Calgary

A snowHead

Hi All,

Has anyone here ever been riding out in Calgary, Canada? I ask because there is a possibility of a move out there for me. Although any snow-sure place will beat my native Cardiff I just wondered if anyone had any stories or experience.

Thanks and big up to the Senior Snowheads who keep this Ad-free site running,

A

A snowHead

saxabar, Not skied there but have flown in and driven to Panorama ( 4hrs ) passing right by Banff ( 2hrs ). There is a complex of lifts etc, which must have been part of the Winter Olympics set up whenever that was, that we drove past. This was end of March and it was looking pretty shabby.

This will beat Cardiff as a location for skiers/riders for sure.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks CP,

Looks like I'll be joining the weekend warriors to Banff then.

A

Big P.S. What the hell is "EXTERMINATE" about on deleting a post!!! Only the now 'exterminated' Crazy Frog has made me jump that high!

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Calgary is a really nice place to live and you can ski every weekend on real snow. Also do go to Fernie for the off-piste.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Don't know how my post ended up in triplicate - can we delete posts? I can only seem to be able to edit them.

Help??

You'll need to Register first of course.

Calgary is fab. It played host to the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. The Canadian Olympic Park is on the outskirts of the city, where there is a small hill. Banff is 1 hour 30 mins away. Ski Banff @ Norquay is the local mountain. 35 mins from Banff is Sunshine Village and Lake Louise is approx. 1 hour from Banff. Nakiska is approx. 50 mins from Calgary city and was where the Alpine ski events were held in 1988. If i had a possible move to Calgary, i'd start packing! Going green

It is a really nice place, very cold from late November to April. Listen to the radio station 'CJay92' to check out what's going on.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

CP, I've deleted them for you wink

After all it is free

D G Orf, Thanks, and I thought I had found a cunning way to get to the magic 500 a bit quicker Toofy Grin

Cheers y'all. Given that I'm a biker in the UK I'd better learn how to drive (with a license). wink

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Nakiska (nearest ski area): world class grooming, runs are very straight though and not that challenging. Food in the lodge was rubbish.

Mt Norquay: small ski area but with some variation in terrain and a very good half pipe.

Sunshine: bigger area with some more interesting and quirky runs. F. cold when it's windy. Lookout and Goat’s eye have their black runs but these do tend to get the snow scraped off them by the wind. The snow gets trapped by the fences they put up and scraped back by the piste bashers overnight but the process just repeats itself. The Stawberry Chair is popular with Snowboarders (not experts) as the middle section forms a natural half pipe and it's not too steep.

Unless there’s been recent snow or you’re on rental gear don’t take Banff avenue down

Has some flat bits that are a real pain if you're boarding.

Lake Louise: bigger area and very picturesque. About 2 hours away. Lots of tree level skiing and every type of run you could want. Better snow conditions than Sunshine and only suffers from the same wind problem at the very top. Larch area quieter with good mogulled black, Lynx (24) or easier blue options

Kicking Horse: some easy terrain and beginners get it all to themselves. A lot of very challenging terrain and a high overall std of skier/boarder.

There are only three double blacks on the piste map and these are genuine expert only (if short) runs that also involve a significant hike to get to. All of the runs off CPR ridge are black and genuine. The south side is forested, whilst the north side has fewer trees and tends to be more popular. One of the reasons for this is that you can jump on the new Stairway to Heaven lift instead of heading all the way back down to take the gondola up. The black, My Blue Heaven (3 Cool

, off this is a good mogul run. The Cat track down, Cloud Nine, is not for early intermediates.

Feuz bowl, also off Stairway to Heaven, was not actually open 2002/2003 due to a dispute with one of the Heli-skiing operators due to a ‘right of use’ dispute. Despite this you can trek off from the top of Stairway to Heaven and poach the heli-skiing terrain, if you’re good enough.

Wiley Coyote (17) is the run most people take to get down to the base area/gondola. And given the very high standard of skier/boarder they really do fly down.

