Northern Rockies/Alberta Alberta and Eastern BC discussion thread

[Mike Rogers]

Hit Norquay on Wed. for toonie day...crowded but hey for 2 bucks I can't complain. Snow was great everywhere...pretty much most runs off all the chairs were skiing well. Best runs were off the north american ...they were really sking well, as was boundary bowl.

Then off for a couple of great days at Castle on Thurs and Friday. Lots of pow both days...but friday was crowded...no wind....chutes were open and skiing excellently as was north bowl, northern exposure etc. Even the runs off the blue chair were great (shot guns, lift line, showdown etc.)

Then hit LL on Sat. Crazy busy! (I figured it would be given the snowfalls). In general snow/runs were fine but it definitely was tracked out and getting skied off in places.
Spent no time on front side other than to access the platter for backside laps. Did not bother to hit Larch either.

Snow was soft but paradise bowl in the main part was getting hit pretty hard. A-D gully, Whitehorn, big 7, swedes, fencline gully, east/crow bowl were best choices for the day...with the gully's being the group fave.

Taking a few days off then hitting up Revy this long weekend to brave the Family day crowds...ugh! Hopefully the snow will be worth it!

Sounds like a great week!

I'm jealous of all the people who made it out on Thursday and Friday. The snow looked phenomenal.

For the weekend skiers, things were less spectacular.

I was at Louise on Saturday too.

I agree with Vinny, Louise was skied out. Snow was still very good, but there was much powder to be found. Ptarmigan chutes had very nice snow. The gullys were nice too. I think I skied D, E, and F. Must have just missed Vinny.

But holy smokes was it busy. Lines at Summit and Paradise. Lodges looked crazy and we were happy to have traded a big breakfast for lunch.

We did Kicking Horse again on Sunday. There was a big crowd at the base when we arrived, but the gondola lines weren't too bad, except for the second lap. They had a Kid's race and a Junior freski comp, and I guess that brought out the families. A big chunk of Redemption into Fuez was closed for the comp. A bit of a bummer, but those kids sure can rip!

We hiked a bunch, and after three trips to the top of T1, my legs were pretty beat.

Conditions were the fine, but it was the worst of my 4 KH days this year. It's like some snow came it wet and hardened up. Friendly looking crud was styrofoam and the tracked up "powder" was hard and bumpy. A workout for sure, but not entirely unpleasant. Skied out areas were easier going thanks to the crud busting efforts of the crowds.

I'll post some pics and add detail a bit later.

 

[Mike Rogers]

I'll also add...for @Pete in Idaho and others coming up this way.

Fernie is pretty bad right now.

http://www.billhandley.com/

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Mike, not coming, read the 2 week snow report and just don't want to drive that far for a few cm of snow. I will check it again every few days. We are supposed to get 20cm tonight so maybe ?

 

[Tony]

I'll also add...for @Pete in Idaho and others coming up this way.

Fernie is pretty bad right now.

http://www.billhandley.com/

Sounds like it has gotten better as Bill's blog includes the following from the new snow: "The effect on the hill was like magic." But who knows what we may find the weekend after this one with very cold temps predicted this Sun/Mon, then there may be more new snow on 2/23. Great that he started doing his reports again just before we may be there.

It sounds like a few PugSkiers from CA and NY will be at Revelstoke this Friday although I will be quitting early to make it to cat skiing pickup 30 miles W.

 

[blah]

Revy! Again. Not as much fresh this time, but really, it was going to be hard to beat the perfect conditions last time in late Jan. Doing a big BC loop over a week-long vacation, so I hit up Whistler on Sunday, and then drove into Revelstoke Mon. Forecasts called for sunny and clear skies with nil for precipitation on Tues, but wouldn't you know it, I woke up to overcast and light snow. God, I love this place. A little snow falling, some clouds, and a tiny bit of sun at the base:


Full coverage and packed powder were the conditions all over the mountain with some soft patches of powder here and there among the trees. I'm usually not one to get excited over groomers, but they were ripping today. Looks like the grounds crew put in a ton of work grooming to smooth out everything in preparation for the next big dump.

