RV in Canada-Mountain Collective tour...?

[Sparwood Dave]

Any thoughts on Fernie, kicking horse, kimberly(MAX) Vs. Banff, Revy, Lake Lousie? Are either ones better for that time of year (early January)?

Not exactly prime time for any of them but you never know. Weather boffins say they are on a La Nina watch.
Bear in mind Fernie gets much more snow (and rain) than Kimberly or Panorama which are both more cruising oriented compared to Fernie. Factoid -the Elk Valley has the easternmost temperate climate in North America.
My favorite hill is Castle on the other side of the Continental Divide about two hours from Fernie. I like it so much I wrote this blurb
https://www.google.ca/search?q=unoff...hrome&ie=UTF-8

No need for stealth. $15, park right in the lot and access to showers, etc.
http://www.skicastle.ca/lodging/

[jacob_dbu]

Not exactly prime time for any of them but you never know.

I'll be heading up here mid-March. How's the weather/snow look at that point? I've never been up to the Canadian Rockies so I've got no idea.

[mntlion]

I'll be heading up here mid-March. How's the weather/snow look at that point? I've never been up to the Canadian Rockies so I've got no idea.

full winter mode. Good base, good coverage, not usually as cold, more light. We usually are gaining snow base until late april/early may at elevation.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Anyone out there who's flown into Calgary, rented an RV and toured the ski areas that are included in the Mountain Collective pass?

My wife and I are looking into flying from Colorado up to Calgary in late December. We want to burn our tickets at Revelstoke, Lake Louise, and Banff and do some touring in those areas too.

We've done a lot of winter truck camper camping/skiing, so know what it entails and we like it.

We're most interested in renting an RV so we'll have more freedom and not be locked in to room reservations... The RV rental place in Calgary says their RVs are winter equipped...

Any experiences or advice from folks who've done this- such as the feasibility of winter rv camping in those area, do we really need a 4x4 to get around, best touring around those areas...

Hey dude,
I did the Powder HWY Loop RV trip this past March. Hands down, trip of a lifetime. Cheaper than my AK trips, and best of all, no down days. Flew from Reno-Seattle-Calgary. We rented an RV thru CanaDream RV's. They were super cool, very professional, no hidden fee's or bullshit. RV was waiting for us first thing in the morning and after a quick briefing, me and my old Mammoth roomie were off. It was like the Sierra winter of 16/17 followed us, it snowed everyday we were there for the entire trip. Fucking epic. Did the whole loop starting in Lake Louise (cold), Kicking horse (relentless from top to bottom), Revi (heavy bro factor, over rated) Whitewater (slow double chair=pow all day long), Kimberly (fun carvers on the groomed) Red (scored 1 ft pow) Panorama (mellow terrain) and saved what was our fav, Fernie (face shots every tree run) for last. Stayed there for 3 days of some of the deepest, steepest tree skiing I've ever had.

Polar Peak chair at Fernie. Clouds lifted on the last day to get a look at what we had been skiing. With the exception of Revi (one night only), every place welcomed you to post up in the parking lot and camp . The security guard at Whitewater said the lodge was open at night if we needed to use the bathrooms. AT Fernie we were directed to lot #4 by security and told "They just lit the bon fire." Party was on. Another bonus, every ski area was filled with super cute, friendly Aussie and Kiwi girls. Very fun to hang out with.

To answer any questions on cost's, at the time we were there last March the US$ had a very favorable exchange rate against the loonie of $1 to $1.36. So essentially everything was 36% off. The price for the RV for 12 nights with unlimited miles a approximately $1800 CAN. Exchange rate brought that down to around $1200 US split between me and my bro. Only other expenses were gas, beer, and lift tickets which we got some deals on as thru PSIA. First part of March seems to be ideal as it's not bitterly cold and the days are a bit longer. Check out the town of Nelson if you get a chance. Super cool vibe, great music in the bars, and a has a dispensary located next to a burrito shop that sold some of the strongest weed I've ever smoked. A combo of BC Northern Lights/Purple Haze that almost felt like an acid trip. Crazy.

