 Poster: A snowHead
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The skiing is the priority, we just don't want to eat crappy food for 2 weeks, doesn't have to be fine dining, just good food.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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gortonator, We stayed at the Pan Pacific with the Irish Bar you mention. We all thought the food there was pretty crap actually. There was a nice Italian restaurant across the road and you could get a reasonable pizza in town. But otherwise we weren't all that impressed. FWIW I don't like posh expensive restaurants requiring reservations, just good healthy food served in a casual setting. That's where Italy and Spain are light years ahead on the food front. But I still much prefer Canadian skiing 
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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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Agree with the comments about red and rossland, we were there in feb and it it was awesome, loads of snow, empty pistes, and the most challenging skiing any of us had ever experienced. No one at red actually uses the pistes at all so its unlikely you will get bored of the ski area, also gets a lot more snow than panorama, although not as much as fernie. The standard of food in rossland is pretty good and their are some nice little restaurants, although the bars are pretty quiet unless its the weekend or a local band is playing. Was a little disapointed with Revelstoke, tall thin ski area and snow a little slushy as the bottom is very low, maybe good in 4-5 years after its finished.
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Spyderman, how about Castle Mountain? 1.5 hrs from Fernie about 40km from Crowsnest Pass and supposed to have steeper inbounds skiing than Fernie. Heard good things about it whilst I was in Fernie. Over 11m of snow in Fernie this season with a 3.5m base at season's close 
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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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Spydey
Did you eat at the Currie Bowl or the Old Elevator in Fernie. Both very good IMO and there are places like them in most Canuck ski towns. As for choosing between places how about a road trip? I'm sure somewhere in Calgary must rent old landies for you.
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| Spyderman wrote: |
| The skiing is the priority, we just don't want to eat crappy food for 2 weeks, doesn't have to be fine dining, just good food. |
Panorama gave us OK food, a bit better than OK at the heli base. Not crappy, good enough, but not food you'd bother to go out to eat at home.
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| Quote: |
The skiing is the priority, we just don't want to eat crappy food for 2 weeks, doesn't have to be fine dining, just good food.
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We now live in Calgary and have skied Nakiska, Louise, Kicking Horse, Silver Star, Big White, SUnshine and Norquay this year and on the whole canadian ski resort food isn't good. Haven't skied fernie or kimberly yet, next season...............! Banff does , of course, have nice restaurants.
We did have a nice lunch (without kids thanks to fab ski school) in Panorama, a place at the base , it was table service and way better than the average ski-hill lunch. I think the earl grey tea lodge or something like that is meant to be good and the cabin place. Good food can be had a Kicking Horse - the eagle eye and a few places round Golden.
I think the UK tour buses might stop at Sobeys in Invermere on the way up to Panorama - we saw one there.
Gryphea
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| uktrailmonster wrote: |
| gortonator, FWIW I don't like posh expensive restaurants requiring reservations, just good healthy food served in a casual setting. That's where Italy and Spain are light years ahead on the food front. But I still much prefer Canadian skiing |
you won't find me defending average food quality in north america in comparison to Europe! No contest. But I guess living here, you slowly discover what's usually half-decent, and there is some. At the top end though, the food can be darn fine, and Canadians definitely do better elk and caribou 
Ignoring food, i still wouldn't go to Panorama for a week or longer if skiing was main aim. Combo of lack of consistent snow and good but not fantastic terrain would put me off. There are more interesting options in the area. If drothers were mine, for one hill choice, it'd be Red. There's enough skiing there for a season. At least.
Should you be interested, I wrote a short report on our day at Panorama last year:
http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!703.entry
A few pics here:
http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!702/
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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On the grub front, I can only compare Panorama with Jasper, LL and Banff. Panorama is by some distance the worst, for choice and quality, and Banff by some distance the best. Canada does have some excellent grub available, but not in Panorama (not much, anyway). You won't starve, but it's food as fuel rather than as an enjoyable way of spending the evening.
