I got older...

[sooneron]

this year (monumental BDay), so I decided that a "bucket list" trip was the way to go for the upcoming season. My wife obliged.

Right now I am leaning towards flying into Calgary - skiing one of the Banff spots then hitting Kicking Horse for a backcountry day (just getting into it, but they have a "starter" tour for a day), then Revelstoke for a cat ski day and a resort day or two. Then back home. What are your thoughts? Is it "bucket worthy"? Am I doing it wrong. I am an advanced skier - not great off piste, but working on it and I want to get better.I would like an experience that is a little more rugged as I may be solo. I will definitely be with the wife and kids. I don't mind exploring or driving TOO much. I am a person that gets restless on vacation if I stay in one spot. Am I making the right choice?
I need to bring up the fact that being gone 7 full days is about the limit. I would love to hear some input. And yes, I know my profile pic is a little disconcerting...

 

[kayco53]

Sounds like a awesome trip. Could easily be my list as well. Have a good one.

 

[Tricia]

Tell me more....

 

[Jellybeans1000]

I will definitely be with the wife and kids.

Are they going out in the backcountry/cat-skiing with you? What kind of abilities do they have? Where do you normally ski?

With or without your family, make sure you take a guide with you in the backcountry. The stuff just outside of KH is often very avalanche prone. Carry the appropriate gear and check the avy advisory.

Stick around here, very nice community here. There are some Canadian guys here who will be more helpful than me.

 

[Tico]

If you're going to tour, especially guided, go to Rogers pass. I think kicking horse is great if you like hucking your meat, but pretty average otherwise. I'd center your trip more around stoke, maybe get down to Monashees. If it's bucket list you're looking for, think about a heli assisted touring day with selk-tangiers.

Clearly, lots of options in the area, you can't really go wrong until the rain starts.

 

[Tricia]

@Willy to the white courtesy phone.

 

[SkiNurse]

I personally think that any trip that gets you excited is "bucket list worthy". Do it and have fun!

 

[sooneron]

Are they going out in the backcountry/cat-skiing with you? What kind of abilities do they have? Where do you normally ski?

With or without your family, make sure you take a guide with you in the backcountry. The stuff just outside of KH is often very avalanche prone. Carry the appropriate gear and check the avy advisory.

Stick around here, very nice community here. There are some Canadian guys here who will be more helpful than me.

Oops, need to edit - meant to say WITHOUT the wife and kids.
Definitely doing a guided tour. I'm East Coast skier. Some Vermont, mostly Catskills. I migrated here from epciski, albeit, delayed.

 

[sooneron]

If you're going to tour, especially guided, go to Rogers pass. I think kicking horse is great if you like hucking your meat, but pretty average otherwise. I'd center your trip more around stoke, maybe get down to Monashees. If it's bucket list you're looking for, think about a heli assisted touring day with selk-tangiers.

Clearly, lots of options in the area, you can't really go wrong until the rain starts.

Planning on going before mid March....

 

[DanoT]

If the OP is going to ski Revelstoke (RMR), this is fine but DO NOT under any circumstance go cat skiing with RMR. They are probably the worst cat ski operation anywhere. They operate right beside the lift service skiing so skiers hike/traverse over and poach lines that cat skiers have paid big $ for. Their operating area is tiny compared to other cat ski ops and they often cancel the day's cat skiing with very short notice (not enough people sign up perhaps?)

Other cat ops like K3 don't have their own lodge but they will pick you up at your hotel in Revelstoke, or Mustang Powder Cats who do have a remote lodge; both are highly regarded with K3 better set up if you just want to do one day of cat skiing.

 

[BS Slarver]

Someone say Catskills ? We should talk !
Did the Revy bucket list two years ago.... still my avatar, even after free riding Switzerland.
Traveling from east coast perhaps look at landing in Kalowna (sp?) hit Silverstar then on to Revi. 2nd the opinion on a day with Tangers heli, accommodations at chalet revelstoke - Heidi was awesome.
If you need more after that hit Kickinghorse and Banff and exit out of Calgary.
Most airlines and rental cars will easily accommodate leaving from a different destination then you start from.

Have a great trip and if your in the Catskills look us up.

 

[richddt]

I love Banff, the big mountain skiing is definitely something that should be in your bucket list.

