Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 61 total)
  • Snowboarding in the US and Canada. Worth the trip?
  • Daisy_Duke
    Free Member

    Just planning our annual boarding trip to France. We’ve been about a dozen times now, but I was thinking of going to The US or Canada? Is it something we need to experience or are we better off sticking to Europe, bearing in mind the cost and length of flight? Very happy driving to France, but wondered at somepoint do we need to take the plunge and experience something different..

    willard
    Full Member

    I would say so, or at least consider it.

    I’ve been to Banff twice now and really enjoyed it there. People are friendly, the snow was good, the slopes were huge and like a playground and the food was nice. It was also cheaper than goign to France for two weeks.

    DezB
    Free Member

    Went to Mammoth years ago, only the length of flight stop us going back every year. It’s…. AWESOME.
    Definitely worth going.

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    tonyd
    Full Member

    Not ridden in the US but have in Canada – Fernie, Lake Louise, Sunshine, couple of other places. Depends what you want but I’d highly recommend it.

    Not sure what Vancouver is like but if you believe the hype it’s the dogs dangly bits. A mate has been there and a lot of Canada and loved it.

    It’s a little different over there in that most places you don’t stay on the hill – generally stay in town and get the bus/drive up to the lifts. This means that the apres ski can be a bit odd but it’s all good.

    Oh, and it’s frickin freezing Mr Bigglesworth.

    nbt
    Full Member

    Another vote to go – but to make it worth your while, make it a two week trip

    SaxonRider
    Full Member

    Banff is spectacular, but don’t neglect the possibility of a visit to Quebec. Mont Tremblant, for example, though not as big as any of the Rockies resorts, is pretty wonderful, and you get to visit Montreal at the same time.

    Dino
    Free Member

    Yeah
    Why not!!
    Either that or try somewhere new in Europe maybe?

    martymac
    Full Member

    do it, holidays are for discovering new places/things.

    igrf
    Free Member

    +1 Do it, had my best days riding ever in the states.

    FB-ATB
    Full Member

    Had a weekend in Mammoth after previous trips to France, Italy & Switzerland. Would love to go back for a longer trip. Has anywhere in Europe adopted the single queue line?

    nbt
    Full Member

    Most places in europe have a single queue line – everyone queues down one line, then waits at the front till their mates catch up 😆

    Seriously though Things are getting better – last time I was in Val d’Isere the lifties were proactively finding singles and pairs and trying to get every seat filled. Not perfect, but better

    sweaman2
    Free Member

    Ah – A thread I can really contribute to 😀

    So right now I’m living in Calgary and am approaching my 4th winter in Canada. Before that I was UK based and had skied in France / Switzerland for about 6 years visiting most of the French mega resorts but also a few of the smaller ones.

    Is it worth visiting Canada for skiing.. it depends on what you want in a holiday. It is very different. All of this is written with the exception of Whistler; I’ve never visited Whistler in the winter but it is not typical of Canadian ski resorts. I’ve mostly skied stuff within a days drive of Calgary.

    Canadian ski resorts are small compared to ones in France. So if you want to cruise around on groomed reds all day you’re going to get bored. Especially as they don’t tend to have lots of cafes or similar; just a base resort.

    If however you really want to push you skiing and get into the trees (lots of trees in Canada) and possibly ski steeper stuff than in Europe Canada might be for you.

    A key difference is that in Europe you have “on-piste” and “off-piste”; in Canada we have “in-bounds” and “out-of-bounds”. What this means in practice is that in Canada you can ski where ever you like inside the resort and it’s all been avalanche controlled. You don’t have to keep between the piste markers; but there is generally less grooming in Canada. So if you want to ski something very steep you probably can have at it.

    As said above most ski resorts are close to small towns and it is unusual (or impossible) to have ski-in, ski-out accommodation. (There are exceptions to this like Panorama but generally this is true).

