WINTER SPORTS Feature
WINTER SPORTS Top Tips...
• Rave about the snow – the Rockies are renowned for their powder snow and long reliable skiing season: many resorts open Nov to May
• Warm them up with the welcome – English speaking instructors, award-winning ski schools plus a genuinely warm welcome from local ski guides and ski lift staff quickly make visitors of all abilities feel relaxed and at home in the resorts
• Right on queue – for those used to the crowded slopes and long waits in line for European ski lifts, Canada is a revelation. Even in peak season there are rarely any serious queues or congestion on the slopes
• Stress value – the current value of the Canadian dollar against the Euro is an added incentive to ski Canada this season. and ‘the great value’ sales message has never been stronger. Don’t forget Alberta’s policy not to charge any sales tax also keeps in-resort costs down
popular because it is purpose-built, very user-friendly and full of après ski fun. It has more than 200 marked trails, a high-speed lift system and 13 alpine bowls. A Peak 2 Peak gondola connects Whistler and neighbouring Blackcomb mountain in a rapid 11 minutes. The resort of Fernie combines an
authentic ski town atmosphere with a varied terrain and good snowfalls, and this year has added the Polar Peak lift, providing guests with the most vertical and the most number of runs (140) in the Canadian Rockies. For those looking for extra thrills
recommend the Powder Highway of the Kootenay Rockies region. Here, Revelstoke can be skied on a dual- mountain lift pass with Kicking Horse, or a four-resort Ski Safari Pass which adds in Whitewater and Red Mountain. For those up for a challenge these
resorts offer un-pisted runs, moguls and snowparks. The pass can be pre- booked through several operators that include Fresh Tracks, Ski Safari, Frontier Ski and Ski Independence. Red Mountain Resort was BC's first-
ever ski resort and still gives access to some great vertical and back-country skiing on Red and Granite Mountains. Kicking Horse offers extreme terrain and adventure opportunities as well as a tube park, skating rink and simpler slopes for beginners. For families, the resorts of Big White, Silver Star and Sun Peaks are worth touting as they have award-winning ski schools and
"Canada offers winter sports for all abilities, from fi rst timers to dedicated adrenaline junkies, plus there's lots to do off-piste for non-skiers or aprés ski"
après-fun such as sleigh rides, dog sledding and snowmobiling. Or suggest Panorama, a resort with a big all-terrain park and a large beginners’ area. Fernie, Whistler and Sun Peaks all
offer top-class snowboarding too. Learn more at
www.British
Columbia.travel/ski.
Winter Sports QUÉBEC Accessed in just under seven hours from the UK, via Montréal, Québec’s resorts combine winter sports with the flavours of France. Among its best- known resorts is Tremblant (1.5 hours from Montréal) which will also have direct flights to its own airport from New York and Toronto this winter. The resort is investing around
£600,000 in snow-making to extend its season and to improve access to the Versant Soleil ski area, where its casino is situated. It has also invested in new high-performance ski rental equipment. There will be free ice skate hire too
this season, offered through the resort’s hotels, and free inner-tubing. For children, Tremblant’s ski school is this winter giving each child the use of FLAIKE – a personal GPS which tracks their day’s adventures online so they can see where they skied, how far and how fast (
www.tremblant.com). The Le Massif de Charlevoix ski area
offers unique views of the St. Lawrence River and has seen significant investment in the past year. The mountain resort is popular for its scenic splendour. Travelling from one mountain sector to another will be easier thanks to a new bridge connecting the boarding areas of the Massif Express Gondola and Grande- Pointe Express Lift, and a pathway leading to the Base Chalet. This new concourse also links up with Le Transit – the pulse gondola that shuttles train passengers to the mountain. A new scenic rail excursion here will run on selected dates from February to April, with Saturday services stopping at Le Massif to include a day’s skiing at the resort (
www.lemassif.com). Alternatively, suggest the resorts of Stoneham (20 minutes from Québec City) and Mont Sainte Anne (40
10 WINTER 2011 • SELLING CANADA
minutes from Québec City) which can be skied on a combined ski pass. Mont Sainte Anne has an impressive
66 runs, three snow parks and the largest network of cross-country trails in Canada. It also has night-skiing, ice- skating, dog-sledding and ice-canyoning (
www.mont-sainte-anne.com). Stoneham has a newly-refurbished
ski-in ski-out hotel, the Hotel Stoneham. In addition to skiing, the resort offers snowshoeing, dog-sledding, ice-canyoning, winter para-gliding, skating, a ski museum, spa and nightlife (
www.stoneham.com). Or suggest the Chic Chocs
mountains in the Gaspésie Region for back-country trails from the Chic Chocs Mountain Lodge.(http://www.
sepaq.com/ct/amc/information.dot).
Winter Sports ONTARIO Less well known in the UK for its ski resorts, Ontario offers relaxed, relatively low-altitude and low-octane slopes with plenty of charm. Good for beginners and families in particular, suggest visitors ski, snowboard or tube at Collingwood’s Blue Mountain Resort (
www.bluemountain.ca), Horseshoe Resort (
www.horseshoeresort.ca), near Orillia or Calabogie Peaks (www.
calabogie.com), near Ottawa. They can strap on cross-country skis
or snowshoes and head for parks and hundreds of trails all over the province or try sledging almost anywhere. Ice rinks abound during winter including in Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of Toronto and on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, famous for being the largest ice rink in the world! Ontario also boasts the longest
interconnected system of groomed snowmobile trails in the world and offers ice-climbing routes for the adventurous in Batchawana Bay and Nipigon in Northern Ontario. In central Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park or Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve it’s the huskies which rev up for sledding adventures.
Left & above: Soaking in the hot tubs or checking out the Ice Bar are all part of the winter experience in Canada
CTC
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