Pacific NW/AK/BC Tell me about Nelson.

[Erik Timmerman]

A friend is moving to Nelson and apparently has offered a free room. I think I will have to take her up on this offer. Is this on the "Powder Highway"? I've been wanting to go out there and ski small ski areas, no resorts. I guess my Epic pass won't work out there, but that's OK, I want some non-Epic skiing. Oh and is it near Schweitzer?

 

[scott43]

Nice! You're an easy drive from Whitewater and Red. And plunk in the middle of some serious powder. Lots of cat and heli in there. Have fun!!

 

[KevinF]

How long are you going to be out there? Whitewater is in Nelson: https://skiwhitewater.com/

Looks to be more there than you could possibly ski in a season or a lifetime.

 

[Castle Dave]

To check out Nelson see if you can find a copy of Roxanne with Steve Martin and Darryl Hanna.. The locals town vibe is 'Neo Hippy VS Old White Guys'.
Whitewater and Red are pretty much the best of the best in BC especially if you like non resorts like I do.

 

[tch]

^^^ Endorse the above. Nelson is a nice town/small city. Lots of food+beverage establishments and big enough to have a fair number of services as opposed to, say, Rossland. Whitewater is supposed to have the most snow of ANY BC resort, and has great OB access if you're into that. Red is fairly close by and it's my personal fave with more in-bounds terrain than WW.
I would happily spend a month (or more) in Nelson.

 

[fatbob]

Lost an arm and an eye. Asked to be kissed by Hardy. Stands on a big column in London.


Oh.....
Nelson BC - cool town, hippy influence. Bang on the lake. WH20 one of the last great non corporate ski areas. Worth paying for IMV if you're anywhere near passing through.

 

[Mike Rogers]

A friend is moving to Nelson and apparently has offered a free room. I think I will have to take her up on this offer. Is this on the "Powder Highway"? I've been wanting to go out there and ski small ski areas, no resorts. I guess my Epic pass won't work out there, but that's OK, I want some non-Epic skiing. Oh and is it near Schweitzer?

The "Powder Highway" is just a marking concept that lists all the resorts in the southeastern quadrant of BC. It includes some resorts, like Whitewater, Revelstoke, and Fernie that get a lot of snow, and others like Kimberly, Panorama, and Fairmont that hardly get any snow.

Nelson is worth a visit for sure. Nice town. Whitewater is a very small resort, but it has great tree skiing and usually very good snow. For longer trips, you'll enjoy whitewater more if you ski some backcountry. There's also good (but short in Vert) backcountry in nearby Kootenay Pass, and excellent tree skiing at nearby Red.

 

[David Chaus]

Whitewater also has the best food, for the least money, of any ski area I’ve been to.

As mentioned, Whitewater is about an hour from Red Mt; as far as Schweitzer it’s about 3 hours+.

 

[scott43]

Hang onto that friend like grim death..