The base lodge does reasonable food, in terms of both price and quality, but it’s not easy to get a seat at weekends.

It can be a surprisingly good resort to learn (but once you can ski the choice of easy intermediate runs is limited). As an ‘experts’ resort there are very few beginners. My friend often had private lessons at group rates, an absolute bargain (35 CAD for two and a half hours or there are options that include lift pass/gear hire). The maximum she had was three in her group and half the time she was on her own

Panorama:

Excellent base area and a great all round ski area. Intrawest are pushing this resort big time and have installed two new quads to reach the top.

Off the top (Summit) Tree Time, Tight Sports and Outer Limits are good, shortish tree runs with Top of the World and Roy’s Run providing opportunities to jump off these (onto mogul runs).

If you're good there's Taynton Bowl. This is new terrain and there are no easy options.

You've also got Fernie, Kimberley, Red Mtn and a couple of other resorts but I didn't go to those so can't comment. Saw Fernie from the road and it looked seriously steep though.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

If you're relocating get on Biglines.com, a mainly Cowtown based ski site. Most locals seem to pick one area to get a season pass (sunshine or LL) to then make occasional trips to others. Fernie gets a lot of weekenders who own property down there (bit far to day trip).

You can also night ski (mainly park or technique I guess - its the local equivalent of Milton Keynes) at Calgary Olympic Park (COP)

snow reports

Haven't been to Calgary myself, but friends from Calgary tell me (if I remember correctly) that it's about 2 hours to Lake Louise, and about 3 hours to Kicking Horse, Panorama, or Fernie. All of them are supposed to be amazing resorts, especially Kicking Horse. Red Mountain is supposed to be excellent too, but it's a good 4+ hour drive (I think).

Nothing to do with the skiing, but the couple that brought our last house had come over from Canada and were bikers with his and hers matching R1's. They thought the riding in the u.k was great as it was all year round. They had the winter back home when it was to cold & snowy. The summer got to hot unless you were flying and that left them with a 6 week window either side of summer to ride. The surfaces weren't as grippy either as the material used had to survive the temp extremes and was a nightmare in the wet.
It would still be worth it to be able to go skiing every weekend.

You know it makes sense.

Thanks all for some great comments. I suppose I would descibe myself as an enthusiastic intermediate so it sounds perfect. If I do get a post out there I'll be sure to leave details to contact me if anyone wants a place to crash for a week or two.

Here's to hoping I get the job! Very Happy

A

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

saxabar, major criteria missed - unaccompanied Toofy Grin

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

saxabar,

Calgary's still a Canadian boom town. Oil rich, and a really good standard of living. There are no provincial sales taxes in Alberta.

It is probably the best-placed Canadian city in terms of the variety of skiing within a relatively short drive time NickW, has summarised the skiing pretty well: personally, I have a soft spot for Sunshine - a long, long season and the season pass is a pretty reasonable price.

Nakiska is the shortest distance of any of the hills (if you exclude the Calgary Olympic Park), and doesn't get anything like the crowds that the Banff area hills get. Castle Mountain is a small, little known powder mecca that you should get to when you move up from being a bog-standard intermediate.

There's also a lot of great X-country.

I don't know if you play rugby. Canadian club rugby is just a great social scene - absolutely the best way to meet a bunch of hard-driving party animals is to join a local rugby club (I recommend the Calgary Irish: national ties not necessary - just the ability to sink large volumes of Guinness).

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Acacia,

Bought the Lonely Planet Guide for Canada, indeed they have interesting views on taxation with many businesses working on an 'under the counter' basis.

There's been a couple of shows on EX sports (7:00am, The Real Ride Guide) and it looks like heaven out there. From what I can tell it is more intermediate and above terrain which suits me just fine.

Haven't played rugby in years but willing to have a go. Does it bear any resemblance to UK rugby?

Safe to say I can hold my own on the drinking front but always up for a challenge!

Help!!

Calgary

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