Another Calgary V Vancouver Thread

Hi All,

I'm trying to decide whether to move to Van or Calgary. I will work in the city but plan to go boarding a lot.

Van has the obvious advantage of having some really close mountains but i can probably get transferred to calgary and not have to quit my job. Is driving to Sunshine village once or twice a weekend from calgary realistic? (I would find a place in the west of calgary to make it easier)

The other question is night skiing? Van would obviously be better for this but is there fun to be had in the park at the olympic park?

What about the crowds? Is cypress and whistler overcrowded? What about sunshine village?

Where do you think i should go?

Thanks for your help.

Trav

In a word yes. Calgary to all five Rocky Mountain resorts is possible. You can do day trips back to back on prob.

I did it for 15 years. Had a membership at Lake Louise or Sunshine. I never had a big 3 as I wanted to ski Fernie as well.

The snow in the Alberta east slopes of the Rockies is more consistent than Vancouver. In BC it's wet and falls in copious amounts but you get to ski the top 15 cm all the time with 1600 cm of base. In AB it's colder and the season is longer with drier snow that you can carve for several days after a dump. The trees will keep pow for weeks if the weather stays cold.

The season will continue in AB until may where in Whistler the season is cut short by the rain and snow rot. I have skied 2 feet of pow in Fortress on APril 15th last day of ops. Sorry to say the resort is closed but there's now Kicking Horse and Revelstoke. Huge places with great snow all reachable from Calgary but not Vancouver.

Calgary has COP to train on which is better skiing that Grouse in my mind. I taught there for a few years so I might be biased. Last fact it's cheaper in AB no sales taxes on stuff -thanks to our oil revenues.

As you settle in you will find that the driving won't be needed and a motel stay is more fun. No need to drive home Sat night after a few wobbly pops!

That's my $.02 I'm sure Rossf will join in.

Thanks for the reply james.

I'm thinking Calgary now, i actually work in the oil and gas industry so would be a bit more limited for work in Van. I am from australia and in winter we teeter around freezing so ride crap snow a lot of the time so will be stoked no matter where i end up. As long as i get some pow i think i can handle not going to van.

So kicking horse and revelstoke are drivable? or more like overnighters?

What about castle mountian? any good?


What is the scene like in the summer (mountain biking, kayaking, hiking, rafting)? are these activities as prevelant as they seem to be in BC? although i'm thinking it won't matter cos the winter is so damn long!

thanks for your help

Trav

Can't really give much more, never had the pleasure of visiting Vancouver.. Caste Mountain is one of those hidden gems, I have never been but I hear awesome things, slow old lifts, plenty of powder. Kicking Horse driveable... Revelstoke your looking at an overnighter unless youa re really committed. You can Raft on Kicking Horse river (not sure exactly what it is callde) which runs through Golden.

I haven't skied Castle for some time, not since they opened up the new terrain but all I hear is good things. It's still a bit of a mom & pop operation without pretensions of the destination resorts. The hill fare is definately burgers and fries but the snow is great. They used to open only on weekends but now run all week to very small crowds I'm sure.

I am planning to ski there this year to check it out again. I look after a ski trip with the school and intent to trek there next year if the hill checks out. We consider Castle off the beaten track and that makes for a special old mountain experience.

Don't get me wrong the hill is large enough and offers some of the best days of skiing in the south. The on hill stuff is non-existent though. You will need to commute home to Calgary or stay in Pincher creek to ski Castle.