Kimberley - Canada and other Canadian resorts

A snowHead

Hi all

Has anyone been to Kimberley of recent? Done a little search and not found mountains (gettit) of information about the place. Looking around on the web there isn't a lot of info about it either.

Interested because it sure looks competitive price wise compared to a lot of other places, you can get a much nicer place for sleeping for good money when compared to elsewhere. Also - albeit only looking in inghams brochures - ski passes and equpt hire seems cheaper too.

The main thing that is concerning me slightly - is the distance from the slope side accomodation, and the main hub of the town. Therefore I wonder whether car hire is worth it, or just cope with Taxis etc? Depends how much stuff is available at the hotel.

I've noticed that pretty much all canadian and US resorts are only room only or apartments. Anyone know why this is? I'm not bothered as such, I know different cultures and all...

Be interested to hear about resorts in general in Canada, is it worth going over there? My girlfriend wants to go there in particular, and looking at it it looks a lot cheaper than I'd feared (the main issue being the flights I thought). I know dinners aren't included which will hike the do$h up a bit, but if you're at an apartment I guess you can limit that cost by not eating out all the time.

It will only be our 2nd trip, so millions of miles of skiing is not a big concern. From looking through brochures, a lot of the Western resorts seem to have a lot more advanced skiing than elsewhere, Kimberley however seems to have a better proportion of easier stuff to contend with.

Opinions welcome!

A snowHead

Kimberley is pretty small with basically same pitch of run everywhere on the mountain - just choose whether its piste, trees, moguls etc. First rate adaptive ski programme but very much a "family" resort i.e. if you want a challenge try elsewhwere. For 2nd week skiers it might be perfect. Town is quite cheesy & quiet midweek but locals are friendly enough.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I've stayed in Banff and L.Louise many times and always enjoyed it greatly. I've been to Jasper and Panorama as well, but not Kimberley (kids = Easter hols = a bit late for Kimberley).

How good Canada is for you will obviously depend on what you want. At your stage, the skiing (where I've been) would be great, Panaorama probably bottom of the list for 2nd week skiers. What are you after from your hol?

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We went to Kimberley last year with Inghams (normally go to Canada indepently but the price was just too good). We had a week at Kimberley followed by a week in Panorama and it was great.

Our accommodation in Kimberley was first class, two bedroom apartment with own hot tub and bbq on the balcony, it is nice sitting in the hottub whilst OH is cooking on the BBQ!

I am an cowardly intermediate but found the skiing great and the slopes empty (we went end of January). The only down side was that some of the lifts were not operating so you always had to ski back down to the ski village which got a bit icy and busy. The area of the Easter chair is more challenging and I wimped out of doing most of them.

Our accommodation was about 2 minute walk from the slopes, but the ski village is very limited with facilities. A few hotels and bars. The town of Kimberley is not that exciting either but there is a free shuttle down starting at about 5ish till 10ish. So able to go and get our groceries and had a couple of meals down there. We also found ski shop which had great deals on Smith sunglasses Very Happy

Hope this helps

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

eddyr, never been to Kimberly, but here is a link to whistler hoilday review from this year
http://www.geocities.com/daggers_jones/skicanada2006/index.html

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richmond, Why do you say Panorama being bottom of the list? Is it a bit too difficult?
Our last trip was for 2 weeks, so I guess technically, we're 3rd week skiiers Smile

So not too bad at it (even if i do say so myself - though it will be a year out of action by the time we go again so hardly expert!!)
We're basically after, somewhere really nice to stay that doesn't break the bank (Thistle Creek Marriot in Kimberley looks to fit the bill perfectly), a good level of relatively easy skiing - for the girlfriend as much as anything - a few nice shops. To be honest, its pretty definate that there'll only be the 2 of us, so a lively nightlife is not something that really bothers us, just some nice places to eat.

Anniegirl, The lack of lifts operating does concern me slightly - where I went in Austria (Ellmau, Skiwelt) there was just endless numbers of lifts, tons of snowmaking equipment - so it was always running quite perfectly, and no queues barely ever.
Where did you stay in Kimberley? Sounds like you had a nice place!

Thanks rob and sharon, Was looking at your website. From looking at Whistler the price does seem a lot more, the g/f in particular doesn't earn much money hence looking to go somewhere nice that's also good value. Looks as though you went with Ski Independence, what were they like?