North bowl was still decent. The crud is all pretty much packed down, and not choppy at all. I heard there were a couple days of crazy wind before I arrived, and that served to blow snow and fill in all the deep ruts in between moguls, as well. The entrance to Three Bears:


Looking up North Bowl from the same spot:


Eventually the sun did decide to make an appearance in the afternoon. Made for some great views from the Subpeak after a bootpack up the South bowl. Kind of funny to think that this is the first time I've seen blue skies at Revelstoke.

MacKenzie Peak:


North Bowl and Greeley Bowl down below:


A nice view of Revelstoke from Lemming Line:


Not a bad way to end the day:


Still a ton of fun today. Great terrain. And nice, edgeable snow, if only a bit hard. But just a slight, niggling sense of disappointment that it didn't dump 27cm in a day like last time. I guess I'm getting spoiled.

 

[Pumba]

Revy! Again. Not as much fresh this time, but really, it was going to be hard to beat the perfect conditions last time in late Jan. Doing a big BC loop over a week-long vacation, so I hit up Whistler on Sunday, and then drove into Revelstoke Mon. Forecasts called for sunny and clear skies with nil for precipitation on Tues, but wouldn't you know it, I woke up to overcast and light snow. God, I love this place. A little snow falling, some clouds, and a tiny bit of sun at the base:
View attachment 39939

Full coverage and packed powder were the conditions all over the mountain with some soft patches of powder here and there among the trees. I'm usually not one to get excited over groomers, but they were ripping today. Looks like the grounds crew put in a ton of work grooming to smooth out everything in preparation for the next big dump.

North bowl was still decent. The crud is all pretty much packed down, and not choppy at all. I heard there were a couple days of crazy wind before I arrived, and that served to blow snow and fill in all the deep ruts in between moguls, as well. The entrance to Three Bears:
View attachment 39940

Looking up North Bowl from the same spot:
View attachment 39941

Eventually the sun did decide to make an appearance in the afternoon. Made for some great views from the Subpeak after a bootpack up the South bowl. Kind of funny to think that this is the first time I've seen blue skies at Revelstoke.

MacKenzie Peak:
View attachment 39942

North Bowl and Greeley Bowl down below:
View attachment 39943

A nice view of Revelstoke from Lemming Line:
View attachment 39944

Not a bad way to end the day:
View attachment 39945

Still a ton of fun today. Great terrain. And nice, edgeable snow, if only a bit hard. But just a slight, niggling sense of disappointment that it didn't dump 27cm in a day like last time. I guess I'm getting spoiled.

Awesome pics!
Just got back from my first visit there and your pics make me feel homesick. Loved revy - a place so ripe for exploration. Hope to visit again in the future!

 

[Mike Rogers]

So...The long weekend was a cold one!

Like really brutally cold!

Saturday

Well Saturday was reasonable. I skied Lake Louise and took advantage of the free Demos. They had Nordica/Bilzzard, DPS, and 3 indy brands....as well as a bunch of snowboards. Slim pickings! I guess many groups might not want us to wreck their new skis on Lake Louise's rocks.

I was able to demo the following skis:
Rustler 9 at 180
Cochise at 185
cassiar 94 Foundation (phantom treated) at 185

i was pretty impressed with Ruslter 9, and I think it would make a good ski for in between storms. The contrast between the Cochise and Cassiar was "interesting"..

Overall conditions were pretty good, but visibility in the alpine was awful. We skied a bunch of circuits on the demos that included ER 7, Upshoots, and Men's Downhill. I will say that the downhill is really fun right now. Fast and easy to grip.

After lunch we skied Ptarmigan chutes and Ptarmigan Glades, keeping it below treeline. It was a good day.

Sunday

While Saturday was cold, but reasonable, Sunday was brutal.

We skied Sunshine for the fist time all year. It was too cold to open Goat's Eye or Divide before lunch. To make things worse, there wasn't much morning sun, and there was a stiff north wind. With limited terrain and uncomfortable conditions, the morning wasn't the best. There were no crowds on the hill, but the lodges were always full, and there was a bit of line on the heated/bubble chair.

The sun came out after lunch, and the upper lifts opened. Things were still very cold in the afernoon, but the sun felt nice, and we could finally ski runs that were long enough to work up some body heat. The day was saved!

