 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all
Just wondering if anyone with any experience could recommend good cat skiing companies that operate around Whistler? Ones where you get lots of terrain covered during the day, suitable for someone who's an advanced piste skier, but doesn't have much off piste experience ie. I imagine most cat ski terrain would be fine, with the exception of particularly gnarly ones?
I see there are a number of companies that offer this, I guess are there any to avoid? Or any that people have experience of that are particularly good?
Many thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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but doesn't have much off piste experience
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Most cat ski ops expectations are much higher than that. E.g. powder mountain - "you should be an experienced powder skier". I wouldn't expect anyone without some decent off piste experience, including some deep powder, to be able to keep up with a regular cat ski group. In which case you will be asked to miss runs or sit in the cat and get zero refund.
If your goal is just to get off piste, whistler has an abundance of terrain. If you want to pick up some tips and push yourself a bit I'd recommend extremely Canadian. They will find you way more gnarly terrain than the regular single day cat trips.
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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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+1 for Extremely Canadian.
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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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Thanks for the info. The request was for a friend of mine, rather than myself. I'm quite experienced off piste.
Though I have to say, in my experience the "you need to be a high level powder/off piste skier" warnings/expectations were very over exaggerated when I had my first few cat ski days. I was a medium level intermediate with only a bit of powder snowboarding experience and I found the cat ski days easily doable (Fernie Wilderness Adventures), not to mention a couple of the people didn't have a huge degree of experience but still managed well, and the groups I've been with have all managed 9-10 runs/day regardless of how experienced people were. Most recently I had a group where we all had lots of experience and didn't really do more runs than I have previously. Perhaps this is just FWA though, since those are the only people I've done cat skiing with (4 times now over the past 3 years). Is Whistler particularly known for having more gnarly terrain that would require you to be a higher level skier?
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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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I've had a couple of good days with Powder Mountain and Extremely Canadian. I thought both were great in their own ways.
EC is more of an instructional experience but (when I did it anyway), it's very much a case of picking up some useful tips from top instructors while skiing fun things. The standard course is inbounds at Whistler. Might be a better option to learn how to ski in soft snow. If budget allows, maybe do EC early in your trip and a cat day at the end?
Powder Mountain was a lot of fun. My experience was from a few years ago but I think one of the posters here is involved with them in some way (investor?) so he may pop up and update. Anyway, if you've never skied deep powder you may be signing yourself up for a day of digging yourself out of holes and slowing everyone else down, so be honest with yourself. More generally, I don't think you'll do anything that you find really gnarly if you're comfortable on Whistler double blacks (or even difficult European black runs). IIRC, the terrain isn't "big" in the sense of long very steep exposed runs. It has some steepish techy lines through trees (which are always avoidable) and some bigger open faces which are a "nice" (rather than scary) steepness. In terms of covering lots of terrain, remember that cats don't move that quickly so it's not like they pop you on top of different remote peaks every run. There is a network of tracks that they follow which give access to the lines. That said, you'll be unlucky if you cross too many tracks - there's tons of fresh to go around.
In all, it's definitely a fun experience. Make sure you rent the fattest skis you can find (or see what Powder Mountain have available - they had Gary Wayne skis to demo when I last was there (which probably ages this a bit) which looked mad but a lot of fun.)
For me, I think getting a mountain guide gets me the best value for that kind of day now, but that will involve a bit of human power uphill, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea
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“ someone who's an advanced piste skier, but doesn't have much off piste experience”
I can easily board in 6in of soft snow, I’m useless on two narrow planks though. So even the above statement might need to be nuanced.
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| Mountain Surfer wrote: |
| ... Just wondering if anyone with any experience could recommend good cat skiing companies that operate around Whistler? Ones where you get lots of terrain covered during the day, suitable for someone who's an advanced piste skier, but doesn't have much off piste experience ie. I imagine most cat ski terrain would be fine, with the exception of particularly gnarly ones? I see there are a number of companies that offer this, I guess are there any to avoid? Or any that people have experience of that are particularly good?... |
There's only one with a tenure adjacent to Whistler which is Powder Mountain.
I'm no longer associated with it, although I ran their booking and admin for a couple of decades, under previous [snowboarder] ownership. The other operator out of Whistler is Whistler heli. I know the lead guides of both personally, they were trained at the same place. You can't really go wrong with any of them - none are particularly better or worse, in my direct experience.
It's not like riding 6cm of fluff on hardpack, where you're riding the base. There isn't generally a base. If you can actually ride or ski powder in balance then you're good, but if you're not really using both skis correctly, or if you're back/ front -footing the board, you may struggle. It's a great way to expose poor technique.
Extremely Canadian (owned by the resort) would often take people to Powder Mountain, I suppose that was rich people paying for their personal instructor plus the cat. You don't actually need that - both guides are generally also qualified to teach. Weaker riders/ skiers will get tips / assistance from the guides, although they have to look after the whole group so don't expect continual assistance, it's more just politely pointing out you're in the back seat etc.
You're not going to get "gnarly terrain" - they won't take you into no-fall areas or let you jump cliffs which could kill you. You may well get into light trees or some big slopes, depending on slide risk.
How much you can ride in a day... depends on the group you're with. If you're good then the cat is the limit to your speed (it has to drive down, and it's slow). More likely you'll be limited by yourself or the people you're with. Most customers volunteer that it's their best ski/ boarding day ever. Those who are unhappy either (a) can't make a single turn; or (b) find the rest of their group too slow. Without seeing you ride I can't tell which category you'd be in, but the vast majority of decent skiers/ boarders are in the "best day ever" category, in the real world.
Here's some heli snow from last week. Not at Whistler, this time, as the snow is currently better inland. They'll not take novice groups into trees like those. Out of two weeks in a heli this was one of two days of face shots: the weather controls that, not the operator.
With a cat, you have to drive to the snow, so the tenure (area available) has to be small. That means they will ski it out in three days or so. It works because typically snow falls every three days, "pressing the reset button" on the tenure. Cats can run during the storm, when the snow is best in Whistler, so that's good. However if it doesn't snow for 3 days, you will be cancelled as you're paying for fresh tracks, and they don't have any. Therefore.... book early in your holiday time, so if you are cancelled, they can take you out on a later date. If you do it the other way, you increase the risk of not riding at all.
If you're unsure, then talking to the operator is a good idea, especially if you can talk to their actual operations manager or one of the senior guides.
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FAQ
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