Hoping the storm happening this weekend helps get some places back to normal. A Basin and Copper are still icy as fuck right now.
First time we’ve ever gone skiing out west. Beaver Creek last week. I did not wait in a lift line for more than 30 seconds ever. Is that normal or just random good timing? It was incredible. Kids did ski school and our family is now hooked, but I feel like this first experience may be tough to beat. Maybe the locals weren’t around due to it being sunny and 30 degrees. Do they come out more when it is a snowing for fresh powder?
What days of the week were you there? in general, BC has shorter lines because it is the furthest resort down I-70
Sun-Tues. (prob good days to be there) I’m itching to go back so badly. Not just there but anywhere. This thread got me looking at Keystone. Just not sure my wife/kids are ready for that yet. McCoy Park was just perfect for my wife and interesting enough for me in that general area to spend time.
Ya Sundays are less busy than Saturdays. Can’t think of a less busy time on mountain than a Tuesday or Wednesday. But any week day that isn’t around a holiday weekend will be sparse. That’s why living out here and finding time to take off work and go on weekdays is such a treat.
Keystone has Schoolmarm which is a long ass run with stops. I took someone down it who was on his first day on skis. He did the snowboard class and couldn’t get down the bunny hill. I told him to rent skis and he graduated from the bunny to the greens in about 4 hours. And I’m intermediate. Keystone is probably mid but has its advantages.
Has anyone tried step on bindings from Burton? I'm testing a set in a couple of weeks along with the Burton Photon Step On boots. I've been all over the place about transitioning to step on/in bindings. The Nideckers look solid too. If I love the Burton system, I'll go with it, otherwise, I'm going to be trying more. I'm going to Keystone the 17th through 19th and trying the Step On system.
Skiing in Eastern WA/ID/MT/Southern BC pretty bad right now. Rumors that some places will close in the next few weeks if they don't get more snow in the coming ten days. Not a lot of snow, rain when there is precipitation. Kind of just terrible conditions all around with warm weather and no precipitation. This is the first time in my 8 winters in this area that it's been like this. Will probably have to get up to like Kicking Horse or Panorama in BC to find quality snow for a couple days.
Have you ever hit up Revelstoke? If you are willing to go to Kicking Horse, Revvy is right there and is my favorite spot in BC. I get more days at Big White because my brother has a place there, but a few days in Revelstoke is the best time I've ever had. The town and environment is amazing.
I haven't yet. Have some in-laws that are closer to Kicking Horse so leaning towards there if needed. Also could do Banff/Lake Louise and have a place to stay in Canmore, but I hate the crowds/types of people that go there Everyone seems to love Revelstoke. I'll get there eventually. I've heard the town is a lot of fun. Big White is also on the list. Best skiing I've had in Canada is Fernie. The town though was pretty meh tbh, but that terrain, lack of lines, and vista was something else.
Big White is extremely consistent. Good/great snow, lots of lines and terrain. A few really fun bars. Revelstoke is that place 20 year old me would have moved to. Just amazing. My brother's ex wife is from Canmore. Easily one of the best towns I've been to.
are these resorts fun while only having two or three lifts? I've never been to resorts with so few lifts
I haven't been to Kicking Horse, but Revelstoke is fucking awesome. It doesn't have the people on it that a Colorado resort has. It's a new ski hill that started life as a predominantly heliski mountain. The layout of the lifts services most of the groomed lines, but the amount of back country is pretty nuts. Also, it has a lot of vertical drop and makes for really long runs. I think more snowboard and ski videos are filmed there than any mountain in north America. It's not a beginner hill for sure.
Not sure wanting to avoid one of the most trafficked runs in the state at the most scrambling time of day counts as cuntiness. And I’ll take turns down schoolmarm no problem. The small resort questions are valid too.
Small resort questions about Calgary resorts are only because I may be opting in favor of that instead of whistler. schoolmarm is a well known run for any skier or boarder. Yes, it is great for learning because it is pretty much the longest green run you’ll ever find. And it is serviced by a gondola. But because of that, it gets insanely crowded. And then everyone uses it to leave at 3 PM and it is a graveyard of people going 3 mph, laying down because they fell, long lines of kids with their parents. It is wild. last time I was at keystone was MLK day. Whiteout conditions as we were leaving. So I was on schoolmarm with hundreds of people (mainly beginner skiers) and I could not see more than a foot in front of me. It was scary AF Schoolmarm would be extremely useful for learning during the week so you avoid the weekend crowds.