Best runs were in the Southside chutes on Goat's Eye (shown below). The Dive remained closed due to the cold. For reference, the DIve will not open in temps below -20. The highest entrance (hike) to the Southside chutes was also closed. Looked nice though.



This is one of the far chutes. The best way to get here, if the upper hike is closed it to do a high traverse and sidestep above the cliffs on the right. It seems like many skiers want to skip the side step and cut in below the cliffs.

Normally fine, you're cheating yourself of some fall line skiing, but your loss.

Except, the traverse has cut a hard, deep ditch right across the choke. The skiers taking the low entrance seem to be sliding right to the far rock wall.

The ditch was an unpleasant surprise and sort of ruined the chute.





The chutes further down were much nicer...and this fan was great for high-speed turns.





Monday

I went back to Lake Louise on Monday. I stayed up too late watching curling on Sunday night, so it was a late start.

We didn't get to the hill until 11:00, but no matter, webcams were indicating a delayed opening. It was very cold again, but sunny and no wind!

We had 5 hours of excellent bluebird skiing. Last week's storm left nice soft packed snow everywhere in the alpine. We skied Paradise and Summit exclusively and I hit 2 chutes for the first time this year: Upper North Cornice in the Brownshirt Area and "I" Gully in Whitehorn 3. Both of these chutes require a bit of effort to locate, so they held really nice snow.

Some pick below.



Looking into I Gully. The near background is Whitehorn 2. This one is just around the corner.


Liz is all smiles after skiing the crux. I was hiding behind the corner.

Fun, easy skiing outside the chute.




Whitehorn 3 in all it's glory. It's mostly a permanent closure. Far left is "H" gully, the last gully on Whitehorn 2. I gully is the next one to the right.






I took this picture standing on the entrance to Upper North Cornice. The entrance is on the left. Brownshirt main is the big gully to my right. For reference the background in the upper right are the Whitehorn 2 gullys. The big face in the center is ER6 and the cut runs in the far background are from the Larch area.



Liz took this picture of me looking back. I am standing above North Cornice Proper. Brownshirt Main is the bowl/gully on the far left. Upper north cornice is the chute that starts at the apex of the Brownshirt Main cliffs. It runs between the cliffs (skiers right) and some rocks (skiers left). Right of Upper North Cornice is an open area called Boundary Bowl. Boundary Bowl is the easiest route in this location.

It is all accessed by hiking to and then beyond Upper Boomerang.



All an all, a great weekend.

The cold was a bit rough, but there were no crowds!

Coverage is about as good as it gets in these parts.

 

[Tony]

@Mike Rogers said "Like really brutally cold!". You can say that again although finally warmed up a little this afternoon. Today was our first day riding chairlifts since the cold air came to most of the West five days ago. We skied Castle where early morning temps were -17C/-19C (~0F) and it probably did not get out of the single digits although sun was mostly out especially in the PM. Everything I've heard about Castle Mountain is true; uncrowded, great snow and views, and many runs with some of the longest steeps I've skied. We took three top to bottom nearly 3K vertical runs to both the N and S sides from the top. Probably will return to Castle on Sat. after skiing Fernie on Fri. Not sure if we will go back to Fernie on Sun. or make longer drive to Canmore to ski Lake Louise for our 10th and last day skiing in Canada.

Other stops were:
Revelstoke Fri 2/16. Very deep snow in town. Visibility at top of Stoke marginal at times including on Meet the Neighbors and when going lookers right. Found some soft snow off both chairs and skied part of the day with @Pumba and @Lizardqueen who surprised me by wanting to go into Black Monkey Glades and ski other places in the trees where both did well.
Mustang Snowcats Sat 2/17-Mon 2/19. Some great runs with more untracked powder turns in a row than most of us cold handle including many faceshots, some that went over my head. Also found some snow than had been wind-affected which skied like upside-down snow and tried to make your tips dive, then was hard to get them back above snow whether moving or stopped. Always great food, environment and people.
Kicking Horse Tues and Wed Feb 20-21 Very cold. -22 to -25C (~-10F) early. We started late both days. Sun lit up runs on N side of CPR ridge late on Tues. Hiked out to Super Bowl, where there was some soft snow both days. Only took chair at top once due to cold. Long groomers to bottom were mostly very good although a little slick in places. Much better coverage than my previous visit in 2015.