End of the day at Revelstoke bar. If there's any questions you have, don't hesitate to ask or PM me.

Cheers and happy travels,
Christian

[jacob_dbu]

Helluva post thanks!

How did you feel about driving the RV through the winter?

What is the deal with RV insurance? Maybe you didn't even worry about it, but I usually try and put rentals on my credit card with primary insurance coverage. They don't cover RV's though.

[dufferdan]

My son was in a freestyle program and we would drive around the province to various competitions. One of his teammates family did it in a 36’ RV. Like traveling turtle, house on back. We would frequently hang on the RV for post ski beers and it was incredibly civilized. After a few years of traveling with the B-team, he had most places wired. I just don’t know the details, except the parking lot at Castle was friendly to him hanging there for weekend. We discussed rubber. Apparently his unit was a rock in snow, just drive for conditions. A lot of his tires were standard issue for the vehicle.

If renting, even an AWD or 4WD SUV, I am an anal retentive proponent of snow tires. Just me.

In winter, the sketchiest drives are TransCanada Rogers Pass and I have had horrid luck with Crows Nest Pass from Eastern slopes through to Fernie. HWY 93 Castle Junction to Radium has had delays for avvy control the last few years.

Not much to add, except December in Rockies and Purcell’s can be damn cold. -20*C and below at times. Be prepared with layers.

If picking and choosing resorts on the “powder highway” and have limited days, I’d pass on Kimberly and Fairmont for favour Panorama, Kicking Horse and Fernie. Agree that Castle is a gem. Panorama gets slagged a lot around here, but (and full disclosure of my bias, I own a home there) I still think Pano has the best combo of terrain for a family anywhere. They opened up some more terrain at the far end of Tayton Bowl last year and this, and I have been told the now 5 years of summer glading cutting was taken to another level this past summer.

To the Aussi/Kiwi comment, my brother worked at both Pano and Kicking Horse (add a decade at Whistler -BlackComb). His comment was always if he can hire 150 Aussie for a seasonal staff of 600, he was set. Aussies make everyone happy!

[bovine]

Excellent beta and thanks! We've gone ahead and bought our plane tickets-flying out of Grand Junction to Calgary was pretty cheap- $470/ticket. We decided to rent a 4x4 suv and we've got a room at the Best Western Plus in Revelstoke.
From a post on Wildsnow I read that they serve a huge breakfast buffet and the rooms are good- the shuttle stop to the ski area is right out front of the place too. Not quite as cheap as some places, but if it will keep my wife happy, its well worth it.
We'll ski the area a couple days and most likely, tour Rogers a couple days before heading back east to ski Banff and Lake Louise.
Lake Louise looks pretty sweet! Lots of hike-to terrain. I hope the snow gods are smiling on us...
I'd love to just RV around the powder zones up in BC for a few weeks, but that'll have to wait another 10 years until I retire...
For this trip, we'll be up there for 10 days- skiing 8, so we should get a good feel for what its like and get us dialed for the next trip up.
I wouldn't be heading up there if it weren't for buying the Mountain Collective pass this season. We figured, what the heck, you only live once and its a great opportunity to ski some new places.

[dufferdan]

Enjoy our back yard! Hopefully your flights are early enough you can drive it in daylight, my preference. If you are bunking a night in Cowtown, happy to buy you a beer!


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[mntlion]

FYI: with the MC pass you have 2 days at sunshine and 2 days at LL included/free. If the light is good, go to SSV, bring beacon/shovel/probe and the freeride zones are fun to poke around in. LL has a bit more terrain for low light days (also amazing on a clear day) so ski both if you have time.

Good crew of banff folks can show you around the areas.

Also: watch for tempature inversions on cold days. Valley bottom vs top can be 10-20'C warmer up high.

