 Poster: A snowHead
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I'm looking for some first hand experience about cat skiing in BC. Specifically, I'm looking at White Grizzly. I've looked at a lot of reviews online, and they all seem to talk about how steep their terrain is...which has a lot of appeal. However, when looking at videos on YouTube it seems like there are a good amount of flats for run outs after the steep sections. Is White Grizzly conducive to snowboarders or does the terrain really cater towards the two-planking crowd?
Any experiences about White Grizzly would be greatly appreciated, along with any recommendations for cat skiing in BC with a bunch of snowboarders.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Can't help you with White Grizzly but skied Chatter Creek when they first opened.
Was with a mixed group (skiers & snowboarders) and we all enjoyed the trees and the alpine
https://chattercreek.ca/
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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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https://whitegrizzly.com/
I'm sure they're good - some of my heli-guide mates are connected there and rode last season. I've cat/ heli boarded many places in BC but not there. Baldface is the obvious competition, but unless you're connected, that's hard to get in. The terrain ought to be similar from the geography, and that's a good thing! White Grizzily looks to be all trees (yay!) - which they glade - so not particularly attractive to novices. Most people who can ride trees competently will not have any trouble with "transport" traverses in or run-outs. Ask them your questions directly - they'll put you right and more importantly try to find you a time of year/ slot which will work for your competence level. They really do want you to have your best ever day: it's in their interests.
Grizzily are "lodge based", which is good because you're not going to get people going out for one day only. That said, cats are slow anyway. Ask what the typical vertical is at your time of year, and also what the minimum vertical guarantee is (I couldn't find that on their site). Note their Covid policy and plan for it.
If you're good and the slide risk is acceptable then you'll get on steeper stuff than you'll have ever ridden before. However most people riding cats (or heli) for the first time are going to have their work cut out just to keep up. Cats are much easier for that than heli, because they are slower, you get to rest, they can split the group in two, and you can ride in the cat for a run to recover if you need to (can't do that in a heli unless you rented the whole thing).
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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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Skied at White Grizz several times. Never any complaints from the boarders about the terrain  . Brad and Carol who set up WG have now left, this coming season will be the first under new ownership so things may change. In my time there it was a one cat operation and the whole group skied together - there wasn’t the option to split the group. But as noted above it’s possible to sit out a run if tired/overwhelmed by the steepness and the trees, and this did happen. Unfortunately for some booking WG turned out to be an expensive mistake! I’ve only skied 4 days at another cat skiing operation so I’ve little to compare WG with, but from the people I met over the years who had skied/boarded at other cat operations, WG was rated highly, the majority of guests each year being returnees. From a safety point of view it was top notch - very strict about skiing in pairs, with two tail guides and one lead guide. Hope that is of some help.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Or of course it is possible to have bad luck with the weather, but I imagine cat must be less weather sensitive than heli. I've done 2 weeks of heli (one in British Columbia by the south tip of Alaska and one in Alaska. Especially the latter promised the steepest slopes I'd ever skied and we didn't ski anything steep, probably because almost everything was breakable crust on both trips. I wished I'd stuck with my usual guide in Europe for a fraction of the cost and more fun.
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@snowball,
Bad news about your heli trips... 
That must have been devastating - both from a skiing and wallet-lightening perspective.
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Yes, in Alaska (Valdez Heli Ski Guides) some people just went home after a few days, even though they had paid.
Alaskan (wind affected) powder.
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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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Great day in Wales 
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Well yes, it was still quite fun and challenging. I'd probably drive up to Scotland to ski that. It was just thinking what I was spending which spoilt it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| snowball wrote: |
| Well yes, it was still quite fun and challenging. I'd probably drive up to Scotland to ski that. It was just thinking what I was spending which spoilt it. |
Oh no doubt
I looked at a 7-day trip for my 50th
As mentioned in previous threads, I decided against it for the evidence above
Had 7 weeks around Europe instead for the same price but with 7 x the amount of ski days
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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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| snowball wrote: |
| ... It was just thinking what I was spending which spoilt it. |
Yeah that's a tough one. AK has unique conditions and I haven't been in winter because I mostly didn't like the idea of no trees, down-day ratio, and coastal snow. That said I do go to Iceland which shares some of those, maybe, but I go there when everything else is shut.
In BC the down-day ratio is maybe a little under 1 in 7, something like that. It hurts sitting in the lodge, and obviously people who can't bear that, should not go. However only on about 1% of my weeks have I ever fallen below the package total, and zero down time is my most common scenario. Even in the short dark days with only trees, good skiers will average 130,000 or so, even with some down time, so I like to think about that, rather than now much I'm paying to sit and drink espresso. I like "unlimited vertical" packages where I can get them, which is the opposite side of that whole thing.
Steeps.. you may not get in BC. You can't really have blower powder and expect to ride very steep exposed lines. Some seasons, no one rides the steep faces at all because it rained in November. Others, well it can be a challenge for the guides trying to explain that falling in some places is very dangerous, and they can't take people there who are rich but not expert skiers. Bella Coola has more coastal snowpack and pushes the "steep" thing, but to me steep wet stuff is not as much fun as pillow lines through the trees.
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Yes, on both trips we also had one no-fly day. At Valdez we did a boat trip in the bay: saw seals, sea otters and sea eagles.
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You know it makes sense.
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| snowball wrote: |
| Well yes, it was still quite fun and challenging. I'd probably drive up to Scotland to ski that. It was just thinking what I was spending which spoilt it. |
Looks like ski touring in the Southern French Alps, always lots of snow, frequently wind scralped.
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