Panorama, Canada thoughts and experiences sort please…

A snowHead

Ok so we’ve almost sorted on a trip and then doubt cropped in and a suggestion of Panorama was mentioned… Puzzled

So calling all you Snowheads that have an idea of what it is like.
We aren’t sure, as presently are looking at Sun Peaks for 7 (maybe 10 days. )
We've been reading over the reviews and comments on Panorama here and wonder if it suits us. We like our motorway cruising and not being overly challenged, but have done most of blues and couple of single blacks in Whistler.
There have been a coupe of comments / review on areas being steep and Sharon’s not keen on steeps and I have be careful due to a screwed up knee.
Whilst powder can be fun it’s a strain to my knee too, so I tend to prefer bashed and moguls I have to be careful (or mad).
Thanks

A snowHead

Returned from here 24th Dec 09, conditions were awesome for that time of year so lack of snow was not a problem. It's been one of the best starts to the season in a number of years apparently.

From my experience, it is very much an advanced skiers paradise, Taynton Bowl and Extreme Dream zone has many blacks/double black with very steep/runs over cliffs/powder etc. Although I am by no means an advanced skier, there was enough to keep me entertained for a week(although I was learning and spent several days in lessons going over the same runs). The sun bowl is a fun area with plenty of moguls to keep you entertained.

If you are after mileage and cruisers, I don't think this is the best resort for it. They don't appear to groom many of the runs at all. I'd say on average, there was probably 8-10 runs that were highlighted as groomed on the map each morning (which annoyed me because I prefer groomed runs). Especially at the top of the mountain. Get me down was the only trail that was groomed at the top and this is a narrow track which winds down from the summit, not particularly steep though. (1000 peaks which was groomed once in the 7 days we were there)

Some of the green runs were particularly steep in my opinion (outrider rings a bell)

It's a strange place for the grading of some runs, some of the blues I thought were particularly challenging, schobers dream being one of them, but then some were relatively easy - I guess it's the same anywhere though.

To summarise then, if you don't like steeps/blacks and double blacks then a lot of the runs will be off limits for you. Despite this, there is probably enough to keep you entertained for a week on the other runs just about - but there is a distinct lack of 'cruisers' here I feel.

The views are to die for at the top though!

Facilities/evening dining options are severely limited though. I think there are only about a handful of places to eat of an evening.

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

We spent a week at Panorama and loved the skiing but found the resort very limiting (but loved the wolves!). I am a very cowardly intermediate skier and found plenty to keep me busy and we had one of our best days skiing when we woke up to over half a meter of powder. We found a quiet area, fell over alot, but loved it!

However, I personally prefer Sun Peaks which we have been to twice. They have plenty of motorway cruising and there was very little on any of the moutains that I couldn't face doing. Also the resort had more to do, not huge amounts, but more than Panorama.

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v1cky24, and Anniegirl, Thanks for this feedback. this is why we love Snowheads.
Think it will probably be Sun peaks at this rate
cheers

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I seem to remember there was plenty of groomed runs, too many - for my liking, but then I prefer it the other way. You can happily ski groomed runs all the way down, one halfway down I remember near the Tepee is massively wide, not seen a run so wide in fact anywhere else.
The mountain also benefits from being fairly quiet most of the time.

As I've posted before - it's a stay in at home affair in the evenings for the most part, cook your dinner and retire - as there's not much else going on nor many places to eat.
That aside, I actually really liked the skiing there and would happily pop by again for a few days "if I happened to be nearby" - yeah, probably won't happen but never say never NehNeh

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I might just be comparing the resort to winter park where there was a lot more groomed runs. And there were racers on some of the more popular cruisers so we were limited in that respect. Perhaps I'm not being fair. I do think there are better places if you want to get some mileage done though.

eddyr, The run you refer to is rollercoaster - one of my favourite ones!

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

rob and sharon, we've been there three times and every member of my family rates Panorama as the best place we've ever skied. I've tried plenty of big-name place like the 3V, Espace Killy, Zermatt, Vail, Breckenridge, etc but Panorama is the only place I've ever returned to - and I fully expect to visit again.

But I'm not sure if it's for you, as it's very much an advanced skier's paradise and it's quite possible to ski every groomer on the mountain in a morning. The only blue run from the summit is a cat-track, and even the mid-mountain lift serves only 3-4 blue runs. You'll quickly tire of the motorways under the Mile One lift, and, although the Sunbird lift offers some very attractive blues, there's really not a lot there.

Also, if you're looking at the trail map, it's easy to underestimate the skill level needed for some of the runs. Many of the blues (eg those on Founders Ridge, Bell's landing, the Sun Bowl) are never groomed and are littered with obstacles such as moguls, trees, shrubs, concealed rocks and short pitches of surprising intensity; other blues (eg parts of Schobers Dream) are viciously steep and often icy; most of the single diamonds are exceptionally steep and groomed infrequently if at all; and the double blacks are typically steep, gladed, heavily mogulled and covered with powder.

Unless you want to stretch yourself, you'll only be wanting to the least attractive 25% of the resort that meets the European understanding of green, blue or red. Having said that, Panorama is a great place to learn some new tricks - the ski school is excellent, and there's a good free Mountain Friends guiding service that goes up to single diamond level. And if you're really willing to push, you'll have the trip of a lifetime - moguls the size of garden sheds, fresh tracks on deserted powder runs, scary steeps, dense trees and rocks all beckon you.

I can't wait to get back there!

After all it is free

Thanks guys for all this info, think we are goign with Sun Peaks this year. Who knows might get good enough to give Panorama a go some time
cheers

I can only agree with all that has been said, I particularly think that Jonny Jones, has summed it up really well, possibly I can add a little more info. We were there 24 Dec to 1st Jan. The only groomed cruising run then was Out Rider, a brilliant run, but very steep for green and the bottom could be intimidating for good skiers on the ice. We found it took about 2 minutes down and 16 minutes up with the lift queue, slow chair and slight walk at the top. There's little choice of motorways now under the mile one quad, the main run is now a funpark with advanced jumps only, Powder Trail is ungroomed leaving one green run plus the World Cup GS, but both were only cruisers for about the first 2 hours of the day, after that the number of skiers were already creating icy patches and moguls. Sun Bowl, particularly Stump farm was good, red standard, soft mogul runs with less undergrowth than Founders.

We didn't try Taynton Bowl proper, we decided against the long uphill walk and tried Heli High and Heli Face. They were steep powder in trees going down to a challenging ridge with odd shaped bumps to negotiate. These bumps had probably been moguls once but were ground and worn down into steep sided ridges. There was then a very long path, not very steep and long enough to get very cold feet, ending in Stringer, a challenging rarely pisted, icy green. We finished our trip with Cliff Glades in powder. Thankfully someone else had been there first because it was difficult to see where to go after the first turn, it all seemed to fall away steeply then we saw the way along the cliff edge. Very scary. It was easy to underestimate the steepness everywhere. I fell on a mogul field in trees next to Roy's run and despite the bumps I couldn't stop, I eventually came to a halt after about 200m by dropping 10ft onto the path. This was a single black, so imagine what some of the doubles are like rolling eyes

The big plus was Mountain Friends. They ran groups morning and afternoon. Their top standard is single black, but this is enough for most given the steepness of it all. They were a little short of imagination, on the 5 afternoons we skied with them it was the same run, in two hours you can ski top to bottom twice, so one run was Roys and Stump Farm, the other was 1000 Peaks and Founders, but it was worthwhile, we kept coming back. They are a really great group and make Panorama a much better choice than you might think if you want someone to ski with.

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