Mid March Ski trip input needed - Inland BC road trip beta

[Iowagriz]

Annual guys trip is mid-March this year. Looking to be north for best possible snow. Never been to the inland BC areas. All can ski expert terrain, 1/2 are still hard chargers, 1/2 need recovery time, but can still ski well.

2 of the group could drive from Seattle to Spokane; others would fly into Spokane. Then road trip north. What is a good 5 day road trip of ski areas? Would you stick to 2days at 2 areas? Or, try to fit 3-4 areas in at once with driving in the morning or at night?

Red Mountain - looks the most promising - appears we could easily spend 2 days expoloring
Whitewater - hard to tell from website, appears 4th best of this list, perhaps avoid?
Kimberly - looks decent
Fernie - have been to the town in summer, looks great , but easily a decent drive east of the others. If we go this far, I'd consider adding another day or two, hitting Whitefish and flying home out of Kalispell.

Maybe fold Schwietzer into the return back to Spokane.

Thoughts on how you'd ski this section of north America?

Big Sky/Bridger is also in play, want to stay north for best snow this year, but we have been there in the past and want to hit something new.

[skuff]

If you have only 5 days, don't waste time by driving around too much. I'd get lodging in either Rossland or Nelson and ski those 2 places. With good weather, it's ~1 hour drive between the 2 towns. Lodging in Rossland is most likely less expensive than Nelson. Nelson is a small town but has a more cosmopolitan feel, and Rossland is more like a kick-ass small town, with a ski area 5 minutes away.

[Gcooker]

I do the a similar trip each year as well, been doing so for the last 12 years. For only 5 days and mid march I'd look at doing a combo of Whitewater and Revelstoke. Red and Kimberly are pretty low and can things can be extremely variable in the Spring. Fernie is a good option as well, but I've never included it on my trips. You won't find expert terrain in Kimberly but the hill is empty and fun, people are rad and the town is pretty cool with a good food/pub/coffee scene.

Whitewater typically has better snow then Red, lots of side country and enough expert Terrain to keep anyone busy for 2 days. The drive through Nakusp up to Revy is perfect for exploring, lots of hotsprings a cool little Mountain Towns on the way. I say Revy or for that matter Kicking Horse because of the their elevation. If we get a warm spring you can hedge a bit by getting up high. Have fun! Should be great trip.

[muted]

Lotta good choices! Make sure your buddies don't have DUIs or other convictions that are a bigger deal in Canada. They need to sort that shit out and not go in the same car as you, ha.

Revy is a long drive, and you gotta time the ferry if you are pulling in late at night btw, but everywhere else is rainy that's a good back up plan.

[nortonwhis]

I've done a similar trip in the summer, and found the driving to be a night mare. After a long days skiing you wanna me drinking beers not sitting in wet gear in a car driving for 4 hours to the next resort. So i would def recommend only hitting 2 resorts. And then i would do as others have mentioned and play it on conditions. Wouldn't book unless you really feel you must.

[PNWbrit]

Whitewater - hard to tell from website, appears 4th best of this list, perhaps avoid?

Whitewater kicks ass, Nelson is a cool town.

You should defiantly avoid it at all costs.

[Ignatius]

As noted by Gcooker, elevation can be a major factor that time of year. I've hit rainy conditions at Red and WH2O in late Feb and early March. But, also good conditions at other times. WH2O is a decent bit taller than Red, which could make a big difference. But you can always daytrip whitewater from Rossland, or vice versa, if conditions warrant.

[kootenayskier]

Mid March conditions can vary widely, so best to adapt based on conditions, whether you’re chasing late season pow, groomers, or corn. It’s a slow time of year, so last minute bookings shouldn’t be an issue.

[GoldMember]

You might go Spokane to Castlegar (3.5 hrs) for two nights. Pick from Red or WW in the mornings, depending on reports. One day each or two at WW. Or two at Red, if the group decides. Then maybe head to Revy (3.5 hrs) for one or two days then to Kicking Horse. Something like that works pretty well. The only big day driving would be KH back to Spokane which is about six hours.