[bovine]

Yep, we'll have our touring gear for sure! I'll make the call on which skis to bring as the time gets closer: Voile Chargers w/Dynafits, Line Bacons w/F12s, OR I may have something like a pair of Atomic Auto-109s and put my Ion 12s on them for something tourable, but also solid for area skiing....
I'm looking for some 109s for cheap to put the G3s on-more versatile than the Chargers and lighter than the Lines.... I'm geekin!

FYI: with the MC pass you have 2 days at sunshine and 2 days at LL included/free. If the light is good, go to SSV, bring beacon/shovel/probe and the freeride zones are fun to poke around in. LL has a bit more terrain for low light days (also amazing on a clear day) so ski both if you have time.

Good crew of banff folks can show you around the areas.

Also: watch for tempature inversions on cold days. Valley bottom vs top can be 10-20'C warmer up high.

[gepmeow]

Excellent beta and thanks! We've gone ahead and bought our plane tickets-flying out of Grand Junction to Calgary was pretty cheap- $470/ticket. We decided to rent a 4x4 suv and we've got a room at the Best Western Plus in Revelstoke.
From a post on Wildsnow I read that they serve a huge breakfast buffet and the rooms are good- the shuttle stop to the ski area is right out front of the place too. Not quite as cheap as some places, but if it will keep my wife happy, its well worth it.
We'll ski the area a couple days and most likely, tour Rogers a couple days before heading back east to ski Banff and Lake Louise.
Lake Louise looks pretty sweet! Lots of hike-to terrain. I hope the snow gods are smiling on us...
I'd love to just RV around the powder zones up in BC for a few weeks, but that'll have to wait another 10 years until I retire...
For this trip, we'll be up there for 10 days- skiing 8, so we should get a good feel for what its like and get us dialed for the next trip up.
I wouldn't be heading up there if it weren't for buying the Mountain Collective pass this season. We figured, what the heck, you only live once and its a great opportunity to ski some new places.

bovine PM sent. I have a similar trip planned for such timing so maybe we could connect.

[Shredhead]

The Best Western Plus is nice. Make your lunch off the buffet and bring it with you.
The warming hut/snack shop at the top of the Gondi is ridiculously small and the restaurant should be avoided, anytime it's busy.
Don't speed past the school, to or from the mountain, if you drive.

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Helluva post thanks!

How did you feel about driving the RV through the winter?
What is the deal with RV insurance? Maybe you didn't even worry about it, but I usually try and put rentals on my credit card with primary insurance coverage. They don't cover RV's though.

Driving wasn't too bad, and we never had to chain up. Once we got West of Lake Louise, temperatures were much warmer and most of the hwys were right at the rain/snow levels. Toughest drive was the last two miles into the Whitewater parking lot. Dumping snow, whiteout vis, took two tries to make it up the last hill and into the parking lot. We pitched it into a snow bank in the lot next to some guy that was bermed in and said he had been their six weeks. Epic pow day followed.

As for insurance, I used my Triple "A" visa and was covered for the rental. We did take the optional glass coverage for the wind shield. It's only a couple bucks a day, and well worth it with the amount of gravel/cinders on the roads.

One thing we quickly discovered and is an example of our over reliance on technology was that both mine and my bro's iphone 5's died the second we flew over the Canadian border and didn't work until we flew back. Hadn't anticipated that. So we went old school road tripping. No phones, no internet, no google maps etc. We bought a paper BC map and took it up to the counter of every gas station we stopped at and asked, "How do we get here?" and/or "Where the f&ck are we?" Here we were, a couple of Californian's, lost, baked out of minds on BC bud (no coincidence), and we never found anyone unwilling to patiently give directions. Canadiens were some of the friendliest, most helpful people I've ever met. Directions were usually followed with
"0h yah, gonna be some good powder there, eh"

[Sotto]

Sweet