 Poster: A snowHead
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@boarder2020, sneaks!
@stuarth, yes it has been a slim year for the most part
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Re Instagram you do get stories by ordinary visitors that are on the resort story feed so it is useful to see the videos from the past few days. I think they are recent anyway!
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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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| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
@boarder2020, sneaks!
@stuarth, yes it has been a slim year for the most part |
Yeah it's marketing plain and simple. They are not going to put some photo up of some icy tracked out slope that hasn't seen snow for a week. I'm not saying it's never true, but I'd always take it with a pinch of salt.
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Rogers Pass is Government so they don't need to hype snow. It's also a really high (glaciated) mountain range and so it does get additional snowfall relative to the surrounding ski hills. I saw (and now can't find to repost) a recent image showing that even Rogers pass was on the P90 (low side) for average snow fall for this year.
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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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Looking at the snow history online for Sunshine for example it looks like they’ve had one slim year for every 3 average/above average years. But the log doesn’t go back a long time.
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Folks: I see resort reviews here about Europe with slightly disparaging comments about hardly any heated chairs, implying they are becoming the norm. The first heated chair I ever experienced was in Sunshine, but IIRC it was the only one in the Banff resorts; in an area well known for dropping to -25C, certainly with average months colder than parts of France or Austria. It’s perhaps 4, 5 years since I was there. Are there more heated chairs now, in a resort that could really justify them, or is it still seen as not a high priority, either by customers or hill owners?
Just strikes me as incongruous.
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@Orange200, Sunshine still has the only heated chair in Canada iirc.
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I liked the heated chairs at Big Sky, but it was literally a pain in the ass when the weather warmed up! I can also live with cold buttocks for tickets that are not so expensive!
It's a nice luxury, but I wonder if some people are surprised that if you go up a snowy mountain in winter you have to be prepared for cold? 
Think the critique of Whistler chairs was a bit misplaced! Has a (presumably) very pricey peak-to-peak gondola with its own aircraft warning system, plus Green, Red, Catskinner, Harmony, Blackcomb Gondola, Creekside Gondola, Crystal (well sort of, as that was Harmony), and soon to be 8 seater Fitz are all less than a few years old. Symphony not far behind.
Last edited by After all it is free  on Fri 10-02-23 0:17; edited 1 time in total
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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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@Orange200, yes the only one in the Ski Big 3 area is Teepee Town LX at Sunshine. Lake Louise doesn’t have any. Some chairs don’t have foot rests either.
I’m not sure why they don’t have more with footrests/covers.
I think it’s quite possibly because in Alpine resorts a large proportion of the clientele go there for miles and miles of easy piste (groomed) skiing and complain when it’s not groomed, a lot stay in when it’s cold (by alpine standards) snowing a lot, poor vis etc so maybe they have to promote the luxury side of it more so in the Alps. Or they make more money from the sheer number of visitors so can afford all sorts of posh lifts? I don’t know. Do they make more money? I think they must do judging from the investment they make each season always making stuff better (in my experience in Austria anyhow).
I think maybe the visitors to North American resorts (Park City, Vail and Whistler excluded) aren’t there for the luxuries so probably don’t care/complain so nothing changes?
It is something I wondered about both times I have been to Banff though.
It’s not a deal breaker for me but it would be kind of nice to have more covers/bubbles on the chairs. Would I pay more for the lift ticket to get those things? Only if it was a few dollars more as it’s already quite expensive as it is.
The Great Divide chair I think can be particularly nippy.
But then again I’m British so I’m just not used to cold temperatures of less than say -3 degrees C here, if I lived in chilly climes all the time I might not notice about the lack of covers.
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| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
| @Orange200, yes the only one in the Ski Big 3 area is Teepee Town LX at Sunshine. |
Is that the fairly short chair sort of tucked away between continental divide and goat eye? there used to be a slow rickety two man there - have they replaced it?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| rogg wrote: |
| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
| @Orange200, yes the only one in the Ski Big 3 area is Teepee Town LX at Sunshine. |
Is that the fairly short chair sort of tucked away between continental divide and goat eye? there used to be a slow rickety two man there - have they replaced it? |
Are you thinking of Jackrabbit? That’s short but that’s a 3 man chair. Or there’s Wolverine that’s short too think that’s 4 man.
Not sure what Teepee Town LX used to be as when I went in 2020 for the first time it was the orange cover with heated seats already.
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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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Yes - TeePee was a rickety 2-man that has now been replaced by a heated 4 man and it's the only one I know of....
I just don't think it's a priority for the locals to be honest.. This is all personal opinion but the resorts close to Calgary are much more orientated around weekend traffic than people from overseas. When it's cold less people ski - there's a really strong correlation between morning hwy traffic and weather. So why invest in something that will only be appreciated by the truly committed who will probably be coming anyway...
I'd much rather they put in more lifts - for example Lake Louise's recent additions to really open up the west bowl is pretty cool.
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TeePee heated chairs were installed end of 2015, says a quick search.
Interesting what you say about locals vs overseas @sweaman22. When I was there the first couple of times, late 90s, I was amused by the swarms of Japanese high schoolers all in their identical gear. Haven’t seen them for years now. Last time I was at LL and couldn’t buy a week package of lessons the lady in the shop said yes the market is much more domestic now, no more Japanese schools or cheap flights from UK, thus no more 1-week deals. I don’t remember why.
