 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everybody,
I posted recently on here asking advice for skiing Whistler in January next year and had some fantastic responses, thank you!
This week, our TO has offered us an amazingly good deal to try out Panorama resort, and we're wondering whether to risk it. There is much less general information and reviews on Panorama around, particularly on snow conditions for January month, so I wonder if anybody can give me any positives and negatives for this resort.
We're a mixed group of 6 adult skiers and boarders, wishing to learn to ski powder and off-piste as well as improve our technique on the groomers. Most of us are confidently skiing (European) reds and playing on the blacks now, and we want to take the next step into being a bit more adventurous!
We haven't skiied anywhere outside of Europe before, so this will be our first trans-atlantic adventure and we want to make sure it's a good one!
The main reason Whistler and Panorama were originally suggested to us was because both offer ski-in/ski-out which was high on our wish list this season after many many tedious bus rides up to the European glaciers when snow has been poor in-resort. We're also intending to make this a 2-week trip, so want to ensure Panorama will be big enough to keep us entertained for that long!
Any information/advice you could offer would be massively appreciated, thanks all in advance!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I can't comment on Panorama as we've never been there, but, having done 6 weeks in Whistler in the last 3yrs I cannot recommend the place enough. PM me if you want specific information.
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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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Pedantica, Thanks - I thought I'd created a thread!
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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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It's five years or so since I went, and it may have changed a bit since then, but it is small, and certainly a lot smaller than anywhere you'll have skied in Europe (probably), and very self-contained.
Good skiers will cover the whole pisted area in a few days, but that may not be a bad thing as you will be able to go back and do the same runs over and over again and work on technique.
The on piste skiing is not very challenging, on the whole, though your mileage may vary of course; but what is good, if you're a mixed ability group, is that the harder slopes usually connect up with an easy out route, too.
I can't remember any non-tree runs, so if the weather closes in that will help.
It's not (apparently) the snowiest place, but I'd be surprised if you had problems in January. We went in early Feb and it was about 15 ft deep, and locals said that was fairly normal.
You can do back country heliskiing, thougbh we didn't take that option so can't say what it's like.
Limited apres, I think there were two bars when we went. But we had kids with us so not a problem for us.
Depending on the offer, and your own ability and needs, you will either love it or wonder why you spent X thousand pounds flying across the Atlantic just to slide down smaller shorter slopes than you can slide down over here.
If you're in love with the romance of skiing North America (nothing wrong with that, everyone should try it) there are better places to go, but that's where the cost comes in.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Panorama is relatively small and isolated: the village is a bus-ride into Invermere, which doesn't offer a lot in winter (good summer resort, though, with sailing on the lake).
The snow might be a bit iffy in January: on the basis of my single visit in Jan, coverage was OK, but a bit icy. On the plus side, what you do have is a massive vertical (5000+ feet) and some good in-bounds off-piste in Taynton Bowl, which will certainly give you the opportunity to improve your off-piste skills: the ski school is very highly regarded so getting a few lessons would be a smart idea. However, I wouldn't spend 2 weeks there. - You could use it as part of a 2-centre trip, including, say, Fernie with an couple of days at Kicking Horse for variation (you can get day trips to Fernie from Panorama, as well).
Generally, though, for a 2-week single-resort stay I'd pick Whistler over Panorama any time.
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I agree with the others - I wouldn't pick Panorama for two weeks. However I do like it as a resort. It has some great runs and some great intro to glades etc and the whole in bounds off piste gig going on. The advantage is mid week it will be empty , whereas we have been to Whistler in Jan and even mid week was very busy with southern hemisphere peeps (aussies and japanese)
I would do a two weeker and mix with either Fernie or Kicking Horse.
You could do a day trip to Kimberley from Panorama, but I would have thought a day trip to Fernie is too far.
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What they said. I spend a day there now and then but it's been a handful of years since I bothered, but... you can't really consider it in the same thought as Whistler (or any other destination resort) - that's not what it is. You're comparing two completely different things there. I'm slightly surprised UK tour operators sell it.
Whistler's expensive because it's a zoo - everyone and his dog discovered it years ago and the tour operators truck people in. It's the closest thing you'll find in North America to a European resort (20-odd lifts, no less!), with a "resort" they built for you where you can spend your holiday. It's designed for what you probably want. If you don't like buses or cars then Whistler is the obvious place, and it can deliver the best riding, or the best partying, you'll be fine there. Go where the tour operators customers like to go: chances are you'll like it too.
When I was last at Panorama, and other similar resorts, they're basically "town hills", with some real estate development on-site, but most people there are locals (a good thing), and they drive to the hill for the day and then drive home. The hills are small too - compare the actual footage/ area, not what it looks like on a map. So it's cheap, and they won't charge you to park your car there either, but then it's a little more "core" than most people like. A couple of days and I'd be bored with it. You would go nuts in two weeks, unless you take your own entertainment and don't mind riding the same slopes all the time.
There's a range of places you can visit in BC and even Alberta, from traditional "destination resorts" like Banff (Lake Louise/Sunshine/Norquay) and Whistler (Whistler/Blackcomb), through to small towns like Panorama and Kimberly etc. Sure, you will have your best day ever if you luck onto Hemlock on "powder day": you'll ride waist deep untracked all day. But for your first visit you've zero chance of that happening, and if it did you'd be stuck in the rain in the valley wondering how you're supposed to get up there. The trick for those smaller places is to go when they have the snow and no one else does. Not what you're looking for, I'd say.
If you want to get more adventurous, but still want to be herded by a tour operator, then Big White/ Silver Star are worth a look, as is Sun Peaks. These are places with more than one restaurant to choose from, a bar or two, and more terrain that Panorama. I've spent a week in Big White then a week in Silver Star, and that works, although from memory there are only two places in Silver Star to get breakfast - these are small friendly places.
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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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We had a week there, a good few years ago, along with a week in Kimberley. We were there at the end of January, and had the best powder day I have ever had, waist deep snow and clear blue skies.
The frustrating thing i found about the resort, which is similar to a lot of the smaller Candian resorts (and I have been to most in the BC area), is that it is corporately owned, and very little choice of restaurant, with the same food on the mountain and in the resort. When you are a fussy eater, who doesn't really like meat, it gets boring very quickly.
I enjoyed my week there, but the following year when we hired a car and went where we faniced, we drove straight past.
The wolves are worth a visit if they are still there
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Went for 3 days last March - after spending 11 days in Banff- wish we'd just stayed in Banff! !
We left behind the knee high powder of Sunshine Village and great places to eat in Banff for hard icy runs. Didn't really like the resort as there was one main place to eat which was a bit like a school canteen and one restaurant- felt a bit trapped without a car to escape!
Saying that the apartments were nice and comfortable and I reckon if they had got some snow it would have been good fun for a day or twos skiing. I think it is good for heli and cat skiing but we couldn't afford it! (and possibly not good enough skiers too!). Think it would probably be more enjoyable for a group as it was just the two of us- felt a bit weird sat in bar at night as everyone else seemed to be groups of locals who all knew each other.
I was unsure about staying in Banff and getting busses each morning but I was pleasantly surprised at how well organised they were and the bus rides were fine each day; definitely wouldn't put me off returning. Lessons were good there too as we varied doing things on groomers, bumps and unpisted runs- did some things we would never have attempted ourselves without an instructor!
Wish we'd spent a few days at Kicking Horse in stead of Panorama! Next time
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