Ski Holidays Sue - Revy till Dec 26, Monashee Powder Cat Skiing for 3 days, then Banff till Jan 4, then back to Big White till Mar 19.
Sue is off CAT skiing, but says BW is awesome though, lots of snow and recent storm dumped a heap. Looking good so far
I left BW two days ago, Gem is probably a bit sketchy still - they will have opened it up for the car parking for the Kelowna day trippers. Powder Chair was good last Friday,before we headed off on the road trip. I'm offline for a few days, so enjoy BW or wherever you are skiing and having a white Christmas
I finally got my first turns of the season in this morning. Just a quick run up to Cypress Mountain, but pretty cool to have breakky at home and be skiing an hour later.
how did you find it as a ski destination? We've only popped in for a look. I'm guessing it would be incedibly busy on weekends?
Been years since I skied there, but the views from the north shore mountains are sensational. The city laid out at your feet, and the Salish Sea beyond, and finally the Olympic Range out past that. Or sometimes you get a low cloud day that obscures the city and water in a white blanket, but leaves you skiing in bright sunshine, that is special too.
For an international traveller with limited time, there are obviously much bigger fish to fry in the ski destinations list. For locals with limited time or money or who can't get to the grander resorts, it's terrific! They only had three lifts and limited runs open yesterday, and it was pretty crowded, being a school holiday week. There were some decent snowfalls over the last week, so the snow was pretty nice. Ordinarily crowds and limited runs would be a death knell for me, but as one of the main reasons for moving to Vancouver was to ski often, I was itching to have a ski. The three Van local mountains are just that: local. I've spoken to a few people who live on the north shore who'll go up for a ski in the morning or afternoon midweek. The kids do their thing on the weekend. It's fun. As @sly_karma said, if you can strike the right weather conditions there, the views can be pretty cool.
Just got flights NZ to Vancouver for $961 return on Airnz on 28 Jan. Have 14 nights, solo traveller, and am wondering if its better just to go to to Whistler for all my skiing, or head to Banff. Advanced skier who is on a budget. I realise Whistler is not budget, but may be the same as hiring a car on my own to travel to other resorts. Any thoughts?
It's a fair question, renting a car solo is not a great value proposition. I'll say that Banff isnt your only option, within 4-5 hours of Vancouver you have the three big interior family mountains: Sun Peaks, Big White, Silver Star. Plus several smaller ski hills worth exploring like Baker, Baldy, Apex, Manning and Sasquatch. Public transport outside cities in western Canada is deplorable, so you're probably renting a car anyway, but if you kept it to a loop back to Vancouver you'd save the zero value one way rental charge and use less fuel.
Has anyone used the Canadian Ski pass program passes? Looking at how to get cheapest passes for 10 or so days.
I too would like to know how to get a deal to ski multiple BC ski hills. Obviously Mountain Collective covers Revelstoke and Lake Louise. The Lake Louise plus card sounds good. How does that work? Do you have to ski all seven days (to get the first, fourth and seventh free) at one resort or could it be - for example - three at Silver Star, two at Red and two at Pano? Also by booking lodging early and including lift tickets can you get short stays that average less than $80 a day for the lift ticket component?
Thanks. My plans are starting to look like Whistler for a few days from 28 jan, prebooked, then get a car and head to Kamloops area, Sunpeaks etc depending on snow and weather. Is it worth hiring from Whistler, loks like only avis there but still good rates, and dropping back there for another say or two at dropoff, or shuttle back to Vancouver and rent from there? And I think the Canadian Ski pass 10 day pass will be cheapest option, $81 a day.
Are you planning to bus to whistler then pick up a car after you return to Van? have a think about driving to whistler and then you can drive straight from whistler to SP ( weather permitting) snd save a day in the crossover
Looks like you might be following my tracks. Arrive 27th Jan in Whistler with shuttle bus trans from Van. Car rented in Whistler (AVIS) for 6 days for a trip out to Sun Peaks before a return to Van for 1 day before flying back to Aus.
Check out the hire costs ex Whistler. I’m guessing there might be a premium. And there will also be a premium if you dont return itback to Whistler at the end of your holiday
Does that include Banff? We'll be relying on public transport all the way from Calgary airport to Banff to the 3 Big Ski resorts (basing in Banff) in late March. Haven't planned on renting a car yet. Can we get away with not driving?
