So really affordable hippie ski towns have died, what about

[Caucasian Asian]

BC is filled with cheap mountain towns with amazing sled-accessed touring available. I'll add New Denver and the whole Lardeau area to the ones already mentioned. Meadow Creek in particular is pretty spectacular and smack in the middle of the Selkirks and Purcells. You can access Jumbo Pass from the west from there.

I came here to post this.
Last summer we sold my grandmother's house and property(house was on 4 lots) to a guy that liked camping in the area, but was tired of pulling his RV down there. He probably paid the same amount for the truck and trailer as he did for the house.

[XXX-er]

Western Montana.
Even Missoula.
Kinda.
Northern Idaho, I'd say, but that place is weird.

yeah so thats like a different fucking country eh?

[BCMtnHound]

Meadow Cr, the Lardeau and Duncan watersheds are a very special place. Spent almost a decade rediscovering all those old mining trails, helping an old trapper on his line, and almost completed the old circle route from the Duncan to Ferguson via Circle City from Marblehead/Howser townsite. Some really cool old draft dodgers out there still, but they are moving closer to civilization for health care now, if Argenta and Meadow Cr can be considered civilized!
Must get back for an extended visit one of these days. Kaslo-New Denver was pretty sweet until the cool kids discovered it but the north side of the highway up on London Ridge is still relatively uninfested last time I was there. It's a shame Kaslo is so expensive considering local professional work is almost non-existant or oversaturated - but the reasons are obvious.

[ACH]

yeah so thats like a different fucking country eh?

Still interesting tho (to me)...
Good thread, has me looking at maps...

[garyfromterrace]

Best clarify it's the east side of the N. Thompson R. for access from the door, or there might be a requirement for some pontoons to get to Dunn Pk or Mt Baldy

That is correct sir! Hey, you know about Dunn Peak eh? I had some pretty serious adventure in there back when... fucking mountain killed one of my buddies. Big terrain back in there and tough access (at least without a sled or quad).

[knowsam]

I just spend hours looking at maps and there is some quality content in this thread, thanks all... Though I now miss home more than I did hours ago (and it was a lot back then...)

[XXX-er]

Still interesting tho (to me)...
Good thread, has me looking at maps...

well look at XE.com and check out what the CAN & US dollars are trading, so depending on what kind of $ you got its worth roughly + or - 30% which is a BIG difference, and what is your citizen ship which determines can you work ... both very important questions to ask

we have a fine tradition at the ski hill of people on worker visa's marrying their landed immigrant status, one year a girl is serving you a beer, a year or 2 later she is visiting with her newborn !

[BFD]

$588,461 gets you this http://www.point2homes.com/CA/Home-F.../33275508.html
probably should of held off on the trailer in CO.

[Andyski]

That is correct sir! Hey, you know about Dunn Peak eh? I had some pretty serious adventure in there back when... fucking mountain killed one of my buddies. Big terrain back in there and tough access (at least without a sled or quad).

The N. couloir of Dunn is a fucking gem that I never got to ski due to weather going to shit the time I slogged out there from Baldy. Sled is good.


Didn't look to me (in the 2x I was up there) like there was much worth a damn on Baldy.

Blue River would definitely be where I'd look, though there are a bunch of awesome suggestions here. Do keep in mind that if that Valemont ski are goes in, it might change things up that way a bit.

[XXX-er]

A local told me that apparently Guggenhiem is buying up all the land in and around Dunster which is just a bunch of farm land fairly close to Valemont

[BCMtnHound]

That is correct sir! Hey, you know about Dunn Peak eh? I had some pretty serious adventure in there back when... fucking mountain killed one of my buddies. Big terrain back in there and tough access (at least without a sled or quad).

Might know your deceased friend's brother. He contracts for us from time to time, and spends his winters guiding up on Meadow Mtn. Sound familiar?

I've never taken the skis up Dunn, closest I've been was sledding around Harp to the east. I've been enjoying the Trophies and of course around Blue River the past few years, when the ladies of the my house are gracious and let me drop the honey-do list

[Johnny Casino]

Thanks for the replies - but maybe that was too easy. How about I narrow the criteria to include, must be able to sled and/or ski tour from your door and buy +5 acres for <$150K. That's got to start limiting it a bit, no?

Cheers

Why am I here...

[kootenayskier]

Ymir actually is that affordable hippie ski town where you can sled from your door, not some redneck backwater with a commute to the snow.

[XXX-er]

Really skiing is only 3-5 months of the year depending where you live which is the smaller part of life so if you live 20-30 min from town you will spend $$ to get there and if you need to get there often... it adds up

my buddy had a 375$ mortgage on a small cabin/2acres out in Quick except they came in every day and spent 600$ on fuel which means really he could afford a 1000 $ mortgage and have a bunch of extra time and truck wouldn't be worn outso he moved into town, the people who bought the little cabin lived there for a couple of years and it's also for sale again

[liv2ski]

^^^^For sure there are different strokes for different folks. Me, I would prefer not to have the next door neighbor 10 feet away from me, but living out in the sticks doesn't work either. Luckily my budget is fatter than the OP's to make my dreams a reality.

[zion zig zag]

This thread has caused me to spend a few hours looking at lots in rural BC. But looking at a map and picking a place close to mountains isn't good enough. There are huge swaths of land that are tenured by snowcat, heli and huts in BC, right? That would make access to a lot of the areas off limits to sled and touring? I started looking online for an all in one map that shows all of the various tenures in one place. Does such a map exist?

