Canada - Resort Choice

A snowHead

Hi

I've just got around to thinking about my early January yearly trip to Canada and am looking for a little help.

The resorts that I'm thinking of this year come down to Big White, Sun Peaks, Silver Star, Fernie or Jasper.

I'm gonna be in Canada for a minimum or 11 nights and a maximum of 16 nights and the group I'm going with are all intermediate going on advanced, we've been skiing along time and will tackle anything and just love the powder days. Quiet slopes and few lift queues are always a bonus and whilst we aren't too bothered about nightlife its always good to have a decent bar or two relax in after a hard day on the slopes.

I have spent a season in Whistler so don't feel the need to go back there again and I've also skied Panorama, Kimberly, Kicking Horse, Banff and Lake Louise. I worry about Fernie at that time of year because of possible rain but the low temperatures just don't bother me and I worry about Jasper because it isn't ski in ski out.

Also would it be better just to tour the okanagan resorts and does anybody know how long it take to drive from Vancouver to the Okanagan resorts if I don't want to take an internal flight transfer??

Next question when travelling independantly who do other snowheads feel offers the cheapest flights out to Canada when not taken in conjunction with a package holiday?

Finally can anyone recommend any appartments to rent in the above resorts??

Any advice you can give is much appreciated and thankyou for your help in advance.

A snowHead

Why not try somewhere other than Canada?

As for cheap flights to Canada, I think Zoom still win that one.

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

I've often considered the USA but wouldn't know where to look at for that time of year - snow coverage. If you have any pointers let me know and I'll happily broaden my horizons and try America.

Thanks

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Alpinebullit, Snowbird or Vail would be good starting points.

I don't have the historical data for Snowbird, but up the road in Alta, the average depth in January over the last 24 seasons was 2.1metres, with 2.3metres falling during the month.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

BA to Calgary were offering a great introductory price but this seems to have evaporated now to £600+ returns. YVR to okanagan is about 1/2 a day's drive (4-5 hours) assuming the highways aren't snowbound. Staying slopeside in Canada is completely overated in my opinion - unless you've got kids or are just plain lazy you actually get a far better all round experience staying in the nearest town.

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Thanks for the info on Alta wear the fox hat, I'm gonna check that out tonight. Cheers, where would I be best flying into?

Fatbob, I don't mind not staying slopeside because more than likely I will have a 4x4, but its my preference to roll out of bed and onto the slopes after all thats what I hit the mountains for. However I've been very tempted by Jasper and that isn't ski in ski out but it looks and sounds very appealing. Also I've not got kids and I'm certainley not plain lazy, I just like to maximise my skiing time and there ain't now't wrong with that!

All the best

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

canadianaffair.com should have a few of the cheaper flight options. Was talking to a girl that worked in the airport in Vancouver last month and she said the flights that seem to be delayed the most are the MY Travel ones. So I'd probably avoid them.

After all it is free

I only know Jasper of the resorts you list, so I can't make any comparisons. Jasper is fine, but I would say that for most people, a week is enough (too long for some). The ski area has been extended sice I was there, but it isn't huge.

I liked the place, although it's probably not everyone's cup of tea. It's not one of the world's great resorts from either the skiing or apres skiing points of view, but it's very quiet (at Easter, the 8 of us had a piste each to ourselves most of the time). The town is quiet, with some decent hotels, not very ski resortish. It's a biggish railway junction, with marshalling yards which you can see from up the mountain, which I liked, but then I'm a bit sad. The surrounding country is stunning. The Columbia icefield is worth a look (it's on the road up from the trans Canada), and there are plenty of opportunities for snow shoeing and that sort of thing.

As you say, there's no ski ski out at Jasper. The hill is about 5/10 mins out of town, there's no traffic to speak of, the car parks are ski in ski out. I don't regard that as a problem, but it's more important for me to be walk in walk out for bars and restaurants in the evening than ski in ski out.

I'm glad to have visited Jasper and I wouldn't hesitate to go there again if it was convenient (unlikely!), but I sha'n't be making a special effort.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Fair dos - its just I get the impression that a lot of people stay slopeside when they really want variety of restaurants/bars, shops & other things to do in the evening which are usually better provided in towns than slopeside IMO. This is a real contrast with Europe.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Alpinebullit, I've spent a day at Jasper and last year spebt a week each at Big White and Sun Peaks. I've also been to Banff twice as a comparison.

I agree with richmond with regards Jasper. We liked the skiing, going there on a 2-day trip from Banff. We stayed at the Fairmont hotel which was nice but isolated from everywhere else - which may or may not have been a good thing! The skiing was a bit limited and although we'd like to visit again at some stage I wouldn't recommend making it the focus of your holiday. The Columbia Icefields are certainly something else but wouldn't really want to spend a whole week at Jasper.

