Northern Rockies/Alberta Alberta and Eastern BC discussion thread

[Mike Rogers]

A thread to talk about skiing in the 17/18 season in the area around Calgary.


It’s a good place to talk about potential vacations, conditions, and trip reports.


I’m excited becasuse:


Norquay opened today!!!



(until Sunday), kicking off resort skiing in this part of the ski-world! They only have one run going, and it’s off the beginner chair….but it’s a start!

Nakiska is getting it’s weekend only ops running tomorrow. Nakiska will over more interesting terrain, but skiing is limited to part of the terrain served by the Gold (top) chair. You will need to download on the Olympic chair to return to the base.

Sunshine and Lake Louise are on pace for a good opening on Friday. This is their normal scheduled time.

Kicking Horse is getting hammered, with over 3 feet of snow in the last two days. They are claiming 7 feet so far this season, but some of this (well most at the bottom) has melted. Still, it’s looking great up top and most of us are hoping they open for weekends in November.


I plan on hiking for my turns this weekend, but will be skiing at Lake Louise opening day, next weekend.


Who else will be skiing this region?

 

[Mike Rogers]

A good resource to see snowfall progression vs normal years and last year (a very good one!)

Sunshine: http://environment.alberta.ca/apps/...e=Figure&BasinID=14&DataType=4&StationID=SUNS

Lake Louise: http://environment.alberta.ca/apps/...e=Figure&BasinID=14&DataType=4&StationID=SKOK

 

[blah]

Just got my plane tickets booked for Thanksgiving. Thank god for cheap airfare alerts from Kayak.

Hope Kicking Horse opens up earlier than their stated Dec 8 opening day. Haven't been yet, and would love to get out there while I'm in still in the area.

Just need snow!

 

[Mike Rogers]

Blah? Did you ski Sunshine last spring as well?

Kicking Horse often opens early.

Snow at the bottom is the limiting factor, as there is almost always enough snow up top to ski.

There is no way to download there, so there can be excellent conditions up top, but patchy, and surprisingly rocky skiing at the bottom.

When the resort was new, there were serious issues getting going in December some years.

Management seems to be able to get a ribbon of white down more reliably now (snow making and moving!), but November is still a bonus. Fingers crossed!

 

[blah]

Yeah! Met up with you and Liz for an afternoon of pow at Sunshine in early April last season. Amazing day with 20+ cm of fresh. In April! Still blows my mind. Where did you guys end up getting lodging at Kicking Horse afterwards? Anywhere cheap?

Blah? Did you ski Sunshine last spring as well?

Kicking Horse often opens early.

Snow at the bottom is the limiting factor, as there is almost always enough snow up top to ski.

There is no way to download there, so there can be excellent conditions up top, but patchy, and surprisingly rocky skiing at the bottom.

When the resort was new, there were serious issues getting going in December some years.

Management seems to be able to get a ribbon of white down more reliably now (snow making and moving!), but November is still a bonus. Fingers crossed!

 

[Mike Rogers]

Thought that was you! My memory for screen names isn't the best though.

We always stay at the Rondo in Golden. The owner or manager (the woman we deal with all the time) is really nice, and the price is fair. You can get it for 65/night (75 with taxes). It's very dated with old CRT tvs and stuff.....and they don't give you shampoo (i also recommend bringing your own soap as well, their's is pretty bad), but it is (relatively) clean and warm and cheap!

Plus it is off the highway, and you can walk to most bars and restaurants in town.

Friends of mine like the Dreamcatcher Hostel, but I haven't been there. It's a smallish hostel, so your neighbors will have a big impact on your stay...obviously could be hit of miss. If you are traveling solo, this would be your best price.

If you keep going to Revelstoke, I like the Cube there. Comes with free passes to the rec center.

 

[Beartown]

I'm keeping a close eye on Banff, as it's on my short-list for a December trip. I follow LL/SS/Norquay on instagram and it looks like they've got quite a bit of snow so far this season. Once they're all opened up, I imagine intel from the websites will improve. I keep getting tempted to buy plane tickets and make hotel reservations, but I can feel the invisible hand of @TonyC slapping me from my keyboard, at least until after Thanksgiving.

