Revelstoke, Banff and LL

**SpeLunker** · 03-04-2019, 08:55 AM

Hi all,

For whatever reason, I booked a flight out to Calgary months in advance to ski Revelstoke and the Banff resorts from 3/8 to 3/17. I've been watching the forecasts for these areas recently and its been pretty dry. Does anyone know where to get decent reports/forecasts for these areas? Better yet, does anyone ski there?

I'm an east coast weekend jong and I grit it out through stupid lift lines and ice all season long. The idea of taking a week off work and flying to the Canadian Rockies to get more of the same will test my sanity. Especially knowing some US resorts are having banner years. At this point, I'm considering cutting my losses in Canada and buying a expensive last minute flight to Tahoe to Jackson.

Is this last second audible crazy? I really cant tell because I really don't know the real condition at Revy/Banff. Thoughts?

**singlecross** · 03-04-2019, 09:06 AM

We just got into Banff from Maine last night and are skiing SSV for the week. There is no snow forecasted for the next few days at least. Maybe a few cm on Thursday/Friday. Current temp forecasts are -10F overnight warming to 20Fin the afternoons, sunny with no wind. Heading out for our first ski day on the hill in an hour and can update snow conditions if you wish.

**sillybunt2** · 03-04-2019, 09:09 AM

Here's a decent weather forecast for the region: https://www.avalanche.ca/weather/forecast

Weather has been cold in AB with not much fresh recently. BC has been warmer with sporadic snow. Best bet for first part of trip may be to head to BC. I'll let others who have been skiing there recently chime in. Search for a post by mtnlion about skiing banff. Jackson was great two weeks ago and looks to be holding up. Wish the weather was more predictable. Good luck.

**dufferdan** · 03-04-2019, 09:17 AM

I think Panorama and Fernie have been getting sporadic 10-20cm pieces in 24-48 hour bits. Some of the resort pay specialty forecaster so their websites might be best.

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**mntlion** · 03-04-2019, 10:05 AM

keep in mind that the rockies never really looses snow (no rain, or melt) and that banff area is never really crowded either (LL BUSY day is 7000 people, mammoth is 25,000, and LL has MORE terrain)

plus the views are amazing.

its a hill that the limited power lasts at, both due to people and snow quality

**TahoeJ** · 03-04-2019, 10:08 AM

It's likely going to rain in Tahoe during your trip dates... sure, we have a huge base of snow, but seriously don't come here then.

Edit: Mammoth would / should be fine, however.

**robnow** · 03-04-2019, 10:12 AM

Conditions at Sunshine yesterday were firm and any pow stashes in the shade were slow and grabby.

Singlecross, Milky Way in Delerium was skiing the softest yesterday (the open face all the way lookers/hikers right) but just be careful it’s sharky with most/all rocks hidden.

This has been a LONG and cold dry spell, week 9 now since the big dump beginning of January with maybe a 10cm here and 2 or 3 there...we need snow please. At least the cold has preserved what there is and it’s nice and grippy.

Skied with a Bavarian and Austrian duo yesterday who are here for the week, coming from their stellar couple months of snow at home that has since warmed drastically, they were satisfied with conditions although hoping for better in Revy.

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**XXX-er** · 03-04-2019, 10:25 AM

Yeah good point mtnlion, come to think of it I have never seen crazy amounts of people sking, i wonder if its mostly locals from cowtown ?

I personaly like lake lousy over sunshine, taking the bus is good, means you can sleep on the drive back,

banff has all kinds of places/restaurants to hang apres ski, buy shit on the good exchange rate

if you ski down east you will probably be happy enough, I don't remember ice instead the snow seems to have a styrafoam like quality which skis ok

used to go to rogers pass for 2 weeks every year , on the weekend my buddy would hit the medical confrence ( which paid the expenses) in banff where there would be no new snow, back to rogers after 3 days and there is 1/2 a meter of fresh

**thefortrees** · 03-04-2019, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by SpeLunker

Hi all,

For whatever reason, I booked a flight out to Calgary months in advance to ski Revelstoke and the Banff resorts from 3/8 to 3/17. I've been watching the forecasts for these areas recently and its been pretty dry. Does anyone know where to get decent reports/forecasts for these areas? Better yet, does anyone ski there?

I'm an east coast weekend jong and I grit it out through stupid lift lines and ice all season long. The idea of taking a week off work and flying to the Canadian Rockies to get more of the same will test my sanity. Especially knowing some US resorts are having banner years. At this point, I'm considering cutting my losses in Canada and buying a expensive last minute flight to Tahoe to Jackson.

Is this last second audible crazy? I really cant tell because I really don't know the real condition at Revy/Banff. Thoughts?

Go to Canada. It will still be a great ski experience - won't be as icy as you are used to and there won't be any lines. And, your $ goes much further.

**DougW** · 03-04-2019, 11:54 AM

Certainly go south to Fernie or even whitewater. Wife just came back and had two really good powder days at Whitewater. It would be worth the drive. KH kinda sucks ass right now cold as shit and hard. LL is going to be worse on both counts. SSV always sucks so there's that.

**mntlion** · 03-04-2019, 01:15 PM

also this

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...ighlight=banff

**kootenayskier** · 03-04-2019, 01:52 PM

Precipitation has been confined to Southern BC and further South since mid January. I skied Revy on Friday, and the resort still had reasonable coverage, snow quality was firm but not icy, and had a fun day cruising top to bottom groomers, skiing chalky bumps, and enjoying the views. Lift lines will be minimal unless they get snow, which doesn’t look likely anytime soon.

**plugboots** · 03-04-2019, 01:56 PM

Cold chalky steep snow is awesome. Get some.

