Family Day, who knew? Last minute Cat skiing near Golden BC?

[MMP]

Happy Family Day!

Just found out that we booked a week amidst the busiest ski weekend of the year in BC!

Most of the Cat skiing ops we've found are around Revelstoke. Any ideas for a longshot, last-minute place near Golden?

BTW, this entire part of Canada is one of the most beautiful places I've seen. And I'm old.

Thanks

[mtnbiker/boarder]

If ur in Golden the drive to ski Revy is worth a day (or two ) in itself plus Rodgers pass if u have touring gear, It’s not far. Enjoy your trip...

[JWoody]

Doing a similar trip in a couple weeks. I hope we do ok with snow, but I am skeptical. But, great getaway, along with 2 days at Rev. Stoked!

[TahoeJ]

Pretty tough to find last minute cat op spaces. You can get on some mailing lists for cancelations.

Revelstoke will be way less crowded than Kicking Horse so keep that in mind. Kicking Horse is great but there's a serious bottleneck issue with the gondy at the bottom on busy days. That place desperately needs another lift because it's awesome and it could fix that problem pretty easily.

[mntlion]

Kicking Horse is great but there's a serious bottleneck issue with the gondy at the bottom on busy days. That place desperately needs another lift because it's awesome and it could fix that problem pretty easily.

isn't that the same issue as reve?

[TahoeJ]

isn't that the same issue as reve?

Not really. You can just lap the stoke chair and be good to go.

[mooseknuckles]

Pretty tough to find last minute cat op spaces. You can get on some mailing lists for cancelations...

Island Lake sent an email out yesterday that contained the following...
Single seat February 26, 2020 - March 1
Single seat March 1, 2020 - March 5
6 seats March 11, 2020 - March 15
2 seats March 21, 2020 - March 24
Single seat April 2, 2020 - April 4

[TahoeJ]

Hmm... wish I hadn’t seen that. Might need to go check out some flight prices.

[GoldenBC]

Hahaha. Less busy? Revy numbers dwarf Kicking Horse.

[TahoeJ]

Less bottleneck...

[paulster2626]

Lets be fair: Revy and KH are both pretty much empty unless there's a weird reason for crowds.

KH is cool because it's easy to get to, and the lack of lifts gives a lot of hiking options which keeps the terrain somewhat empty.
Revy is cool because it's a bitch to get to, but there's a couple lifts up high that you can lap, and the bowl is easily accessed by the Stoke.

[TahoeJ]

Yep. I was specifically referring to the holiday in question. I waited in some LONG gondola lines at KH that weekend.

[californiagrown]

Island Lake sent an email out yesterday that contained the following...
Single seat February 26, 2020 - March 1
Single seat March 1, 2020 - March 5
6 seats March 11, 2020 - March 15
2 seats March 21, 2020 - March 24
Single seat April 2, 2020 - April 4

what kind of discount are you typically looking at if you book a last minute seat at a cat-op in BC? like 10% off the advertised rate, or more like 30-40%? Or no discount usually?

[Eastern Sierra Skier]

Pretty tough to find last minute cat op spaces. You can get on some mailing lists for cancelations.

Revelstoke will be way less crowded than Kicking Horse so keep that in mind. Kicking Horse is great but there's a serious bottleneck issue with the gondy at the bottom on busy days. That place desperately needs another lift because it's awesome and it could fix that problem pretty easily.

After three Powder HWY trips, my experience was the opposite. We skied almost right onto the KH gondi everytime, Revi was another story. I When I got in line for the 1st time at Revi I couldn't figure out why every single person in line had a backpack, even the ones that obviously looked like they weren't going near any backcountry. The reason.......You bring everything you need for the day with you so you don't ever have to come back down to the bottom, and wait in the long line to get on the Revi Gondola that was always there. Check this out....


Not my photo, it's from this guys blog http://kaiarrhea.blogspot.com/2014/01/
Wasn't quite that bad, but never less than at least 20 minutes. Makes KT look like a breeze.

[MMP]

After three Powder HWY trips, my experience was the opposite. We skied almost right onto the KH gondi everytime, Revi was another story. I When I got in line for the 1st time at Revi I couldn't figure out why every single person in line had a backpack, even the ones that obviously looked like they weren't going near any backcountry. The reason.......You bring everything you need for the day with you so you don't ever have to come back down to the bottom, and wait in the long line to get on the Revi Gondola that was always there. Check this out....


Not my photo, it's from this guys blog http://kaiarrhea.blogspot.com/2014/01/
Wasn't quite that bad, but never less than at least 20 minutes. Makes KT look like a breeze.

saw all the packs stashed at the base of Stoke and realized that was what was up. Saturday at Revy wasn't crowded, and definitely not by EC USA Holiday standards.

Beautiful country, look forward to going back.