On the other hand, Japan has some crazy good powder in Nieseko, and Nagano has the Nozawa Onsen in Nagano for its small village ski + onsen charm

 

[dlague]

I have done the Banff/Kicking Horse trip but no back country. We skied Lake Louise and Sunshine both have their pros and cons. The frontside of LL is pretty standard feeling, but the backside is wide open and there are lots of bumps of all types and sizes as well as groomed paths. We spent most of our time on the backside. Sunshine, on the other hand, is much more fun. Goats Eye is great IMO, and there are some great tree skiing towards the bottom on Lookout to skiers right. Then there is Delirium Dive which was closed when we wee there due to avalanche danger, The rest is pretty open terrain.

Upper Kicking horse has 4 nice bowls and technically 4 ridges, however, all of them except Crystal Bowl dump you back down to the base in order to get back up. The lower part of Kicking horse is not bad but the top section is where the fun is. I assume when you talk back country, you are talking about going across the upper ridge to hike to terrain?

Never been to Revelstoke but it is a place I would like to try - nice vert!

Would you be planning on using Banff as a base? Sunshine is like 20 minutes from Banff, LL is like 45 minutes, KH is just under 2 hours and Revelstoke is about 3.

I think that is a great bucket list trip IMO

 

[Tony]

If the OP is going to ski Revelstoke (RMR), this is fine but DO NOT under any circumstance go cat skiing with RMR. They are probably the worst cat ski operation anywhere. They operate right beside the lift service skiing so skiers hike/traverse over and poach lines that cat skiers have paid big $ for. Their operating area is tiny compared to other cat ski ops and they often cancel the day's cat skiing with very short notice (not enough people sign up perhaps?)

Other cat ops like K3 don't have their own lodge but they will pick you up at your hotel in Revelstoke, or Mustang Powder Cats who do have a remote lodge; both are highly regarded with K3 better set up if you just want to do one day of cat skiing.

Since DanoT has such a strong opinion on Revy cat skiing, I thought it does not hurt to quote it all. Note that Mustang does not do day trips, only 3 or 4 days as they ski out of their own lodge that is almost 2 hrs from highway via school bus and snowcat (or 8 mins by helicopter transfer which is semi-mandatory, assuming they can fly). I went there two years, sat out last year and am signed up for 3-day trip in mid Feb. 2018. On Tony Crocker's website there is some (old) info on cat skiing in general and White Grizzly, which does day trips and is between Revy and Nelson, but has very limited availability. There is also Valhalla in somewhat the same area, although far enough S to be reachable from Spokane. See http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12336 for a recent trip report.

When are you planning to go? Have you considered going S to Castle and Fernie if conditions are good there? I'm planning to go that way after cat skiing this year as I've never been there even though I only have 1 day at each of Revy, Kicking Horse, Lake Louise and Sunshine. I'm not sure that there is any need to do back country around Kicking Horse as there is a lot of in-bounds that is very steep and wild that is reachable with short to moderate hikes.

 

[dlague]

oddly enough this popped up on FB

https://www.skimag.com/ski-resort-life/where-now-kicking-horse-bc

 

[Jellybeans1000]

Oops, need to edit - meant to say WITHOUT the wife and kids.
Definitely doing a guided tour. I'm East Coast skier. Some Vermont, mostly Catskills. I migrated here from epciski, albeit, delayed.

Make sense - have fun in the BC

 

[x10003q]

That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I got older, they stay the same age.

 

[Blue Streak]

Oops, need to edit - meant to say WITHOUT the wife and kids.

 

[Prickly Jones]

General reply (from someone biased against hopping-around trips): anytime you do single-day cat, heli or guided backcountry you will lose about an hour and a half at the start of the day to do beacon training*. Given cost and time factors (eg, how much skiing you get) this argues in favor of choosing a single, multi-day option where possible. Furthermore, any guide's level of caution is going to be much higher on day one -- there will be some feeling out for the strength of the group, how well people listen, all that. This affects quality of skiing too. If you're only there for one day, you have no change to build that rapport with a guide.



*My only experience doing resort-based backcountry was at Jackson Hole years ago. We did not do a beacon session, but I assume they would do so now.

 

[Varmintmist]

As long as you are not going to hurt the family financially. Go for it, its your bucket, fill it with what you want to.

I am guessing the 50 line was crossed. I took a similar attitude. There are some things that I cannot do due to wear and tear along with age related issues that I wanted to as a young person. So Around 50 (48 IIRC) I looked at my life, my situation, my fathers longevity and health and thought that I have 15 pretty good years to do stuff I WANT to do at a decent level. I figure that I was seriously working toward this for 30 years, and while I still need to be responsible, there are only so many years left and I have a lot of playing to catch up on.