Thread: advice: revelstoke and KH or whistler

Over the past five years, I have skied at Alta and Snowbird and loved it. The steeps, powder, long length of trails, and layout of the mountains have made it a great place to ski. I have a cheap place to stay and get ½ price tickets at Alta (with my home-mountain season pass). I just want to ski my ass off and am looking for anything fancy and usually ski so hard I just have few beers and crash so nightlife is not a great need.

This year, for some crazy reason, I am interested in exploring another mountain.

I have been looking at

flying into Vancouver to Ski at Whistler
-or-
flying into into Calgary to ski at Revelstoke and Kicking Horse.


I have not skied at Whistler, Revelstoke, or Kicking Horse so I need some information on how these mountains stack up to Snowbird and Alta.

Do they have as steep bowls?

How is the tree skiing?

How does the snowfall compare? The Canadian areas seems to get more snow but are they in a thaw freeze cycle?

Do they have long runs that are set up to lap or are they very short drops with huge traverses and multiple lifts to get back to the goods?

Thanks,

Matt

Originally Posted by asland

Do they have as steep bowls?

W/BC has lots of steep skiing. I'm told KH does too but has a weird lift layout that has some flats at the bottom with awesome stuff up top.

How is the tree skiing?

At W/BC it's fantastic. Better than A/SB imo.

How does the snowfall compare? The Canadian areas seems to get more snow but are they in a thaw freeze cycle?

More snow that's heavier in general. If you're leery of heavier snow, that's a normal reaction to vacuous hype. It's just as fun. All areas can get freeze/thaw cycles, more frequently on lower mountain.

Do they have long runs that are set up to lap or are they very short drops with huge traverses and multiple lifts to get back to the goods?

There are lots of long runs that require no traverses and lots of long runs that require traverses and hikes and multiple lifts. Spanky's @BC and Peak Chair @ W are your friends.

In summary, if you haven't gone to B.C., go, there's a ton of great skiing.

I've skied Alta/Snowbird many times and they are both awesome, then a few of years ago we hit Whistler and it was incredible. The terrain is solid and we got 10" of pow every night we were there, that said the locals said it had rained there 3 weeks prior. Steep bowls...yeah try Flute Bowls, also Blackcomb had some great stuff too but I forget the names.

Never skied inbounds at Revy but the surrounding areas have incredible tree skiing and steep terrain. Don't think you can go wrong with either place.

Compared with Alta/Snowbird, Whistler's terrain will blow your mind, while KH and Revy will still impress. All of them get plenty of snow, but Whistler can often get wet, and KH is subject to dry spells. Whistler is the place to party, but can get busy, while you can have KH and especially Revy to yourself during the week.

Whistler is more expensive, but has everything a skier could ever want, all in one convenient package.

Revy has some of the best tree skiing around. KH is more alpine terrain - lots of nice chutes. They're around 1.5 hours apart, so keep that in mind if you're planning on driving back and forth a bunch.

Assuming comparable conditions, I'd go to Revy, KH, or Whistler over Alta/bird.

If I was on a budget, I'd go Revy / KH. If I didn't mind spending a bit more, I'd go to Whistler.

Have you checked the trail maps for these places?

KH - plenty of steep chutes that lead to great tree skiing on the lower mountain. The gondola accesses ~1000m (~3000+ft) vertical, not much mucking round with lifts which is good & bad.

Lots of tree skiing at Revy. IF the mountain is open top to bottom there is more vert than Kicking Horse. Skiing just the upper lifts at Revy give ~600m vert (I think?). If you want to ski top to bottom, there is 1 gondola then 1 lift.

Revy & Kicking Horse is the interior range, ie similar to Utah. Whistler is coastal.

I have skiied all five resorts quite a bit in the last 5 years. If you just want to ski yourself into the ground I say go to KH, and plan to spend a few days at Revy too. Take the tram at Snobird, add another 1100 feet of vert, add more alpine bowls and chutes, and then picture doing laps on that all day. That is Kicking Horse. It will punish you. The first time I skiied there my buddy said we would only get 6 runs per day if we did gondi laps. I didin't belive him, but he was pretty close to being right. Utah has the most reliable high-quality snow anywhere.....but KH and revy are off to a pretty good start this year and look promising. I have never been disappointed there on snow or terrain.

Whistler/Blackcomb are plenty big, have tons of terrain (nasty and nice), cool lifts, can kick your ass.......there are many ski resorts, but Whistler is a skiing universe and should be experienced at some point. Like most resorts, at W-BC you typically find youself sticking to one area or lift. At kicking horse you pretty much ski ALL the vertical ALL the time.....which is pretty rare.

Whistler is great skiing but your typical resort feel. KH and RS will have your less crowded steeps. Each is a different feel and not better than one another.

If you want good all around Whistler can't be beat. If you want just pure Black-double black uncrowded....go to KH. I personally love KH, but its all about skiing....there is no town/nightlife to speak of.

W/BC is massive with incredible terrain. It's busier and has heavier snow, but the terrain is amazing and endless. You can ski there for a week without getting bored. It also has the best nightlife of the three.

KH is all about the steep chutes up top. There's three major ridges you can ski out along and then drop down wherever you want. Then you ski down to the bottom and take the gondola up again. On a busy day, the lines at the gondola are a pain but when it's not busy you can rack up a lot of skiing in a day, depending on how much hiking you do.

Revy (my local hill) has the biggest vert, but you'll spend most of your time skiing the top 2,500 feet (The Stoke and Ripper chairs). That said, when the middle section is good, it's the best. That's when you can get 5,000 feet of consistent, steep fall line skiing, with endless glades, pillows and what not. When it's not good, you'll find yourself traversing out to North Bowl, skiing a good, but relatively short shot, and then hitting the cat track back to the Stoke. Also, Snow Rodeo, top-to-bottom, is the best groomer in the world.