Sorry no pictures yet as I did not bring laptop.

 

[blah]

At WH2O today. The Kootenays need some new snow; the last significant snowfall came in the Sunday/Monday timeframe. Luckily Whitewater preserves its snow quite well. Quite a few patches of untracked and soft powder could still be found in the morning in Catch Basin.


The more you sidestepped and traversed into the basin all the way to the resort boundary, the better the snow. And then to exit the basin, A - C Shafts were all quite nice with soft, chalky snow.

Over on the Glory Ridge side, the traverse out to Trash Chutes yielded soft, cut up powder in the trees. But the best powder stash of the day was on a small ridge to looker's right of the Glory Ridge chair at the summit after traversing the bumps and drop-off under the lift line. Knee-deep and powdery -- quite a nice surprise 4 days after the last storm.

All in all, a super good time today skiing great terrain, mostly soft snow, and no lift lines. And what trip to WH2O would be complete without a view of Ymir Peak:

 

[blah]

At RED for the next 2 days. The last time I was here was during the '13-'14 season. It's certainly a lot busier than last time. More buildings around the base, more condos, a lot more cars filling up the parking lot. The day started out clear and COLD up at the summit of Granite:


Snow conditions were decent with edgeable, packed powder on the main runs, and nice soft cut up powder in the trees. Today was definitely a day, though, where the late bird got the worm. With light snow coming down starting at 1pm, things were starting to freshen up in the PM all the way to last chair. Forecasts are for around 7cm of fresh tomorrow morning. Not a huge dump but should help soften things up. One snow host I was talking to recommended getting to the parking lot by 8:30am at the latest, since it will likely be crazy with the 1st fresh snow in a week falling on a weekend. Yup, things have definitely changed a bit at RED since last time.

Speaking of the snow hosts, they have an awesome free mountain tour program. If you ask for it, they have no qualms or rules against taking you off trail to double black diamond runs through trees and steeps. Buffalo Ridge was the access point for a lot of the good stuff this afternoon...


... like Captain Jack's Trees. Pretty dense, but holding a lot of soft snow. Yummy. More to come tomorrow.

 

[blah]

Pow day Saturday at RED! 10cm fell overnight, but it sure felt like more on the north-facing aspects of Granite and Grey. Started the day with a warm-up run down the groomer on Red Mountain. It was untracked shin-deep pow with a smooth groomed base all the way down. Nice!

Then our little group started working the goods across the various aspects of Granite Mountain. Powder Fields (southeast aspect) was almost untouched at this time early in the morning. A lot of untracked lines of shin- to knee-deep pow were there for the taking. Then the next chair up Motherload, we made a run down the Slides (northeast aspect). The final run of the morning on Granite was on its huge northern aspect: Window chute to Booty's. Window chute was steep, powdery, and with evenly spaced trees; it was definitely the highlight run of the day for me.

Next we moved over to Grey Mountain, which afforded some lovely photo-ops throughout the day:



On Grey, the objective was its Nose (the northeastern aspect), which involved a lot of traversing and sometimes comical bushwacking, but totally worth it. Some of the best skiing I've had this season, lapping bouncy, shin- to knee-deep powder the rest of the day. A view of the chopped up pow on the Nose of Grey, still soft and deep at 3pm:


Finally, just can't say enough good things about the Snow Hosts at RED and their free mountain tours program. If you can ski it, they'll take you to it.

 

[Tony]

We skied Fernie on Friday, my first day ever there. We did not get on hill until about 11 after 1 1/2 hr drive from Castle and booting up in parking lot 3 and skiing to base from there and buying tickets. We skied a few runs on the old side before going into main lodge where I thought I found Bill from Bill's blog who was go to show us around, but it was not until we were on chair that we realized that it was the wrong Bill as the one I found was a Mountain Host who gave us some direction, but did not ski with us. Tony Crocker led me through Corner Pocket (I used the rope - he didn't) into Easter Bowl which had soft snow. We mostly skied the new side (edited to correct side) in the PM including the Knot Chutes and Pillow Talk. It snowed hard the last hour or two with enough accumulation to smooth out the surface. We quit at 4 with 23K and found the right Bill, who we hope to catch a tour with on Sunday.

