 Poster: A snowHead
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A group of us are spending 6th - 12th Feb ski touring at the Boulder Hut in the Purcell Mountains near Kimberley, BC.
Myself and a couple of buddies are flying into Calgary on the afternoon of 3rd, so we have 2 days to play with prior to the start of the Hut trip. We are hiring a car, and need to be in Kimberley for the morning of 6th, so will be heading towards Kimberley, but can't decide which resorts to hit en route...
Most obvious option would be to head for Banff then ski Lake Louise/Sunshine Village. Another interesting option could be Fernie? Third option would be heading straight to Kimberley and skiing there, but I'm not sure if it has the terrain we're looking for (and I believe one of their lifts is out of action following a fire?).
We are strong/experienced skiers in our 30s looking for lift-accessible off-piste to warm up the legs prior to a week of hut-based touring! No accommodation is booked yet and we are trying to keep costs (accom and lift-pass) to a minimum.
Thanks 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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Got to do Banff. Don’t waste slope time on the road.
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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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Yeah Kimberley is more mellow piste cruising, probably not what you are looking for.
The smaller mountains have cheaper lift passes, but less accomodation choice so what you save in one you may pay for with the other. It also depends what level of accommodation you are willing to use - places like Banff and fernie have hostels the smaller places don't.
Castle may be your cheapest option and is a relatively small detour. Never been but heard a lot of good things.
From a purely practical point of view fernie probably makes the most sense. Much easier drive from Calgary than highway 1. Plus only 90mins or so from Kimberly which means you can ski all day and then be in Kimberley by 6pm on the 5th or have a short (by Canada standards) drive after an early breakfast on the 6th. Much nicer than a 3 hour+ drive from Banff. While it's not my favourite resort, more than enouh off piste for 2 fun days skiing.
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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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Nakiska for a pure warm up day, always quiet when I've been, more piste skiing than anything but short hop from Calgary for day one, then to Lake Louise for some inbounds off piste and tree skiing, then down the road to Kimberly would be my schedule.....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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From the point of view of minimizing cost and time on the road, Castle or Fernie with be the top choice.
Castle probably the least expensive. Fernie is bigger. But for just 2 days, Castle should be enough. (my opinion, strong skiers can get more out of smaller mountains)
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sat 8-01-22 20:48; edited 1 time in total
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Thanks for the responses, all!
OK Kimberley is definitely out of the question then.
Plenty of accom options in Banff, plus there is lot happening in the town which is a big draw. Fernie is tempting... we may even have a day at the other side of the Boulder Hut trip which could allow a day at Fernie.
Any intel on Kicking Horse? A little further from Calgary but the terrain seems right up our street!
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You'll love Kicking Horse. It lives up to all the hype! But it's a detour.
If you're not put off by the extra driving, why not wait till last minute and see where the snow is? That will have more impact than the terrain on the map.
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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, I like the way you think!
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| Quote: |
why not wait till last minute and see where the snow is?
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Do this!
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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 didn't mention kicking horse as it's more driving and not particularly cheap. My personal favourite in the area, but a bit of a marmite resort. Although if you like challenging steeps and chutes, big vertical, and don't mind a little hiking there's a lot to love. Golden is not the most happening place though so if you are looking for that side of things you may be disappointed.
In regards to chasing the snow they are not that far apart that's it's massively different imo. Pretty much any storm that comes through will hit them all - fernie will 95% of the time get the most snow, followed by kicking horse and then the Banff resorts. If you wait till last min I'd probably be more interested in temperature - if it's a cold spell you could be looking at -20 in Banff compared to something much more mild at fernie, fernie base is low so in a warm spell can get rain/slushy down there but usually more of an end of season issue.
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Castle and Fernie are more en route to Kimberley than Banff. And probably a better warm up for cat terrain.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| Castle and Fernie are more en route to Kimberley than Banff. And probably a better warm up for cat terrain. |
Google seems to think it's pretty much exactly the same either way:
Via Banff 393km and 4hrs26mins
Via fernie 414km and 4hrs34mins
Although I'd rather drive crowsnest than highway 1.
Fernie is certainly closer to Kimberley if you want a short transfer that evening/morning (which imo is preferable to having to wake up really early or a late night drive but some people don't mind that as much).