 

[TonyC]

Yes I'm skeptical of the Banff region in early season. Snowfall is modest and low water content. Like most of Colorado it's a better late than early season destination. Banff has some advantages though.
1) Western Canada snowfall on average is a bit more front-ended than most regions of the western US.
2) Banff is very cold, so any snow that falls won't melt until spring.

Lake Louise is one of those areas that is very liberal about opening terrain at low tide. So the terrain open stats tend to look better relative to other places than the possible reality. Locals often remark about Ptex being necessary. I would like to see at least a 3-foot base there, probably the more important early season stat to watch for those areas.

As always my skepticism does not apply so much to Calgary locals, for whom marginal cost is trivial.

 

[Nathanvg]

Sunshine: http://environment.alberta.ca/apps/...e=Figure&BasinID=14&DataType=4&StationID=SUNS

Lake Louise: http://environment.alberta.ca/apps/...e=Figure&BasinID=14&DataType=4&StationID=SKOK

Thanks for the links. Anything similar for BC (Kicking horse, fernie, panorama)

 

[Nathanvg]

Thanks for the links. Anything similar for BC (Kicking horse, fernie, panorama)

I found the answer: http://bcrfc.env.gov.bc.ca/data/asp/realtime/index.htm

There are locations fairly close to KH, pano, fernie. I assue the locations would be well correlated with the nearby ski areas.

 

[TonyC]

Interesting resource links above. One caveats are that the B.C. locations are not in or that close to ski areas to be accurate surrogates as they are at Louise and Sunshine. However the average curves tell you a lot about the relative average snowfall at those particular locations.

For all of the curves, the current year being compared to average is useful info and the message early on is that this year is starting out above average.

 

[Poolskier Vinny]

A thread to talk about skiing in the 17/18 season in the area around Calgary.


It’s a good place to talk about potential vacations, conditions, and trip reports.


I’m excited becasuse:


Norquay opened today!!!



(until Sunday), kicking off resort skiing in this part of the ski-world! They only have one run going, and it’s off the beginner chair….but it’s a start!

Nakiska is getting it’s weekend only ops running tomorrow. Nakiska will over more interesting terrain, but skiing is limited to part of the terrain served by the Gold (top) chair. You will need to download on the Olympic chair to return to the base.

Sunshine and Lake Louise are on pace for a good opening on Friday. This is their normal scheduled time.

Kicking Horse is getting hammered, with over 3 feet of snow in the last two days. They are claiming 7 feet so far this season, but some of this (well most at the bottom) has melted. Still, it’s looking great up top and most of us are hoping they open for weekends in November.


I plan on hiking for my turns this weekend, but will be skiing at Lake Louise opening day, next weekend.


Who else will be skiing this region?

I'll be definitely hitting both the Lake & SS up this year...plus Castle, Fernie, Revy, Kicking Horse etc.

Interestingly, Lake Louise and Sunshine have moved up their opening dates (Tues. Nov. 7 and Wed. Nov. 8 th respectively) Hopefully that's a good indicator of conditions..... Can't make the opening days but will probably try to hit LL or SS up this weekend....and the following two weekends (assuming good conditions...)

 

[Mike Rogers]

Yes I'm skeptical of the Banff region in early season. Snowfall is modest and low water content. Like most of Colorado it's a better late than early season destination. Banff has some advantages though.
1) Western Canada snowfall on average is a bit more front-ended than most regions of the western US.
2) Banff is very cold, so any snow that falls won't melt until spring.

Lake Louise is one of those areas that is very liberal about opening terrain at low tide. So the terrain open stats tend to look better relative to other places than the possible reality. Locals often remark about Ptex being necessary. I would like to see at least a 3-foot base there, probably the more important early season stat to watch for those areas.

As always my skepticism does not apply so much to Calgary locals, for whom marginal cost is trivial.