It would be very easy to tour the Okanagan resorts and I would really recommend this. We loved Big White - although it did seem quite small when we first got there, the whole area is available for skiing and the snow is fantastic there - the softest powder I've ever seen. There are double blacks at the Cliff area and steep runs & a bowl at Gem Lake. Good glade skiing and night skiing every evening down to the village. The resort is truly ski-in ski-out and there are a few nice bars and restaurants. There are very few queues and they rae building a new six-seater chair for this season. We would really love to come back here.

If I can remember correctly, it took about 3 1/2 hours by minibus between Big White & Sun Peaks - Silver Star is inbetween these two. Didn't like the village so much at Sun Peaks - faux Tyrolean with a road running through the village. But the skiing was very good although not such good quality snow as at BW. Didn't visit Silver Star but understand the skiing is more advanced than at Big White.

The internal flight from Vancouver to Big White was very good, about an hour & flying into Kelowna. The nearest airpost to Sun Peaks is Kamloops. If you didn't wish to drive there are resort scheduled transfers from the airport though these have to be booked in advance. Also scheduled minibuses from Big White to Sun Peaks running twice weekly and Big White/Silver Star daily, I think. I think the drive from Vancouver is a fair distance - 5 hours?

I think Zoom is the cheapest airline, can't recommend any apartments althiough Big White has a very good accommodation booking service on their website.

We haven't booked again yet for next year for Canada but our preference would be Big White and Sun Peaks again, also visiting Silver Star. Second preference would be just Big White for 2 weeks, with day visits to Silver Star. Third preference would be back to Banff.

If you've got any specific queries please just ask. Okanagan and RobW are regulars of Big White and Silver Star for queries as well!

snow reports

Alpinebullit, you haven't told us what sort of skier you are and what sort of skiing you like, BTW. I see that you've spent a season in Whistler, so I assume that you're pretty damn good and pretty damn keen. In that case, I don't think that Jasper is the place for you, other than for a gentle 2/3 days.

FWIW I agree with fatbob about staying slopeside; my limited experience in Canada (Panorama) does not encourage me to want to do it again, but to each his own.

Slopeside in Big White/Sun Peaks/Silver Star is truly slopeside with the whole resort being on the slopes, probably the best ski-in/out we've stayed at - & beating Belle Plagne for ski-in/out is pretty damn hard!

You know it makes sense.

Thanks Cathy your reply and information has really helped, thankyou. Big White and Sun Peaks now seem to have become from runners Smile

, but I am gonna check out whats going on stateside this evening and I'll probably return with more questions then!!

Hi Richmond

All members of the party have done a season at Whistler and are strong skiers who are very keen to hit the slopes everyday. And on yours and others advice Jasper has now been discounted from our travel plans. Thankyou also.

Does anyone know who are the best people to rent a 4x4 off in Canada in their opinion.

Regards
AB

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

My experience of car hire from Calgary Airport (4x4 and 2x4) over about 8 years is that the relative rates change from year to year, so you need to check around. The cheapest ones are, of course, off airport, which adds the thick end of an hour to the whole business of getting away from/checking in at the airport, so I avoid them.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Been to Big White, Silver Star and Sun Peaks a couple of times they are great, although both times we have been it was January and they definitely lacked any great atmosphere, we were told it improves later on in the season. This didn't bother us, we liked rolling out of bed and putting our skis on in the morning more than partying all night.

The first year we went the skiing was brilliant at all three resorts with the best snow at Big White, but still great at the others. The following year we woke up one morning at Big White to the sound of rain, people were skiing in bin bags so we decided to watch the Superbowl instead. We went to Silver Star the next day and was skiing on ice, but a couple of days later the snow came back and conditions improved but not as good as the previous years.

All four of our trips to Canada have been in January and we have had poor conditions (Fernie and Banff), great conditions (Big White etc), poor conditions (Big White again), great conditions again (Kimberley and Panorama this year). I am a bit concerned that it is the turn of poor conditions again next January!

Check out BA, we paid £300 each to Calgary a few weeks ago travelling in January

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

South of the 49th Parallel, Alta/Snowbird, Mammoth and Squaw Valley are your best bets for good early Jan snow and plenty of expert skiing. Jackson Hole and Big Sky: also expert terrain, don't get quite as much snow but probably still OK.
Crested Butte, Taos, Telluride - also great terrain but it's a bit more of a gamble on the snow in the Southern Rockies...