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

eddyr, 2 reasons, maybe 3.

1. Panorama has as light tendency to be icy, although this will depend on when you go and luck. I'm sure that it's perfect much of the time.

2. One of the attractions of Panorama is the Taynton bowl, an accessible area of off piste, a lot of it in the trees. Unless you're very talented and/or brave, it won't be much use to 2nd/3rd week skiers (or perhaps I'm judging everyone by my own weedy standards).

3. Panorama is a resort; the nearest town is a few miles down the mountain and isn't very exciting at all. The resort is OK, but I like a bit of a town.

L.Louise is a very quiet spot too, a few hotels and a small mall. It's quiet, a beautiful area (but they all are) and has the very wonderful L.Louise Station, one of my favourite bar/restaurants anywhere.

Banff is a great spot. The town is attractive (a bit tacky in parts, but hey, this is a skiing hol) and in a beautiful situation. It has loads of bars and restaurants and, I'm told, shops. It gives easy access to Mt Norquay (10 mins, small but very good area), Sunshine (20 mins, large area) and L.Louise (30/40 mins, large area). A couple of small resorts are a bit further away (Kananaskis, Fortress). The ski school at Sunshine is very good, although most are in Canada I imagine), and there's a good thing in which you visit all 3 areas on successive days with your instructor, which might be good for you (also done from L.Louise). Great place.

Jasper is a pleasant, quiet town, not very ski-ish, in a quiet and beautiful area.

I've not been to Whistler or Kimberley yet; they both sound good.

Of the places I've been, I'd recommend Banff without hesitation, although L.Louise might suit you if you really don't want much night life; the old lady and I had a couple of excellent hols in LL before we started taking the nippers, when we went to Banff for about 5 years on the trot. Hire a car so you're not dependent on the (pretty good) bus service (and you avoid the transfer coach, the worst bit of any skiing hol).

After all it is free

eddyr Queues were never an issue when we were at Kimberley, they didn't open all the lifts because there was no need to as it was so quiet. I find in Canada there are not as many lifts as the Alps but they are far more organised with more runs from each. At the weekend when it was a bit busier, the lifts were well organised to ensure that queuing was kept to a minimum, I don't think we ever waited more than a couple of minutes and that was very occasionally.

We stayed at the Lodges at Kimberley Ridge next to the Marriot. We had only booked a one room apartment but got upgraded to the two bedroom, all came with their own hottub. It was great, a full kitchen with dishwasher etc, washing machine and a comfortable lounge area.

We also enjoyed our week at Panorama which is definitely more challenging but there was still plenty for us to do. We went up to look at Tayton bowl purely out of interest but took the easy track back down again. We found an excellent bowl which was very quiet as it was too tame for the extreme skiiers but down a long track so many of the intermediates didn't bother either, we had great fun there especially in the powder. The ski village is larger than Kimberley with a few more bars and places to eat out, although the menu was the same at a couple as it was owned by the same company. There was also a quite good groceries store. We didn't bother to go into the town as there was only one bus down in the evening.

We were very fortunate last year with excellent snow in both resorts (a metre of power over night when at Panorama) so everything was open but we were told that some years it can be a bit more dodgy, but both had good snowmaking.

As to other resorts in Canada, if you want plenty to do off the slopes then Banff is great but it means a bus trip to the slopes. If you want to put your skis on in the morning straight from your accommodation then one of the purpose built resorts are better. The best ski village I have found so far with a few more shops and bars is Sun Peaks, but Big White and Silver Star are also good resorts to. Fernie has the advantage of the town only a few minutes bus ride from the ski village and we found more to do there than we did in Kimberley.

eddyr, you can do whistler cheaper if you shop around for flights etc. Ours was a late organised trip so cost a bit more. Look for self cateering options too as this will be cheaper than eatting out (though the restaraunts are goos, some ar expensive
good luck, any help we can give let us know snowHead

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

eddyr, if you want a bit more life, go for Banff. There are regular coaches inc. in the lift pass or hire a car (get 4WD) for convenience. There are nearly always some late bargains to be had in January.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

eddyr,

As an old Canada hand, I can tell you that Kimberley is not a place you want to spend two weeks in (I'm guessing here: you said your last trip was two weeks, and if you're travelling all that way to Western Canada, then you don't want to stay for only a week).