I don't think he's cat skiing, afaik that hut is Heli in and then touring. Plenty of good terrain at both fernie and Banff resorts for a warm up. If we are considering kicking horse as a possibility could even throw in 1 day at Rogers pass (saves on a lift pass) and possibly the ideal touring warm up.
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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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| abc wrote: |
You'll love Kicking Horse. It lives up to all the hype! But it's a detour.
If you're not put off by the extra driving, why not wait till last minute and see where the snow is? That will have more impact than the terrain on the map. |
You will love KH unless its windy, when the top to bottom gondola (with no mid station) will mean that the mountain is closed.
That must be the worst-designed lift system of any (so-called) major resort  .
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Bergmeister wrote: |
| abc wrote: |
You'll love Kicking Horse. It lives up to all the hype! But it's a detour.
If you're not put off by the extra driving, why not wait till last minute and see where the snow is? That will have more impact than the terrain on the map. |
You will love KH unless its windy, when the top to bottom gondola (with no mid station) will mean that the mountain is closed.
That must be the worst-designed lift system of any (so-called) major resort . |
Done a couple of seasons at kicking horse. Have seen the gondola running at half speed due to winds, but never completely closed. I think you got very unlucky with a very freak weather day. Honestly a mid station wouldn't help anyway as the highest spot it could realistically go is the top of show off and that would barely get you any more vert than pioneer chair. No mid station means the good stuff up top stays fresh longer, the tourists get tired quicker from long laps, and the bottom half of the mountain is a pretty fun cruise anyway.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Kimberley is out. They have a weird layout and its their key lift that is out. Therefore there is no way to access the rest of the terrain.
I am going to throw another into the mix. Panorama.
You can either go to Kimberly via Banff or via Southern Alberta. Southern Alberta way offers Fernie and Castle. Banff way offers Sunshine, LL, detour to KH, or Panorama. KH terrain sounds like it might suit you, but most of those resorts would have some terrain that might suit, bowls, chutes etc. I have had rain a lot at Fernie. When Fernie is great its great. Castle can be very windy and that can often shut the chair needed to access the terrain. On hill accommodation tends to be expensive, although there is a hostel and pincher creek for cheaper.
Banff is a classic to stay in. Scenery classic Canadian rockies and the route through the 93 from the other castle junction to radium is great scenery, but it is no cell service. Other route is also interesting scenery. Down the cowboy trail and through Frank slide. Crowsnest pass was also shut last week I think.
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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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| fergus wrote: |
| Most obvious option would be to head for Banff then ski Lake Louise/Sunshine Village. Another interesting option could be Fernie? Third option would be heading straight to Kimberley and skiing there, but I'm not sure if it has the terrain we're looking for (and I believe one of their lifts is out of action following a fire?). |
I've ridden all those multiple times over the years and I'd skip Kimberly because it's small and quirky even when it's fully open.
If it's not raining then I'd drive straight to Fernie the obvious (Ab) way rather than Banff for those 2 days in transit to Kimberly.
Fernie has a town as well as "the resort" so you can likely find accommodation which suits your budget there too.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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There're so many resorts around that area it'd warrant a couple week (or a season!) to do them justice. So @Fergus, stop thinking which ONE is best. But rather, think what your group really fancy for those 2 days! Then, keep a very keen eyes on the weather and condition for those 2 days too.
Kicking Horse is an expert mountain. Fantastic when the condition is right. But you need to be careful about the weather. The drive there and the condition on the mountain are all things you need to consider. Namely, with only 2 days you may or may not get there! Or get out when you want to!
BTW, for all those who think Banff/Lake Louise has good scenery, the view on top of Kicking Horse kick @rse too!  If it were me, and I got lucky that the weather is clear, I'd take my time to drive leisurely through Banff area to ski Kicking Horse. That would be having my cake and eat it too.
Having said everything great about it, I'm not 100% positive KH is a good "warm up" place. It's fairly one dimensional. It's all about off piste, steep and steeper, to heart stopping steep! With jetlag and probably some in the group hadn't skied for weeks, or even months, they might be better off doodle around in a more "rounded" resort such as Sunshine/LL or Fernie.
