Northern Rockies/Alberta Trip with my 13 y/o- Fly into Calgary for Big 3, Revy and Kicking Horse or Spokane for Red, Whitewater & Rev in mid January?

[Tim Hodgson]

I can guarantee few places are worse than . . . Revy for poorly designed lift layout . . .

Yes. I personally hate it. It is all off fall line from my one time experience.

Does anyone have a photo of the whiteboard outside the exit of the gondola to post?

Thank you for mentioning Castle Mountain, I am very interested.

 

[DanoT]

Yes. I personally hate it. It is all off fall line from my one time experience.

Does anyone have a photo of the whiteboard outside the exit of the gondola to post?

Thank you for mentioning Castle Mountain, I am very interested.

This is from my post in the SkiTalk Unofficial Guide to Castle Mtn. I think it is worth repeating:

"I like to tell people that Castle Mtn. is the greatest mountain in North America that you have never heard of. It should be on every serious skier`s bucket list".

 

[babanff]

Are you around Tahoe?
Give us a shout if you are.

Passed through already (sorry, quick and dirty visit for a wedding), but reallllly loved Tahoe, first time visiting… def need to come back in the winter!

 

[surfandski]

Regarding ski real estate- In 2005 my wife and I decided to move from BC to Ontario to share in the care of her parents. Rather than give up skiing (insert sound of outraged Ontario skiers) and on a limited budget we bought a relatively cheap condo in Sparwood BC. 35 minutes to the Fernie parking lot and 1 hour and 15 to Castle.
IMHO these two hills are some of the best in Western Canada. Sparwood is a blue collar coal mining town, not a a resort and that is just the way we like it.. Not an Aussie in sight but lots of Nerwfies. Summer and winter in Sparwood and Spring and Fall in Ontario. We did this for 10 years until we moved back to BC in 2015.
I am suggesting try to find a place with two ski options like Rossland ($$$$) or Sparwood ($) If you have a big budget with US$ by all means buy in a resort but it isn't the only way to go.

Thanks for that recommendation! We are definitely more of the laid back crowd rather than looking for glitz and glam of Vail type resorts.

 

[Mike Rogers]

Like everybody else said, ski Banff late season and ski BC early season.

Lake Louise and Sunshine in Alberta do not get a lot of snow, and the best terrain is in the rocky alpine. It can take some time to build a good base. Banff is a great place for spring skiing, with March being the prime season. April, particularily early April is usally really good as well. Winter also comes early to Alberta. Our November skiing is often among the best on on the convenient.but it's still November skiing. By mid December, BC will usualy have caught up as surpassed Alberta for snow coverage and ski quality. It typically stays that way until sometime between mid february and mid march.

For your trip, it's a now brainer. Ski BC in Jaunary and Albeta in March,.

Kicking Horse is my favorite Calgary area resort. It has my favorite terrain. KH gets more snow than the Alberta resorts and rain is less of an issue than Fernie. The lift system is basic, but it works well enough....especially midweek. Sidecountry is amazing.

I ski Fernie when it snows. Fernie has great tree skiing and an efficient lift system. Rain can be an issue here, so be flexible with your dates

I ski Lake Louise early and late season.

I ski Sunshine after Lake Louise closes.

Castle can be a lot of fun. I had a pass there for two years, but in the last couple of years I have only spent one day at the hill. The fall line runs at castle are really fun, but there is a greater variety of terrain at other resorts. The double chair can get really overwhelmed on weekends too. And wind closures ruin too many days at Castle. It's worth a look, but check the weather forecast first.


For the interior resorts, Red has the best terrain, but it doesn't get a lot of snow. Rain can be an issue. Whitewater has amazing snow, but it is very small inbounds (fun terrain though)! For inbounds Revelstoke has a lot of potential, but it isn't my favorite resort. The best snow tends to be in the North Bowl, but the terrain is steppy. There is good fall line skiing on the front side, but rain is an issue below the gondoala. Lots of fun drops and cliffs though. Of the three interior areas, I visit Revelstoke the most, but it is the closest, has the best backcoutry skiing, and I have friends there. Powder days at Red are unbelievable.

 

[Mike Rogers]

For real estate

Rossland and Fernie are the best ski towns in Canada. Revelstoke is really nice as well, but you'll be under a cloud most of the winter.

Golden's location can't be beat. Golden is in the valley between the Rockies and the Purcells. The Selkirks are a short drive away. It doesn't feel like a ski town though. It's very small and not much to look at. The locals are really nice though and there are some beautiful properties outside of town. If I didn't have to work, or I could work from home on a permanent basis, I would move to Golden.