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I had an awesome time in Panorama last year mainly courtesy of Earl Grey Lodge. Most hospitable people, fantastic food, and great company. The rest of the resort is like people have said, a bit samey as its all Interwest, but the skiing was great.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I don't remember the Earl Grey Lodge; is it relatively new?
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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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Personally I just love Fernie, what's not to love?!
Why not take a little tour of a few of the resorts in The Rockies? Fernie... Red Mountain (amazing 360degree skiing!), Whitewater etc...
If this idea tickles your fancy let me know and I can give you more info on some trips that we run like this...
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That's it, I've booked Fernie, leaving UK 11 Feb, return 26 Feb. I thought better to go to a place I know and love, than try somewhere I might not like. Doing it a bit on the cheap accomodation wise, but it does save a grand that I can spend elsewhere and after all We'll only be sleeping there, but it is ski in, ski out.
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You know it makes sense.
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Spyderman, I think we'll be going on 8th March. Where are you staying? Have you booked a package or are you DIY?
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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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| NONSTOP wrote: |
Personally I just love Fernie, what's not to love?!
Why not take a little tour of a few of the resorts in The Rockies? Fernie... Red Mountain (amazing 360degree skiing!), Whitewater etc...
If this idea tickles your fancy let me know and I can give you more info on some trips that we run like this... |
Thank F**k for that - I would have never been able to find my way around southern BC on my own along the sole highway without the valued assistance of nonstop's commercial operation. My dream is now closer to realisation.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dont forget your Umbrella
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| Spyderman, I think we'll be going on 8th March. Where are you staying? Have you booked a package or are you DIY? |
We stayed at Timberline Lodge last time, 2 Bedrooms + Loft, Jacuzzi, BBQ, nice lounge, cable TV, remote control fireplace, big fridge, kitchen, the lot.
This time Griz Inn - Hotel Room, very limited facilities, but there's just the 2 of us this time, so we don't need the extra facilities. Location is really good. I hope the restaurant, which used to be 'The Wood' is up and running this season as it's now sitting empty. The food there was the best on the hill by far.
We booked direct with RCR last time who organised Air Canada flights, Budget rent a 4x4 and ski passes. This time a Crystal package, which is considerably less than half the price, like under £900 each, including flights, transfers and under occupancy and flight supplements, for 2 weeks stay.
Obviously nowhere near the quality of the last time, but we're there to ski and will eat out all of the time, so the accommodation really is just somewhere to sleep.
Inghams were doing cheaper deals to the Wolf's Den, but the 'Griz' has a pool and Hot Tubs, which swung it. Would have liked the Lizzard Creek, but couldn't really justify another £1000, rather put that to another Tignes trip.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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Kitty.
I have been to both Fernie & Panorama in good & bad conditions.
We went for the Heli-Boarding in Panorama & Cat-skiing in Fernie.
Skiing/Boarding aside there is not really much on offer from both resorts.
As you know most of the hotels are in Fernie town & the slopes accessed by a bus.
We had bad weather once & spent a couple of days socialising in town.
It's quite a rough old place.
Liked the Fernie Ghost Rider Ice Hockey Team though.
My advice.
Whistler by a country mile.
Kev.
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| fatbob wrote: |
Spydey
Did you eat at the Currie Bowl or the Old Elevator in Fernie. Both very good IMO and there are places like them in most Canuck ski towns. As for choosing between places how about a road trip? I'm sure somewhere in Calgary must rent old landies for you. |
Ate at the Currie Bowl three times,great food and brilliant beers.
didn't try the Old Elevator.
Others we tried were Rip n' Richards - Pulled Pork was really good.
The Wood a couple of times - very good food, now sadly closed.
A Mexican restaurant on the main shopping street - huge portions of good food and great beer, now sadly closed also.
Kelseys a few times - not bad for general fodder.
the Italian restaurant on the hill - pretty poor.
Boston Pizza place in town - worst meal of the trip, terrible Pizzas.
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kev360, that's what I like about Fernie, it's honest what you see is what you get and what puts me off Whistler, I'd rather go to France and ski Les Arcs/3V or VDI/Tignes.