[Iowagriz]

Sounds like I'm reading the WW map wrong and misjudging the area. Thanks for setting me straight.

Also sounds like we have good options if we start out of Spokane and just plan on going north. Base out of a single town and pick based on weather/reports each morning.

I'd love to hit Kicking Horse or Revy - two that are high on my bucket list of "yet to be skied" areas.

Thanks for the quick tips....keep them coming

[GoldMember]

Yeah, do a little Googling on WW and read some articles. The classic 'lift-served' area isn't huge on a map but it's best known for good powder and excellent side-country access. It's a sleeper.

Here's a pretty good review: http://www.powderhounds.com/Canada/Whitewater.aspx

[plugboots]

I've done this a few times, and Red and WW works well. 3 days at each sort of thing. I like Rossland and Nelson, both are great to spend time at. We've also done Silver Star and Revelstoke as a trip as well, but for your group from Spokane etc. it's a haul. I love Fernie, but it's really too far away to be in this grouping, right? We've also done Apex and Big White as a trip, but the terrain over there ain't so great.

BTW, at Big White I was introduced to more of the Great White North's hospitality. We ordered Italian delivery and after asking about where to get wine, they delivered a nice Merlot with the order. Fuck America for no wine delivery. Thanks Trump!

[PNWbrit]

Sounds like I'm reading the WW map wrong and misjudging the area. Thanks for setting me straight.

Don't go expecting it to be some fancy mega resort. It's a relatively small area with just a simple day lodge at the base, the new glory ridge chair opened up a lot of terrain that used to ski shorter or require a hitch/shuttle back to the base though.

It does have some ridiculously great skiing, AMAZING food, a great small area that rocks vibe, and a group of hardcore locals that I've always found welcoming to visitors. There's some relatively easy side country options and their patrol do a great job with a sensible access policy and provide great information.

The town of Nelson just rocks.. if I had Canadian residency qualification I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Dancing Bear Inn is very cool budget option - don't be put off by it being "hostel" or there are some really nice VRBOs in town. there's a ton of info here already about WW and Nelson do a search.

I've not skied much at Red but to me at least it didn't live up to it's reputation. More resorty, lots of Brits on package vacations, weird layout that I couldn't get my head around,

S
I'd love to hit Kicking Horse or Revy - two that are high on my bucket list of "yet to be skied" areas.

Neither have really rocked my boat... although it's been a while since I've been to KH. I guess size isn't everything.

[Iowagriz]

Should have inquired on my first post....but what type of year are these ski areas having????

I assumed pretty good, as this was the NOAA target for snow this year and I know that Whitefish has been having a decent year (compared to most of the US).

Obviously, still a long ways out, but average so far this year? Above? Below?

[GoldMember]

I think all of these are about average or a bit above. I know we (Schweitzer) average 300"/yr and we're at just under 200" so far. We're doing okay. WW is virtually identical to us right now so they're probably about mid-season average for them. Red would be the same. Not sure about points north (Revy/KH) but I think we're all doing at least okay or better than average.

[DougW]

KH is doing very well base wise. see link Coverage is very solid though a bit harder than were used to when it gets ground down between storms.

https://www.facebook.com/kickinghors...type=3&theater

though have slow starts Dec/Jan and epic late Feb and March so who knows

[Shredhead]

Mid March conditions can vary widely, so best to adapt based on conditions, whether you’re chasing late season pow, groomers, or corn. It’s a slow time of year, so last minute bookings shouldn’t be an issue.

^^
This is the only way to do the Powder Hwy.


I would start in Nelson since WW has the most consistent conditions and make sure to hit WW early, for breakfast. It's a lot less hectic than lunch.
IMHO, Red's a much better hill than Revelstoke, if they have good snow. No reason to drive all that way for a short trip, unless you have too.
Big Red Cats is a big operation and not all that hard to get on Standby, if conditions are good.

[kootenayskier]

Should have inquired on my first post....but what type of year are these ski areas having????

I assumed pretty good, as this was the NOAA target for snow this year and I know that Whitefish has been having a decent year (compared to most of the US).