Kimberley is a relatively small area, but it's OK to visit as part of a 2-centre stay. It has a series of long blue groomed cruisers down the front side, and a series of shorter blacks down the back. These last are served by an old, slow triple chair (only one) that was recycled from Lake Louise. I'd suggest that you combine a week at Kimberley with a week in Banff, and also visit Fernie. - The Kimberley lift pass is good for Fernie, and there's a bus that runs between the two resorts (about a 90 minute trip).

Don't use Inghams. Their transfer from Calgary airport is quite long (It's quite long anyway!). Also, if you do decide to factor in a second resort, they'll pick you up at 5am, and transport you to the second resort via Calgary airport, instead of using a more direct route. This is the principal reason you might want to rent a car.

Everything richmond says about Panorama and Banff is spot on. Personally, I'm a big fan of Banff having also been a serial returner. Banff certainly has a lot more to offer, off the slopes: Kimberley is an old mining town that has undergone a rather kitsch (and somewhat threadbare) reinvention in faux-Bavarian style. You wouldn't need to rent a car to get into town, but then you probably wouldn't want to get into town too often: their chief attraction is the world's largest free-standing cuckoo-clock. Enough said.

Some people feel that the inconvenience of having to take buses to the ski hills is a turnoff, in considering Banff. I've never found this to be too problematic, since the buses are frequent, clean and comfortable. Also, the bus ride between Banff and Lake Louise has to be one of the world's most scenic commutes!

Whistler is probably the ultimate Canadian ski destination, but is super-popular, which can mean crowds and queues (almost unheard-of elsewhere in Canada). On the other hand, its big and lively. It's difficult to imagine running out of new places to ski during a 2-week vacation. It will cost you more, but then, you usually get what you pay for.

However, it's fair to say that wherever you go in Western Canada, you will (i) be made welcome (ii) have good snow and (iii) want to return.

snow reports

eddyr, we used Inghams as they were the cheapest option open to us for Banff that year, but we took advantgae of the special rate for car hire, and beat the tranfer coach to the hotel by over half an hour. We had unpacked and were in the pool when they arrived. Oh, and as I have already posted on another thread BA are doing a flight to Calgary from heathrow, starting in December, and there are some excellent prices on the website (300 quid per person).

Thanks for the comments Acacia, very useful indeed. Yes i've kind of written off Kimberley now, for the reasons as above. Area doesn't look quite big enough, nor enough to keep me amused for 2 weeks.

Currently I'm honing in on Panorama, chiefly because of a deal I've found where lift passes, ski gear, accommodation are all half price, for a Gold condo, which takes some beating. Car hire is included too, so will be great to get to other places when required, as i've heard theres not exactly tons in Panorama either!

Have you been there Acacia? I would still consider Whistler or Bannf, because of all the obvious reasons - tons of ski area, a lot more life. Problem is its not so much me that has affordability issues, its the other half - so I have to be fair to her Smile

Oh yes - is Panorama really that icy?

You know it makes sense.

I'm not suggesting that Panorama is wall to wall ice, but I was told in Canada that it does get icy, and my experience bears that out. I think someone else on here said something about it being icy as well. I've experienced far, far worse in Europe. Bear in mind that I went at Easter; earlier in the season I'd expet it to be fine, and that Canadians are pretty picky about snow quality.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

We've been to Banff a couple of times & last year went to Big White & Sun Peaks. For the softest deepest lightest snow you can't beat Big White & totally ski-in ski-out. We stayed at the White Crystal Inn which is right in the middle of the village with the main piste coming down to it. Every evening they have night skiing which ends up on this piste - great sitting in the bar by the window having some bevvies watching the skiers & boarders come hurtling down. Would really recommend there and if you're a second weeker, there's probably enough to keep you occupied for 2 weeks, or you can easily combine with Silver Star or Sun Peaks.