Nelson doesn't feel like a ski town, but it a very unique small city. It probably isn't for everyone, but I like visiting Nelson. Great restaurants and relaxed people.

You can't live in Lake Louise or Banff unless you are working in the Park, or are retired after working in the park for the 5 years before your retirement.

 

[DanoT]

Re real estate: I think the OP should factor in the lower cost of flying to Spokane and buying in Rossland vs the higher cost of flying to Calgary and buying in Fernie or Golden.

 

[geepers]

I can (but don't feel like) list the all negatives (and positives) of every ski resort in western Canada, and they all have some, but none of these resorts are head and shoulders above Schweitzer.

As far as Banff vs Schweitzer, Lake Louise gets less snow than I like although I am not a powder hound. But what LL has is great terrain, some of the best in Canada. OTOH I would chose Schweitzer over Sunshine Village, so it's a wash.

Yes I would buy a place at Sun Peaks rather than Schweitzer but my point is that Schweitzer would be on the list for consideration while other resorts such as Big White, Silver Star, Panorama would not.

Big Whiteout speaks for itself.

Silver Star has the Powder Gulch which is mostly steeper and more mogul-ed than I like while the rest of SS is flatter than I like. Also 40k people living in Vernon 20min away, can lead to some crazy busy powder mornings.

I have never skied Panorama because any resort that gets less snow than Sun Peaks and has the most snow making in B.C. and needs snow making to the very top of the mountain, I'm not a player. The locals joke about Panorama being "the hole in the doughnut", meaning it snows all around Panorama but not in the resort when the storms blow thru.

As to preferring small B.C. ski towns, well that is great but Big White, Silver Star, and Sun Peaks have the most on hill development but they are purpose built ski villages and in that regard are just like Schweitzer. IMO, for a vacation visit, Schweitzer's nearby town of Sandpoint ranks higher than Kelowna, Vernon, or Kamloops for those not staying on the mountain.

Snow quality was also part of the @dovski criteria. Well I am here to tell you that one of the main reasons I am not a Red Mtn. regular is that Red gets rain and wet snow, similar to Stevens Pass. I have friends who have spent a week at Red playing pool because it rained to the top of the mountain all week. Pro ski tip: If skiing at Red during a mild spell, pack up and go to nearby Whitewater which is higher elevation.

As far as proximity to other great resorts, it has already been mentioned in this thread that Red/Whitewater/Schweitzer make a very good mini trip and if Revy replaces Schweitzer, then there is more driving involved.

It comes down to personal choice, but with a list as long and varied as @dovski's, not only would I include Schweitzer as part of great skiing in the region because it is very comparable to much of the skiing avaiable in Western Canada, I would also include Apex and Castle and Whitefish on the list.

Assessment of a resort is based on personal experience with the conditions we encounter in a visit. As well as other long term factors that may or may not suit our taste.

FWITW... the 3 BC resorts where I've spent the most time are Big White, Silver Star and Sun Peaks. Each has pros and cons.

Relative to each other:
Sun Peaks:

Pros​

• Probably the most terrain variety
• Best summer grooming - less evil, ski trashing rocks
• Best variety of ski shops in the village (5 when I was there)

Cons​

• Least snow. Been getting the daily snow report emails from all 3 resorts for 5 years and SP gets the least freshies 95% of the time. However the great summer grooming helps.
• Wacky lift layout. Kind of weird that 1/3 of the way down one of the best bump runs on the mountain you have to make a decision to cut back for the same lift to get to the top again OR complete the run and face an uphill walk to either return to that lift or ski/walk to another lift to get taken to a completely different part of the mountain. Also having to walk back up the hill from the central lifts to access the village is not that great. Short walk but really...??
• Burfield Chair - 24 minute ride time...
• Village shuttle stops running before evening. Yeah, that's a little unfriendly if trying to get to/from the central village.

Big White:

Pros​

• Great snow. Nearly always top the daily snow report for freshies. And it's mostly that high quality Okanagan champagne pow.
• Great tree skiing. (Then again, maybe I just know that mountain better having had a whole season to explore it)

Cons​

• Visibility. Skied 100+ days there one season and kept a log. 25% days were limited vis and 1/2 of those were pea soup, ice-the-outside-of-your-goggles, low level cloud. (It's not fog - it's low level cloud according...) If a visit happens to occur in one of those periods when the clouds are rolling through then no doubt it will leave an impression. OTOH there's weeks of glorious blue bird days. And the tree skiing is still great - the trees suck the moisture out of the air improving vis and providing points of reference.
• Less really steep terrain. There's The Cliff and Falcon. However the steep parts are short and both are serviced by old dbl chairs.
• One ski shop

Silver Star

Pros​

• Good terrain variety. Plenty of nice, steep bump runs and some nice steep, winch cat groomed runs - great to practice shorts. There's plenty of less imposing terrain and plenty in between. Like most of the terrain serviced by the Silver Woods and Attridge lifts. Even Pow Gulch has plenty of milder runs.
• Very good snow - a lot more freshies than SP although typically less than BW on the daily reports. And it's mostly that high quality Okanagan champagne pow.

