 Poster: A snowHead
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Hey Snowheads,
I'm planning to spend Dec - Feb in Canada. I've been to Whistler 12 years ago and obviously had a blast. I'm now usually going to smaller ski towns and my favourite stuff is quite steep lift access off piste but i do a bit of touring too.
I'm looking ideally for a smaller whistler but still with fun nightlife and amazing powder.
My search has led me to places like Revelstoke & Golden (Kicking horse). But I've just seen the epic pass does Whistler for just $900/ season 
Given my criteria, can anyone give recommendations?
And if you've been to Revelstoke, is the skiing as good as they say? And how's the party scene?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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 went to Revelstoke Christmas 2019, the snowboarding/skiing was great, good snow, lots of off piste and touring, awesome tree riding.
The nightlife was fairly non-existent tho.
I went to Banff on the same trip which had better nightlife but I preferred the snowboarding in Revelstoke.
I did a day at Kicking Horse which had tons of expert terrain but I didn't stay the night so not sure of nightlife.
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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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@Bones On a short trip I go to Alagna, Crevacol, Passo Tonale, Kaprun. And I go to Zell am see for longer stays which is actually not so small.
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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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@Sidog, you already have this mostly figured out. Rev/KH is it for your skiing criteria, and Whistler for your nightlife. Since you can fix the nightlife part on your own better than you can fix terrain or snow, I have you in Revy or Golden.
When making such decisions I often consider what I'll be skiing if off-piste conditions are poor. R/KH are not good places to cruise, but when you get a clear/cold week you could check out Sun Peaks or Silver Star.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Sidog, My daughter has just arrived in Silver Star for the season, it has a great "Backside", is only 2 hours from Revelstoke and Sun Peaks with Big White 90 mins down the road too. Would suggest you base yourself in Vernon for ease of access. There are lift pass combinations for all of them but I'm buggered if I can work them out. We're heading there for a fortnight in Feb.
One thing to be aware of though is the Canadian COVID mitigation rules. As a result of them, the "Staff" at Silver Star are not going to be living on the mountain this season, but have taken over some establishments in Vernon. That would suggest that is where the nightlife will be.
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seen the epic pass does Whistler for just $900/ season
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Yep the pass is cheaper but the accomodation is over double so overall probably going to cost more to do Whistler.
Can't speak for revy, but golden is a bit meh for nightlife. Some decent parties during freeride world tour week but outside that it's just a small town with a couple of bars and no "proper" nightclubs. Not to say you can't have fun, but if you are expecting anything close to Whistler you will be very disappointed. The same is true for pretty much all the interior ski resort towns.
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quite steep lift access off piste
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Kicking horse has you covered for steeps, I think they claim 50 odd different chutes, plus 2 faces used for the freeride world tour - that's all inside the boundary so avy controlled. For out of bounds stuff but no touring you can keep hiking the ridge out past T2. If you have touring gear you can drop the backside of ozone, then tour up Rudy's and drop the north side (here's a photo back of ozone is the far ridge and Rudy's is the closer ride - https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a-man-backcountry-skiing-kicking-horse-backcountry-golden-british-43942343.html)
You have two further ridges molars and repeater if you want to continue and make a day of it. Terrain is always steeper rocky chutes on north of ridges and more mellow open skiing on South sides. From any of these it's possible to ski back to resort along a traverse track (flat in places, but definitely no transition to skins needed).
However, for the best touring you have Rogers pass between revy and golden. Probably the best touring spot in British Columbia. Not unusual to run into some big name pros there filming lines.
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R/KH are not good places to cruise
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KH is not awful for cruising. 1200m vertical and some nice groomers on the lower mountain which are pretty much empty. Granted you probably wouldn't want much more than a day or two, but at that point get the touring gear out and enjoy pretty much untracked slackcountry.
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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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| Sidog wrote: |
Hey Snowheads,
I'm planning to spend Dec - Feb in Canada. I've been to Whistler 12 years ago and obviously had a blast. I'm now usually going to smaller ski towns and my favourite stuff is quite steep lift access off piste but i do a bit of touring too.
I'm looking ideally for a smaller whistler but still with fun nightlife and amazing powder.
My search has led me to places like Revelstoke & Golden (Kicking horse). But I've just seen the epic pass does Whistler for just $900/ season
Given my criteria, can anyone give recommendations?
And if you've been to Revelstoke, is the skiing as good as they say? And how's the party scene? |
We were based in Golden a couple of years ago and did Revelstoke a couple of times. The skiing in KH was the best skiing I've ever done in my life. Next to no queues even on powder days and some of the terrain is bonkers (in a good way). Absolutely no night life to speak of, particularly when compared to Europe. I think if you stayed up at the lifts it might be a bit different to actual Golden mind you.
Revelstoke has much more of a nightlife and feels like a bit more of an established ski town. The skiing and snow were great whilst we were there but based on skiing alone I'd probably spend a significant amount of time in Golden/ at KH!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have a ski trip booked for mid December myself and I'm starting to get pretty nervous about this new variant!
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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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RosigLol It's gonna be a nerve-racking few weeks.
Thanks all for the tips. Revelstoke is leading the line 
Kicking horse trail map looks mad and if i'm not staying there, will have to pay a visit. Revelstoke map also looks awesome.
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Yeah I found KH to be extremely quite and the quality of snow seemed to be a lot better - from memory I think it stayed consistently cooler whereas Revelstoke thawed and so could be choppy at times. You could go to either and really struggle to have a bad time for sure! We are heading to Big White all being well and will definitely try to get over to one of them for a day.
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You know it makes sense.
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We went to KH and didn't enjoy much, the queues at the bottom gondola were wild, gets less snow than Revelstoke as on the east side of the mountains. Others have obviously enjoyed it though.
I've loved Revelstoke each time I've visited.
I don't think there are bad choices here 
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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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We went to KH and didn't enjoy much, the queues at the bottom gondola were wild
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I've only been precovid so can't comment on how things are right now, I did hear some horror stories about no mixed groups in gondola meaning probably some insane queues.
Pre covid average weekday it's pretty much unheard of for any kind of line up. In fact it was pretty normal to not even be sharing gondolas. Of course on a big powder day or holiday you are going to get a line and they can be pretty significant - it's an obvious bottleneck. OP liked Whistler and i wouldn't say kicking horse is any worse in regards to line ups.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@boarder2020, I think RCR are now mixing groups in gondolas. Everyone skiing has to be fully vaccinated and masks in enclosed spaces
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FAQ
but havent been disappointed each time we've been 
Got a bit of a repremand from an XC patroller after we went astray through some trees - it ended well eventually 