A snowHead

Kimberley combined with Panorama is not too bad with Inghams. Yes the coach picked us up at Kimberley at 6 am, but it dropped us off in the town below Panorama and Inghams arranged a taxi to take us up the hill. We were in our apartment at Panorama by 8.30 in the morning and an extra days skiing Very Happy

A snowHead

Going to Pano seems like a pretty good idea. If you've a car I'd skip a few days on their lift pass so you can do trips up to Kicking Horse and down to Kimberly/Fernie. Drive down from Calgary through Banff & Yoho NPs is pretty nice - try to do it in daytime.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

you may want to think very hard about visiting Kicking Horse or Fernie - we did both on a road trip four years back, 3 days at Ferni and 2 at Kicking horse - 3 days at Panorama in between, 5 days round Banff afterwards

Fernie really inpressed us, so much so we went back the following year for two weeks. KH was ok given the poor snow they;d had that year but I would say that both Fernie and KH would be aimed at a more experienced, advenurous skiier - see my review of fernie in "resort reports" for mre info,
.

At KH I felt the only options were the green zig-zagging cat track or one of numerous trails cut straight down the hillside, all rated single or double diamond black. I coped, but only just - I'm not the best skiier in the world and the conditions weren't the greatest.

However, for a one day trip you may find that with good snow, you;re fine/

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Kicking Horse (Golden, British Columbia)

Resort

This resort is an antidote for all those people who think North American resorts seriously over grade their runs. There are only three double blacks on the piste map and these are genuine expert only (if short) runs that also involve a significant hike to get to. All of the runs off CPR ridge are black and genuine. The south side is forested, whilst the north side has fewer trees and tends to be more popular. One of the reasons for this is that you can jump on the new Stairway to Heaven lift instead of heading all the way back down to take the gondola up. The black, My Blue Heaven (3 Cool

, off this is a good mogul run. The Cat track down, Cloud Nine, is not for early intermediates.

Feuz bowl, also off Stairway to Heaven, was not actually open 2002/2003 (edit - was in 2005 but you end up getting funnelled into a horrible roller path) due to a dispute with one of the Heli-skiing operators due to a ‘right of use’ dispute. Despite this you can trek off from the top of Stairway to Heaven and poach the heli-skiing terrain, if you’re good enough.

Wiley Coyote (17) is the run most people take to get down to the base area/gondola. And given the very high standard of skier/boarder they really do fly down.

The base lodge does reasonable food, in terms of both price and quality, but it’s not easy to get a seat at weekends.

It can be a surprisingly good resort to learn (but once you can ski the choice of easy stuff, intermediate runs is limited). As an ‘experts’ resort there are very few beginners. My friend often had private lessons at group rates, an absolute bargain (35 CAD for two and a half hours or there are options that include lift pass/gear hire). The maximum she had was three in her group and half the time she was on her own.

The resort and lift staff in general were the friendliest we encountered in six weeks covering nine resorts.

What was refreshing was the lack of wind, especially compared to the wind testing facilities at Sunshine and Lake Louise. Basically if its windy then there’s snow on the way.

Places to stay

There are loads of motels and getting accommodation isn’t a problem (60-80 CAD will get a two double bed unit). The Sportsman Motel (off trans Canada highway 1) was reasonable and had a Jacuzzi, sauna, pool and water slide. It also had helpful staff.

Marys Motel, which is far more central, was also reasonable and walkable to Packers and The Roadhouse (see below).

Places to eat and drink

There are three (edit - there's a new one called Golden Springs) pubs:

Packers Place, good with good, reasonably priced food done by the restaurant next door, Apostoles. Smokers are sectioned off. Apostoles itself is decorated like a café but worth a visit, good choice and large portions.

The Roadhouse, a more ‘earthy’ atmosphere (Stripper on a Monday night), some very good Pool players and undergoing a refit this spring.

Trappers Bar and Grill, large portions of good food with table football and Pool.

Kicking Horse Grill, excellent ambience and quality food, with wide selection available.

Eagle’s Eye restaurant, well worth a visit in the evening, especially if you can do it on a night when there’s a full moon and you can see a surprisingly amount. Excellent food with pretentious descriptions.

Panorama

Excellent base area and a great all round ski area. Intrawest are pushing this resort big time but currently to reach the top you still have to take a two seater (Horizon) followed by two T-bars (Champagne and Summit). Quite a bottleneck by North American standards. These are due to be replaced by two Quad chars for next season but there was a certain cynicism amongst the locals as to whether this would actually happen, as they’ve been promised before. (Edit - they have now built the four seater)

Off the top (Summit) Tree Time, Tight Sports and Outer Limits are good, shortish tree runs with Top of the World and Roy’s Run providing opportunities to jump off these (onto mogul runs).

Only the genuinely good need to concern themselves with Taynton Bowl. This is new terrain and there are no easy options.

