 Poster: A snowHead
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Heading out to Revelstoke in Jan for about 8 weeks.
Going solo so will be looking to stay somewhere that isn't gonna break the bank and has a good social vibe.
Any recommendations for airports? Calgary seems way cheaper and quicker to get to than Kelowna, but I read the drive there can be tricky. Not found much in terms of transfer's from any airport....rideshares?
So any other snow heads with the inside scoop??
Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Kelowna isn’t immune from fog or a nasty drive either. They call the local hill Big White-out for a reason. Go YYC and save the dough. And when conditions dictate cruising, which isn’t the thing at ‘Stoke, head over to Silver Star for some of the best/steepest groomers on the continent.
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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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Calgary to revelstoke is not too bad. Yes Rogers pass (between golden and revy) does close sometimes but not something I'd be overly worried about on the way out (little more important on way back for the flight). Check kijiji and poparide for rideshares, should be a few heading out that way from Calgary for ski trips. Riderexpress is the bus service between Calgary and revelstoke, they don't have winter schedule up yet but I'm expecting 1 or 2 services per week.
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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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you can bus from calagry to revy, takes about 7 hous. driving is about 5 hours, works if there are two of you, but after a 9hour flight its mega tiring to drive.
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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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If you're going out for 8 weeks, losing a day is hardly worth the heartache. Fly into Calgary is cheaper, and that's all that matters.
Are you driving yourself in a hired car? Just don't go in the middle of the storm, you'll be fine. It's a major route so it'll get cleared of snow pretty quickly.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Cheers guys, Calgary it is.
Wasn't looking to hire a car if I could help it. So will probably go for the rider express. Although I did find car hire through Hertz for under £700 for the whole time. I'm assuming there is no issue taking the car from Alberta to BC...
Anyone have any experience of the hostels/b&b's?
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Personally (I live in Calgary) I'd look at hiring a car. Revelstoke is pretty isolated in some ways and having a car will give you more flexibility to travel to other resorts (if the snow is bad) or even just to buy some groceries from an out of town place. North America is very car centric and so trying to survive without one is going to be a struggle.
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
Although I did find car hire through Hertz for under £700 for the whole time. I'm assuming there is no issue taking the car from Alberta to BC...
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£700 for 8 weeks is super reasonable! I would go for it. You may end up taking occasional visit to nearby mountains.
(if it were any other car hire company, I would suspect the price being "too good to be true". But Hertz is about the most reputable car hire company there is. Do check about anything you've missed in that price, like insurance? The last thing I would worry about is taking the car into BC)
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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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@abc, The catch is that the deal is a 'managers special'....so the car model is left to a coin toss.... soooo who's driven a Chevy Spark through the mountains that time of year?
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
Cheers guys, Calgary it is.
Wasn't looking to hire a car if I could help it. So will probably go for the rider express. Although I did find car hire through Hertz for under £700 for the whole time. I'm assuming there is no issue taking the car from Alberta to BC...
Anyone have any experience of the hostels/b&b's? |
No issues taking a car from Alberta to BC, we did it on a trip that involved banff, kicking horse and Revvy.
We stayed in two places between us, the Canyon Motor Inn and The Revelstoke Gateway inn, both basic but fine.
Might be worth looking for a private room in an Airbnb?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
| @abc, The catch is that the deal is a 'managers special'....so the car model is left to a coin toss.... soooo who's driven a Chevy Spark through the mountains that time of year? |
Get a set of snow chains. Your chance of making it through Rogers pass will be at least as fair as the average cars on the road.
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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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Having a car is nice. If money is no option I would definitely hire one. However, it might not really be that necessary.
Getting between Calgary and Revy can be done on the bus (riderexpress). The same bus will get you to Golden (kicking horse) and Banff (Lake Louise, Sunshine). From Revy to the ski resort you can take a shuttle. If you plan to ski Rogers Pass a lot a car would be very useful, however not impossible to find others with cars looking for touring partners and split petrol costs. Also riddesharing is pretty common (poparide, kijiji etc.) and if you stay in a hostel you will meet plenty of others coming and going happy to give you a ride for some beers or petrol.