    The snow can be fantastic but it isn’t always as good as the adverts suggest. My recommendation is always to hire a car and do a skiing road trip for a couple of weeks. That way you don’t get bored of resorts and to some extent can chase the snow. But you need to accept you’ll be travelling on Canadian roads in winter; most of the time they’re fine but occasionally they’re “entertaining”.

    On a good day the skiing in Canada can be very good. This is in the back country near Revelstoke…


    Rogers Pass Jan 2012 by Mark and Liz in Canada, on Flickr

    mark90
    Free Member

    Fernie, Banff, Lake Louise, Sunshine loved it. Would go again in preference to Europe. Main draw back is travel time, flight plus transfer, they can be long but worth it.

    McHamish
    Free Member

    I went to Banff a few years ago and really enjoyed it…although it was particularly cold!

    The good thing about Canada is the mountains are smaller than the European Alps, and due to the high snow fall you have a lot more tree runs. It was great fun going through narrow tree runs off piste where your options were to go straight, through a narrow gap, or hit a tree!

    Do it.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    YES! Been to Whistler, Banff (Lake Louise, Sunshine) and Fernie – all were excellent holidays.

    sweaman2 has covered it mainly.

    The other massive difference compared to the Alps is how quiet it can be. This is Lake Louise – the rider is my missus:

    I’ve done a few marked runs in Canada where I haven’t seen anyone else from top to bottom!

    Oh and of course there is better access to motorised transport which is heavily restricted in the Alps (e.g. catskiing, heliskiing and…

    …snowmobiling) 😀

    neiloxford
    Free Member

    Went to Whistler last year, EPIC…got a friends brother who is an instructor doing his 3rd year out there…there is nothing like it in Europe for the amount of snow you get and the size of on or off piste.

    Been to about 20 European resorts, so enough to compare it with…

    If you book before 1st November you get a 40% or so discount on ski pass…so you will find it expensive if you go this year…

    We booked accomodation though this websites, http://www.alluradirect.com/whistler/ which has really good value properties with hot tubs etc. then booked flights independently.

    Go for at least 10 days as jet lag is a hastle, means you wake up early for the first few days, so suggest getting fresh tracks which is a $15 ticket for all you can eat breakfast at the top of the mountain followed by an hour or so of just 400 or so people on the mountain. Very very highly recommended. We did every morning. One of the highlights of any ski trip.

    will go back as soon as money allows. Cost around £1500 for 12 days all in. No lessons, hire or guide as the brother knew the off piste.

    Also plan on Utah some day as people rate it a lot, but a fair bit of driving around pushed us towards Whistler first.

    neiloxford
    Free Member

    We had around 160cm of snow fall over the time we where there, not many places get that in 12 days 🙂 and that is not uncommon in whistler

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    If you go to Fernie then I HIGHLY recommend staying here:
    http://www.canadianpowdertours.com/thechalet.html

    Susan the chalet owner is an absolutely awesome cook and incredibly welcoming host.
    By far the best food I have ever eaten on a snowboarding holiday.

    Plus she has a hot tub out the back looking onto the mountain.

    GrahamS
    Full Member

    Oh just remembered the other huge difference:

    Lift Line in Europe: ill tempered shovefest with 80 folk from certain-nations-without-a-social-tradition-of-queueing standing on your board, poking you with ski poles and generally being annoying.

    Lift Line in Canada: generally non-existent. When there is one, expect utter courtesy and politeness. People will insist you go first. If you are on your own you’ll be ushered to the front. We queued at one lift which they had to stop it for a few minutes – so the lifty broke out the Trivial Pursuit cards and started shouting out questions. They even have little boxes of tissues at each lift for the cold noses.

    passtherizla
    Free Member

    GO!!!!!! you will not regret it, nothing wrong with Europe at all… The Canadian’s really know how to put a resort together.

    Been all over Canada riding snowboards and I will be going back there once mini me can ride.