In terms of snow, WB tends to get the most, followed by Revy and KH. WB also gets the heaviest snow.

I have had maybe 5 days of rain at KH over the previous two ski bum seasons, and only up to ~200ft above base. It's pretty much all good, all the time, although it gets chalky during the dry periods. Gondola gets busy on weekends, but on the upside, once you're up, there's pretty small demand for terrain. Which is infuckingcredible if you like steep. People bitch that you just rip down to the bottom after you're done with the alpine, but the trees are really good and plenty steep. Realistically, if you want good difficult skiing top-bottom, only about 5% or so of the vert is wasted on groomers.

Only skiied Revy two days, and none at w/b or west us.

Oh.......and as far as price etc goes, BC is not Utah. Be prepared to pay more for everything. I think you can get some motel/lift deals in Golden or in Revy for $125ish per person per night...but that is about as good as it gets.

BC = Bring Cash

You'll likely need a car for KH and Revy from Calgary, probably AWD...$$$$

Since you mentioned cheap in your OP flying into YVR and taking Bus to Whistler would be far cheaper. As already mentioned the scale of WB blows Altabird out of the water.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

You'll likely need a car for KH and Revy from Calgary, probably AWD...$$$$

Since you mentioned cheap in your OP flying into YVR and taking Bus to Whistler would be far cheaper. As already mentioned the scale of WB blows Altabird out of the water.

They run shuttles from Calgary to KH as I remember, or they did when I went back when the exchange was still running 1.4 CDN per USD, but it's a ~4hr drive. With the exchange running 1CDN to 0.98 USD today, nothing in BC is a bargain anymore. I do think a car would be in order to do both KH and Revy on the same trip.

I 'd have a hard time not advising someone to check out Whistler/Blackcomb though.

Also keep in mind that there's a time zone change between Revelstoke and Golden, so your ~150km mountain pass commute theoretically takes 2.5hrs one way and only 30 minutes the other. If you're getting up early to catch first lift this can be a blessing or a curse depending on which side of the pass you decide to stay on.

I've ridden at all three and think that pretty much everything you would want to consider has been covered. Golden and Revelstoke are ski towns, not ski resorts and you'll probably save money on accommodation and food but will spend what you save on car-hire and gas. The terrain at both mountains is incredible; KH has the steeps and Revy has some of the best tree riding going. If you're there during a serious storm cycle the highway between the two towns can and will be closed for avalanche control.

Whistler has all the terrain you could ever want and more reliable snowfall. It's expensive both for lift tickets, food and lodging but once you get into town you don't need to drive anywhere. It definitely feels like a ski resort and can get crowded even in mid-week depending on what time of year you're there.

Originally Posted by Jaffa

Golden and Revelstoke are ski towns, not ski resorts

Golden is kinda a shit hole.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

Golden is kinda a shit hole.

And Revelstoke isn't? Depends on your perspective, personally I love both towns but I'm a country boy at heart.

Originally Posted by Jaffa

And Revelstoke isn't?

It's less of one.

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

It's less of one.

Granted. Fair to say though that most towns in interior BC with some kind of ski-hill are, to some degree, shit holes.
Considered working for Tourism Revelstoke? "Revelstoke, less of a shit-hole than Golden" is a slogan sure to generate traction with the elusive "Happy to stay in a shit-hole town as long as it's not too much of a shit-hole" demographic!

^^^haaaaa. be a great bumper sticker

Originally Posted by Jaffa

Granted. Fair to say though that most towns in interior BC with some kind of ski-hill are, to some degree, shit holes.)

I always wondered when KH condo ownership was being marketed so aggressively to British skiers - on the back of WB's popularity and property boom profits - what the reaction of people was when they arrived in Golden on the way to their new investment dream home....

They're all sweet so just go where it's snowing. It's been like the calm before the Christmas crowds storm lately, me and a buddy pretty much had the hill to ourselves today didn't see a soul on 7th lol

Originally Posted by Jaffa

Also keep in mind that there's a time zone change between Revelstoke and Golden, so your ~150km mountain pass commute theoretically takes 2.5hrs one way and only 30 minutes the other. If you're getting up early to catch first lift this can be a blessing or a curse depending on which side of the pass you decide to stay on.

You can get to Rogers from Golden before you leave.

First thing you need to do is commit to skiing all those areas before you die. They are all world class, each will have various details that either detract or add to your own good time fun skeez.

Now come up with a complicated algorithm that allows you to factor into today's mid-mountain base depth, last week's 7 day average for snowfall, the price of beer/ounce (the only valid comparison metric across time and space), the number of press releases by the marketing department and the value derived by dividing the number of hotel beds by the days total of Craigslist postings in the venue promising >>>~~*~*~HOT 20-SOMETHING ACTION.

Repeat as necessary until all ski hills have been conquered

Originally Posted by PNWbrit

Golden is kinda a shit hole.

As I live there now I'll take offense. Yes gasoline alley and the view coming into town , motels and gas stations, isn't the greatest but the downtown has gotten a lot better. Oh and yes the Potterville style mobile home park on the west side of town made up of used mobiles on a flat treeless expanse where there once was a swamp. Ok that isn't so pretty. No zoning as outside of town limits.

You just have to view Golden from a viewpoint where Golden is blocked by a large mountain



See if that mountain wasn't there you could see Golden and its gas stations. But most urban areas would look better with a mountain in the way.