**AlexC** · 03-04-2019, 02:33 PM

I live in Revy and there hasn't been a decent storm since the end of January - and only the one since mid-January. There's no powder to be found in bounds but it has stayed cold so the pistes are in pretty good shape, the moguls aren't too hard, and it isn't icy. Revy got a couple of new grooming machines not long ago and it has made a difference. There's three top-to-bottom groomers at Revy (Pitch Black, Snow Rodeo and Hot Sauce/Devil's Club) and they're all skiing fantastically right now. The snow is fast, but soft and grippy enough that you can really let it rip. I know no one comes here to ski groomers, but they're still miles better (and longer) than any you've skied out east. The views are pretty fantastic too.

RMR has a custom forecast on its website, and you can also check Environment Canada, Avalanche Canada and spotwx.com for more.

**Mike Rogers** · 03-04-2019, 03:09 PM

Fernie and Castle aren't on IKON or Mountain Collective (assuming you have a discount), but I have had good luck at both of these hills during Banff/Golden's drought. If conditions aren't to your liking you can always salvage the trip by heading south. Kind of hard to spend much money in Pincher Creek, so you might end up ahead in the end.

For what it is worth, I almost always find the snow on the backside of the summit and Paradise at Louise to be pretty decent. Not often powder, but good snow....in between the rocks.

**DougW** · 03-04-2019, 03:52 PM

Talking to people on the gondi who are doing the tour, fernie, LL RMR etc sounds like the only good snow lately has been Fernie. KH = RMR and doing better than LL. Whitewater and Red just got snow, two 15cm powder days last week. I can find boot top pow inbounds but its just a patch .

**singlecross** · 03-04-2019, 06:00 PM

Just got off the hill here at SSV after skiing all day. Weather was great... sunny and no wind, not really cold. Amazing views and scenery. Very nice people. Conditions are firm (not icy) groomers, chalky and grippy wind buff styrofoam bumps with some definite thin and bony spots...Meh. The hill seems a bit skied out after 6-8 weeks without significant snowfall... a foot of fresh snow would go a long way to improving things but when is that not the case! Heading into the Dive tomorrow after just feeling out the area and layout today with Mrs. singlecross. Hoping for better, less skied out conditions in there. Dive photo from Goats Eye today.

**Dr.Evil** · 03-04-2019, 06:10 PM

I live in Fernie and can confirm that conditions are really good right now. We've had a few good dumps in the past two weeks, 60ish cm a few weeks ago, and then another 30ish cm last weekend. It's been cold here so the tracked out snow is staying light and soft. It's even supposed to warm up this week. Fernie is 3 hours from Calgary, and Whitefish, Montana is 2 hours down the road from us. We've been catching the ends of the storms hitting Montana so conditions should be good there too.

**dufferdan** · 03-04-2019, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by DougW

Certainly go south to Fernie or even whitewater. Wife just came back and had two really good powder days at Whitewater. It would be worth the drive. KH kinda sucks ass right now cold as shit and hard. LL is going to be worse on both counts. SSV always sucks so there's that.

Long drive to WW, basically a day each way. I just skied Red and it was awesome, 20+ cm on the second day, a Saturday. The lines were forming at 8AM for 9AM lift open. You could hear the slathering of the masses licking their lips, but it was sweet. Scenery isn’t bad at Pano either.

I am headed to Fernie Wednesday, ski Thurs/Fri with friends, then we are gonna toddle up to our cabin in Pano for a long weekend. Not much in forecast anywhere in the area for the next week. Unfortunately.

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**plugboots** · 03-04-2019, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by singlecross

Just got off the hill here at SSV after skiing all day. Weather was great... sunny and no wind, not really cold. Amazing views and scenery. Very nice people. Conditions are firm (not icy) groomers, chalky and grippy wind buff styrofoam bumps with some definite thin and bony spots...Meh. The hill seems a bit skied out after 6-8 weeks without significant snowfall... a foot of fresh snow would go a long way to improving things but when is that not the case! Heading into the Dive tomorrow after just feeling out the area and layout today with Mrs. singlecross. Hoping for better, less skied out conditions in there. Dive photo from Goats Eye today.

Yeah, that looks just like Sunday River, meh.

**ak_powder_monkey** · 03-04-2019, 07:32 PM

Lake Louise was the coldest and driest place I've ever skied. I just don't think they get that much snow on that side of the range. I don't think I'll go back except maybe in April to ski corn everyone in Revy was like "oh year Banff is cold as fuck" Still managed to find some pow in all 3 of the big 3 weeks after it snowed, so there's that. Also skied at -20F which was a new experience I don't hope to repeat. (I have xc skied at -35 but that's different...)

**singlecross** · 03-04-2019, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by plugboots

Yeah, that looks just like Sunday River, meh.

No, no it does not. Terrain is not the issue, it's lack of significant snow for 6 weeks. SSV has a cumulative 187" of snow for the season while Sugarloaf has had 206" for the season. Should I have stayed home? Hell, no. I'm planning on having a great time here. It's skiing after all...

**GoldenBC** · 03-04-2019, 10:56 PM

Why would you fly to Canada and ski anything out of Banff and not Kicking Horse? That blows my mind. How bad is Kicking Horse's marketing? Honest question.

**TahoeJ** · 03-04-2019, 10:59 PM

Originally Posted by GoldenBC

Why would you fly to Canada and ski anything out of Banff and not Kicking Horse? That blows my mind. How bad is Kicking Horse's marketing? Honest question.

This..................

**hercule33** · 03-04-2019, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by GoldenBC

Why would you fly to Canada and ski anything out of Banff and not Kicking Horse? That blows my mind. How bad is Kicking Horse's marketing? Honest question.

Shhh.