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canada
Powder Heaven
It’s not just the bountiful snowfall, skiing on gorgeous tree-lined trails, smooth-as-silk grooming, steep-and-deep off-piste and the truly outstanding scenery and small lift-lines that makes Canada a ‘must do’ ski destination, says Arnie Wilson
N
o, there’s another big attraction: Canadians are much more like the Brits than their
American cousins. Their vocabulary – at least in British Columbia and Alberta, if not Québec – is reassuringly familiar. They even (in the friendliest possible way) swear like us! “Bloody right, eh”? As for the diversity of ski resorts, if you can’t fi nd one to please you in British Columbia, Alberta or Québec, then you clearly don’t enjoy skiing. Canada’s resorts range from the family friendly (such as Kimberley, but of course, most resorts are geared up to families); ski-in, ski-out (Big White, Sun Peaks); lively enough for the younger crowd (Whistler); breathtaking scenery-wise (Lake Louise) – and all are easy to get to from the gateway cities.
There are well over 100 ski areas in the
three main skiing provinces, of which some 25 receive regular visits from British skiers and snowboarders.
Around 15 are in British Columbia
(such as Whistler, Fernie, Revelstoke – where I am skiing in the inset picture above – Kicking Horse, Big White and Kimberley) with the rest split between Alberta (Lake Louise, Sunshine Village, Mount Norquay and Jasper) and Québec (Tremblant, Stoneham, Mont-Sainte-Anne, and Le Massif). And then there’s the many heli-skiing lodges in BC, dominated by CMH (Canadian Mountain Holidays) which is celebrating half a century of heliskiing this winter, and Mike Wiegele heliskiing.
1 BRITISH COLUMBIA Whistler (named after the sound made by the Canadian whistle-pig – a species of marmot AKA the celebrated ground hog!) and its neighbour Backcomb continue to dominate the plaudits. The ‘dynamic duo’ are regularly rated the fi nest in North America. And should you want to take a day off from the mile-high vertical drops of Mounts Whistler and Blackcomb (linked now by the impressive and time-saving Peak 2 Peak gondola
that was installed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics), Vancouver is a truly beautiful city that’s well worth wrenching yourself away from the slopes for a day to visit. It even has three enjoyable ‘local’ ski resorts:
Cypress and Grouse Mountains, and Mount Seymour. And Mount Washington, on Vancouver Island, enjoys legendary snowfalls. In BC’s interior, both Kicking Horse and Revelstoke
provide exceptional terrain for strong skiers. In Revelstoke you can also heliski or cat-ski as well as enjoy terrifi c resort skiing. At Panorama Mountain Village, RK heliskiing provides one of the best introductory days to heliskiing you’ll fi nd anywhere, so you can take a day off from the regular slopes and try it. Elsewhere in BC, things are going from best to even better, with the opening of two new ski locations this winter. In the West Morrisey area and at the top of Tod Mountain, new terrain at Sun Peaks, aimed primarily at the expert skier, will see it become Canada’s
second largest ski area after Whistler. Meanwhile RED Mountain Resort will expand its in-bounds ski experience this winter with the addition of 200 acres on Mt. Kirkup. This new cat skiing operation will act as a shuttle from Grey Mountain to the peak of Mt. Kirkup for just $10 (with seats sold on a fi rst-come, fi rst-
served basis with the purchase of a lift ticket or season pass).
2 ALBERTA The province is home to two of Canada’s most spectacular national parks: Jasper (the largest in the Rockies) and Banff (Canada’s fi rst), so the ski areas on national park land are inevitably set in stunning locations – particularly Lake Louise, where The Top of the World Express chair gives skiers and boarders astonishing views across the Bow Valley, to a line-up of towering peaks (Mounts Allen, Fay, Bowlen, Babel) and several hanging glaciers. Lake Louise is the biggest of three ski areas that
make up Banff’s ‘Big Three’ set-up which include Banff’s local ski resort of Mount Norquay (which opened back in 1926) and Sunshine Village, which has some of the highest and most snowsure skiing in Canada. Although the resort is only 20 minutes by road from Banff, it takes another 17 minutes to reach the village by gondola. Yes, it’s that high, and the slopes even wander across the border into BC . The small, family-friendly ski area of Mount Norquay, where Banff locals ski and board, is often under-rated. Although predominantly an intermediate resort, it has some seriously steep expert trails, particularly off its North American double-chair, which accesses black diamond terrain. If your clients really want a ‘test’ suggest the
Big accolade An Australian magazine named Big
White in BC ‘the world’s best family ski resort’ in 2014
Sloping off
Approximately 275 Canadian ski areas see more than 19 million visits each ski season
Buy and save
Lift passes in Canada are not cheap, but clients can save money by buying in advance from a tour operator
sellingtravel.co.uk
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