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1st I have never been. This is on my bucket list so I want to book as soon as I can.</p>
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Looking for insight in what to look for and what to avoid.</p>
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Thinking more towards the Selkirk range as that seems to be where most are located.</p>
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Any help would be grand. </p>
Sorry <p> thing going on. New phone so I'm think that's why.
Retallack was epic for me
Red was great also
Heard good things about mustang
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Retallack and Mustang are both excellent. Chatter Creek is really good. Big Red Cats is good but the snow isnt as consistent. Valhalla Powder Cats are definitely worthy. There are a bunch of really good ops. I would say available times and whether you can get into a group that fits your level of skiing.
Thank you whyturn and Goldmember.
I'd put Island Lake and Baldface before Big Red. Snowier locations and lodge based.
If your solo, I'd go last minute.
^^ Yes, both are good suggestions. Tha said, Big Red Cats and Valhalla, not being lodge based, are less expensive in total, if thats a consideration.
Need lodging.
I don't want to have to do anything but ski, eat and sleep. Add a beer here and there and I'm good. Thanks anyways.
At Big Red you can stay at Red Mountain and take the bus every day to the cat ski op. It's less than 30 mins awayQuote:
Originally Posted by Kenny Satch
Just had an incredible three-day trip to Skeena Cat Skiing. Not the easiest to get to (have to land in Terrace or Smithers, then they heli you in), but great terrain (all the alpine was open when we were there), funky glamping base camp, and it felt like a real adventure. Food/beer was solid, staff was rad. Our group of six (and one random guy) had the whole place to ourselves. Since they are more low-key (and you're staying in heated yurts), they tend to have availability throughout the season if you want to see what the conditions are like.
multi day or single?
remote lodge based or day in?
any area closer to you (fernie is not close to terrace, or rossland) BC is a big area.
you only, or a group?
iLL hasn’t gotten pretty cushy since the early days, but still hard to beat for a cat ski experience. Good terrain and still well managed as far as I know. If you want to treat yourself, this is a good callQuote:
Originally Posted by Shredhead;[emoji[emoji6[emoji640
I've only done Skeena Cat but that was like 2019 locals used to be able to could do 400$ days and its only a 45min drive to the Suskwa FSR
IME a good expericne is good snow/ good crew so the first trip bad snow/ meh random crew, the second trip good snow party CAT ya hoo
Chatter Creek, Fernie Wilderness Adventures and Island Lake Lodge are fantastic. Big fan of FWA.
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Originally Posted by mntlion
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It's 2 of us and we are looking at 3 or a day 4 day trip</p>
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Originally Posted by Kenny Satch
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Thank for this. We were looking into Skeena</p>
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The point about ability really had my cousin and I thinking about being in an advance group. We can ski almost anything and we can ski steep pow. The word expert isn't what I would call us but we've skied with experts and had no issues. It comes down to terrain and hucking cliffs isn't something I've done since my early 50s. I'm 62 and I'm not keen on being the guy holding everyone back</p>
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This typo crap is annoying !</p>
also money per vertical is about the same for heli vs cat. Yes cat is cheaper, but its 30 min rides back up vs 3 min rides back up.
odds are cat more in the trees and better on foggy days, heli can cover WAY more terrain and get into alpine as well
A interesting bit of BOTH is northern escape heli in terrace (flights often from Vancouver) they have a MASSive heli terrain and a full cat ski terrain in that for bad weather days.
^^ Thats also true of Snowwater. Really fun cat terrain on weather days.
Skeena heli is SO big that they advertise 5 times bigger than any other tenure as i understand Skeena cat got their tenure which is the lowest part of Skeena heli cuz there was so much skiing close enough and it was too far to fly cuz the bird ate too much fuel
when things are really fucked we see the skiers at HBM the ski hill Gary Matheson the owner of HBM has some part of Skeena Cat
Avoid big red, they just don't have the terrain. Monashee Pow and Mustang are awesome imo. Fun people and great lodges, consistent snow, wicked tree skiing.