Also while the idea of following the snow around is nice it often doesnt work out in practice. Firstly the conditions are not usually *that* different between the nearby resorts (actually revy tends to do a little better than the others in terms of snowfall). So you would need to travel some considerable distance (e.g. Red or Fernie). Secondly, buying day tickets gets expensive quick.
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| Drifter210 wrote: |
| .... soooo who's driven a Chevy Spark through the mountains that time of year? |
Yeah. I had precisely one of those - the one with the teeny engine - a few trips back. I've driven through there lots, all times of winter, cheap cars. I had no issues with that or ever.
Often they don't actually have the smallest cars - they will try to upsell you, then when that fails they'll give you the bigger vehicle anyway.
You can't rely on that of course. I generally get better rentals from smaller airports (eg Kelowna and Kamloops), plus they're generally cheaper.
To my knowledge you can't fit chains on rentals in BC or AB according to the rental agreements.
Unsurprisingly then you also can't rent chains from the hire companies even if you wanted them.
Calgary airport rental offices will try to hard sell you lots of extras I don't need at the desk.
There's no issue with crossing provinces, but if you drive to the US they will charge you more.
Note that you also need a park pass for Banff if you're intending to stop as you pass through there.
I've never seen anyone use chains on a car in BC or AB on the highway. The law says you need M&S tyres, which rentals all have.
Trucks have to use chains on marked highway sections. In the winter season mostly it's fine, although if it's not bare obviously you need to drive sensibly.
Rarely the road will be closed for all vehicles. You just wait until they clear it, then you're good to go. Following the plough is not uncommon.
In my experience it's more reliable than driving around the south-east UK.
This is a handy resource, the webcams tell you more about on-hill snow conditions than the resorts do.
These are the highway rules. Note that the definitions are precise and not what most people on this site think they are.
If you drive then it's a good idea to compute the costs of the flight plus the hire car via multiple airports. The results can be surprising.
The "open jaw" rentals costs about $200 extra for YYC/YVR and is fairly common.
If you really want to be "car free" then I'd pick a resort/ hill which is intended for that.
I have visited Revelstoke by public transport but it's then harder to get around and you're going to need to prepare for the cold.
A car gives significantly more flexibility in everything from when you get to the hill through where you stay/ eat.
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Revelstoke is absolutely "in the right place" for the snow, so does tend to do well, but even so when it's icy it's nice to be able to switch to somewhere with better snow.
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You know it makes sense.
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@philwig, @boarder2020, Thanks both.
Money is definitely a consideration, Revy already looks a lot more costly for accommodation in comparison to what I was paying in Rossland last season. That said, flights to Calgary are cheaper and on paper the journey from A to B is shorter.
As I've bought the early bird season pass I intend to get the most out of the Revy resort so not planning chasing powder at other resorts, maybe some local touring or the odd day trip to KH or something.
My girlfriend is planning on joining for the last few weeks of my stay, so a car is beginning to look more cost efficient when we look at the total cost of 4 transfers vs car hire (if she flies to kelowna/kamloops I could pick up...not sure I fancy the return trip to Calgary), plus the flexibility is a bonus. I feel a lot more comfortable now with driving given what you have said. Plus I do have experience driving in Wintery conditions overseas.
So far I have found Calgary car rentals to be cheaper than both Kelowna and Kamloops, and given the flights are also cheaper, seems to be an all round winner.
Air Canada appear to be still doing the free ski carriage deal so flying with them looks the best option.
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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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fwiw, we did a fly drive last year, round the powder highway. hired a VW jetta, with snow tires (this was NOT straightforward to organise - even through Avis @ Calgary, they took some persuading to make sure the car had M&S tyres). on the highways, yes, generally fine, once you're used to it... but the side roads can be feet deep at times! As @philwig, says, take it steady!
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