 Poster: A snowHead
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Sunshine again today. Sunny in the morning, flat light after lunch. Snow in the air, hopefully it'll pick up!
Plan tomorrow is ski lake Louise again then drive to Jasper.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Finally here- first day at Sunshine, mainly Goat's Eye. Found some really nice snow, pistes in good condition with a little bit of stuff showing through in a couple of places but nothing major. Great to be here, enjoyed dinner at Earl's and off to Lake Louise tomorrow. A few cm's of snow forecast for tomorrow so we will see what that brings.
@bobmcstuff, Agree completely about the scenery. It is truly stunning!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@lynnecha, if you thought the scenery in Sunshine was good, the views in Lake Louise are even better (IMO).
Snowing in Banff now!! Only a little bit, hopefully more up the hills.
Taking it easy on the beer front tonight. Very sleepy.
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Sunshine too. First day here and the snow was nice. Did laps around the top of the valley, Wahwah, Standish, Great Divide. I ate at Nourish on bear street last night. Not normally my thing, but it was truly superb.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Sorry @bobmcstuff, , i wasn't clear. I was agreeing about Lake Louise! We've been coming here every year for two or three weeks since 2004, and I too think LL is one of the most stunning places on the planet. (Though Goats Eye is still my spiritual 'home snow'....)
Anyaway, LL today was good, but snow is hard on piste. Still lots of good skiing-did the 'World Cup' run from top of the world, along Sunset Terrace, Men's Downhill, and back to base a few times. Mens Downhill was a bit hardpack first thing. Then just played around on the frontside for a while - very quiet.
It was snowing as we drove back into town, so haven't decided about tomorrow yet. I think there may be some decent snow at Sunshine.....
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@lynnecha, we were there as well. Blacks/double blacks offpistey stuff was icy and rocky. Had a good time on piste and went through the parks a few times. Fun day. Started snowing a couple of times but never really got going, forecast didn't seem to think there would be anything substantial.
In Jasper now - the drive up through the icefield parkway is intense! Got the be one of the most stunning drives anywhere.
Jasper itself seems to be very quiet though. Just heading out to find some food.
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@bobmcstuff,
Jasper is a whole different ball game. Forgot to warn you about the drive, stunning, but can be intense. Hope you got to see mountain goats etc. Jasper has a whole different vibe to Banff. Much more low key.
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@gryphea, we've just found out how low key it is! Half the places are closed or have two people in. We're not massive party people but being a group of 4 mid 20s guys we like a bit of life. Seems quite a cool town though.
We had to make a stop on the icefields to let some mountain goats get off the road, they weren't interested in us at all. Plus about five photo stops! We've got 2 drivers so switched after and hour or so. For me the biggest issues were the random bumps in the road and the icy snow in some bits... And the people who were speeding even more than me who got right up in my backside waiting to overtake.
Quick question, what is Golden like? Tentatively heading back down to ski Kicking Horse in a few days so would be there for the weekend, it'd be nice if it was reasonably lively (I think we're due at least one "proper" night out this trip).
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I heard the snow at kicking horse is pretty dire bobmcstuff, according to a lady who was there with her ski club 2 days ago. Alberta seems to have the best of it at the moment. More snow forecast for here tomorrow and Friday. Not a huge amount, but if it keeps coming. 
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I think you would get better nightlife in Golden than Jasper for sure. Suspect nightlife in Golden gets better as the snow rolls in. But its still not hopping. Banff best for nightlife.
If you get a chance, pop to the park lodge and have a skate on the pond. On the way you often see elk, maybe big horn sheep and maybe wild dogs down by the river. oK so still low key, but different nonetheless!
Hope the skiing is good.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Got chatting to the barmaid in jasper brewing company and apparently Wednesday and Sunday are the main staff nights out, so we ended up in Downstream which was actually pretty lively.
Currently drinking coffee and waiting to be sober enough to drive.
Hopefully I can now get away without being unnecessarily hungover for the rest of the trip.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Stay in Canmore just outside national park. We did a motel and ski package for 12 nights with 10 days of ski passes thrown in. You could get passes for where you fancied each day. There was also an ice climbing festival when there. Last time we visited
Nor quay
Nakiska
Sunshine
lake Louise
kicking Horse
Kimberley
Panarama
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Can report that the snow at Jasper is really nice, miles better than Lake Louise or Sunshine. Got an afternoon pass and worked off the hangover quite nicely. Snowed gently on and off all day, looks like a few cm overnight which would freshen things up.
Nice and quiet on the slopes as well.
Thinking about staying here an extra night Just because the snow's so much better.
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You know it makes sense.
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@bobmcstuff, Geek trivia. The Columbia icefields are a triple point, meaning they source rivers that flow to 3 different oceans. As you drive to icefields from jasper the river is flowing towards you and when you leave the icefields its flowing with you. Probably hard to tell in winter............
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Great day skiing Jasper. Few cm fresh on a nice base.
Rented a pair of 179cm 108mm Line Sick Days which felt massive compared to the 165cm 76mm Scott Aztecs I brought with me.
Only downer was the approximately seventeen billion small children zooming about all over the place. One of my mates had one kid ski into him from above (converging paths), their parent/minder then proceeded to have a go at my mate. Another when some kid skiied over the back of one of my other friends skis (while he was stationary), kid did a double eject to faceplant which was very amusing.