I agree with Tony.

I think Banff is a good NOVEMBER destination because Lake Louise and Sunshine a very reliable for early November openings. I tend to have low expectations for November skiing, so simply being on skis can be good enough. In good years, there will be plenty of terrain to choose from, but you will be hitting rocks. In the last ten years, for example, Delirium Dive has opened in November 3 times.

Unfortunately, the Dive is about as likely to have a first opening in March as November

By the time December rolls around, there are better options than Banff for skiers looking for the best snow. In mid winter, most Western areas will have deeper snow packs and more powder days than Banff/Lake Louise. The Banff area becomes more attractive in late winter and in the spring.

I also agree that a 90 centimeter base is a good place to start. You will see terrain opening at 45 cm, but you should ski defensively until you see at least 90 cm for the backbowl snowplot at Lake Louise or the regular snowplot at sunshine. Even then, it's pretty rocky.

180cm+ is optimal. You won't notice much of a difference in coverage beyond that total.

 

[TonyC]

There are locations fairly close to KH, pano, fernie. I assue the locations would be well correlated with the nearby ski areas.

Correlated probably, but absolute amounts, no. The locations west of Pano and KH get much more snow than the ski areas farther leeward in the Purcells. The opposite is true for the location near Fernie, which is south of the Crowsnest Hwy and gets less snow than the Lizard Range.

As far as the November snow in Banff is concerned, I'm sure it's adequate for locals getting in some early season turns. But no way for the out-of-towner spending airfare $$. Unless that person has the time and $$$ to ski the ensuing six months, all of which offer much better skiing somewhere in North America.

 

[Mike Rogers]

I'll be definitely hitting both the Lake & SS up this year...plus Castle, Fernie, Revy, Kicking Horse etc.

Interestingly, Lake Louise and Sunshine have moved up their opening dates (Tues. Nov. 7 and Wed. Nov. 8 th respectively) Hopefully that's a good indicator of conditions..... Can't make the opening days but will probably try to hit LL or SS up this weekend....and the following two weekends (assuming good conditions...)

Yeah, Louise has their Wiwaxy 500 going today. I think they just wanted to scoop Sunshine. Sunshine will be opening tomorrow with Strawberry, Wawa, Jackrabbit and Wolverine. Not too exciting, yet... hopefully soon!

I skied Bow Summit on Sunday and the Kicking Horse back-country on Saturday. The alpine area around Kicking Horse is looking great! It's deep, but not much of a base. It's very thin down low.

Kicking Horse Alpine

Down Low

 

[Mike Rogers]

I feel Marmot Basin in Jasper is a bit of a forgotten resort. I guess it is too small and dry to be a huge international destination, but you don't hear many Calgarians talk about it either.

They have opened some interesting terrain this year, though. Might be worth the drive.

https://www.skimarmot.com/news-events/tres-hombres

 

[Poolskier Vinny]

Yah I agree...

Tres-hombres....Hmmm interesting. I've always wondered about the stuff on the other side of Kiefers...love that run as the "last of the day" before P4. I hope they make the run-out so you can use Paradise to go back up...

We used to frequently head to Marmot for Jasper in January ...it's a great hill...haven't been in awhile...might be time!

 

[blah]

Holy cow. Almost 4 hour drive from Banff to Marmot Basin (at least according to Google). Any closures on Icefields Pkwy in the winter months?

 

[Poolskier Vinny]

Yeah for sure...can be hit or miss...or just really slow/crappy! But from Calgary it's the most direct route. Most times you'll know before you head out if there's a good chance it'll be really crappy or closed (but not always!)

Since I'm North of Cowtown I tend to go the Drayton-Edson-Jasper route...it's slightly longer but that parkway road can be really slow too so I figure it evens out. Still takes me 5-5.5 ish hours.

 

[SkiNC]

Came to Banff in Jan from NC. It was a blast! 3 days at SS, 2 at LL. Decided to come back this coming Jan as well. Can't wait.