best catskiing operation in BC?

[whyturn]

Retallack was amazing. Great food and sick terrain. Also Karl the gnarl. But all those listed are great as well.


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[nickbokhoven]

Baldface Valhalla. Same team and culture Jeff started at the original with day trip options.


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[glademaster]

Unless I was able to book last minute, I would only look at ops in colder spots/at higher altitude.

The likelihood of midwinter rain at places like Retallack is far too high to spend the kind of coin a trip there costs if you’re booking a year in advance.

[hokkaides]

Unless I was able to book last minute, I would only look at ops in colder spots/at higher altitude.

The likelihood of midwinter rain at places like Retallack is far too high to spend the kind of coin a trip there costs if you’re booking a year in advance.

Thank you for recomendation, Could you give information about higher and cold sport please?

Chatter creek is higher, but I don´t know about Monashee or Baldface, I read about Selrik is colder place.

I haven´t been stay in Canada so all information Will be gold for me

[teamdirt]

Thank you for recomendation, Could you give information about higher and cold sport please?

Chatter creek is higher, but I don´t know about Monashee or Baldface, I read about Selrik is colder place.

I haven´t been stay in Canada so all information Will be gold for me

I live in the area and have skied at -in and around all these operations for decades.

To be safest since you are coming from the other side of the world-Book at Chatter Creek. It is the best Cat ski Terrain in North America with out a doubt. IT is located in a massive tenure with long tree runs, long pillow runs, Alpine white walls and anything else you could dream of. The terrain and scenary is breathtaking. IT is also the best bet for snow and not a chance of rain during the season. Its located beside an enormous icefield surrounded by high elevation peaks which keeps it cold. I've been skiing up there for the last decade in late March/April and it has always been good! My suggestion is book anytime Jan-mid March and you will be good! best of luck!

[LeeLau]

teamdirt is wise and a connoisseur. Chatters' elevation is among the highest and its terrain unmatched

[Treycal]

Chatters' elevation is among the highest and its terrain unmatched

Agree with all the above discussion about Chatter.

We’ve gone in early January (last trip before the price jump) for a number of years and have never been truly skunked for snow. The terrain is amazing. Lots of choice. Difficulty is getting a spot; however, with COVID, you might have a chance to grab some last minute spots.

And did someone mention “pillow lines”?

https://i.imgur.com/FgFyBd7.jpg


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[hokkaides]

I live in the area and have skied at -in and around all these operations for decades.

To be safest since you are coming from the other side of the world-Book at Chatter Creek. It is the best Cat ski Terrain in North America with out a doubt. IT is located in a massive tenure with long tree runs, long pillow runs, Alpine white walls and anything else you could dream of. The terrain and scenary is breathtaking. IT is also the best bet for snow and not a chance of rain during the season. Its located beside an enormous icefield surrounded by high elevation peaks which keeps it cold. I've been skiing up there for the last decade in late March/April and it has always been good! My suggestion is book anytime Jan-mid March and you will be good! best of luck!

Thank you so much. I apreciate very much your opinión.
Could you give me your opinión about snowboard? Plane Terrain? Tree Terrain isn't problem for me but I hate plane in backcountry

[Bandit Man]

Bumping this old thread. Anyone has experience with the cat-skiing outside out of Whistler?

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Big Red Cats?


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[Self Jupiter]

Agree with all the above discussion about Chatter.

We’ve gone in early January (last trip before the price jump) for a number of years and have never been truly skunked for snow. The terrain is amazing. Lots of choice. Difficulty is getting a spot; however, with COVID, you might have a chance to grab some last minute spots.

And did someone mention “pillow lines”?

https://i.imgur.com/FgFyBd7.jpg


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Sweet shot

[Bandit Man]

Big Red Cats?


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Sorry, should have been more specific. Buddy and I got seats on Powder Mountain Cat Skiing for tomorrow and curious if anyone had been on a day trip before.

[thecadgod]

I enjoyed Fernie Wilderness Adventure.

[Gcooker]

Sorry, should have been more specific. Buddy and I got seats on Powder Mountain Cat Skiing for tomorrow and curious if anyone had been on a day trip before.

You’ll be in a group of shitty tourist skiers, enjoy.

Edit - Weather looks good though ..

[2nd mate]

About 10 years ago I went out with powder mountain. It was a bit of a shitshow for a couple reasons. While booking we specifically asked about how they group skiers. They said by ability. We specifically asked for an advanced group. They told us we would be with an advanced group. We watched the rippers with ductape patched clothes and big sticks get in another van……we rode with the couple from mamouth with matching shiny onezies, that went rogue on the first run. The cat reported after 30 minutes of the guides searching that the offender just skied up to the cat🤙. We hit dome hike to terrain on the last run and i watched the lead guide sir off a cornice he never saw. I wanted to hit it too after I directed the rest of the group around it but the tail gunner/ photographer would not set up for a shot below me🤷🏻♂️. The 2nd guide was back with the people that took the last couple runs off. The whole op seemed by the seat of their pants. I would find a diff outfit if there was another one. Sorry i am just seeing this now. Good luck anyway. If they have lasted this long perhaps they are more dialed in now.