    Vader
    Free Member

    carbon footprint would swing it for me

    rs
    Free Member

    carbon footprint would swing it for me

    a fresh dump of snow will cover that over like it wasn’t even there 😉

    rockfield
    Free Member

    Went to Niseko in Japan for 10 days – unbelieveable. Waist deep fresh everyday. Never been to anywhere with so much snow. Not as expensive as you would expect either, but its a bit of a mission to get there – flight to tokyo, internal flight north then a bus trip. Its honestly like being on the planet Hoth from empire strikes back. The only problem is its pretty much ruined boarding in Europe for me now. Skidding about on ice, and getting excited about 2 inches of fresh snow just doesnt have quite the same appeal anymore! Whistler is pretty awesome as well – but so busy – we waited for over 40 mins in a lift line one year. Its always good to try new places so i would say if you have the chance – go for it!

    tlr
    Full Member

    To slightly temper the above; I’ve skiied Fernie, Park City and Whistler over the last few years, and whilst the pistes have been immaculate, the off piste has been poor due to no fresh snow. I’d say that North American resorts are all about the snow, so without good snow they are poor; you cant spend a week cruising the piste stopping at Cafes if conditions aren’t ideal – you will soon get bored if you are a half competent skier.

    Obviously if conditions are good it will be amazing, but then so will most resorts in Europe.

    I guess I have just been unlucky (and conversely I seem to be very lucky in Europe).

    As above though, lift queues are non existent, and pistes are deathly quiet.

    Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative, and I would try it again, but it certainly ain’t all like it is in the videos. Best bet, as with all skiing trips is book as late as you can and chase the conditions, be they Europe or America.

    tlr
    Full Member

    Now Japan does appeal, the snow there really looks amazing!

    Mugboo
    Full Member

    First and foremost I loved snowboarding in France. Then I went to Big White, followed by two trips to Whistler and a a trip to Steamboat Springs. I will now go over the pond everytime.

    Munqe-chick
    Free Member

    DO IT! in 2007 when it was about 1.96 dollar to pound we got a week to Winter Park, Colorado for £600 that was flights, transfer, room only accommodation at a great hotel with micro brewery and lift passes. whole holiday a week in end was £800. Phenomenal week we returned in 2008 & 2010. we were there the year they had the worst snow in 25yrs it was still way better than a good yr in Europe. we were also there during Presidents day which is their huge bank holiday and it was like a “normal” busy French lift queue. the Americans are polite in the lift line and don’t stomp and scrape their skis over your board trashing it, they don’t have that ignorant barge into the lift line attitude to get to the front to wait for their mate’s as there is no way a Frenchie can get on a lift without his buddy. if you go to Colorado too you can go for a week as it is only a 9 hr flight into Denver then maybe 2 1/2 hr transfer you arrive around 1900 local time having had a 20 ish hr day get to bed 12 hours kip up ready to rock it’s not like going to Lake Tahoe or Canada where you need at least 10days to make it worthwhile. if you want more info feel free to drop us a line. nowhere near as cheap as it has been also just remember lift passes are super expensive in US so you want to try to get them included as they can be as much as £250 for a week each.

    plumber
    Free Member

    I would go to Canada/US every time

    in this order

    Whitefish Montana
    Blacktail Montana
    Powder Mountain Utah
    Fernie
    Castle Mountain BC
    Red Mountain BC
    Revelstoke
    Kicking Horse
    Heavenly and other resorts around Tahoe
    Sunshine – but only if I didn’t have to stop in Banff, its an absolute shithole

    Absolutely wont go again to
    Lake Louise
    Whistler
    Park City

    I’d seriously struggle to go to Europe again after years across the pond

    SaxonRider
    Full Member

    @Plumber

    What’s wrong with Lake Louise?!?

    harrytoo
    Free Member

    Freshtrackworld……

    Any suggestions for somewhere in April? Pretty solid red Skiier stuck with work commitments restricting my holidays until after mid March….

