Question about road trip through interior BC - chasing powder vs book lodging early?

[caderader]

Planning a trip to interior BC to ski with my dad from 2/22 - 3/2, that's a total of 7 days of skiing.

The only thing we have booked currently is a day of cat skiing with Big Red Cats on 2/26. Right now I'm thinking I want to fly into Spokane (Southwest points!) and chase powder for a few days and not do anything with lodging until we see where the best snow will be. The only thing I would go ahead and book is lodging in Rossland the night before our day with BRC. I've read in other threads, some of which are several years old, that you can find lodging in any of the interior BC ski towns (Nelson, Rossland, Fernie, Golden, & Revvy, etc.) with pretty short notice at this time of the year (late Feb). Is that still true?

I've also contemplated just going ahead and planning to split time between Red and Whitewater so as to reduce driving and have less things to have to fool with when we're out there. I'm really interested in making it to Kicking Horse or Revy but feel like I'd be trying to get to too many places in too few days if I start splitting it up that much.

Info on us: I like steep alpine and trees, particularly like places that have lots of small cliffs and terrain that allows for playful riding + the ability to scare myself a bit several times a trip...obviously the more fresh snow the better.
My dad will ski blacks and some doubles during good conditions but if it's melt refreeze conditions or filled with large moguls he's mostly sticking to groomed slopes.

What do the mags say? Where should we head? Book lodging now or wait till the week of?

P.S. - In case it's useful to someone in the future searching this same topic, I've done a good deal of searching and, amongst other threads, I found the two below the most helpful and read them in their entirety:

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...-Fernie-advice
&
https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...oke-vs-Red-Mtn

[mntlion]

if red/white are good, just stay put and enjoy. Take a day off before BRC if needed.

If conditions suck, head north to KH/Reve, or to banff (odds are colder/dryer)

As long as your time is not a BC or AB holiday, or school break you should be fine. Rossland/Nelson are not near anything so usually dont have much influx of people

[Bobcat Sig]

I'd check cancellation policies at various places in Rossland, Nelson, and wherever else you're going. Outside of a holiday weekend, you should be fine finding lodging, especially in a place like Nelson. So maybe make a few reservations and cancel as necessary?

[apex dave]

If you only have 7 days of skiing, your Red/WH2O plan sounds the best to me because as you said it minimizes driving. Driving North to Revy/Kicking Horse or East to Fernie are IMHO best done in daylight and will cost you a day each way. Red and Whitewater fulfill your main criteria but neither have true alpine (ie treeless) terrain nor does Fernie. KH and Castle are best for that. I can't give much info on accommodation except my wife and I liked two places near Red - SureStay Motel and the Rossland Motel. Note - we are cheap!

[cat in january]

One thing to note is none of the car rental companies I contacted in Spokane had winter tires. Legally you are required to have tires with the snowflake in British Columbia. I didn’t have a problem, but it could make chasing snow difficult and have potential liability issues if there’s an accident. Just a fyi

[Hammer-Down]

Going on tour sounds sexy in the magazines or interwebz, but its a commitment. Its a lot of driving, and if road conditions suck or there is a road closure it will delay you significantly. It most certainly will cost you some ski time, but it can be a great adventure. I have done it over an 8 day stretch, and it felt like a lot, and I was pretty young then. I was psyched we did it, wouldn't change anything, but when it was all done I said next time I am just going to KH. And that is what I have done ever since. Either option will be memorable, but they will be different experiences.

[nickinbc]

One thing to note is none of the car rental companies I contacted in Spokane had winter tires. Legally you are required to have tires with the snowflake in British Columbia. I didn’t have a problem, but it could make chasing snow difficult and have potential liability issues if there’s an accident. Just a fyi

Unfortunately it is not true that proper winter tires with the snowflake are required. In BC all-season tires (if they have the m+s stamp, which I believe they all do) are legal on all winter highways if they have a minimum 3.5mm tread depth (even if they are low profile high performance tires that are absolutely crap in snow or on ice).

[Snow Dog]

What is a Legal Winter Tire in B.C.?

A legal winter tire (on a standard passenger vehicle or a four-wheel/all-wheel vehicle) MUST have at least 3.5 mm of tread depth.

A winter tire must be labelled with either of the following:

The letters "M" and "S", the minimum legal requirement (mud + snow/all season tires)


The 3-peaked mountain/snowflake symbol (some manufacturers label with both the mountain snowflake and the M+S symbol)

[cat in january]

Thanks guys for the correction I was going from memory which was wrong. Still BC roads and particularly the passes are much more challenging in general for winter conditions relative to US

[Shredhead]

I don’t think the roads are worse per say.
There’s just much less traffic and they’re remote. All good IMHO, fewer gapers to get in your way.
Some rental car companies, Alamo, National and Enterprise. Let you pick your mini van from an isle. None will have true winter snows, but some will be much better than others.
I would wait and book everything that can’t be canceled, to the last minute.
Paula and Kieren at Big Red, have always been very accommodating at changing dates, if conditions aren’t good.