Obviously, it's only my opinion, and that's literally worth shit, but Whistler is beautiful and all, but I would go a different route. Whistler is like any of the big Colorado resorts really. I love Revvy because of the town and amazing back country pow. They're all great though. If you like busy, expensive resorts, Whistler is the top dog. Get a single day heliski pass and do the best runs you've ever been on in your life. Revelstoke is in BC. But it's right against the Alberta line. https://selkirk-tangiers.com/experience/our-snow/
I don’t disagree for the most part but it is fine for most of the day once you get past the start and it splits off to other runs. If the wall on the far side is all ice at River Run, I’m totally doing that from now on. Always come off the river run side. Never even thought about that. I was more commenting about your number of lift comments. But also you absolutely have an amazing snowboarding Colorado life very few have and don’t live in the reality the rest of us live.
I’ve literally never conceived of a resort only having 2 or 3 lifts until I looked at the maps for those Calgary resorts. Shows I only know what I know, which is mainly the EPIC and IKON resorts in Tahoe and Colorado. I never went growing up out East.
I’ve heard great things about whistler and figure I need to go one day. But I will be researching the other Canadian resorts on the EPIC pass. And I’d gladly pay for a day at revelstoke if worth it.
Revelstoke is the best place to go if you want incredible powder. The heli skiing is just insane. It's kind of expensive, but you will constantly be on incredible lines with powder like you've likely never been in. Their lifts are almost all new or at least pretty new in the last ten years. They're part of the Ikon pass too. You'll definitely see way hotter 40 year olds at Whistler! It's a beautiful place for sure. I was at Big White during the Vancouver Olympics and the amount of snow they were trucking to Whistler was insane. I didn't even know that was a thing, but they had trucks lined up 50 deep for several days and were just hauling out as fast as they loaded it.
Clark’s oyster house for happy hour, or any hour. We did Matsuhisa and I thought it was just ok. Bosq was great, expensive though. The White House Tavern was great
Thanks. We’re staying at Hotel Jerome so we will be right by Clark’s and White House. we’ll be there for opening weekend of March madness. Any of these places have TVs?
Havent been out there since I was like 10. Was supposed to go the first wknd of March, but I was too cheap. Flights were like $1500 and I tried to get the group to pivot to Switzerland. They are going without me instead
I've been able to ski up to a lift after a run and not stop until I have to sit on a chair in multiple spots in BC or Alberta. Between that and incomparable scenery, it's without a doubt the best place to ski in North America imo. I can't imagine having to wait like 20-30 minutes to get on a ski lift.
My wishlist because I haven't been to many places. Alta, Sun Valley, Mammoth, Alyeska, Solitude This is all looking at trail maps Based on word of mouth Jackson and Telluride
Finally settling into the internet after a couple of week whirlwind and had to share some photos of probably the best ski day of my life. Up at Winter Park 4 days after the big storm, met a customer of ours up there that skipped the cabin party prior and called me 30 minutes prior to lines opening and was at the base of Mary Jane and said he was there. I scramble and get outta there going f*ck im skiing hard today. Forgot my coat and other shit but luckily had my pops 90’s snowmobile jacket as a backup in the car. Spoiler -two hours of trees off of Panorama -get back to the top & the main ridge down into winter park is closed because of mitigation. -guy I am with suggests not going down again and instead hiking a long fucking way up Vasquez cirque -“way the fuck up there and ski down that?” -“I’ve skied with you for two hours, you’re fine.” -what felt about a half mile at 12k was the most arduous walk of my life thinking I was going to be this guy: -We get to the top of alphabet chutes and despite the fact I see 20 people walk up and walk away mr customer checks for snow concerns and says we’re good, follow my line. Sphincter losing pressure at this point. -probably 10’ drop and had two quick turns until mostly untouched snow. And it was the best hour of any physical activity I’ve had in my life after. Spoiler -sorry about the humble brag but I skied the best shit of my life. And honestly, I’ve been thinking about it for two weeks and now want to take a backcountry class.
I had a buddy take me through Tophers trees at Winter Park at a point in my life I was very out of shape and I thought I was going to die after a very short hike. Also found out after the fact that it is named after a guy that died skiing there and there is inbounds avalanches there regularly.
If you can time it right (could also apply to almost all resorts), Kirkwood can be fantastic. “the wall” is a really fun lift to ski off.