but more days are reliably good, which matters a great deal to me as I don’t have a lot of flexibility in my ski days.

SSV also has the advantage of elevation, so the only place with human- made snow is at the bottom of the ski out, in the village area, and (I think at the top of waterfall run since the 2013 floods changed the course of the waterfall a bit.

So it matters a bit what you mean by consistency - do we get regular, predictable huge powder days? Definitely no. But is the snow always skiable without ice, dirt, or rain, and with regular snowfall to refresh it? Absolutely.

When we were there this winter, the Divide chair was basically unskiable all day due to extreme fog. The other two lifts on that pod were iffy until lunch as well. It was for sure my worst fog experience. How common is that?

 

[Mel]

When we were there this winter, the Divide chair was basically unskiable all day due to extreme fog. The other two lifts on that pod were iffy until lunch as well. It was for sure my worst fog experience. How common is that?

Poor viz is common than I’d like, as I truly hate flat light! The really bad days (like you had) are less common. Those days, I stick to below tree line. Most days with flat light, I can manage the areas above tree line by lowering my expectations and sticking to runs I know well. Unfortunately there are fewer tree runs as the national parks won’t let them cut more glades without loads of red tape, but there are some fun tree runs off Angel and Wawa chairs.

 

[Yepow]

Poor viz is common than I’d like, as I truly hate flat light! The really bad days (like you had) are less common. Those days, I stick to below tree line. Most days with flat light, I can manage the areas above tree line by lowering my expectations and sticking to runs I know well. Unfortunately there are fewer tree runs as the national parks won’t let them cut more glades without loads of red tape, but there are some fun tree runs off Angel and Wawa chairs.

Surely we will both be at SSV at the same time one of these days in the not so distant future

 

[Mel]

Surely we will both be at SSV at the same time one of these days in the not so distant future

Message me when you know when you’ll be there - it would be great to meet up!

 

[ilovepugs]

@Yepow @Mel any chance you’ll be there week of March 5-11?

 

[GregK]

@Yepow @Mel any chance you’ll be there week of March 5-11?

Very close to pulling the trigger on a powder highway trip from mid Feb to Mid March similar to my trip last season. Revelstoke the last 1.5 weeks of February and then the home base of Banff from March 1-18th. Have been to Revelstoke and the Big3 before but never to Kicking Horse or Panorama. Banff Tours have day trips so I’ll visit those two along with the LL and SSV on my Ikon Pass when in Banff.
Went a similar time last year and had a bunch of powder days at Revelstoke and LL along with perfect temps.

 

[ilovepugs]

Very close to pulling the trigger on a powder highway trip from mid Feb to Mid March similar to my trip last season. Revelstoke the last 1.5 weeks of February and then the home base of Banff from March 1-18th. Have been to Revelstoke and the Big3 before but never to Kicking Horse or Panorama. Banff Tours have day trips so I’ll visit those two along with the LL and SSV on my Ikon Pass when in Banff.
Went a similar time last year and had a bunch of powder days at Revelstoke and LL along with perfect temps.

yeah!!

Assuming Dr Pugs’ vacation time gets added to the schedule our plan is to do Revelstoke 2/26-3/4 then LL/SSV 3/6-3/11 or so. The LL/SSV segment will be out of LL because there is a conference at the Fairmont Chateau.

Guess I should bring skis AND board if there are gonna be some powder days.

 

[Yepow]

Very close to pulling the trigger on a powder highway trip from mid Feb to Mid March similar to my trip last season. Revelstoke the last 1.5 weeks of February and then the home base of Banff from March 1-18th. Have been to Revelstoke and the Big3 before but never to Kicking Horse or Panorama. Banff Tours have day trips so I’ll visit those two along with the LL and SSV on my Ikon Pass when in Banff.
Went a similar time last year and had a bunch of powder days at Revelstoke and LL along with perfect temps.

Reasonably good chance I will be in the SSV area Mar 12-18... (Could be LL but I have a weekday season pass for SSV... LL on a Sunday or Friday incentivized lightly I suppose)

 

[GregK]

Guess I should bring skis AND board if there are gonna be some powder days.

What skis do you have in addition to the new CT 1.0(which is a perfect daily driver for both placestook the wider(102mm) CT 2.0 as my daily driver the last time in addition to my 118mm Wildcats but pondering bringing the CT 3.0(112mm) as my powder ski this time.

Revelstoke trees and bowls are awesome and great snow coverage when I was there.

We’ll have to keep each other posted as if would be fun to meet up with other SkiTalkers. Was pondering doing Utah this year but I have a feeling it’s going to be a better snow year in Canada.