 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all you locals,
My friend and I are both intermediate boarders having ridden 2 seasons a few years ago. We have bought airline tickets toCanada to check out the mountians and snowboarding lifestyle and need some local advice on which town/ mountain to move to for the winter (Dec-Apr). We want to balance a social experience in the town with some sick snow and terrain. Dont know much about Canada but was thinking Nelson because it has a bit of a small city social vibe to it but think it might be a bit cheesy and that the mountain wasnt that much fun.
Was also thinking about going to a small town like Golden figuring that we would have just as bigger social experience (just less tourism) in a small town, with a better emphasis on the local people, snowboarding and mountain experiences.
Any comments of on the above or additional tips would be great as all I really know is that we will stay away from the biggest resorts.
Into:
exploring off piste,
all day freshies,
hidden areas,
open free riding bowls (Im from New Zealand - not to keen on tree runs),
small ques - fast lifts!
a good local crew.
Cheers!
Nay.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Whitewater has 2 lifts neither of which can be said to be fast and season riding tends to involve road laps and Kootenay pass as well - how's your avy skills? Kicking Horse has (effectively) 2 lifts but at least one is a big gondola and accesses a bunch of ridges. Golden itself is an acquired taste - like you say a working town rather than a tourist one, fairly low key. If I had to say I'd say nelson has more of a granola hippy vibe and Golden more of a chainsaw and hard rock.
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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 need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Can't comment on Nelson, never been, but Golden is a 'proper' Canadian town, with a good hill nearby. Decent nightlife, a few bars with live music, some nice relaxed pubs and a truckstop/strip joint. Prices reflect this, and it's a lot cheaper than many places. Dunno why but I like Golden, for what it is, not sure I'd want to spend a season there, though, maybe a month or two, and travel around a bit.
The problem with KH, IMO, is the lifts. There's one fast gondola, and a couple of slow chairs (one you won't use). After a week there riding basically the main two lifts just became, well, dull. Other than that, if the snow's good, it's everything people make it out to be, but again not sure if there's a seasons worth of riding.
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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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If you will only use the lifts at Whitewater you might get a bit bored. If you are happy to do a bit of walking it's a very nice, chilled place and there is lots to do.
I was quite taken with Nelson. Very friendly hippie feel to the place. I could quite happily spend some time around there provided I had a car
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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fatbob,
I think Whitewater has another lift over the back now.
Despite it being small, I liked Whitewater, the snow was a bit crap when I was there (it was Olympic time, so crap everywhere in western Canada, except Whistler strangely), but it definitely has potential
Nelson was okay (in fact I even went to look and see if I could live there for a season at one point whilst doing a guides course, decided against it), not a great deal going on there, but it is only an hour or so to Red Mountain too, which is a great Mountain (or 2). Rossland is smaller than Nelson but quite pleasant, but also another option, or perhaps Revelstoke.
BC is a big place and these are fairly remote spots of it, so if you want the cliched season experience, then perhaps not the place to go, but if you're looking for the best skiing/boarding, something a bit different, then I think I'd be picking between Nelson, Rossland, or Revelstoke (these were the places on my shortlist, so of course I had to do a road trip for due diligence - Kelowna was another option, but is not really the same re a real mountain town - instead I ended up getting a proper job and going to N. Van)
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Thank you all so much for your comments. This is what I have guessed about your ski fields/towns from my kitchen table on the other side of the world...
Kicking Horse:
Huge with an amazing range of terrain from intermediate tree slopes to steep open bowls. Really good on/around fresh snow days, icy otherwise. Small crowds.
Golden - Small town/ limited nightlife - local crowd. Although I have a kiwi friend who lived in Golden a few years ago a met loads of fun people, I am a bit intimidated by its rough, pub brawl, strip bar reputation! Is this justified?
Fernie:
Similar to KH in ts size and range of terrain. More reliable/ consistent snow conditions but with bigger crowds.
Good town/ nightlife - internatonal crowd.
Red Mountain:
Decent size, lots of varied terrain, good back country.
Rossland - Small town/ limited nightlife - local crowd.
Whitewater:
Lots of snow fall. Smallish though with limited terrain.
Nelson - Large nightlife/ party scene. Internaltional crowd.