We went back to Castle Mountain on Saturday, arriving about 10. The parking lot was only about half full. It's possible crowds were kept down by some roads around Pincher Creek closed due to blowing snow. We went to Castle even though Fernie reported 18 cm new and Castle 1 cm, although we heard one of their snow-plots had 12 cm and the one the report is from was cleared by wind. We did not regret it as we skied 6 top to bottom steep 2K vertical runs in some of my best ever wind-sifted and wind-buffed snow including Drifter (4x for @Lizardqueen ), Gambler, Desperado (our last run) and -1 (not sure if right name, but had a rock band in middle to navigate through and jump over). We only skied the North side runs once and also had two laps on top chair only. It was also my first (of 9 so far on trip) day in Canada where sun was mostly out and temperature came up.

@TonyC and I quit at 3:45 and had 25K vertical even though chairs are not high-speed (but are steep enough to be efficient). Picture by TonyC shows me in the world-class windsift at Castle.

 

[Tony]

I finished my 10 days skiing in a row with a "Big Bang" (one of the runs we skied) at Fernie on Sunday. On Monday they reported 27 cm new with only 5 cm overnight which means close to 22 cm (~9") fell on top of the 1 cm reported Sunday morning and 18 cm reported Saturday morning. We missed all the excitement on Sat. when a class 3 Avalanche came down Mama Bear and partially buried 2 skiers and nearly totally buried one. All were rescued without injury, but it made patrol more cautious.

The other part of the "Big Bang" was trying to keep up with a local all day who led us into untracked (always steep and often with big bumps cushioned by the new snow) on many of Fernie's marque runs and a few that are not on the map. We skied the 3500'+ laps combining Big Timber and White Pass chairs more times than I thought I could handle and did not stop for lunch or even a break as it kept getting deeper all day. Fernie closed the Reverse Traverse in mid-morning due to Avalanche danger from steeps into Lizard Bowl. So we moved to a slighter lower traverse that got us into Anaconda Chutes where I skied wider nos. 1 and 4. On my last steep powder run into the trees, we missed the right entrance and I got close enough to a couple of trees traversing that I could smell the cedar. While it was dark under the trees on that run, we took one entrance into cedars below a road near Big Timber chair that was even darker from the canopy and thickness of forest.

My watch counted over 35K vertical, my high for the year and highest lifetime for a day that included skiing so much new snow. I took a couple of pictures in parking lot, but they are on my phone and I'm typing this in Seattle airport where I don't want to airdrop them to wrong person. I accepted a 2 1/2 hr delay for $300 voucher which I hope to use to get my wife to Banff next season.

 

[sbooker]

So...The long weekend was a cold one!

Like really brutally cold!

Saturday

Well Saturday was reasonable. I skied Lake Louise and took advantage of the free Demos. They had Nordica/Bilzzard, DPS, and 3 indy brands....as well as a bunch of snowboards. Slim pickings! I guess many groups might not want us to wreck their new skis on Lake Louise's rocks.

I was able to demo the following skis:
Rustler 9 at 180
Cochise at 185
cassiar 94 Foundation (phantom treated) at 185

i was pretty impressed with Ruslter 9, and I think it would make a good ski for in between storms. The contrast between the Cochise and Cassiar was "interesting"..

Overall conditions were pretty good, but visibility in the alpine was awful. We skied a bunch of circuits on the demos that included ER 7, Upshoots, and Men's Downhill. I will say that the downhill is really fun right now. Fast and easy to grip.

After lunch we skied Ptarmigan chutes and Ptarmigan Glades, keeping it below treeline. It was a good day.

Sunday

While Saturday was cold, but reasonable, Sunday was brutal.

We skied Sunshine for the fist time all year. It was too cold to open Goat's Eye or Divide before lunch. To make things worse, there wasn't much morning sun, and there was a stiff north wind. With limited terrain and uncomfortable conditions, the morning wasn't the best. There were no crowds on the hill, but the lodges were always full, and there was a bit of line on the heated/bubble chair.

