 Poster: A snowHead
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Im going to banff, canada in a few weeks for the whole season and on reasearching passes i found out there is quite a wide range of options. Does anyone know, or could recomend the best placese to snowboard. So far ive seen:
Sunshine village
Lake Louise
Ski Banff?
Fernie....
and also a few others 
Ill be stayin and living in banff and any help would be much appriciated.
Thanks
Nick
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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welcome to snowheads!
Fernie is a fair distance from Banff, 2-3 hours from memory. Def worth visiting, great ski area loads of in bounds off trail (off piste to us brits) and glades (trees with decent space in between). Like Banff the ski hill is out of town (5miles) , there's a bus from town to the ski hill but it can take 30-45 mins. There is some accomodation on the hill but nightlife a tad quiet. Same story in Banff, the bus to Lake Louise is about 30mins. There was another thread on here about the buses, i think they may have started charging extra! Lake Louise is the best of the Banff areas. Should try and get to Kicking Horse, not been there myself but heard loads of good stuff, same with red Mountain but that's a bit further away.
Fernie generally warmer than Banff, but good snow record, except when I was there of course.
I got the RCR super pass when I was out there, I was based in fernie, the pass covered all the RCR resorts (fernie, banff, panorama, etc)
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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 forget Norquay - the nearest one. It is useful when you are easing yourself in after a long flight.
For snowboarding, I found Sunshine Village the best. Though I am mainly a skier, I have dabbled in snowboarding. There was lots of deep snow. Wa Wa bowl was good.
Panorama is possible from Banff on a long excursion but I never went there
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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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Latchigo, I found sunshine a lot less steep than the piste map implied or was it just me.
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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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djnick21,
There are 3 areas "local" to Banff. Website www.skibig3.com
Mount Norquay
Lake Louise
Sunshine Village.
Sunshine and Louise are the best areas, Norquay is quite small but useful as Latchigo says. Skibig3 pass covers all 3 and includes the bus transfer to each area.
2-3 hours and up to 5 away, should be able to get a bus to any are
Fernie as waynos said definately worth a visit.
Kimberley
Kicking Horse
Panorama
Jasper ( in the other direction from the aforementioned ones).
Probably best to get the big3 pass. Then if you get the chance to go further afield buy a day pass, or your season pass may cover most of them.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Im doing 3 months starting in January!!! Ive been 4 tiems before and the local ski hills are good enough to keep you going! Sunshine is awesome scenery and the dryest powder you will ever ski, Lake Louise is a massive area with some rather challenging terrain.
Ross
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| waynos wrote: |
| Latchigo, I found sunshine a lot less steep than the piste map implied or was it just me. |
Wa Wa is not steep but I was not looking for steep on a snowboard.
My abiding impression apart from the quality of the snow was how cold it was. I had four pieces of clothing on my head going up the continental divide lift. They have hosts that give you a quick introductory blast round the resort and they told me I looked as if I was getting frostbite. I also remember retreating to the restaurants purely to warm up. This was in March. It was cold going out of an evening as well.
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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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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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solarfish, great job title! 
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| waynos wrote: |
| Latchigo, I found sunshine a lot less steep than the piste map implied or was it just me. |
No, it wasn't just you.
On my trip to Canada, I skied Marmot Basin (Jasper), Lake Louise and Sunshine, and I thought the runs at Sunshine were almost all marked about a grade higher than the same runs would have been marked at the other two.
This is talking only about the marked runs from Green up to single black level, because that is all I was skiing.
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You know it makes sense.
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| waynos wrote: |
| Latchigo, I found sunshine a lot less steep than the piste map implied or was it just me. |
There's some decent steep runs on Goats Eye, and some really tight runs in and out of the trees nearer the chair. They're pretty challenging - some great lines in the trees. A few pics from my trip there and lake Louise in March are at http://gortonator.spaces.live.com/photos/cns!AF2DD3CC35CC7ADF!714/
(apologies on URL - the '!' seems to screw up the hyperlink, so will need to copy/paste into browser - can't figure out how to fix this)
And of course if you are avi-equipped, there's plenty of fun to be had at Sunshine ....
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FAQ
and the kids and I will get 50% off 
So not that I'm planning to make anyone jealous of course, but not only am I now living near these resorts, I also get to use them for a lot less too 
)