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| Spyderman wrote: |
| holidayloverxx wrote: |
| Spyderman, I think we'll be going on 8th March. Where are you staying? Have you booked a package or are you DIY? |
We stayed at Timberline Lodge last time, 2 Bedrooms + Loft, Jacuzzi, BBQ, nice lounge, cable TV, remote control fireplace, big fridge, kitchen, the lot.
This time Griz Inn - Hotel Room, very limited facilities, but there's just the 2 of us this time, so we don't need the extra facilities. Location is really good. I hope the restaurant, which used to be 'The Wood' is up and running this season as it's now sitting empty. The food there was the best on the hill by far.
We booked direct with RCR last time who organised Air Canada flights, Budget rent a 4x4 and ski passes. This time a Crystal package, which is considerably less than half the price, like under £900 each, including flights, transfers and under occupancy and flight supplements, for 2 weeks stay.
Obviously nowhere near the quality of the last time, but we're there to ski and will eat out all of the time, so the accommodation really is just somewhere to sleep.
Inghams were doing cheaper deals to the Wolf's Den, but the 'Griz' has a pool and Hot Tubs, which swung it. Would have liked the Lizzard Creek, but couldn't really justify another £1000, rather put that to another Tignes trip. |
Thanks for that, I doubt we would pay the extra to stay at the Lizzard Creek again. We were contemplating the Cornerstone, but will take a closer look at the Griz Inn (we too are hoping the restaurant will reopen). We didn;t try the Italian on the hill , but doesn't sound as if we missed much. We'll look at the Wolf's Den as well as we don't need the pool & hot tub (never used either once at Lizzard Creek).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
Best food in canadian resorts by far - and fine food it is too by any standards - is in Whistler. I
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I'm not so sure about the "best" part. The food I had at Banff are just as good, if not better. Equally expensive too 
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The food at the 'Wood' was exceptional, great inventive dishes with top quality ingredients, sadly missed. I hope something of equal quality fills the space.
'Currie Bowl' in town really has great indo/thai dishes in small cosy surroundings, we'll certainly be visiting there this trip.
We found the eating out costs really good value, both on and off the hill. Way less expensive than UK let alone French ski resorts.
I like the micro brewery beers too, which is good as wine is pretty expensive.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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| Spyderman wrote: |
| fatbob wrote: |
Spydey
Did you eat at the Currie Bowl or the Old Elevator in Fernie. Both very good IMO and there are places like them in most Canuck ski towns. As for choosing between places how about a road trip? I'm sure somewhere in Calgary must rent old landies for you. |
Ate at the Currie Bowl three times,great food and brilliant beers.
didn't try the Old Elevator.
Others we tried were Rip n' Richards - Pulled Pork was really good.
The Wood a couple of times - very good food, now sadly closed.
A Mexican restaurant on the main shopping street - huge portions of good food and great beer, now sadly closed also.
Kelseys a few times - not bad for general fodder.
the Italian restaurant on the hill - pretty poor.
Boston Pizza place in town - worst meal of the trip, terrible Pizzas. |
Try what was Corner Pocket next to what was Central (Central is now a Bar Named Sue  ) and the resteraunt next door is probably Johnny Cash themed, but it was really good last year too.
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You know it makes sense.
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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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hd, heard that it really is brass monkeys in Banff.
I will take plenty of layers, just bought some more thermals anyway and my balaclava then to cover my ears. My balaclava is a "Coldkillers" motorcycling one designed to wear under a motorbike helmet, so it's lovely and comfy, windproof with Gore Tex and also can be worn under a ski helmet no probs. Looks a bit OTT though but then again if it's cold and windy outside I don't suppose it matters.
Just booked up to go to Fernie 18th Feb-4th March! Cheers for the trip report.
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Poster: A snowHead
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VolklAttivaS5,
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hd, heard that it really is brass monkeys in Banff.
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Depends when you go. January can be a killer. On the other hand, last couple of weeks in March you can get great spring skiing (and longer lift operating hours).
You can't really generalise about "the weather in Canada" - it all depends where you are. Whistler is usually mild, due to it's proximity to the ocean. Banff can be freezing, but can also get mild conditions when the Chinook blows through the Bow Valley.
