Skiing and Snowboarding

[0773|=\]

I've ski'd Utah once. The Canyons. It was early season, but the one thing I remember was how dry the snow was. 3 PM with all kinds of tracks over the snow, and it's still loose and fluffy. It's awesome! Plenty of locals who get season passes and do a couple runs over lunch break on occasion. It's honestly that close to Salt Lake City.

Next time I got I'm gonna check out Snowbird.

[0773|=\]

Originally Posted by ExcaliburKid

Anyone ever been to Powder King? They only have something like 25 runs but they get this much snow 1250 cm (41 ft) annually

Buddy of mine owns property out there, goes at least once a year. I've never been myself, but from what he says, it's amazing. To the degree that they're digging out their lifts frequently from big dumps.

There's another place out by Terrace BC (the name escapes me) that supposedly gets the highest annual snowfall of any ski hill in North America. It's also closer to the coast, mind you, so I don't know how dry the snow is.

[Ayreonaut]

Originally Posted by Doug

The only cat skiing I've ever done was near Nelson. I'd like to try out some more cat operations in the Kootenays some day.

My dad used to work at a cat skiing operation. The way to the lodge was through Cherryville, but by the time you're up there you're pretty close to Revy (I think the closest I've gotten while sledding there is 15km).

Link

[MichaelS]

Originally Posted by freeweed

That's really interesting. In my admittedly limited experience here, the vast majority of people who even care about powder seem to be boarders. Most skiers I know shy away from heavy powder dumps (for whatever reason, I find it fun as hell even if I have no clue what I'm doing in it).

Skiing in powder can be difficult, and exhausting. But when you hit a good line, it is unbelievable.

Man, I need to stop reading this thread... I might try sand boarding here, I am curious to see how it stacks up to snow.

[Wooster]

Tracked powder can be extremely difficult, simply because you're level of resistance is never constant.

Untracked and really deep is actually quite easy I think.

I remember a day I had at Fortress about 6-7 years ago - it had snowed about a foot and a half in Calgary over two days so we knew Fortress was getting dumped on. Skipped out on school, braved the highway in a bald-tire 84 pontiac (especially dicey in the morley flats) and luckily made it alive to Fortress. There were about 25 people plus the lifties on the whole mountain on a tuesday. They had about 103 cm over the past 48 hours with it still coming down hard.

Almost total white out, but since the frontside runs are Fortress are straight down and decently steep it was PERFECT. You couldn't see 5 feet infront of your face, but since there were really no tracks and a waste deep powder you could just ski blind. If you just get into a good turning rhythm, it's almost automatic, and one of the best feelings in the world.

[ExcaliburKid]

Originally Posted by 0773|=\

Buddy of mine owns property out there, goes at least once a year. I've never been myself, but from what he says, it's amazing. To the degree that they're digging out their lifts frequently from big dumps.

There's another place out by Terrace BC (the name escapes me) that supposedly gets the highest annual snowfall of any ski hill in North America. It's also closer to the coast, mind you, so I don't know how dry the snow is.

Yeah, I had a buddy who went to PK once and said while riding up the lifts, you could literally drag your board/skis in the snow as you went up. I didnt know whether to believe him or not, but I can believe it now. Seems theres a good handful of relatively small ski hills in the northern BC interior that get an ass-load of snow. Too bad its so tough to get to those spots. I heard Smithers has a pretty solid hill too.

[ExcaliburKid]

Best pow day Ive had was in Fernie about 4 years ago with three of my friends. Griz was in fine form dumping somewhere around 40+cm in the bowls overnight. We knew Currie was going to be lined up, so we did a couple morning runs while they blasted away. About 1030 we decided to head to the top and see if Cedar was open. We got off Great Bear right as they were pulling the ropes away. Face shots would be an understatement. Snorkels were standard issue and it made me want to quit my job and move to the mountains. I swear I should have made my career as being a lift operator or something ski hill related, rather than sitting in an office.

[0773|=\]

Originally Posted by MichaelS

Skiing in powder can be difficult, and exhausting. But when you hit a good line, it is unbelievable.

Man, I need to stop reading this thread... I might try sand boarding here, I am curious to see how it stacks up to snow.

I've done that too. I was in Jeffrey's Bay in South Africa in February, and gave it a whirl. It's fun but definitely different. You have to wax your board every time you go down, and obviously dunes aren't going to be as big as mountains. I've heard Namibia is the place to go for dune boarding. They have the world's highest sand dunes in that country.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by 0773|=\

Buddy of mine owns property out there, goes at least once a year. I've never been myself, but from what he says, it's amazing. To the degree that they're digging out their lifts frequently from big dumps.

