J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by steverandomno

I Haven't been to Winter Park, but I have been to much of western Canada. Iv'e also been to Colorado, Tahoe and Washington State.

If you can stomach the expense, then Vail is a great resort with loads of easy blues to keep you happy. Beaver Creek is a little more challenging. Most hotels are decent and they have built a lot over the past few years. We stayed in the Marriot in Lionshead which was great. The Lion Square Lodge looked like a good place if you want a condo.

Banff is great. The slopes of Sunshine are usually uncrowded and there is plenty of nice blues to choose from. The quality of the snow is also good. There is plenty to do in Banff and the scenary is great. We have stayed in the Banff Park Lodge for several years and always found their own ski packages to be very good value for money. The hotel is well located within a 1 min walk of all of the central ammenities yet it is in a surprisingly quiet area next to the river. The Banff Springs is an amazing hotel it is definitely worth a visit for dinner or a coffee. However unless you realy push the boat out and get one of the more expensive rooms, it is not very good value for money to actualy stay there.

The thing to remember about Banff is that all of the resorts are a buss ride or a car journey away. This is no hardship though because the scenary is spectacular and I would highly reccommend driving the Icefields Parkway.

The teaching in Banff is very good. Club Ski offers some good lessons for all levels that put you in groups of 4-8 and spend a day at each of the the "Tri-Area" resorts within a short drive from Banff; Sunshine (20mins), Norquay (10mins), Lake Louise (45 mins).

It is also well worth a day visit to Kicking Horse in Golden, which is between 1:45 and 2h drive from Banff.


Also, you might want to consider Big White in Kelowna. It has loads of nice blues but is a self contained resort about an hours drive from town, so you stay and eat on the mountain and can forget about driving anywhere. It is an especially good place for families having one best family resort of the year for many years.

Given what you say you are looking for, I would go to Banff and hire a car for the whole stay. You will have a great time.

Damn - I have just bought our BA flights to Zurich from City Airport.

Swiss are still carrying skis for free.

I can see BA loosing a lot of ski business from City Airport because of this. Swiss fly similar routes, at the same times, for around the same price. Now BA is about 25% more expensive if you have skis.

The University of Calgary outdoor centre offer plenty of backcountry related courses (you might meet some new snow friends also):

https://pr1web.ucalgary.ca/CamRecWebPublic/Event/EventList.aspx

Thank's for your help Tony, and for rescuing a shambolic thread (of my own making) :lol:

Re: Super Bowl - your right. It is not controled. Wouldn't want to mislead anybody. (Original post modified)

Just realized, why did I end up posting this in the Canada thread :oops:

Thanks for the info Bandit! Following your description, the ski routes 'Extreme' sounds more interesting now.

We are trying to see more of Europe this year and we have the opportunity to go to St Anton with a big group.

I'm told the nightlife etc... is great but what about the skiing?

Where is the uncrowded, challenging and interesting terrain?
Is the snow reliable - where is the powder?
Is there any avalanche controled backcountry-like terrain? (Terrain with an out of bounds / off piste feel, but avalanche controlled. Like Granite Chief/Silverado areas in Squaw, Back Bowls in Vail or Feuze Bowl in Kicking Horse)

We will be staying in Nasserein.

Also, on the ski map it shows ski runs easy, medium and difficult, and "Ski Routes" normal and 'Extreme'. What is a ski route, is this X-country?