[CnRzG]

I've skied with Baldface before the lodge, Valhalla (before Baldface bought it,) Mustang, Chatter Creek, and Mt. Bailey, not in bc.... three times.. (With Oz). They were all incredible. Different flavors.

[nortonwhis]

Sorry, should have been more specific. Buddy and I got seats on Powder Mountain Cat Skiing for tomorrow and curious if anyone had been on a day trip before.

Hope you got after. Avi danger would be tough out there right now with the fresh snow and surface hoar around treeline.

[thecadgod]

I've skied with Baldface before the lodge, Valhalla (before Baldface bought it,) Mustang, Chatter Creek, and Mt. Bailey, not in bc.... three times.. (With Oz). They were all incredible. Different flavors.

Mount Bailey? Like Crystal lake in OR? How was it? Im curious if you go to Valhalla after BF bought them and what you think.

[CnRzG]

Mount Bailey? Like Crystal lake in OR? How was it? Im curious if you go to Valhalla after BF bought them and what you think.

Mount Bailey Snowcats at Diamond Lake Resort. Is amazing. Great snow. My first time there, 3/6/09, the cat broke down before we even got in it. Two hours later it was fixed. Aaaaanndd... because we were delayed a couple of hours, Oz let us ski till sunset. Never will I forget it.

I haven't been back to Valhalla since... I can't remember. I was there for an opening day session with 25 cm of fresh the night before. The terrain is incredible.

Mustang is pretty damned special too. I've been there twice. Both times over the Christmas Holiday. First time we got skunked. Second time we were blessed by ULLR with 30 cm the night before our skiing began. Lovely place.

I did seven days in a row from Christmas through New Years at Chatter. Cold and snowed practically the entire time. Amazing steep tree skiing, incredible pillows. Long long long runs from alpine to forest. Plus, the glacier skiing is sublime.

All my BC cat skiing was the last week in December. I love the coldest of the cold smoke and those really long nights make for very light powder. (Most of the time.)

[DanoT]

Retallack is known for having a lot of steep terrain, perhaps the most in B.C. Their lodge is drive to, so you can have your vehicle with you the whole time. But it means a long slow Cat ride first thing in the morning to get to the skiing.

I have not been there but have been told Mustang has a remote lodge that you ski down from first thing in the morning.

[XXX-er]

Been to Skeena cat ski twice cuz its only a 45 min drive IME its all about the conditions/ group,

the first time was lower snow/ shitty conditions/ slow group so sometimes the cat was beating the slower clients down

second time was more snow/ good conditions/ Rad group of 12 bros who always beat the Cat,

if you can fill the Cat you can hot box it

the guide said " keep it togetehr, when I open that door I don't wana see beer cans falling out "

[humanisto]

My understanding of the coast range is that you should expect clouds.


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[Bandit Man]

So, wanted to report back on how the day went with Powder Mountain out of Whistler.

There were two groups in two cats. My buddy and I were part of the “expert” skier group. Our group consisted of a young couple from Norway, three guys from Colorado and Michigan, a father-son from Quebec, a middle-aged mom and her 13-yo from Whistler, two guides and a photographer. I was a little Leary about how things would go based on the make up of the group. The other cat was full of 50-60 year old French-Canadians with all the wrong gear. I was glad they weren’t in our cat.

Whoever mentioned Avy danger was right. There are two zones the cats operate out of and we had the lower, more mellow terrain due to new deep snow conditions. Snow was nearly 3-feet deep in some spots. I have a 30” inseam and I stepped off the cat track to piss and sunk in all the way to my crouch. Yea, “crouch deep” for my first day cat skiing didn’t suck.

So, after a fun warm-up run, I was feeling more optimistic. Despite the deep snow, the group was skiing well and nobody was lagging. Turns out the Gal from Norway rips (she threw an unexpected 360 off a transition) and the little 13-yo was a total ripper. He threw a backflip of the same transition…and stuck it.

After a few runs down low, we went higher and got some longer, steeper lines. Stuff was sloughing pretty bad in the tight chutes, so I understood the conservative approach to lines. Snow conditions were stellar. We timed it well.

Guides could ski and due to the skill level of the group, found lines and terrain that fit the ability and struck a balance between fun and challenging. I never felt like anything was really difficult. In fact, I felt like the whole zone was like a bigger version of my home mountain, Stevens Pass on a really deep day, but without any competition for fresh lines.

So, we ended up getting 10 runs while only expecting to get 6-7 earlier in the day. The guides kept saying how cool it was to be in such a capable group because they had less to worry about and got to ski more. One guide had been a guide a Wiegle’s before and was a solid skier. The other was less of a ripper but super cool and would point out the best lines if you were towards the end of the line up. All in all, the experience surpassed expectations (well, terrain was a little more mild than I would have liked) and I feel like we got really lucky hitting the snow and group jackpot.

The zone we skied is called “Tricouni”. There is another zone higher up with longer Alpine terrain and descents called “Cypress” that they will hit today. Would be fun to try that zone another time.

[Bandit Man]

[CnRzG]

Looks like they have current season availability and prices look OK, but then they mention that helicopter transfer to their base is an additional $400 on top of the daily fees. This shit has gotten really expensive!

A day at mustang was 300 bucks when I started cat skiing. 7 days at Chatter was 2500.