Obviously, still a long ways out, but average so far this year? Above? Below?

We’re having a completely normal (100% of average snowfall) year, which translates into great skiing.

[Kulharin]

Lift service elevation wise Fernie only has approx 100m on Red or Whitewater and contrary to popular belief, the summit of Red and WW lift service elevation is almost exactly the same, WW just gets a lot more snow and has a higher base elevation, but less vertical.. My experience with WW and Red and living in the Kootenays is that both can be great powder skiing in March with intermittent spring skiing... With a La Nina winter March is a fair month to bank on, but really you're always rolling the dice regardless of what month you go specially in this day n age where winters weather seems to be be flip flopping between the extremes more often... But on average I'd say a La Nina March is one of the best months to ski in the BC interior and Red and WW are great... Big White is also usually one of the best places in March with reliable snow as it's the highest elevation mountain in the BC southern interior.... those who knock Big White for it's terrain simply don't know the mountain well enough... I spent 4 years skiing big white and it has phenomenal alpine and tree skiing, pretty much any trees on the upper 2/3rds of the mountain are skiiable glades... The Gem Lake chair has more interesting/advanced terrain.

Avoiding WW to go to Kimberly would be the worst judgement call here ... WW gets more snow than any mountain in the BC interior including Revelstoke and Fernie and has excellent terrain... Kimberly is low elevation, gets very little snow with unremarkable terrain... dry side of the Purcell range much like Panorama. Ranking WW 4 on the list is wtf when I'd put it in 1st especially if you're looking for snow... Red I'd put first for terrain but WW receives far more snow on average. Fernie I've never skied at but here good things. Big White is fun n gets a lot of snow.

Revelstoke too but given your planned route it would be far out of the way...

[dufferdan]

I have never skied WW or Red, so defer to others opinions, but they sound about perfect to my mind.

Fernie can be awesome as it is in a real powder lane, but if a Pineapple Express goes through, you can go from waist deep one day to leg breaking slush and torrential rains the next. More of a crap shoot maybe than the others.

Comments on Kimberly are spot on.

KH isn’t my favorite due to the single gondola situation. You can either do laps on Stairway to heaven chair or you have a long ski out after 900 vertical of awesome chutes and such, though Terminator can be OK.

I have skied Revy during March break. At the top and North Bowl lift it was awesome, but cruising down to the main lodge for lunch and I nearly died going from -5*C and winter conditions to +5*C and spring slop in about 20 feet. Nearly took a huge header! And the last 2,000 vertical feet to the Lodge was heavy slugging on the legs. That being said, awesome terrain, slack country and cat skiing. The base is just at a really low elevation.

The one resort folks haven’t mentioned, and it can get slagged a lot, but is IMO a gem, is Panorama, if you are thinking of making the longer trek. 4,000 vertical on the nose, every summer for the past 5 years crews have gone all over the hill glading everywhere. You see a stand of trees, you can dive in. Front side lots of great lines in the silly named Extreme Dream zone, trees under the main front summit lift, and Tayton Bowl has a plethora of awesome terrain. March tends to get the best dumps of the season. Also, if so inclined, RK Heliski flies right out of the resort and a full day is about 850 Cdn. The terrain RK flies into (the Jumbo basin and drainage) is world class. I have skied with a buck of Euros and Americans who claim RK is as good or better than any of the other big providers. (CMH, Wiegle,etc). Not sure if that was to impress our guide, but that was the claim from all of them. RK gets fresh powder in to April as the terrain is that much higher than most in the region. Also, accommodation at Panorama is on the hill, ski in ski out. There is also some pretty good food for dinners. Grey’s Lodge ( now the Cabin) and the adjacent smokehouse are mid priced but have good pulled pork, etc. Grey Lodge is the B&B in the same building. That way breakfast included. Other eats are T-Bar (burgers, bar food etc) the New place that replaced the Fireside room. Can’t recall the name (OK) and main Lodge.

I mention only if you are making the longer trip. But Red and WW sound about perfect and less driving.

[mntlion]

nelson/ww if its snowing. if its raining head to banff (sunshine and lake louise)