Im back and Im not happy :(

A snowHead

Hi all Im back Smile

Its been such a busy year workwise, deaths in the family and mooching about for houses, plus I even forgot what my user name was Shocked

and its my name, what an idiot.

Now I have been watching the prices for skiing in Canada since March.

I just cant belive how much they have gone up in the past couple of months! I know that the tax went up but the cheapest deal I have found so far was with Crystal at £991pp for room only in Banff for 14 days! And the price of a tri area is now horrendous £434pp for a 10 day pass!! Oh and Inghams tri area price for 10 days is a whopping £541pp!

What the heck has happened, its the same story with Inghams, but they are more expensive, especially when they charge nearly £450 in room supplements for 2 share.

So Im not happy as I really want to get back to Canada again this winter season, but it looks like Europe is starting off with some great deals, £229pp self catering in Meribell for 7 nights at the end of January; however I dont want to go to M'bell at the end of January!

I guess that the CAD and USD being at the same exchange rate has really hammered prices, but c'mon £434 for a lift pass! Where is Verity from ski Banff, VERITY, Oh VERITY Why are the lift passes so damn expensive, do you not want your UK cousins to come over for holidays.

OK, rant over.
Lets look forward to another great year of snow in the UK, because thats where Im skiing this year; Unless ofcourse a great Canada deal comes up.

A snowHead

2.3 stg cad at the start of 07.. 1.58 now.. thats always gonna smart.. on the plus side it does seem to move in a rough 17 yr cycle.. Confused

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

and dont forget the VAT increases to 20% on January 4th 2010

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mark handford, the prices look great in the Canadian Affair catalogue and on a par with last year.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

mark handford, I really want to go to Fernie next year but there doesnt seem to be any deals out there. I even asked the TO's if i book today can they knock anything off and they were not interested. Think I am going to wait it out.

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I feel the same mark handford although during my investigations I thought Whistler looked cheaper.

In the end I plumped for St. Anton - for me the first time outside US/Canada since 2003!

(I get paid in euros so it works for me.)

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

o11y, I've found the same (just looked online though, not rang anyone). If you do find some good deals for Fernie nearer the time let us know, I've been wanting to go there for a while.

After all it is free

Inghams last minute deals seem to be the best option for Canada these days that I've heard about...

bet you could do it cheaper DIY

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

boardiac, flights are near impossible to beat without a TO charter IME

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DaveC, I'd agree with that based on my very limited experience of looking around for Fernie deals. I had looked at Inghams because I've travelled with them a fair few times and have never been disappointed, and their deals to Fernie staying at the Wolfs Den (probably their cheapest offering I'd have thought) seemed quite reasonable especially as they included the return flight cost, and the mega supplements for occupancy of less than 4 people. Looked like the accomodation was practically free against the cost of booking my own flight, mind you it was a while ago when I looked now.

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New sales taxes in BC from July 1st too. It hit everything, if it had occurred to me it would have effected your holidays too I would have posted a warning.

parlor, ah, that's probably it then.

You know it makes sense.

boardiac, DIY was great when the exchange rate was favourable but now it just doesn't work.

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

A snowHead

I remember somebody telling me they went for 10 days to either the states or Canada and it was cheaper to buy a season pass. It would be worth checking the direct price for that

A snowHead

Do take a look at Ski Safari - they had some really good deals and prices this year

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

Dont forget that TO are also getting a really crap exchange rate at the moment, so that will affect prices alot.

You could of course try DIY booking your flight and gamble when you pay for the hotel, the exchange rate has improved alot. Also booking the Hotel direct doesnt incur any suppliments, thats just a TO money making scheme to offset the cheaper flight wink

Banff has generally had a more expensive lift pass, but saying that we paid an average of £36 a day last year in Utah, dont forget the liftpass cost is used for the ski buses too.

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Apparently (think Spyderman mentioned/discovered this) you can buy tickets from the TO at a pretty heavily discounted rate too.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

DaveC, that's right, when I looked at the lift pass price through Inghams it was quite a bit cheaper than buying the lift pass on it's own from the lift pass office.

Bones, are you saying that somewhere like Wolfs Den in Fernie charges per room if you book direct rather than charging supplements for under occupancy like Inghams do? I wonder if by the time you've paid for your own flight it could work out more expensive than the TO offering anyway because of the cheap flight?

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VolklAttivaS5, We roadtripped around BC couple of years ago, just pulled up and stayed in hotles and B + B , every hotel we stayed in had one room rate, and then gave you a chopice of either Kingsize bed or two queensize Smile

This seems to be standard practice in North America.

Last year stayed at a Best Western in Utah again one room rate, where as all the TO charge you suppliments for 'under occupancy' or a an increase if you want a kingsize.