[AlexC]

Tenure just means you have the right to make money from an area. It's still open to the public and anyone who wants in can go there. I can go poach a heli-ski tenure and ski and sled it until it's tracked out, but only the heli-ski company can offer guided skiing there and profit from it.

[BCMtnHound]

This thread has caused me to spend a few hours looking at lots in rural BC. But looking at a map and picking a place close to mountains isn't good enough. There are huge swaths of land that are tenured by snowcat, heli and huts in BC, right? That would make access to a lot of the areas off limits to sled and touring? I started looking online for an all in one map that shows all of the various tenures in one place. Does such a map exist?

Maps are available, but I wouldn't worry about those tenures. Only closed rec areas are off limits - think ski resorts and the like. The vast majority of backcountry rec tenures are not exclusive to unguided recreation. The vast majority of backcountry roads are public use as well. You have to worry more about vehicle closures due to wildlife (I.e. Snowmobile closures for Caribou).

[XXX-er]

Maps are available, but I wouldn't worry about those tenures. Only closed rec areas are off limits - think ski resorts and the like. The vast majority of backcountry rec tenures are not exclusive to unguided recreation. The vast majority of backcountry roads are public use as well. You have to worry more about vehicle closures due to wildlife (I.e. Snowmobile closures for Caribou).

oh yeah we had that incident up here ...duno if you heard about it

[zion zig zag]

Ah, thanks for the explanation. So do most people stay out of those tenures because so much other terrain is available and/or they respect the tenure holders operation? Or is it common for that terrain to get tracked and skied? Or, are many of the tenures in areas that are other wise hard to access so they don't bother? I would think snowcat operations would be the low hanging fruit and easiest to ski and backcountry touring huts may be the least desirable.

[BCMtnHound]

Heh, answer is depends on location and who you are asking. Mr. Wiegele has a severe dislike of snowmobilers, not so much for tracking out terrain, but for all the volunteering he does to rescue them. There are conflicts where a guides terrain is influenced by a neighbouring lodge that brings in 'unguided' clients that now impacts the guide's product. Lots of gentleman agreements out there (Retallack certainly encourages sled tourers to stop in and ask what is open terrain off the groomed access tracks when I lived down there in the 90's). Certainly anywhere within 3hr drive of Vancouver the numbers of recreators are an impact on the local tenure holders, not so much an issue in the northern Rockies, Cariboos, or north coast. Ymir and Salmo can be a bit of a disappointment as the some of the most desireable terrain to the east is actually a very large chunk of private land turned nature conservancy (no sure on the current restrictions there anymore). But for most of the province there is enough terrain for all. Ask the locals and realtors when you are narrowing down the possibilities is the best advice I suppose

[XXX-er]

.. You have to worry more about vehicle closures due to wildlife (I.e. Snowmobile closures for Caribou).

sledders got rather upset over the Cariboo closures up the telkwa, it started with a doz anti-cariboo closure signs painted on 4x8 sheets of plywood and hung up in the trees high as a cherry picker could extend, then half way thru the season someone torched the gate off its hinges that secures the bridge over the Telkwa and threw it in the river

about a month later the gov hired a guy to weld the gate back up and they stacked those large cement blocks 6ft high right behind the gate so unless its got a crane no vehical will be crossing that bridge

which is all academic cuz even when the gate was there I seen tracks across the ice on the telkwa


I was drinking wine with a heli guide in canmore and he told me its possible to keep out sleds by bombing a drainage ...its like 50$ for a bomb sez buddy

[BCMtnHound]

Access closures are always contentious. The snowmobile user density out of Valemount has gone from a few hundred in a drainage over a season, to several thousands user visits in the same drainage within the past decade. Enforcement of recreation sled closures is very difficult, and often the ticketing reveals repeat offenders who just won't change. 1st nations can be bad for poaching in a neighbouring band's areas, taking only the backstraps and nose off a moose and leaving the rest. And we have traditionally had a culture of public access for a variety of users; when roads close, those old users tend not to take the changes well. I've been involved with the removal of old untenured or orphaned roads to alleviate the environmental and safety concerns associated with the structures, and some of the conversations with locals in both consultation and chance field encounters are interesting, to say the least

[BFD]

Enjoying this conversation. I was paying attention to it in the snowcat thread. Presently doing a relocation which will probably be my last. Having been displaced from several areas of AK conflict of user groups was something I was paying attention to. Opted to move to`an area where I can primarily recreate in a wilderness area. I have skied in some of the areas mentioned here. In one area the local we talked to was very concerned about large groups of snowmachine accessed skiers coming to the area.

[Dr. Crank]

There is a bit of feeling for some that they should be able to do whatever they want in the backcountry. Also, it becomes a sport itself to get around whatever barriers are used to close an area.

Hah, it's more a question of what you can't live without or away from, when choosing a BC location for ski and sled touring from the backdoor.
Apart from the S. Okanagan - Salmon Arm corridor, or within a couple hours drive of Vancouver metro, about 20min drive from any town you pick on the map will provide plenty of real estate opportunities for what the OP seeks.

Edit: Except for Ft St John. Ya, don't invest there. Or Victoria. All that hot air in the legislature makes even Mt Washington sweat.

OK, but what about the large area in the middle of the province from Kamloops up to Prince George via 97 and west on 16 to Topley? I wouldn't have thought anything in that region would be better than Salmon Arm, but I mention it because I'm genuinely curious if I'm missing something.