Cons​

• Saturday mornings on a pow day. It's the one time when may not be able to ski straight on to the lift. Vernon is close and will empty. Great time to rest up. The 'crowding' (if that's even a word for inland BC) will be done by lunch. Rest of the week the resort is your own private ski area. (That last bit is true for all 3 resorts but please keep that a secret.)
• One ski shop. OTOH there are 3-4 in nearby Vernon as long as you have transport.

Personally rate them in order: SS, BW, SP. But totally understand if others felt differently.

Wouldn't pass up a chance to ski any of these resorts for either a short visit or a whole season. In non-pandemic years now base at SS as I have a family who moved to Canada, live close by and work for the resort. Looking forward to doing some side trips along the Pow Hwy.

So many resorts, so little time.

 

[DanoT]

• Wacky lift layout. Kind of weird that 1/3 of the way down one of the best bump runs on the mountain you have to make a decision to cut back for the same lift to get to the top again OR complete the run and face an uphill walk to either return to that lift or ski/walk to another lift to get taken to a completely different part of the mountain. Also having to walk back up the hill from the central lifts to access the village is not that great. Short walk but really...??
• Burfield Chair - 24 minute ride time...

The Sun Peaks Master Plan calls for eventually installing a West Morrisey chairlift that would service the north facing black diamond runs that currently end in a hike out. However the SP Resort corp is more focused on development of the East Village and have always been focused on development of intermediate terrain which meshes with the bulk of the skiing public being blue square and easy black diamond skiers.

The 22 minute, 2,894' vert Burfield chair is a longtime locals favourite. Most people ride it once and never come back and with all the Village development 2 miles down the road, the Burf is less busy now than it was in the 1980s prior to all the SP Village development.

 

[geepers]

The Sun Peaks Master Plan calls for eventually installing a West Morrisey chairlift that would service the north facing black diamond runs that currently end in a hike out. However the SP Resort corp is more focused on development of the East Village and have always been focused on development of intermediate terrain which meshes with the bulk of the skiing public being blue square and easy black diamond skiers.

The 22 minute, 2,894' vert Burfield chair is a longtime locals favourite. Most people ride it once and never come back and with all the Village development 2 miles down the road, the Burf is less busy now than it was in the 1980s prior to all the SP Village development.

Most resorts have a master plan that shows lifts on every available rise not already covered. What counts is what actually gets built. And, generally, real estate profits win over hard core enthusiasts.

22 minutes? They must put 2 squirrels in the rotor cages when you ride it. I timed it a few times from mid-station to top at 12 minutes. And once from base to mid as 13 minutes. And that's not allowing for slow-downs/stoppages. It's a heck of a hole in the skiing day. It's a pity as there is some good terrain on the bottom 1/2 of the Burfield that doesn't get much use. Still, plenty of other interesting terrain over the rest of SP.

 

[DanoT]

22 minutes? They must put 2 squirrels in the rotor cages when you ride it. I timed it a few times from mid-station to top at 12 minutes. And once from base to mid as 13 minutes. And that's not allowing for slow-downs/stoppages. It's a heck of a hole in the skiing day. It's a pity as there is some good terrain on the bottom 1/2 of the Burfield that doesn't get much use. Still, plenty of other interesting terrain over the rest of SP.

If you had timed getting to "The Top of the World" via the Sunburst Chair out of the Village, skiing over to the Crystal Chair, and riding it, you would have discovered that it took roughly the same time and covered less vertical than if you rode the 22 minute Burfield chair. 22 minutes is the normal ride time, I have ridden that chair more than a few times.

Can you name another resort where the locals have their own chair and don't complain about the development and the resultant hordes of new skiers that show up, because as I previously stated new skiers ride the chair once and then never return? The resort can be at full capacity but over at the Burfield it would be hard to tell.

 

[geepers]

If you had timed getting to "The Top of the World" via the Sunburst Chair out of the Village, skiing over to the Crystal Chair, and riding it, you would have discovered that it took roughly the same time and covered less vertical than if you rode the 22 minute Burfield chair. 22 minutes is the normal ride time, I have ridden that chair more than a few times.

Can you name another resort where the locals have their own chair and don't complain about the development and the resultant hordes of new skiers that show up, because as I previously stated new skiers ride the chair once and then never return? The resort can be at full capacity but over at the Burfield it would be hard to tell.