So to get away from the kids we mostly did runs off the Eagle Ridge chair in the bowls and through the woods, and a few off Knob Chair (tee hee) into the upper bowl.
Skiied better than I ever have before, skiied loads of steeps and moguls I wouldn't even have contemplated last year. So "stoked"  Really enjoying the "mountain playground" thing where you can do lots of lines through bowls and stuff, it's making me a much better skiier.
Going to ski Jasper again tomorrow, then going down to Golden. Have cut our stay in Golden to 1 night just so we get a chance to see the place and have a ski at Kicking Horse. Don't think I'll bother hiring fat skis though!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Kicking Horse today - snow is not great. It's nice enough higher up and we found some soft snow in the bowls but it's clearly rained on the lower half of the mountain and there's blue ice all over the place. Very unpleasant. And there's not really good mid station lift options so you end up going back down to the gondola all the time which means you have to deal with the ice quite often.
There was a junior free ride competition going on and we watched some of the 15-18yo category, they were absolutely sending it off massive drops, pulling spins and stuff, it was incredible to watch.
Just arrived in Revelstoke, seems a cool place.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Also made the mistake of getting on that ridiculous old chairlift they have at Kicking Horse, on the take off the safety bar decided to fly down the instant we'd sat down and I got twatted in the knee by the bar. Now my knee's swelled up and it hurts to walk.
Piece of old junk.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| bobmcstuff wrote: |
Also made the mistake of getting on that ridiculous old chairlift they have at Kicking Horse, on the take off the safety bar decided to fly down the instant we'd sat down and I got twatted in the knee by the bar. Now my knee's swelled up and it hurts to walk.
Piece of old junk. |
and what about the chairlift  Still a great resort though.
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It is a great resort, it's obvious that with newer snow it would be awesome, there's so much great stuff easily accessed from the lifts.
It could still really do with a mid-mountain gondola stop though. Seems so obvious, I assume it's just normally not necessary.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Leaving Banff now. Had a great time. Snow on sunshine was great, a bit thin in lake Louise.
Had some great meals, Nourish, the Block, Elk and Oarsman.
Looks like it's hating warmer from here on - wiggles show a warm up of abou 12-15 degrees - "the best snow will be at the top".
All in all even though it's been the worst snow year for ages it's been a great trip. Time to start saving again.
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Here for another week. Had an absolutely fab day at Lake Louise. It was so quiet we could ski from Top of the World to the base via Meadowlark without stopping at all. Snow is definately hard but fast and fun with no people. A few more degrees would be welcome, @rogg, but I don't know how the snow will stand up if it does warm up. I think they are getting away with it as the cold is preserving what snow is around.
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Skiied at Revelstoke today. Really weird weather - all four seasons in one day. 9cm powder on hardpack first thing, then it continued snowing heavily up high. But below about halfway up the stoke lift it was just icy. Then back down to the gondola mid station it was spring snow. Then at the end of the day when we skiied back to the base station it was full on end season waterskiing snow. Never seen anything like it in terms of variability on one hill.
Got some nice powder (or the closest we're going to get this trip, apparently I have terrible snow luck) off lemming line and the bowl that accesses.
Looks like Sunshine/Lake Louise didn't get any of the snow that was in the forecast so we're just going to ski revlstoke again tomorrow.
To be honest I'm a little bit gutted that we've been in Canada for 2 weeks and have seen much less than a foot of new snow in total (probably about half a foot realistically), but it's been good nonetheless - very progressive for me, the nature of the resorts is such that there's lots of easily accessible quite hard terrain so it really encourages you to push yourself. I'm definitely a lot better at skiing now.
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@bobmcstuff,
You have been unlucky , march is often a good month
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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So we're done with Canada, currently sitting at my desk jetlagged and thinking about snow.
Eventual itinerary was:
Banff x4 nights (4 days ski, Sunshine and LL alternate days)
Drive to Jasper
Jasper x3 nights (3 days ski, Marmot Basin)
Drive to Golden
1 night Golden (1 day ski, Kicking Horse)
Drive to Revelstoke
2 nights Revelstoke (2 days ski, Revelstoke)
Drive to Banff
2 nights Banff (1 day ski, Sunshine)
Drive to Calgary
2 nights Calgary (no ski, lots of beer)
Best snow award: Jasper
Best town award: Revelstoke (that place is awesome)
Best terrain award: Hard to say as it's so snow dependent, but Kicking Horse looked to have lots of great bowls easily accessible from the lifts. In good snow it would have a lot going for it.
Best views award: Lake Louise
I need to see more of BC, I really loved Revelstoke as a town and with better snow the resort would be awesome (at one point we had a temperature gradient of +2c at the base and -16c at the summit, I've never seen anything like it!). 11 days on the trot of hard skiing was quite a lot, but I really improved and it was great fun. I need to rest my knees! Was much less hungover than on some previous all-male group holidays I've been on and that made a huge difference to how hard I skiied and how focussed it was.
Calgary at the end was a good city break, I quite enjoyed it. I liked the place better than I expected and there were lots of good beer options (being a big craft beer/real ale fan that does a lot for me!).
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