 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi Guys,
I have just booked flights to arrive in Calgary mid feb for a month- cant wait.
Im looking at the following areas:
big white, red mountain, fernie, kicking horse
Anyone have any info on the above areas? Or places near there? Will be going alone so meeting ppl and top skiing at high priorities!
Cheers, greg
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I'd add Lake Louise and Revelstoke from my experience. You'll have no trouble finding people to ski with at either.
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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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billy_boy_2010, you hiring a car?
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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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Just be aware that the weekend 18th - 20th Feb is a long stat holiday weekend in Alberta
Things get busy that weekend so you may want to book accomodation for that
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Keep an eye out for mountain hosts who do (usually free but tipping appreciated) guided tours of some of the area at designated times during the week, usually you need to be comfortable on black runs but depending on how busy the resort is sometimes they do a blue cruisers afternoon as well, this varies from place to place and is more common during the week. Usually this is a local who gets a free lift pass for the season but no wage. Can be a great way to meet other people too.
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Sorry for the delay guys- been away with work for a bit!
Bode- im not sure on the car....its about 800 dollars- do you think its worth it or can i rely on busses? I guess a lot of the time each time i take a bus it may cost a day of skiing in travel time- i can do a car journey when the slopes close at night?
Most importantly im going alone so i guess i want the flexibility of (hopefully) tagging along with others and playing things by ear a bit....i could prob save the £500 and i may be able to blag a few lifts etc etc!
Thanks for the list of places guys- im going to make a "dream list" and that should help me decide on where works out well.
How about Ski lessons? I will need some as im always keen to improve my technique! I guess i can just sign up to a ski school on day one- how expensive is it in canada? Swiss prices were pretty high i thought!
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i can do a car journey when the slopes close at night?
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We did this every time we moved on - only had a couple of longish drives. Didnt mind them tbh as driving in Canada/USA is so easy.
Ski lessons will be quite expensive and yes you can just book a day when you want. I wouldnt rely on blagging lifts or you may get stuck somewhere 
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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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| Bones wrote: |
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i can do a car journey when the slopes close at night?
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We did this every time we moved on - only had a couple of longish drives. Didnt mind them tbh as driving in Canada/USA is so easy.
Ski lessons will be quite expensive and yes you can just book a day when you want. I wouldnt rely on blagging lifts or you may get stuck somewhere |
Hmmm- its about £500 to rent a car but it sounds like its going to be worth the money.....?
How good is the public transport to the ski resorts? Developed country English speaking im assuming its gonna be pretty straightforward?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Check out samesun hostels they have backpacker hostel in BC Kelowna/Silver Star/Revelstoke.
We have not used them but met a few people who have. There is a hostel at Sun Peaks as well.
Greyhound canada and bcskiing.com are worth a look.
Public transport to most resorts is often often in frequent and full. Details for transport is usually on the resorts web site.
If you are going to Revelstoke book your accommodation before you set off we left it a bit late last year and ended up 20K out of Revelstoke.
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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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I`ve just come back from a 3 week road trip of B.C and Alberta, and to be fair, I agree with Bones. A 4x4 is worth its having if you want to see as many resorts as posible.
I have stayed at a Samesun hostal a couple of years ago, and it was fine. It`s also a good way of meeting people to ski with, and theres always someone looking for a ride and willing to pay towards the gas. Banff has a Samesun, and you get to ski 3 resorts on the Tri-area ski pass, Mt Norquay, Sunshine Villiage and Lake Louise.
A bit closer to Calgary, is Nakiska ski Resort if you like good grooming, and again as Bones said, Castle mountain is great if you fancy trying cat skiing (my mate Sam is one of the guides there)
Fernie, Red Mountain and Big White are usualy great for fresh powder.
have a great trip
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You can easily reach Golden (for Kicking Horse) and Revelstoke on the Greyhound and it is a pretty reasonable fare. If you ski well, I would say both are unmissable. As regards lessons, we found the Mountain Centre at Kicking Horse to be excellent. Plus, on the longer courses (3 and 5 days, I think) you were also offered the option to borrow Rossi S7s for free. The instructors were top drawer.
We found Big White fun but in quite a different category to Kicking Hose and Revelstoke. It is a ski-in / ski-out family resort, very pleasant (if a little Disney-fied), there is a little bit of off-piste but I wouldn't be heading there for that reason.
There will be other routes - but I know you can reach Fernie on a bus that goes to and from Calgary airport. When we were looking in it, it seemed a lot more tricky to reach Red Mountain without your own wheels.
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You know it makes sense.
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Panorama Mountain resort is also worth a visit if they’ve had fresh snow. They often go longer than most resorts without freshies and when they do it gets very icy. But their double black terrain after a fresh dump is awesome.
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