Mt Norquay

Good for one day, just possibly two depending on ability. Very much straight up, straight down and it feels like 2 seconds from top to bottom. Relatively uncrowded and nicely splits itself in to four areas:

Cascade chair for beginners or those interested in the terrain park (has a Superpipe).

Turn left of this to go to the North American chair and the more advanced sking.

Turn right to go to the Spirit chair which is generally just a stepping stone to the Pathfinder Express, where all intermediate will tend to graduate.

Sunshine

We were unlucky or maybe its not uncommon but it was desperately cold, minus twenty to twenty six degrees Celsius, and windy. Skiing for longer than an hour and a half continuously was to invite Frostnip or even Frostbite.

Off the new Wawa chair there’s a great, hardly used black run through the trees called Shaken Not Stirred (96). This is especially fun if you’re skiing with a Beginner, as it’s off the Meadow Park run (61). As this is in a Beginner/Intermediate area it’s lightly used.

The Stawberry Chair is popular with Snowboarders (not experts) as the middle section forms a natural half pipe and its not too steep.

Lookout and Goat’s eye have their black runs but these do tend to get the snow scraped off them by the wind. The snow gets trapped by the fences they put up and scraped back by the piste bashers overnight but the process just repeats itself.

The lodges are all crowded and seats pretty hard to come by.

Unless there’s been recent snow or you’re on rental gear don’t take Banff avenue down.

Lake Louse

Better snow conditions than Sunshine and only suffers from the same wind problem at the very top. There are some very steep blacks off the, also very steep, drag. Top left of front face.

Larch area quieter with good mogulled black, Lynx (24) or easier blue options.

Nakiska

Not a big area but simply sensational grooming. Good, uncrowded resort for people who want to go high speed carving or build there confidence. Runs do feel a bit samey after a while.

If somebody wants to bag their first double black then Eagle Tail and Bobtail are good candidates. They’re the same run really and whilst steep they’re reasonably wide and unmogulled.

A serious Superpipe and also a serious terrain park, with serious Snowboarders doing serious jumps. Also a fun Boardercross within the reach of all but beginners.

X-rated food in a big day lodge.

European standard lift operators.

Banff definitely the place to stay.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for the further advice. I was thinking having a few days not with their lift pass and going to some of the local resorts.
One question - do you think/know if I could keep the equipment hired and take it with me to other resorts (day trips only of course)?

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

hi eddyr
went to kimberley with inghams in march this year . stopped in lodges at kimberley ridge , fantastic apartment couldn,t recomend it highly enough . not much nightlife when stopping on hill , stemwinder bar was shut most nights only really opened late at weekends .
down town was a good half hour walk although shuttle bus ran down there it only started at 4pm and ran till 10 pm , takes you down to local resterants , guess they must be paying to put it on . town itself is ok one or two bars stop open really late past 3am .
skiing was ok . felt as if i could have skied it all within a week . two out of the three lifts on front side don,t run only the 4 person chair runs all time . back side runs off easter chair was fantastic easter chair is a fast loading triple so watch out, most of the time the runs were empty and i was on my own . don,t be put off by the signs at the top of easter chair that terrain is advanced only . there are two blue runs notre dame and i can,t remamber other one are fab totally empty right at the far end of the ski boundry , grooming was somewhat patchy but it didn,t snow every night . end of second week was fantastic several long blacks groomed to perfection . im not an advanced skier only my 7th week in total , but the groomed black runs gave me alot of confidence . didn,t try ski school so can,t comment on them . trips out not to miss are ICE HOCKEY what a great night out sit there with a beer while two guys punch hell out of each other . hope you have a nice time if you decide on kimberley . only downside is the really long transfer it will take five to six hours .

went to panorama four years ago for my honeymoon , stayed at panorama springs great place outdoor pools really make it . slopeside and ski lockers in basement room so you get out of lift into locker room and ski out , so easy . not much nightlife again , but everything is owned by intrawest , so we was given a chargecard at the start of holiday , and you can use it everywhere from bars to buying groceries at village shop . you just settle bill at guest services at end of your stay . you can even hire dvds from village shop and have pizza delivered to your room .
skiing was good ,although this was only my second week skiing , had several private lessons with instructor and even tried blacks after that . my favorite ru is rollercoaster and then on to whiskey jack breathtaking . i would go back to panorama cos i don,t think i really saw the best of it my first time . trip not to miss out on is snowmobiles at toby creek adventures . one of the highpoints of my life literally . drive the snowmobile up forestry tracks up to 10000ft to a bowl at the back of mount hector, and then they let you loose on your own to have some fun around a track set up in this bowl . what a day !
transfer time about three to four hours . but well worth it .

going to try another intrawest resort next year , booked and i,m going to tremblant . i love skiing in canada the people so friendly , it always seems cheaper than europe , and there are never any lift lines . i,m sure you will enjoy it and become a canadian convert like me .
have fun !