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You know it makes sense.
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@TommyJ, I really like Jasper and also like marmot. We saw our only lynx on the road in. On a clear day the road is breathtaking. Jasper Park Lodge is a really nice place to stay. The road can be good and bad. Make sure you travel it in the light
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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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Thanks everyone for the tips. Family meeting this weekend to decide our plans!
The Canadian Affair tip was a good one - much cheaper than other sources.
One more daft question- what size car do you think we need for a family of four? And how do you transport skis (between town and ski hill - will hire locally). Will a large car be ok - some are saying we need a SUV or minivan which is ridiculously expensive
Thanks everyone
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Poster: A snowHead
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@TommyJ glad you've found some good prices with Canadian Affair - we've never got close to their prices when comparing direct. Any chance of adding ski racks on the roof to the rental?
Thought I'd mention about your thoughts on Jasper / Marmot Basin - I'm heading to Marmot myself on the 22nd. It's a lovely and very quiet ski hill. Last time I was there (Feb 2018), it was a bumper snow year and the Icefield Parkway was scary - our bus driver was a pro, but I wouldn't have wanted to drive it!! I could barely make out the road and we didn't see another soul driving it. Our bus driver showed us how to use his satellite phone before we got on the Parkway (due to no phone signal!) which added to the drama!! The parkway was closed for our return.
Also worth noting more generally, if anyone DIY's, Canadian Affair seem to get really good prices on hotel rooms too (swear I'm not sponsored by them!!) - on a trip to Toronto, the hotel prices were probably 1/3rd less than anyone else - not sure how they do it!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@sweaman22, what have they done at Lake Louise then? I only went one day last month as the snow cover was the worst of the Ski Big 3 resorts and I think a lot of it was still closed due to marginal conditions.
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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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@SLB79, I’ve looked at Canadian Affair before but I think because it wouldn’t give me a price there and then online and I needed to request a quote it kind of put me off, (this was a good few years ago now) will have another look at them though especially the car hire. Thanks.
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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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@VolklAttivaS5 - you can do it all online now, so definitely worth a look
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Think the critique of Whistler chairs was a bit misplaced! Has a (presumably) very pricey peak-to-peak gondola with its own aircraft warning system, plus Green, Red, Catskinner, Harmony, Blackcomb Gondola, Creekside Gondola, Crystal (well sort of, as that was Harmony), and soon to be 8 seater Fitz are all less than a few years old. Symphony not far behind.
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Just back from Whistler and was very surprised at how dated the lift system is, as in the chairs and gondolas. I'm used to going to Arlberg and Saalbach-Hinterglemm regions in Austria and their uplift is way better than Whistler. Gondolas take more people, chairs are comfier, with a lot heated but most with covers. Quite often we were sitting on ice/rain and snow covered chairs going up the long lifts - not ideal when wind chill is -20c 
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@SLB79, yay
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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="Bones"]
| VolklAttivaS5 wrote: |
Looks like the T bar has gone too - a shame really as limited folks going up there |
What, Summit Platter?! Gone?
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Just a reminder Lake Louise is slap bang in a National Park and probably is severely constrained on what it can do with lifts like possibly 1 for 1 replacements etc.
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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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I thought it looked different but I didn’t know the resort well enough to know what had changed. I didn’t think there was a chair there before so that explains it.
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You know it makes sense.
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@sweaman22, 
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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@VolklAttivaS5,
Might have to draw the line at rope tows!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@sweaman22,
Indeed
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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 do however go forth to whistler this weekend with a sense of dread for the likely lift lines, the effort it'll take me to find a spot to eat my sandwiches, and the hour or so it is going to take me to just get out of Whistler.
So much more relaxed skiing in the interior.
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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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If you have skins then for me the ultimate experience is one of the helicopter accessed backcountry touring lodges. That's where you can truely justify the 115mm+ wide skis for bottomless powder. Yes it's expensive but quality not quantity. Whilst some of them require full self organized groups for 7 days at a time there are others that you can just book a room and do shorter trips.
Mistaya and Purcell both fly from Golden. Sol is fantastic but heavily subscribed.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@sweaman22, will deffo have a go one day. Worth doing once like you say.
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@stuarth, the more I hear about Whistler the more I’m glad I’ve not spent over £3000 to go there
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@VolklAttivaS5,
Don't get me wrong, Whistler is great, and definitely the best terrain in all the places I've skied in N. America (or anywhere). Just a bit of a victim of its own success, and location close to a big and wealthy city with no other really big ski hills around
Very definitely a first world problem to be complaining about going to Whistler!
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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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@stuarth, yeah I’ve heard when it’s great it’s great, it’s just the price tag coming from the UK sucks. The Epic Pass is good value though so the lift ticket for 2 weeks is reasonable money.
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If I could upload videos from last Saturday re lift lines I would - genuinely horrendous. That said I think it had been a dry spell then some snow fell on Friday so everyone thought wtf, let's go skiing. But taking an hour just to get out of Whistler ( which our friends son had to do with his campervan), I'm ok kinda thinking it's like hammenkan weekend quite a lot. The snow was not that great either. Genuinely don't see what quite the fuss is about Whistler. Needs massive investment in infrastructure - uplift, housing, eateries etc........
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FAQ
