 Poster: A snowHead
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Sunshine looks nice right now 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Russell, well, on Satuday, I heard that only a few (maybe only 2?) runs were open ..
But I'm sure its doing much better now. I'll be heading out there ASAP .. but for now I'm guessing that they've got more runs open.
I think I read somewhere that all thier ER's are open soooo .. we'll see <3
P.S - anyone heading down there soon?
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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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I hear from a native of Vancouver that Whistler's very good, but he doesn't have time to go! they're pleased after last year. BTW the guy runs a ski shop called Swiss Sport Haus, very helpful in selling me the last pair of Flexons in the world!!!
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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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It has been really very dry the last little while.... I have 3 weeks until im off and hoping that there will be a nice dump or two!
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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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I'm there in Feb. Wishing my life away.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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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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Whistler looks like it is in great shape! Im jealous! All the same.... i rather like that the hotel in below the snowline, I find whistler village a bit depressing since it is often so wet 
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It's also darned warm for the time of year in Alberta..... overall it seems very warm and very dry as compared to the norms....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Banff & Jasper update
Just got back from week in each.
Banff 22-28 Dec, Jasper 28-04
Rode Sunshine on 22nd, Louise thereafter. Maybe half of Sunshine open - Goats Eye unrideable except for the long blue 'easy' run down. Initially some patches of powder above Sunshine Village. Conditions poor on Lookout mountain, very hardpacked pistes. Snowpack claimed at about 1metre
Louise: had several inches of fresh snow on night of 23rd, so 24th was very pleasant. By the time we left on 28th, the pistes were down to hard-packed/icy in patches, all runs tracked out.
Snowmaking: in use at several junction areas.
Weather: 10/10 cloud, 'strong' winds (20-30km/h?) at Sunshine, negligible at Louise
Jasper: in summary, like an Alpine Spring. No snow since before Christmas. Lower runs hazardous, many protruding rocks, tree stumps, grass. Upper runs an introduction to 'extreme' skiing due to the number of obstacles, all pistes requiring skiers to navigate hazards.
Snowpack claimed at 49cm, tho' not clear where this is measured as grass clearly showing thro' on lower pistes.
Snowmaking: not present
Weather: mixed, latter days mostly sunny. Wind dropped to negligble during week.
Day temperatures at both resorts in the region of -5 to -10c, depending on sun.
In summary, conditions are unusually poor. (and I'd be disinclined to do another Xmas run to Canada based on my experience)
Resort review to follow.
h.
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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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hamilton, sorry to hear that. Not what you expect from a skiing hol in Canada, especially Sunshine where's it normally anything but sunny.
From a purely selfish point of view seems like I made a good choice for Big White/Sun Peaks this year - base of 160cm & seems to have been snowing continuously since Nov (I know I shouldn't have said that, still more than a month left for it to warm up, get rained on and all melt....)
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| Cathy Coins wrote: |
| From a purely selfish point of view seems like I made a good choice for Big White/Sun Peaks this year - base of 160cm & seems to have been snowing continuously since Nov :D (I know I shouldn't have said that, still more than a month left for it to warm up, get rained on and all melt....) |
Cathy Coins - shhh! It was even better in early Jan last year, but it all went pear shaped by Feb/early March. Did you read the reports last week of the Brit who'd spent $20000 (Canadian presumably - but still best part of £10k) taking his family to Whistler and vowed never to go back because it was so soggy?
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Robbie, Definitely agree about it being a risk early in the season. When we went 3 years back at Christmas time it was only open down to the bottom of the green chair and progressively opened over the course of the holiday. However, there was plenty of snow above there that more than made up for it and we had a brilliant time. Then on Christmas day it dropped a metre and the whole place was transformed. You pays your money and you takes your chances. It could have dumped at any point during the holiday.
17 sleeps *skulks off to find the packing spreadsheet*
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Poster: A snowHead
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PJ's
Ski Boots
Credit card...
done
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Robbie, ....grobag, body suits, sleepsuits, proper wipes, nappy sacks....as you can see it's not my packing I obsess about
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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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does anyone know how the skiing is at Lake Louse and at Kicking Horse
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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hamilton,
Nice to hear a real report, even if it is a bit worrying! We are heading for that area in 10 days time so I am definitely hoping for snow. That said, it does seem to be snowing at the moment..... I spoke to one of the transfer companies today and the woman did say that it has been unusually dry..... in honesty she said it was a month since the last snows.
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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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Good news in the Banff/Lake Louise region, fresh snow fell last night! Snow conditions seem alright on Mount Norquay (51cm) whilst in Lake Louise and Sunshine Village (particularly Sunshine!) its looking very good. 