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| Quote: |
Having said everything great about it, I'm not 100% positive KH is a good "warm up" place. It's fairly one dimensional. It's all about off piste, steep and steeper, to heart stopping steep! With jetlag and probably some in the group hadn't skied for weeks, or even months, they might be better off doodle around in a more "rounded" resort such as Sunshine/LL or Fernie.
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Got to disagree, the OP group are strong experienced skiers, and youngish - KH has some relatively easy terrain too, which after a couple of runs would set them up for most of the rest. They probably wouldnt get the best out of the place, but it may give them a good taste of the ski area and so they may return.
Its just a bit further away than others making their journey a bit longer, but I doubt that would matter to them - it wouldnt bother us. Also possibly pricey as they said they wanted to keep costs down.
If it were us I'd look at a few different options, collect the vehicle and check weather / snow reports and make the decision then. You can always get a room somewhere, and tickets too.
Our first roadtrip around BC we vitually did that, only booked the first and last places to stay in, the rest we did on the hoof. Only because immgration wanted our accommodation on the way in, and the last as we needed to get back to Calgary easily.
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If you're flying in to Calgary from the UK on the 3rd then at best aren't you going to need to quarantine for most of the 4th until you get your arrival PCRs back, or have you all had a positive PCR test in the last 180 days?
BTW: I have friends who had their arrival PCR in Montreal and are still waiting for results after 5 days 
In any event, if you have a car a motel in canmore would be as good as anywhere to quarantine an base yourselves for skiing at Sunshine Village.
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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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Go down the Dive at Sunshine?
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| Orange200 wrote: |
| Go down the Dive at Sunshine? |
If it's open. Then again kicking horse will probably have ozone and maybe T1 north closed to save them for FWT. Polar peak at fernie doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation for being open regularly either. While I like kicking horse best and it has lots of challenging terrain, it's not like the others don't have enough challenging stuff for a 2 day warm up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Appreciate all the info and insight into our various options in terms of ski destinations! At risk of sounding gung-ho, we are happy to get stuck right in therefore challenging terrain not a problem from day 1.
| wsirhc wrote: |
If you're flying in to Calgary from the UK on the 3rd then at best aren't you going to need to quarantine for most of the 4th until you get your arrival PCRs back, or have you all had a positive PCR test in the last 180 days?
BTW: I have friends who had their arrival PCR in Montreal and are still waiting for results after 5 days
In any event, if you have a car a motel in canmore would be as good as anywhere to quarantine an base yourselves for skiing at Sunshine Village. |
A valid point, and one we have considered. *If* we are randomly selected for a test at arrival then yes we will have to quarantine until neg test result received, so we will aim to have some accom booked in advance to allow for this. However there is a chance none of us are selected for a test and are OK to ski on the 4th. Worrying to hear that your friends' results have taken 5 days + to arrive... That is a concern, and all we can really do is hope that this is an exception and that it won't happen to us.
From the above discussion, I think we'll keep an eye on forecast pre-departure then make a decision on destination pre-flight so we have a quarantine plan if it required.
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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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@Fergus, I don't know, but I suspect the time for test result is city specific
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| Fergus wrote: |
| Appreciate all the info and insight into our various options in terms of ski destinations! At risk of sounding gung-ho, we are happy to get stuck right in therefore challenging terrain not a problem from day 1. |
Pretty straight forward then. If the weather cooperates, head to Kicking Horse!
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| A valid point, and one we have considered. *If* we are randomly selected for a test at arrival then yes we will have to quarantine until neg test result received, so we will aim to have some accom booked in advance to allow for this. However there is a chance none of us are selected for a test and are OK to ski on the 4th. |
Don't know how many are in your group. One or two people not being selected for testing is quite likely. But when you have a "group" of more than 3, I think probability will result in at least one of you got selected for testing. If the group is moving in unison, you'll all have to wait around...
May want to consider that potentiality and plan accordingly.
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You know it makes sense.
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@abc, cheers - the majority of the group are travelling the week prior with just myself and 2 others flying in on the 3rd. We will be on our best behaviour and ensure we look as healthy as possible to avoid selection! 
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FAQ
and an easy drive to Panorama.
Three days of the gondola being closed due to wind. Nice lower slopes though 