[Peyto]

Unless you're looking for nice slope-side AirBnBs, winter accommodations in the interior are easy to get last minute. My crew generally doesn't book until 2 days prior when we have some indication of who's getting the goods. The clouds decide.

[Peyto]

Paula and Kieren at Big Red, have always been very accommodating at changing dates, if conditions aren’t good.

Paula and Kieran are the shit! However, they had to sell the operation this offseason as Kieren has brain cancer...

[LeeLau]

Paula and Kieran are the shit! However, they had to sell the operation this offseason as Kieren has brain cancer...

They sold but new owners are keeping all old office staff including Paula and Natasha and all ops staff and keeping policies the same

[skuff]

If you're flying into Spokane, its a short 2.5 hour drive to Rossland. Since your trip is 7 days, I would imagine you'd rather not spend 1 of those days driving somewhere else, to spend another day driving back, unless the snow at Red and Whitewater is horrible.

It's a 5 hour drive from Rossland to Revelstoke, and you may want to check that the road is open and the ferry is operating on schedule. But make sure you stop at 1 of the hot springs for a soak before you get to the ferry.

Nelson/Whitewater is about 1 hour drive, maybe a bit more from Rossland/Red, so those 2 locations can be accessed from 1 basecamp. Again, you may want to check that the road is open before setting out for the drive between the 2. I stay in Rossland because I found a great bnb in town years ago and Idgie's restaurant is a short drive away.

[Peyto]

They sold but new owners are keeping all old office staff including Paula and Natasha and all ops staff and keeping policies the same

Was super glad to see that they're both still involved and the long tenure of much of their staff says a lot in my books! Watching Kieren guide that terrain is a masterclass.

[DanoT]

Stay in Rossland, ski Red and Whitewater, anything else is too much driving. If rains in Rossland then go to whitewater for snow as it is higher elevation than Red.

[LeeLau]

Was super glad to see that they're both still involved and the long tenure of much of their staff says a lot in my books! Watching Kieren guide that terrain is a masterclass.

Yes! It would have been a big loss of jobs, community and business for the town otherwise. New owners truly get what a gem they now have

[caderader]

Thanks everyone so much! This is definitely clarifying. We'll plan on sticking to Red/WW unless conditions really dictate differently.

It seems like the general consensus is to stay in one basecamp and the few votes I've heard so far are for Rossland. I was initially thinking (of course depending on weather) that we would go to Nelson first, spend 3 days skiing WW, drive to Rossland after skiing on the 25th, do BRC on the 26th and ski and stay the last three days in Rossland.

Do folks have strong feelings about staying in one basecamp vs going back and forth? Any other recommendations on places to stay in Rossland and Nelson? The Red - SureStay Motel in Rossland that apex dave mentioned looks pretty solid.

FWIW, after researching some, based on BobcatSig's recommendation, the cancellation policies at most of the lodging in the area are pretty liberal; I'll probably go ahead and book something in the next few days, and keep an eye on the weather and finalize plans a week out.

Last question for now, are there any good deals that I need to be aware of for lift tickets? Was hoping for something multi-day that allows access at both Red & WW so I could get discounted tix but have the option of skiing either based on weather. Don't see anything like that at first blush though.

Thanks again for all the help!

[mntlion]

nothing for multi area that I know of.
White is small, adn very independant. Red is much bigger and modern (by koots standards)

[ski_it]

Schweitzer is worth a visit and is convenient in
WW--> Schweitzer-->Spokane.
You'd pass Salmo ski Area, but can't really recommend that as a destination....

[XXX-er]

red is lower so more likely to get rain instead of snow so look out for that weather pattern

Big white is the highest resort in BC and I think SS might be next,

< 1.5 hrs between them

[Angle Parking]

As long as your time is not a BC or AB holiday, or school break you should be fine. Rossland/Nelson are not near anything so usually dont have much influx of people

This. Beyond holidays and such even the most frequented of the powder highway / rockies hills are basically devoid of crowds.

[tintin5]

Last question for now, are there any good deals that I need to be aware of for lift tickets? Was hoping for something multi-day that allows access at both Red & WW so I could get discounted tix but have the option of skiing either based on weather. Don't see anything like that at first blush though.

Thanks again for all the help!

For Red: Look at the Louise Card - $119 CAD. Gives your 1st, 4th, and 7th days free. Discount rates for your other days.
Usually pays for itself after 2 visits.

Haven’t seen anything for WW, unless you live in the Nelson area.
But they do offer the option of single lift tickets if you’re touring.

https://www.skilouise.com/tickets-passes/plus-cards/

[nickinbc]

This. Beyond holidays and such even the most frequented of the powder highway / rockies hills are basically devoid of crowds.

Not sure I would describe any powder day in Revelstoke as 'devoid of crowds' (except in April) - even last season the big maze for the gondola would fill up before the lift started to spin.

[DanoT]

For the most part Red skiers/pass holders don't ski Whitewater and as well Whitewater pass holders don't ski Red, even though they are B.C.'s two closest to each other resorts. So any sort of dual mountain pass/ticket garners little interest.