Current temperature in Banff is -2.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Just back from 2 days at Whistler:
Jan 7th: Whistler
Peak was fairly decent, Harmony was quite crappy (coverage was fine, just the snow was hard). Long liftlines everywhere. We were going to do the Flute hike after lunch, as we'd talked to people who did it in the morning and said it was great, but when we got to the gate it was closed Instead went down a nice tree run that had some great snow, and ended up finding a place to build a powder kicker, also in nice snow. Got a ride back on a snowmobile from a really nice ski patrol guy around 4:30.
Reading this over it sound like a good report, but it should be noted that conditions were fairly hard everywhere except the peak chair and the backcountry stuff towards Flute.
Jan 8th: Blackcomb
Stayed over night so got up on one of the first chairs (Wizard chair). 7 cm fresh over night, but seemed like at least 10 in the high alpine. Glacier was closed in the morning, so we did a warmup run down Jersey Cream, then headed over to 7th Heaven and had a great run through the trees, with soft, dry, and largely untracked powder. Then headed over to Couloir Extreme which was nice but a bit more cut up. Then headed over to Spanky's which was again fairly nice, semi-tracked powder. Then back to 7th for the long traverse to I think Xiggy's Meadow (4 bowls or so over?), which had some good powder. After that a few more tree runs (more tracked than before but still pretty decent), then lunch as visibility dissapeared on 7th. After that we skied park, which was pretty hard-packed, sometimes very icey.
Weather was fairly cold and windy throughout the day, with good visibility through most of the day, though the odd time decending into clouds. Overall I felt that conditions were significantly better on Blackcomb, with shorter lift lines as well.
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Damnit! 35 cm overnight (night of Sunday, Jan 8th) at Whistler, and I'm back in Vancouver 
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Got back from Banff yesterday. There was loads of snow Thursday and Friday in both Lake Louise and Sunshine. LL needed it with the base being pretty icy.
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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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| Colin B wrote: |
| Got back from Banff yesterday. There was loads of snow Thursday and Friday in both Lake Louise and Sunshine. LL needed it with the base being pretty icy. |
While you were in LL did you hear any reports about the skiing at Kicking Horse Resort?
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oldefarms, I didn't go there but I heard earlier last week (before the snow around Banff later in the week) that Kicking Horse was struggling for snow.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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maybe a bit late, but when I was in Banff (so the week around Xmas),KH was really struggling - although they were getting a few cm here and there (which is _nothing_ as far as Canadians are concerned), the "bottom third" of the mountain was closed (according to their daily faxes) and I'm assuming it was technically impossible to ski out. I also presume they were allowing downloads. Of course, this may all have changed by now....
KH is really a 'fresh snow' kind of place, there's little point (IMHO) in going unless there was a good dump (>6 inches) the previous night....
Glad to hear that things are looking up around Banff, though.
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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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You know it makes sense.
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Any recent news from Lake Louise? According to their site it seems that there has been quite a bit of snow recently so I'm hoping things are going in the right direction for our trip there on the 8th.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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It looks like all the alberta resorts have been getting plenty..... even Jasper has had the better part of 18 inches in the last week which makes me a happy bunny! Lake Louise is meant to be in superb shape as well!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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buns, certainly looks very promising!
Alexandra, make sure you leave some snow for February and I look forward to seeing your report soon
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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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Just back from Whistler today (bit tired) snow was good from 7th onwards with 9th and 10th being really good with 14" Sunday night and 7" Monday night. Whole 7th Haven area was great. Think the figs were 53" in 9 days!
Just seen they have had 12" again overnight.
My first trip to Whistler couldn't really have been much better.
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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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We were looking at going to Whistler or Banff in March time, is the snow likely to be significantly better or significantly worse than it is currently? If it's not going to be superb then I'll just save the time/money and go to Europe.
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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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The later in the season, the more I would tend to be wary of whistler..... though if you look at whistler a year ago, it goes to show it can be a problem even at the best of times!
Banff is probably a safer bet given its temperatures are somewhat cooler.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Alexandra,
Another 10 inches overnight in LL! Nearly 3 feet in the last 8 days!
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magriggs,
Banff is usually excellent mid to late March: I've never known poor conditions at that time of the year. I was in Whistler last March and timed it just right for the arrival (at last) of the snow, so can't complain about that either.
I'll be back in Whistler this March, and it's looking good so far........
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There is usually loads of snow in Sunshine well into May
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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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March in Whistler is generally one of the better months as far as I know. Looking at Whistler's "Weather Statistics," there was 143 cm in March 04/05, 159 cm in March 03/04, 336 cm in March 02/03, and 124 cm in 01/02. One of the most snow-sure months for Whistler.
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Just to 2nd the 'march' thing, most of the locals in Banff also say that March is the most reliable for snow.
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FAQ