The sun came out after lunch, and the upper lifts opened. Things were still very cold in the afernoon, but the sun felt nice, and we could finally ski runs that were long enough to work up some body heat. The day was saved!

Best runs were in the Southside chutes on Goat's Eye (shown below). The Dive remained closed due to the cold. For reference, the DIve will not open in temps below -20. The highest entrance (hike) to the Southside chutes was also closed. Looked nice though.

View attachment 39980

This is one of the far chutes. The best way to get here, if the upper hike is closed it to do a high traverse and sidestep above the cliffs on the right. It seems like many skiers want to skip the side step and cut in below the cliffs.

Normally fine, you're cheating yourself of some fall line skiing, but your loss.

Except, the traverse has cut a hard, deep ditch right across the choke. The skiers taking the low entrance seem to be sliding right to the far rock wall.

The ditch was an unpleasant surprise and sort of ruined the chute.



View attachment 39981

The chutes further down were much nicer...and this fan was great for high-speed turns.





Monday

I went back to Lake Louise on Monday. I stayed up too late watching curling on Sunday night, so it was a late start.

We didn't get to the hill until 11:00, but no matter, webcams were indicating a delayed opening. It was very cold again, but sunny and no wind!

We had 5 hours of excellent bluebird skiing. Last week's storm left nice soft packed snow everywhere in the alpine. We skied Paradise and Summit exclusively and I hit 2 chutes for the first time this year: Upper North Cornice in the Brownshirt Area and "I" Gully in Whitehorn 3. Both of these chutes require a bit of effort to locate, so they held really nice snow.

Some pick below.

View attachment 39982

Looking into I Gully. The near background is Whitehorn 2. This one is just around the corner.
View attachment 39984

Liz is all smiles after skiing the crux. I was hiding behind the corner.
View attachment 39983
Fun, easy skiing outside the chute.


View attachment 39985

Whitehorn 3 in all it's glory. It's mostly a permanent closure. Far left is "H" gully, the last gully on Whitehorn 2. I gully is the next one to the right.




View attachment 39986

I took this picture standing on the entrance to Upper North Cornice. The entrance is on the left. Brownshirt main is the big gully to my right. For reference the background in the upper right are the Whitehorn 2 gullys. The big face in the center is ER6 and the cut runs in the far background are from the Larch area.

View attachment 39987

Liz took this picture of me looking back. I am standing above North Cornice Proper. Brownshirt Main is the bowl/gully on the far left. Upper north cornice is the chute that starts at the apex of the Brownshirt Main cliffs. It runs between the cliffs (skiers right) and some rocks (skiers left). Right of Upper North Cornice is an open area called Boundary Bowl. Boundary Bowl is the easiest route in this location.

It is all accessed by hiking to and then beyond Upper Boomerang.



All an all, a great weekend.

The cold was a bit rough, but there were no crowds!

Coverage is about as good as it gets in these parts.

Wow. Great report and fantastic photos. I’ve got great memories of two family spring ski trips to LL and Sunshine.
I’ve got days left on this years Mountain Collective. Pity I’m 15 flying hours away and I’ve got work commitments.........

 

[agreen]

At RED for the next 2 days. The last time I was here was during the '13-'14 season. It's certainly a lot busier than last time. More buildings around the base, more condos, a lot more cars filling up the parking lot. The day started out clear and COLD up at the summit of Granite:
View attachment 40112

Snow conditions were decent with edgeable, packed powder on the main runs, and nice soft cut up powder in the trees. Today was definitely a day, though, where the late bird got the worm. With light snow coming down starting at 1pm, things were starting to freshen up in the PM all the way to last chair. Forecasts are for around 7cm of fresh tomorrow morning. Not a huge dump but should help soften things up. One snow host I was talking to recommended getting to the parking lot by 8:30am at the latest, since it will likely be crazy with the 1st fresh snow in a week falling on a weekend. Yup, things have definitely changed a bit at RED since last time.