For historical snow records, try http://uk.weather.com/activities/recreation/ski/

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Have skiied all the Okanagan resorts being from the area. You are looking at about 5 hours from YVR to Big White, 1 1/2 hours to Silver Star from BW, 2 hours to Sun Peaks from SS then 4-5 hours back to Vancouver. Makes a pretty good circle route and all the resorts have something to offer and worth a visit. There is also Apex about two hours south of Big White that is worth visiting for a day or two. All those times are on good roads, If the weather is bad you are looking at considerably longer on the trips from and back to Vancouver as the Coquihalla Highway is a high mountain road and gets lot's of snow. There is lot's of accom at all the resorts, January is normally the quietest time of the season. Canadian Affairs was the cheapest flight I could find to England this spring, flying on Thomas Cook which wasn't bad for a no frills airline.
Sounds like Anniegirl has had some bad luck with her trips, rain in Jan. at Big White is extremely rare and she is probably talking about 2 years ago during the worst winter in years. I spent more than a decade working as a groomer at BW starting in the early nineties and can't remember any other time we saw rain at that time of year.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Thanks for your advice canucklehead, its much appreciated.

Which of the Okanagan resorts would you base yourself in, or which is more suitable for the lions share of my stay.

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Alpinebullit,

Another US mountain likely to have good snow early January is Winter Park: I had great conditions there at the beinning of 2005. It's also handy for Denver airport.

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

Hi Acacia

I think I was reccomended Winter Park last year but once again I ended up in Canada, I really must broaden my horizons and ski elsewhere.

A few questions if you can help. How long is it from Denver to WP? Does WP offer uncrowded slopes and hardly and lift lines? Is the terrain challenging and what is the resort night life like please?

Finally regarding early snow cover I take it that WP is one of the best places to go at that time of year in the States.

Thankyou for all your help, I really appreciate it and am getting closer to making a decision. I'll let you know how I get on. At present the cpeapest return flights I can get to either Vancouver or Calgary are coming in at £450 return!! Does anybody know if historically its generally cheaper to fly to the States than Canada?

Kind regards

After all it is free

BW would probably offer the best all round experience in terms of other activities on offer and reliability of snow. I'm probably not the most impartial judge to answer your question with my history at BW though.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Sorry, on rereading the post I may have picked you up wrong, in that you may be asking, generally, are airfares cheaper to the US than Canada.....................to which there is an easy answer being yes.

Most likely the cheapest gateways will be Los Angeles and San Francisco, despite being the furthest away. You can access the Tahoe resorts from SFO and Mammoth from LAX. Next will likely be Denver. All 3 have direct flights from London, especially the California cities. I assume that it is the competition on those routes which keeps the price down. Denver direct from London is BA only, hence more expensive.

After that you are talking of Salt Lake City for Utah. No direct flights but you can get there with one stop only.

Particularly if you catch a seat sale you should be able to get flights to LAX/SFO for a shade under £400.We were looking at those in March for travel in April and there were fares at that level with United, who fly direct from London.

On other routes you can often get cheap fares if you are prepared to travel a bit eg a roundabout route or two stops and inconvenient times eg

£371.20
Expedia Special Fare

12:05 Depart London (LGW)
Arrive Los Angeles (LAX) 18:46 Wed 10-Jan
Duration: 14hr 41min Northwest 43 / 303
Connect in Minneapolis (Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl.)

11:50 Depart Los Angeles (LAX)
Arrive London (LGW) 09:00 +1 day Wed 24-Jan
Duration: 13hr 10min Northwest 312 / 44
Connect in Minneapolis (Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl.)

.

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Thanks for all your help, I've now narrowed it down to be a choice of Big White and Sun Peaks in Canada or Winter Park or Jackson Hole in the States.

Thanks for all your help and any more comments are and will be appreciated

I haven't skied Winter Park, but I would imagine that Jackson Hole probably has more extreme/expert terrain than WP, and also a town with more "western" ambiance. But WP would be much quicker and easier to get to from the UK.

You know it makes sense.

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

JH also has the tram out until december 2008 - replaced by a double chair for critical access - looks like it could snarl up. ANyone who's been - is it better deferring a potential trip for a couple of years?

http://www.jacksonhole.com/info/jhpressreleases/jhpressreleases.051706.release.asp

A snowHead

Big White out of those Canadian resorts, it has everything you are after, limited nightlife though, plenty of slopeside accommodation - I've stayed at the Eagles - right on a main ski run, steps from the village, slopeside hottub. Lots of uncrowded intermediate/advanced runs, high speed lifts. The weather is pretty bad though, they don't call it 'Big White-out' for nothing.

I wouldn't recommend Jackson Hole for intermediate skiers.

A snowHead

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

That kind of day is the exception rather than the rule in BC in January, I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it doesn't happen often in mid winter, does it? I've spent three weeks at a time in interior BC and every day has been either snowing or heavy cloud/fog.

I much prefer the desert climate pattern in Colorado/Utah where the snow comes in, dumps, then takes off after a few days leaving the sky clear rather than hanging around for weeks on end.

Help!!

Canada - Resort Choice

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