Banff area has its act together ok, the resorts and the tourist assoc/chamber of commerce make it happen, but most other resorts in the west are off by themselves. The usual scenario is one ski hill 15-45 away from a regional town, and they are to some degree in competition for beds and meals, neither wants to provide the means for the other to gain the upper hand.
I ended up getting a jeep wrangler from Routes Car Rental in Vancouver, and cdw from rentalcover.com, 15 days for $32 a day, unlimited miles all up.
Correction, rentalcover.com isnt CDW, it is just covering the excess like travel insurance already does.
i just plugged in some random dates and every quote had CDW included. You typically pay a bit more through a hire company but we had a broken windscreen and just dropped it off and walked away. Certainly a lot less hassle than having the rental company charge your card and then you trying to claim it back from an overseas insurance company
30 cm today at Big White. Dry, soft champagne Okanagan powder. Ive never really skied in this stuff before. Closest thing to skiing in icing sugar! Now I understand the big deal about powder skiing and first tracks! unbeatable! in for lunchtime beers then out again.
How have you found the (in)famous visibility issues. Is it a common thing as the internet would have you believe or is a bit of a beat up? I've never been there.
Yesterday was a whiteout, the day before, bluebird. Talking to instructors who ski both, you chose your poison. They say there are more powder days at big white, trade that off for your whiteouts. We are staying for two weeks so will get plenty of skiing in. If you were only here for a week, it may be a bit more frustrating and I’d go to Sunpeaks or Silverstar for more reliable skiable days . We will head back to SP next year.
love love skiing the white out days at BW, means less people out on the runs. It's not bad at all if you stay to the edges or ski between the trees or even ski the runs between the runs takes a bit of looking for those runs but they are awesome. usually white out conditions comes with new snow. It really is a beat up I think." Today was awesome, no one out int he arvo and fresh lines down the sides all afternoon. Not sure where all the people went.
Apex has had 40 cm this week so far. Still less base than BW, but it will be a big improvement. Getting close to all runs open now. Still a way off from 200 cm base which is what I think of as the "go anywhere" level.
magic day at big white today. Alternating sun and snow. Did first tracks and well worth the dollars to get 45 min on fresh corduroy at Mach 1000 knowing there’s no one below you to look out for. kids did their first ungroomed black runs and given their current rate of improvement will be better than us after this trip (our fifth) . We started age 43 and 40 and the kids age 6,5 and 4. Amazing the difference that makes! worth the dollars to see the looks on their faces after a day like today. There’s no better family holiday!
The advantage of learning with low centre of gravity, so many kids have no fear. Our kids started at the same age, young adults today and when they eclipse you....mixed emotions, ya like wtf but proud... Agree....No better family holiday than on snow, a happy place...
My plans are more firmed up now, I arrive in Revy 2/2, head back to Banff area 5/2. Likely ski LL/Sunshine 6-7 Feb. Will pm my phone no when I get it. Could catch up in LL?
hypothetically, where's would you go in canada if you had a few weeks between easter and anzac day for decent snow conditions, no crowds and somewhere with interesting road tripping possibilities nearby. no epic pass btw so gut feel says whistler will be too expensive?
Most of the resorts close in first half of April. Snow conditions are good but the mostly local clientele have had enough of winter and want to do spring things like garden prep, golf, bike riding etc. Only places near big population centers can hold enough hard core types to keep open. About your only choices in western Canada after mid April will be LL, Sunshine, Whistler. Or touring, that can be fantastic in April.
As I look into lift ticket deals for Banff area resorts, I'm faced with two choices: 1) SkiBig3 deals and 2) Tri-mountain Banff-Lake Louise Ski Lift Tickets (under the Enjoy Banff website). I did the math and the two work out of be comparable in savings with each offering different discounts at different attractions/establishments. I wonder if anyone has bought from either and what was your experience? Only SkiBig3 has google reviews.
Question: My friend and I will be going to Banff 1st week of April to visit LL/SSV/Norquay. She does not have MCP or Ikon. SkiBig3 has 15% off sale and Enjoy Banff has 20% off sale now. Since April is low season, do you think she can wait a little longer to see if there will be better promotions offer in March?