Best thing you could do is contact the hotel direct and ask - just check them out on the wewb as they are bound to have a website.

BTW found a flight to Calgary this week for £548, from our local airport. When we roadtripped BC we flew Air Canada, turned up on spec. form all acom. aprt from the first and last, bought lift passes as we needed ( generally the hotels can do reduced rates ) including car hire and fuel, plus meals etc total cost was just over £1200 pp per week.Having been to Banff the previous year with Crystal and had total crap for not much less than that.

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

Bones, right ok, so DIY is worth considering as long as the flight cost is reasonable then.

After all it is free

You really need to be looking at Canadian affair if you want reasonable priced flights. Return flights to Calgary from Gatwick in January are coming up at £876 for two people. Compare this with £1236 with Air Canada for January.

jimmybog, thanks, I will have a look at them. I checked out Inghams this week and the prices have gone up I think. I can't remember excatly what it was before but I'm sure it was quite a bit less.

Thanks.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I'm not based in UK so I'm only a bystander. My casual observation so far:

1) TO may have cheaper charter flights
2) TO may have cheaper hotel due to their bargaining power -- that is, if your party size happen to be at FULL occupancy of the kind of accomondation (e.g. couple for hotel room, family of 4 for con-do).
3) TO don't seem to pull any magic at lift rates.
4) You trade convinience of a hire car to the less costly but more restrictive bus transfer.

Bottom line: since most TO's don't actually "own" chalets in NA as they do in the Alps, their bargaining power are more limited to what they can bargain out of the providers (hotels, airlines, car hire companies etc.).

A lot of those same bargaining can be done by resourceful DIY'ers! More over, for those who're not "standard sized party", say single traveler or party of 3, there're a lot more options available outside what the TO's offer. It might work out to be cheaper, or better, to DIY.

I think one should keep in mind, TO's are at their best with "popular" choices (well-known destination/resort, same size party, etc). That's when the best deals are for both the TO and the traveler. If you're outside of that norm, you might do well to at least try DIY for comparison.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I heard that Inghams are pulling out of Canada if sales aren't good so be careful!!!

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mountainaddict, I agree with you! It sounds reasonable to me!

You know it makes sense.

The best deals are normally Inghams "Earlybird" but they finished around a month ago. Fernie was coming in at £580 for two weeks, flts/trfs/accom (on the hill, supps paid), discounted pass 13 days pay for 10 etc. I was ready to book, but got ar$ed around by a mate.

If the economy over here gets tighter, there may be chaseable last minute deals, but with capacity already pared down, there won't be many. Whether they have some kind of fire sale in the next few months, who knows.

As regards TO vs DIY, European DIY savings are easy, but if you want a straight two week no frills deal, TO's are usually the best. I've been out to Ca for less than £500, booked six months in advance. Most flights alone will come near to that, unless you camp out in an airport.

And generally, as noted, the exchange rate hasn't helped. First trip to WB in 2000 we were getting about $2.50Ca.

I'll be going out to the Dolomites, probably. Only the second time in a dozen years I'll miss out on a Ca trip, doubling up some years. Confused

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

Don`t forget the spending costs in Europe with The £ to Euro rate

A snowHead

Has anyone been to Canada mid April to late April before i.e. Easter time? Snow should be still be good surely. I noticed on the Inghams website that they don't do Fernie after 9th April, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper is available after that date but only for a week. I haven't looked at any other TOs yet but if I was going to go to Canada I'd want to go or a fortnight not just for a week.

A snowHead

VolklAttivaS5, we went to Whistler in April, but I think it was early in the month. It wasn't a good year for snow, and what fell when we were there was very heavy. I'm sure that isn't typical though. Resort opens into May, and Banff also opens long after mid-april I think, so I guess it is just a tour op decision to stop then.

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

Hells Bells, yeah seems so, perhaps there isn't the demand. Mind you, a lot of places (especially catered chalets) cease bookings a few weeks before the end of the season in Tignes/Val D'Isere too, when there is plenty of snow there, or there has been the last 3 seasons I've been right to the end of the season anyway.

According to the SCGB website Banff's season runs into late May.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

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pam w, yeah, there's not much available in mid April/late April in my experience even in very high resorts like Tignes when there's plenty of snow going right into early/mid May. It's a shame really because if you do want to go late season there is often only self catering apartments available, and for me, a catered chalet is far cheaper than a self catering studio/apartment/separate flight and bus fare to Tignes from Geneva would be. I'd rather have a catered chalet every time. Some do have accomodation only deals but again the cost of getting there adds onto the price. Obviously somehow they must not have the demand to offer chalets later in the season.

Just looked at the Canadian Affair and their flights seem reasonably priced, and they offer a flight back on 30th April.

Help!!

Im back and Im not happy :(

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