Fernie gets massive dumps when the weather funnels the clouds up against the Lizard range, ....but massive precipitation can also occur as rain.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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hd, just saw your Fernie pics and it looks awesome! Re the traversing on a board though adn the sinking in the new snow on foot, in Lapland we wore snow shoes, and I've seen some boarders wearing them on hikes up with their board attached to their rucksack. Would it have been do-able if you'd had a pair of them in your rucksack ready or is that a silly question? I think they are quite light from what I can remember.
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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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I didn't really warm to Panorama. Perhaps it was the weather - always seemed overcast apart for one glorious afternoon after fresh snowfall when the sun broke through & I was racing my own shadow with a plume of powder flying behind. Interwest control everything as a platform to sell real estate with makes the place like Disney. The food was poor & limited choice. Too bad if you like vegetables or something not fried or remotely healthy. No wonder they are all constipated. Après ski consists of sitting in outdoor hot tubs - quite nice if you smuggled your drink in but the pools were populated by insufferable corporate Americans who just talked about their wealth & how smart they were. (Big contrast the genuine warmth of the Canadians ay Jasper). Everybody seemed to disappear to bed at 8 pm. The skiing, however, was marvellous. The double black diamond runs at the top were steep & narrow. The on mountain catering consisted of a couple of garden sheds & a tepee. The hut at the top amused me as it was like an artic refuge with frozen bodies huddled around the pot bellied stove. The 'chef' cooked a mean steak sandwich on a hibachi out the hut window. It convenient for my kids as you only had a few yards to walk from the room to lift and are happy to eat junk food. They were in group lessons with only another person who dropped out- so they had all day private lessons all week for nominal cost.
I recommend you go somewhere else you'd be disappointed after Fernie.
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Banff didn't get much of a cold week this year, but the coming season will be a killer.
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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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arv, what makes you say that about next year? Why?
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VolklAttivaS5, Spent a lot of my days in Banff, every January there's a cold week or 2, this year there wasn't one therefore next year it will be bloody freezing  . Also this year there wasn't much snow at all so from the same source of the temperature information I predict next year will be back to good old classic Banff.
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| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
| hd, just saw your Fernie pics and it looks awesome! Re the traversing on a board though adn the sinking in the new snow on foot, in Lapland we wore snow shoes, and I've seen some boarders wearing them on hikes up with their board attached to their rucksack. Would it have been do-able if you'd had a pair of them in your rucksack ready? |
You could carry some snow shoes but I don't think they would be practical. The traverses are very narrow and have loads of skiers bombing along them some of whom don't take very kindly to boarders with their boards off blocking the route. There are only a few very short uphill stretches where you need to take your board off and it would be a pain in the bum to put on snow shoes for 10 metres, then take them off and re-attach board, then put snow shoes back on again 100 metres later, etc etc.
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arv, ah I see. Well hopefully next Feb in Fernie will be same as this season just gone, 330cm of snow on the upper slopes according to the historical snow. Even on average it says 250cm or more the weeks I will be there so happy with that! Can't wait I must admit!
hd, ah I see what you mean about the narrow traverses and the short uphill treks.
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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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hd, I can't really think of a noteable amount of traverses that're an issue? The entire of Reverse Traverse and the Curry Chutes area is hassle to get to, I agree, but I can't think of anywhere else that demands a tight traverse that isn't reasonably pisted and wide? The only hike-y bit is Siberia Ridge and everything off there but that's a 5min climb...
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DaveC, agree reverse traverse is the main culprit, and it accesses so much great terrain so was a real pain that it's practically unusable by boarders immediately after a big dump (skiers probably don't agree...)
But the traverse to anaconda and suprize trees was also narrow and very bumpy - a real horror. The last parts of the traverses to the far extremes of lizard and cedar (from boomerang) were very flat/uphill/narrow. I think all the traverses were particularly difficult in the week we were there due to the amount of snow that had fallen.
The large amount of difficult/impossible traversing was the main downer about fernie for me. (and the crowds)
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FAQ
