 Poster: A snowHead
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forgive my ignorance as I havent skiied in Canada. Im looking at Big Whte, but guess it peobabaly applies to all Canada resorts (?). They rave about all the powder etc - errr, do they grrom the pistes or do they literally mena its great for powder cos they dont 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In Big White - and I think also in Banff - green slopes will tend to be groomed every day. The popular/major blues will also be bashed, perhaps every couple of days. Less popular/harder blues will be groomd every few days to a week. Easier blacks may also be groomed perhaps once a week. Tough blacks will be rarely groomed. Double blacks would normally not be groomed. In addition, there's all the bits between the pitses which you can ski on. Some of this will be bashed ocasionally, some will be left to bumps/powder.
The quality of the snow in Big White is down to the dryness in the atmosphere. Lovely light fluffy snow, not wet heavy.
Big White, and quite a few other Canadian resorts, will also publish a grooming report each morning - available on their website, at the top of most lifts, at base camp - to tell you what has been groomed. Big White's for example would be here http://www.bigwhite.com/mountain_showGroomingReport.html
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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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As Cathy said there will always be some groomers but if you expect everything to be flattened you might be disappointed - often the best marked "runs" will be where they've been groomed the night before then a lot of snow has fallen overnight. The locals would get very upset if this was packed down before they got at it.
This sort of fresh on a groomed base is an easy introduction even for the novice powder skier as its totally consistent.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Thu 28-08-08 17:20; edited 1 time in total
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bitoffluff,
The best grooming in Canada is reputed to be in Sun Peaks: like Big White, this is also in the interior BC.
All the major resorts have an extensive grooming programme, and will publish lists of what's been groomed every morning. - They just don't groom everything.
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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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bitoffluff, Big White grooms pretty much all of its green runs daily (cant remember any that werent groomed daily). Same with some of the blues, probably about 50% of them groomed either daily or every other day, but some are left untouched for most of the season (the tucked away runs that arent that frequently skied). The blacks are very very rarely groomed, but then they dont need to be really. When they did groom one, skied it the morning after and it was sooooo much fun  (pretty steep). Double blacks are never ever groomed!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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It is powder because it snows alot, I think you would be unlucky not to get a pow day if you went to Big White but they do still groom. (for the record the snow in the Rockies tends to be alot drier *fluffier than at big white). In addition for the most part greens are pisted as are the blues and as cathy says blacks are rarely groomed and usually left to mogul (alot of grooming blacks requires anchoring the basher and thats quite a dangerous procedure). It would be impossible to groom a double black.
So as above.
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| bitoffluff wrote: |
| forgive my ignorance as I havent skiied in Canada. Im looking at Big Whte, but guess it peobabaly applies to all Canada resorts (?). They rave about all the powder etc - errr, do they grrom the pistes or do they literally mena its great for powder cos they dont |
They do a fair bit of grooming in Big White on the mainstream easy and intermediate runs. On a big powder day they tend to limit the grooming for obvious reasons. They certainly don't groom the steeper blues and blacks with fresh powder around. I usually head out toward the Powder Chair (clue's in the name) and then across to the Gem Lake on a powder day. If you get the first lift out of the village you can ski fresh tracks pretty much all day if you keep on moving. Without even going off-piste!
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Just to reverse the question then, i've only skied Canada for the last 10 years but i'm going to France, Alpe d'Huez, next season, what should i expect in terms of groomed slope vs ungroomed?
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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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I'll let the locals to answer the question to the specific resort. But I got a nasty surprise on one morning after a good snowy night to find a nice, out of way red piste flattened from edge to edge!!! That was in Switzerland! 
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