Panorama, BC

Hi all, just back from a fantastic two weeks in Canada. Had one week in Banff, and skied Lake Louise and Sunshine Village. Most folk will have heard or read reports of those.

However, my week in Panorama was excellent. Panorama is just over the border from Alberta and is a small purpose built resort in BC, run by Intrawest. The bars and restaurants are limited in number, but excellent for purpose.

What is best about Panorama, and its raison d'etre, is the ski hill!! Although having only 4 main chairs, the terrain they serve is, to use canadian parlance, awesome!! From excellent groomed runs to tree skiing, extreme bowls to huge off piste areas, it has something for everyone.

What I particularly liked about the ski-ing, as with most Canadian resorts,was the fact that there was no out of bounds. The ski area did have a boundary, but everything inside it was fair game. :lol:

As a small resort a week was probably sufficient to explore most of the terrain, but I still didnt manage all the routes down the back bowl.

I would recommend Panorama to experienced skiers with a sense of adventure, although there would be plenty there to occupy intermediates and beginners too

Taynton bowl (sp?) is awesome, looks seriously impressive and you don\t quite get the scale of the hill until you actually see it. Did you get much fresh snow? How did you get on on-course? Who was your course director dude?

Couldnt get a course organised due to travelling Wednesday to Wednesday, but did a lot of bumps and off piste stuff, so will be having a serious bash at my Level 3 next year.

You're right, it is the Taynton Bowl, and its brilliant. We had a good fall of fresh snow just before arrival, and through the week, which actually shut the bowl for a day, so conditions were great.

There is also an area called Founders Ridge, which is pretty much a huge open are where you could ski anywhere, if you didnt mind brushing aside a few small bushes and trees.

You'd enjoy it dude!!!!!

Brucie wrote:Couldnt get a course organised due to travelling Wednesday to Wednesday, but did a lot of bumps and off piste stuff, so will be having a serious bash at my Level 3 next year.

You're right, it is the Taynton Bowl, and its brilliant. We had a good fall of fresh snow just before arrival, and through the week, which actually shut the bowl for a day, so conditions were great.

There is also an area called Founders Ridge, which is pretty much a huge open are where you could ski anywhere, if you didnt mind brushing aside a few small bushes and trees.

You'd enjoy it dude!!!!!

I went to Panorama for the snowmobiling (did you do it? I thought it was p*sh).. not enough going on at night for my liking and the hill is no where near as impressive as Kicking Horse so that remains top priority! Shame you couldn't sort something out.

Didnt do the snowmobiling coz it IS P%SH!!!!

There was a lot of talk about Kicking Horse, but mostly negative and relating to the lift system. There seems to be room for improvement on that score, although the skiing got good reviews.

All the talk was really about Revelstoke, although it appears that its a difficult place to get to due to the road being prone to avalanche.

The down side for Canada for me is the missing Apres ski. They could do with a bit of entertainment in the bars 5-7pm rather than bands starting at 11pm. Ok for young dudes like you, but well past my bedtime if I want a full days skiing!!! Its a bugger getting old :(

Brucie wrote:Didnt do the snowmobiling coz it IS P%SH!!!!

There was a lot of talk about Kicking Horse, but mostly negative and relating to the lift system. There seems to be room for improvement on that score, although the skiing got good reviews.

All the talk was really about Revelstoke, although it appears that its a difficult place to get to due to the road being prone to avalanche.

The down side for Canada for me is the missing Apres ski. They could do with a bit of entertainment in the bars 5-7pm rather than bands starting at 11pm. Ok for young dudes like you, but well past my bedtime if I want a full days skiing!!! Its a bugger getting old :(

I hated it. Kicking Horse needs to work on the lifts but the hill is second to none. OTOH Revelstoke have the lifts the hill is a bit mellow (but still excellent plus the snow is insane). If you time it right and get in over the pass you will get it to yourselves.

:lol: Solution: drink more, eat less!

sounds like you had an amazing time Brucie :thumbup:

Did indeed Caron!!! So good I'm contemplating a last hurrah at the end of April!!!! :D