Yes, forgot about Monashee. Good call
I would add in K3 for lodge or day trip options (they keep saying they will stop the day program, but every year it has still been going...!). Went for 10 years straight and had incredible conditions 8/10 years and epic conditions 2/10 years. I'd take those odds, everytime!
^^^ Yeah K3 is super fun too. Do a lot touring there and early and late season sled skiing.
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Lots of food for thought. Tree skiing is our jam but perhaps one day of heli would be worth it. Lots to think about. Keep the ideas coming and thank you everyone.</p>
I've ski'd White Grizzly, Retallack, Mustang & Island Lake. WG is a smaller 1 cat operation while the others all run multiple cats. If you hit it right with conditions, any cat-op can deliver some of the best skiing of your life.Be sure to give that magic 8-ball a good shake when choosing your dates.
Great Northern has been in consistently great for me plus the lodge doesn't have a liquor license so BYOB to your hearts content! Big savings!
Mustang has a beautiful lodge and great tree skiing.
K3 is great for early season because a lot of their best terrain is on solar aspects. Their best north-facing runs are easily-accessed by ski tourers if the Gorge Road is being plowed.
I've heard Chatter Creek is a great option in the spring because it's further north and a little bit higher than most other ops.
Retallack has great terrain and it's mostly north-facing. Their lodge is just off the highway and a fairly low-elevation, which is a plus and minus.
Does island lake lodge have higher elevation than Fernie/FWA? I had a great time doing a last minute FWA booking, but I'd be a little hesitant about booking far in advance given the Fernie area's tendency for the snow line to push up and make everything wet and heavy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuntmonkey
https://i.postimg.cc/RhGzdcvH/fwa-089.jpg
But if you can get a last minute seat and conditions are good, I'd say go for it. The terrain we got to ski wasn't crazy, but my group of randoms was all able to keep up. I felt like our run selections were made more on the basis of conditions and visibility, and not to keep the weaker skiers/riders alive.
Still somewhat terrified of the potential to book a longer lodge based trip and then get stuck with a bad group...
I once read an article in a ski mag where the author had visited several Cat Ski ops. He reported Island Lake had some of the steepest runs but it was springtime and those really steep runs were closed. Retallack had the most number of steep runs. I have skied Retallack and K3; both great but at Retallack I felt like I had to have my A game on every run...not really a bad thing. The Retallack lodge is drive to valley bottom which means about a 40+min cat ride each morning to get to the skiing to start the day. Other ops with a remote lodge, like Mustang, its away you go skiing out the door first run.
Thanks for the addition insight. Been getting "bad gateway 502" messages for a couple of days.
I'm taking all this great advice to book a trip myself but I'm finding everyone's favorite places are already booked for next year from Jan 1st to April 1st give or take a week. I wasn't expecting that.I'd guess they all give first dibs to previous customers and a huge majority come back year after year?
Yes, they all lock in repeat customers for the same times for the next season. Its sometimes hard to find slots unless the customers elect to pass. You really need to try and get a spot for the following season if possible or go somewhere else.
Crazy. That's a good business to have! I was thinking of treating the wife to a snowcat trip but a road trip to ski areas in that region would be a sweet Plan B for a lot cheaper. I signed up for a few mailing lists in hopes for 2025-26.
My friend looked at Valhalla when it was for sale before Baldface purchased them. The numbers were black, but a long way from a home run. Factoring in all the unforeseeables and projecting growth it was too much risk and work for the reward at that point in his life. So he remains just a customer. And I met the original owner a few times via a friend and I never even knew he founded the place until much later. He sold it right after he lost a client to an avi. Clearly that devastated him as it would me also.Quote:
Originally Posted by muted reborn
PreCovid, I was always able to surf seats in January. I think the PostCovid travel surge is waning.
I would book a loose Powder Highway road trip, with the ability to cancel everything.
Follow the cat ops on social media, they regularly post last minute seat openings for cheap.
Tried to get in to Selkirk Snowcat in late March / early April for a trip with my sister, but it was already too late to book for 25/26. Thanks everyone for the good beta, I'm going to do like el hefe said and follow some ops on social media