If I was in the marketing department for SP I probably wouldn't focus too much on the Burfield. It's not a great selling point for the resort and there are plenty of other good points to lead with. "Our lift is sooo slow not many people ride it" doesn't come across as a good slogan.

The sooner that lift is replaced with a high speed detachable quad the better. BW's Gem Lake rises 2,333 feet (according to their web site) in about 7 minutes. That's a much more acceptable skiing to riding time ratio.

Plenty of other strong points for SP. "Shop for bumps on 5th Avenue". If SS/SP continues the two day contra it's very likely we'll sample again once Australians are paroled.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

while in area try Apex 27k from Pentiction
it's usually empty and may have the most consistently challenging terrain in the Okanogan Thompson region.
Biggest negative it is on par with Sun Peaks for snowfall and has far less development on hill than the other three.
and similar to Silver Star for groups of varying ability there will be preferred chairs.

 

[Tom Co.]

^^^ my favorite in the Okanogan, Apex

 

[DanoT]

The sooner that lift is replaced with a high speed detachable quad the better. BW's Gem Lake rises 2,333 feet (according to their web site) in about 7 minutes. That's a much more acceptable skiing to riding time ratio.

I don't think making the Burfield Chair a high speed is in the plans. When the New Crystal Chair was installed last summer, it was realigned to off load at the Top of the World. The Master plan called for the Burfield chair to be shortened. This was supposedly to allow the New Crystal and another future chair (that may not ever get built) to off load beside each other. The New Crystal will likely be converted to high speed as demand increases.

The locals were against hacking the Burfield and a petition was circulated and Sun Peaks, true to form of listening to their customers, left the Burfield Chair intact. My input was to suggest to the SP Operations Manager that the future lift (that may never get built) would work better if it off loaded at the site of the old Crystal Chair top terminal.

 

[DanoT]

^^^ my favorite in the Okanogan, Apex

The best powder day ever for me was some 30+ years ago at Apex. I got there on a Sunday after a 3 day storm, was about to ski down a cut up but piles of snow, Gunbarrel (steepest run on the mountain) but then instead followed a ski track to into the trees on my left. Skied thigh deep Okanagan powder all day long, had the area to myself and saw no one else until the last run when there were two people coming back to the lift from farther out.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

the other issue with the Burfield is while the lower half has nice skiing in my experience it's usually the last to open and first to become spring effected. Once was the original base but a bit higher these days is more reliable everywhere. Pretty sure that's why when they created the instant village they moved the main base.

as a side note I had just as much luck buying property at the old Whistler dump (now the main village) as I did in trying to buy property at what became the site of Sun Peaks village. 0-2.
and 0-4 if you add in Kicking Horse and Revy, prior to their development .

instant developments usually go to deeper pockets

 

[geepers]

I don't think making the Burfield Chair a high speed is in the plans. When the New Crystal Chair was installed last summer, it was realigned to off load at the Top of the World. The Master plan called for the Burfield chair to be shortened. This was supposedly to allow the New Crystal and another future chair (that may not ever get built) to off load beside each other. The New Crystal will likely be converted to high speed as demand increases.

The locals were against hacking the Burfield and a petition was circulated and Sun Peaks, true to form of listening to their customers, left the Burfield Chair intact. My input was to suggest to the SP Operations Manager that the future lift (that may never get built) would work better if it off loaded at the site of the old Crystal Chair top terminal.

That's passing strange. Skied in SP with a contact who is a long term winter resident. He told me (2018) that they were waiting for a decision on whether to install the eastern lift (?) or upgrade the Burfield. He thought the Burfield would not get priority since the east lift would better suit real estate. And that's what happened.

Maybe I misunderstood... But seems not all locals were for leaving the Burfield as is.

Enhancement to lifting on the areas serviced by the Crystal and mid to top Burfield would be good. Won't do much for lower Burfield however my understanding is that section tends to suffer the most early/late season or in warm spells. Snow quality up higher generally much better. (I see @noncrazycanuck also pointed this out.)

 

[Castle Dave]

I am now an Apex local and the season before this last one we had 143 cm in four days. Freakish especially for Apex. Last season was very good but not THAT good. Aside from the fact it is only 45 minutes from home, we like the fact it is basically deserted midweek and has more challenge than the other three OK hills. Plus we know many of the lifties by name and my wife gives them baked goodies just like old times. The hill has a great vibe.

 

[David Chaus]

Can one get off Burfield at mid-station and ski to the bottom of the new Crystal, or does that still require a sorta uphill skate on the Crystal Cat Track?