After all it is free

richmond,

richard,

I'm looking at doing a season out in Lake louise/ Banf area this winter and trying to find out about accomodation and stuff ... do you know what its like finding flats shared or otherwise in Banf out there? or do i need to book that in advance?

Also been a bit a of a regular what do think about the boredom factor of slopes around there, im going on the fact theres several well rated resorts in area i should be fine for a season? I've been boarding for a couple of years and been a few places in europe and regulary go dry and fake snow here in uk so not too bad a standard, my friend has been skiing with his folks for years... I'm hoping to try alot of off piste

Do you have any insight into the music sceane in Banf ??

cheers

Anth

acidanth, can't really help on the accomodation front; I believe that because Banff is in a national park, accom is in short supply, but I imagine that people do rent. Canmore, which is a few miles back down the road towards Calgary and just outside the park is probably a better bet, but you'd probably want transport there, although there are ski buses. The local tourist office will be able to help, I imagine.

Boredom factor; can't say, as unfortunately I've never had the chance to get bored in my 2 week hol there. Mt Norquay, the nearest 'hill', is small, but interesting. Sunshine and LL are much bigger, and there are other resorts within a daytrip, including Kicking Horse, an up and coming expert resort, and Fortress, also quite demanding, I believe. Nakiska is a gentle resort. You could do 2 day+ trips to Panorama and Jasper easily, and I'm sure to other resorts.

Sunshine and LL are both great resorts with lots of skiing of all types including good expert and off piste (in bounds). I suspect that 'back country' skiing may be limited in the national park. They don't compare well for size with biggest Euro resorts, but it's a different skiing experience.

Nightlife; again, not much help. I stopped doing nightlife some years ago, and the kids are not yet old enough. I understand that there's lots going on in Banff, but exactly what, I'm not sure. Plenty of good bars and restaurants for sure, but I don't know about music.

I'd spend a season there like a shot, anytime. Apart from the skiing, it'd be fantastic to see places like Banff and Canmore going about their lives for a whole winter.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks for the info f1l, we've decided on Panorama now, leaving on the 13th Jan all going well(yet to totally confirm).

As i'm not old enough (would you believe!!!) to hire a car, we'll be staying there for 13 nights, and so I don't go totally mad, staying at the Fairmont in Calgary for our last night (looks rather plush!!).

Looking forward to it. Got a connecting flight from Calgary to Cranbrook to save road travel - i'm a bad passenger. Looked at the plane and its an 18seater propellered plane! so that will be an adventure.....

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

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Cool, thanks Annie. I'm really looking forward to it. Thanks to Ski Independence too for answering all my Q's Smile

Whats Calgary like anyone?

You know it makes sense.

eddyr,

Calgary is basically a fairly average North American city - some reasonable shopping malls but nothing a must-see except the Hockey, Calgary Olympic Park (COP) which you drive past anyway and some big nightclubs including IIRC Cowboys. For some reason quite a high female:male ratio.

acidanth,

Definitely try to get accomodation sorted in Banff before you go, Global Village/Samesun Hostel might be able to hook you up with some leads if you ring before the season. Lots of the affordable rental pool (cf Weekly rentals) is staff accomodation so if you're looking to work try to fix up a job with accomodation.

Ski areas are fine but I don't think the season pass includes the bus, unlikely weekly passes so factor in some extra cost for that. You might find the commute to Sunshine/LL begins to drag after a while - I personally would be quite happy to holiday in Banff but wouldn't choose to spend a season there.

Music scene - bar bands and a couple of nightclubs. Bands also at ski areas at weekends especially in Spring. As always in Canada the night when the AC/DC tribute band hits town will be the busiest of the year!

Help!!

Kimberley - Canada and other Canadian resorts

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