Where to ski in Canada?????

Wanted to know where people would recomend we ski in Canada next year?

My wife and I are competent off-piste skiers and happy in steep and deep conditions where as some of my mates are intermediate and there will be a couple of ski virgins. We would prefer somewhere for the more advanced with an option of hiring a guide for some back country stuff but with somewhere for the rest to enjoy aswell. I've never been to Canada skiing before so would appreciate any advice, we have skied in La Grave, Fance for the last 6 years and spent a season there 2 yrs ago and now fancy a change.:)

I would suggest Whistler. However the Alberta area (Sunshine/ Lake Louis) would be another good option. I've been to both and would highly suggest it.:wink:

hint: try to use the 'search' function for lots of great information

simply put, go west. much better skiing in british columbia and alberta than in the provinces back east.

My favorite hill by far is Kicking Horse in Golden, BC. Think heli-skiing with a gondola to the top. epic.

Ive heard Quebec has good snow with nice french speaking locals and lots of of old world ambiance that you euros love so much. whistler is played.

Yep. Biggest ski resort in Canada is Whistler, and they just opened up a new bowl - with a new high-speed quad too! The backcountry has also been opened to make it more accessible to people, and there's lots of backcountry tours being offered by local companies...

also both whistler and banff have direct flights to van and calgary, so the flight and bus/drive time is fast.

Whistler is more of a resort: some ski in ski out, walking village only, 1 ski area (well 1 with two sides), young town 30ish years ago was nothing.

banff is a 100yr old town, not just a resort, (old by NA standards) that has some great skiing, all resorts (sunshine, lake louise and norquay) are all drive to (great bus service), nothing ski in /out.

This is the nicest i've ever seen one of these threads go!

blue river ontario is gonna get hosed with a foot of snow, its like a 10 year event go.

There is also Fernie which is about 3 hours south of Banff and Lake Louise. Again, another town that existed before the ski hill.

What do you have for time, a month? 2 months? Hit 'em all...

You want to Ski at a resort in BC? Then Head to Red for killer terrain and no line ups. Whisler for line up and killer terrain, Else check out Kicking horse or fernie.

If your looking for good guided stuff. check out GCH in golden for a great hut base. OR looking to do some intermed touring, try needle peak on the coquahalla, Keith hut on the duffy lakes road, or I dunno, Kan country, or the Wapta traverve in the rockies (glacier travel)

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Originally Posted by powder11

Ive heard Quebec has good snow with nice french speaking locals and lots of of old world ambiance that you euros love so much. whistler is played.

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heh heh ;)

Mat,

Whistler is going to be the least hassle and most euro feeling of the available choices. For a mixed ability group it'd be the perfect place. Amazing skiing and lot's to keep the others happy off the slopes.

Recommend spending a night or so in Vancouver if you can.

there's an awful lot of brits trying and liking Whistler this year. The Banff area as mentioned is also very worthwhile - usually a tad colder but still amazing skiing.

For guided backcountry in whistler look here http://www.whistlerguides.com/

My biased opinion...

Whistler (or Pissler as it can be known) has excellent terrain, but is busy as hell. You also take a chance with the weather since it's close to sea level.

Banff may be colder, but it has more reliable conditions and a fraction of the people, not to mention the three resorts already mentioned.

Mt. Norquay is literally spitting distance from Banff (I'd be able to see it as I type this if it wasn't snowing so hard right now!), and is small but steep.

Sunshine Village has great terrain and excellent snow.

Lake Louise is huge, and has lots of big double-black runs.

As mentioned, great bus service and a flexible pass usable at all three resorts makes staying in Banff the logical choice. We have the most snow we've had in almost 40 years, and the town of Banff has all the bars, restaurants, and hotels you could shake a pole at.

First of forget about going anywhere but bc or alberta as they are the only provinces with real mountains (no offence eastern mags) whistler is huge and can be

busy but it usualy not to bad unless ur there on a holiday (especially christmas dont go at christmas or new years). With whistler there is always the chance of

mild weather but gennerally it is almost always cold enuff for snow in the alpine even tho it rains alot in the village. I have never been to banff or kicking horse

but have heard very good things about both especially kicking horse. If you have 3-4 weeks you can probably try out alot of the good resorts in bc/alberta.

If you come to Whistler you are going to feel right at home, there is a true British invasion this season, I hear more british than australian these days.

So I'd suggest going somewhere more canadian, although you could be leaving London and skiing less than 24 hours later by going to Whistler...

My advice would be to fly to Vancouver and rent a car the initial drive to the rockies is long but after that it's not that bad.