Speaking of the snow hosts, they have an awesome free mountain tour program. If you ask for it, they have no qualms or rules against taking you off trail to double black diamond runs through trees and steeps. Buffalo Ridge was the access point for a lot of the good stuff this afternoon...
View attachment 40113

... like Captain Jack's Trees. Pretty dense, but holding a lot of soft snow. Yummy. More to come tomorrow.
View attachment 40114

Hi blah, I'll be skiing Red next Monday for my 1st trip there and wondering if you could give me more info on the free tour? Is there a meeting spot in the am? How long do they show you around for? How many in the group? Do you think they do it on weekdays too? thanks so much, your pics look incredible and my stoke factor is very high right now!!!

 

[blah]

Hi blah, I'll be skiing Red next Monday for my 1st trip there and wondering if you could give me more info on the free tour? Is there a meeting spot in the am? How long do they show you around for? How many in the group? Do you think they do it on weekdays too? thanks so much, your pics look incredible and my stoke factor is very high right now!!!

Ahoy! To find the snow hosts, just look right outside the main doors in front of the base lodge. They will have signs set up for beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels, and there will be several snow hosts congregating around in yellow jackets. Go introduce yourself and tell them what type of terrain you'd like to ski, and after a warm up run or two, your snow host guide will have a good idea of your skill level and what type of runs to take you on.

They try to keep the group sizes to 3 people or less per snow host. Just for reference, I was in groups of 3 and also in a group of 2 people over the course of this past weekend.

Tours start everyday at 9am and 12:30pm, and go for 3 hours. But I had such a good time this past Sat on a pow day, that I stuck around with them for the whole day. As one of my snow hosts, Mike, said, "It's the Kootenays. We can do anything we want."

More info here:
http://www.redresort.com/news/free-mountain-tours/

And don't forget to buy your lift tickets online early for discounts:
http://www.redresort.com/mountain/tickets/

 

[agreen]

Ahoy! To find the snow hosts, just look right outside the main doors in front of the base lodge. They will have signs set up for beginner, intermediate, and advanced skill levels, and there will be several snow hosts congregating around in yellow jackets. Go introduce yourself and tell them what type of terrain you'd like to ski, and after a warm up run or two, your snow host guide will have a good idea of your skill level and what type of runs to take you on.

They try to keep the group sizes to 3 people or less per snow host. Just for reference, I was in groups of 3 and also in a group of 2 people over the course of this past weekend.

Tours start everyday at 9am and 12:30am, and go for 3 hours. But I had such a good time this past Sat on a pow day, that I stuck around with them for the whole day. As one of my snow hosts, Mike, said, "It's the Kootenays. We can do anything we want."

More info here:
http://www.redresort.com/news/free-mountain-tours/

And don't forget to buy your lift tickets online early for discounts:
http://www.redresort.com/mountain/tickets/

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info

 

[Tony]

Now that I am home, I can post more pictures from Saturday at Castle Mountain. The first one is me, nearly disappearing into the windsift.

The second one is rock band we had to get through on our only trip to the Far (or Far Far) South Chutes. We think we skied -1 although it could have been -2. Photo credit on both to @TonyC


The following pictures were taken by me and show @TonyC and @Lizardqueen in the windsift at Castle.

Sunday at Fernie was not a day for pictures as it was dumping snow all day and if you stopped, it was the end of the tour (and beating) we received from a local and his wife. I took a couple pictures from parking lot at the end of the day. The Fernie Big 3 runs and some of the other areas where we got first tracks at the end of an Alta-like traverse are visible in upper left of this picture that also shows our rental SUV.

 

[Mike Rogers]

Well I am definitely going to Castle on Sunday!

Liz has a course on Saturday, so we can't do a Fernie and Castle combo, but I have only been to Castle once this year (epic day) and I think it's time to go back.

I went to school in Lethbridge, so Castle was my "home mountain" for a few years. If you can time it right, it's a lot of fun.

The only concern, and it's a big one, is the wind. If the Red Chair can't open Castle is a pretty small hill, and probably not worth the trip. So check the Forecast and have Fernie as a backup.

 

[Mike Rogers]

RCR (kicking Horse, Fernie, etc.) joined Epic.

Hard to choose a pass for next year.....

Like the IKON Pass, people in this region do not have an unlimited days option. (Vail and Alterra do not own the resorts).