    Any suggestions welcome.

    djflexure
    Full Member

    Used to go to Banff with the Missus until we had kids and loved it. The town is fine, not particularly exciting but good for a few beers, decent meal and the odd moose. We always did well with the snow. Remember one day could only ski blacks as the snow was up to my neck (honest). Buses to mountains really well organised. Loved Sunshine and Lake Louise. Mt Norquay was fine. Went up to Kicking Horse too – still have the cool baseball cap, which has always been annoyingly just too small. Had a flat light day there so did not get the most out of it. People are a bit more polite than Europe,and running through the treeline is good.
    Thought that I would never get snow like it in Europe, but last time we were in Verbier it absolutely chucked it down. Still had more great days in Canada than anywhere else.

    toby1
    Full Member

    Or Banff for that matter? – I’ve not been there skiing, but it’s a great town.

    sweaman2
    Free Member

    Plumber, I think, is a former local. In my opinion Louise is a bit mixed as well to be honest.

    The front side is always icy and crowded (by Canadian standards)
    The backside has some nice stuff on it but it only opens later in the season as there is a lot of rocks on it. Also the very best stuff is accessible only by a tow from hell
    The larch area is nice but doesn’t have many glades
    However the main reason is that the restaurant area is awful at weekends (impossible to get a seat; full of skier racer mums guarding seats while their offspring are on the slopes).

    My list of preference goes like this…

    Red Mountain
    Castle Mountain
    Panorama
    Kicking Horse on a good day (but perhaps not now it’s an RCR resort)
    Sunshine
    Revelstoke – February onwards though.
    Lake Louise
    Fernie (I’ve had bad experiences with Fernie which put me off RCR in general)

    #edit# and yes I know complaining about restaurants when I should be skiing first lift to last lift is potentially lame but sometimes when it’s -25C everyone needs to warm up…

    labsey
    Free Member

    Went to Mammoth years ago, only the length of flight stop us going back every year. It’s…. AWESOME.
    Definitely worth going.

    This. Went skiing there about 10 years ago. Was great.

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    Oi you lot, stop recommending Fernie. I want it all to myself ;). Got two weeks there in feb.

    I’d echo most of what has been said that resorts are smaller than Europe, the queues are much better organised, it’s less crowded, and the après is a bit dull. You do need to go for two weeks though. I’ll also be heading to Europe too so I should get the best of both worlds this winter.

    john_drummer
    Free Member

    not been in winter, but did Canmore – Calgary – Kamloops (stopover) – Vancouver – Lake Louise (stopover) – Calgary in summer 2009.

    Canmore is nice, as is Banff; Lake Louise is good for a visit but we didn’t think much of Stalag Lake Louise Inn on the way back to the airport at Calgary.
    Kamloops was hot (won’t be in winter though!) and Vancouver was great – I’d happily go back. Heck I’d happily live there. But as it’s at sea level right next to the sea, the climate is pretty much like Manchester.

    headpotdog
    Free Member

    The only problem with going to North America or Canada is that it’ll spoil you. Europe will always be 2nd rate after that. I lived in Banff for a while & boarded at all the big resorts in Alberta. Wish I’d tried more of the BC resorts though, like Revelstoke & Fernie. The people are fantastic, the lift queues non existent & the powders amazing. Just got to put up with occasionally harsh temperatures (-35 degrees) & taking buses to the slopes each day.

    Went to Colorado too & was completely blown away by it. A list pass at Breckenridge took us to Vail, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, Copper Mountain & Beaver Creak. More waist deep powder than you can shake a stick at 🙂

    Really want to go back there NOW… Anyone want to buy a kidney???, ….maybe a child or two????? Just wondering……

    one_happy_hippy
    Free Member

    I agree with the ‘it’ll spoil you’ comment – after Banff europe was never the same.

    Banff / Lake Louise is amazing, massive wide long runs, lot of variety and easily accessible off piste powder without having to hike too far.

    Oh and the best snow I have ever seen – super dry fluffy pow they call Champagne Powder. Glorious.

    Got a deal for a few of us and worked out less than going to europe.

    No brainer really.

    Oh and Canadians are lovely people.

    greggparker9
    Free Member

    You won’t regret it… this is all!

    plumber
    Free Member

    Oh and Canadians are lovely people

    if you’re a tourist

    otherwise, not so much, f’sure hey

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