Revelstoke:
Huge. Mostly covered in trees. Need a sled to make the most of it.
The town? No idea. Small I guess. I did see the bar brawl clip on youtube!
So far Im thinking Red Mountain or Fernie could be winners! They both seem to have cool little towns as well.
Let me know if I am way off the mark about these places!!!
Thanks heaps.
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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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naylogic,
Red's principal attraction is the extent and variety of its tree skiing/boarding.
If you're not too keen on trees, you need to factor this in! On the other hand, if this is something you want to improve.........................
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naylogic, You dont need a sled to make the most of Revelstoke 3k+ acres of lift served, and they have cat skiing too. They wont let you on there with a sled so you would be in the back country. Revelstoke town itself is of if you like low key nightlife. No doubt its growing slowly. If you were there its easy to get to KH or Silver Star - both around 2 hrs drive.
Wherever you stay I think you would want to travel to different mountains as just skiing one all season would get a little boring. Red, Revvy, Whitewater and to some extent KH ( less so ) arent the glitzy resort type mountains if thats what you want then Fernie is your place. But you will pay for it and they arent really visitor friendly( aiming for as much money as possible) unlike the smaller mountains.
The towns of Fernie and Revelstoke are similar, however Fernie has the development on the mountain. The town wasnt that busy in the evenings when we were there. Rossland is small but a lot of people do travel there for the skiing. Most of em diehard skiers rather than tourists as its a big difficult to get to compared to Fernie etc.
Of all the places we visited on our roadtrip Fernie would be the last place we would revisit for a number of reasons. Thats just our opinion of the place compared to the others.
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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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Thanks again for you help. We have narrowed it down to either red or whitewater. As we have missed most early bird season tickets we are just going to drive to Rossland and Nelson around the first week of December and check out the places first hand! This forum has been really useful 
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For anyone who is interested, I thought I may as well follow this up with a conclusion. Ended up driving to Rossland, then Nelson but could not settle on either of these towns as employment was almost impossible to get, so kept moving through to Fernie where my friend and I found work (dishwashing, pizza making, bar tendering and room cleaning) within a week. Accommodation was tough (as of the time of writing I still dont have ideal accommodation), but that was true for the other two towns also. The people around all of these small towns in the mountains are incredibly warm, welcoming and friendly. I have been really taken back by it. Nelson especially I found. I only spent one night in Rossland so cant really comment on the social life there. It was easy enough to sit at the bar and chat to locals though. Fernie is definitley on the tourist map whereas the other two are off the (kiwi, aussie, english, calgarian) beaten track. Although the people in Fernie are really welcoming, giving and friendly; I definitely noticed more of a 'resort' attitude to it. This can only be expected as it gets a lot of blow-in blow-out seasonal people (myself included). In saying that, it was no where near as resorty or developed as I was expecting. The landscape surrounding the town is really beautiful and takes the scenery card hands down. Nelson has a really good music scene being on the tour map for a lot of internationally successful acts. Fernie, not so much. Ski hill wise, Fernie is really cool. Its got everything you could want. Big open bowls, glades, trees, secret hard to get to spots and loads of chutes. No terrain park though. It can get busy, however midweek non-powder mornings its fairly quiet. Not Whitewater quiet though; that place is deserted! Unless its a bluebird powder day, those locals dont even bother! There arent really any tourists at Whitewater either. Whitewater is high also, so it keeps the snow quality really well. Fernie does get tracked out quite quickly. Under the lift: immediately. Non secret places off the beaten track: within 2 hours. Secret places take a few days. Fernie is a lot more expensive for a season pass. All in all I am happy in Fernie. Nelson would have worked out if we had of given it more than a week to settle. I do miss Nelson and hope to pass through on my way back. Rossland would have been cool also but maybe not much of a party scene at all? So for anyone who is reading this next year wanting advice I would just say that they are all amazing places and you wont go wrong with any of them. The people are incredibly welcoming to strangers, so treat them with the same level of respect you would give to your grandmother and hopefully us tourists will still be welcomed back in years to come! Thanks everyone who took the time to share their opinions and experiences. Nay.
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FAQ
You wouldnt believe how friendly these smaller mountains are compared to the money making mega resorts. We roadtripped around BC and have a great time - two weeks of very tiring fun.