There's another place out by Terrace BC (the name escapes me) that supposedly gets the highest annual snowfall of any ski hill in North America. It's also closer to the coast, mind you, so I don't know how dry the snow is.

Mt. Baker in Washington state near Vancouver claims to get the highest snow of any resort. A weather station just outside the resort record close to 3,000 cm during the winter of 98-99. The resort claims an average annual snowall of close to 1,700 cm. Of course, that close to the Pacific, much of the snow has a very high moisture content.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by 0773|=\

I've ski'd Utah once. The Canyons. It was early season, but the one thing I remember was how dry the snow was. 3 PM with all kinds of tracks over the snow, and it's still loose and fluffy. It's awesome! Plenty of locals who get season passes and do a couple runs over lunch break on occasion. It's honestly that close to Salt Lake City.

Next time I got I'm gonna check out Snowbird.

The Cottonwood Canyons resorts are even close to SLC than the Park Citt resorts. There are suburban houses in Sandy that are literally 15 mintues from the parking lot at Snowbird. In light traffic and good roads, one can drive from downtown to Snowbird in less than 40 minutes.

Alta is the hardcore powder skiers' mountain. It gets the highest snowfall in the state, has a base area out of the 1950's and doesn't allow boarders. Snowbird is right next door. It gets slighly less snow, but better weather and has a more modern lift system and longer vertical. Brighton over in Big Cottonwood is the snowboarder equivalent of Alta. Like Alta, it dates back to the 1930's, but has an entirely high speed lift system. I was most suprised by Solitude, which is next door to Brighton. It is a smaller area, but has some amazing trees in Honeycomb Canyon and lives up to its name with minimal corwds. My only complaint about that place was the painfully slow lift system. That is being rectified with 2 new HSQ's this year and another planned for next.

[lubicon]

Definately not in the same league as Utah or Powder King, but they started making snow last night at COP.

[240glt]

Marmots' open tomorrow... looks not bad

http://www.skimarmot.com/skicams.html

[240glt]

One of my BC faves, Red mountain in Rossland is starting to shape up as well.

http://www.redresort.com/mountain/cams/

[0773|=\]

I'm getting excited! I want to ski NOW!!!

[freeweed]

Wow, anyone who's shying away because the conditions aren't ideal doesn't much care for skiing/riding. It was absolutely amazing at Sunshine today, considering how early it is and how little snow they officially have.

The 3 higher lifts were closed, so it was just the lower parts of the park open - but WOW. Other than a few really rocky areas, you'd think you were skiing on a meter of snow. Nice and soft, if a bit sticky - hard to get too much speed going, but thankfully it wasn't icy anywhere. It also snowed virtually all day so there should be yet more fresh by tomorrow. Some of the groomers couldn't hit every run yet due to the shallow snow, but I never noticed it. Steer away from the odd small dark patch and I don't think I hit a rock or gravel once.

You gotta be pretty picky (or not too excited about the activity) to not want to be out today. With well over half the park open there was plenty of variety in the terrain too, excepting long runs.

[Champion3]

Originally Posted by freeweed

You gotta be pretty picky (or not too excited about the activity) to not want to be out today. With well over half the park open there was plenty of variety in the terrain too, excepting long runs.

I'm not picky, I've just been burned before by their early season snow reports. Plus, I don't have rock skis.

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Champion3

I'm not picky, I've just been burned before by their early season snow reports. Plus, I don't have rock skis.

Same reason I wait till December.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Champion3

I'm not picky, I've just been burned before by their early season snow reports. Plus, I don't have rock skis.

6 hours out, 15 or so runs and I didn't once go over a rock. Not even gravel.

I'm telling you guys, waiting until December is silly if that's all you're worried about (the lack of longer runs is a real concern though).

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by freeweed

6 hours out, 15 or so runs and I didn't once go over a rock. Not even gravel.

I'm telling you guys, waiting until December is silly if that's all you're worried about (the lack of longer runs is a real concern though).

I already have a weekend booked in December, the only thing I need to decide is whether I'm going to Louise and Sunshine, or just the latter.

[freeweed]

Another week and it just gets better.

I realize it won't keep adding exponentially forever, but wow - am I ever happy to live somewhere with a 7 month season.