What's new for 2019/20 season at the top ski resorts in B.C.
Credit to Author: Dave Pottinger| Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2019 16:57:03 +0000
From powder to steeps to trees, from on-piste to off-piste to backcountry, the mountain resorts of B.C. give skiers and boarders access to world-class adventures and apres ski hangouts. With so many in our back yard it’s all a matter of knowing where to go. Here are ten of the best.
The ski season opens November 28 at Whistler Blackcomb, considered North America’s premier mountain resort.
From its expanse of high-alpine basins studded with ridgelines, couloirs, and glaciers to its mid-mountain trees and lower mountain cruisers, this mountain playground has runs for every level of skier and snowboarder. Recognized for its staggering size the two mountains offer more than 200 marked ski runs, 3,307 hectares of terrain, 16 alpine bowls, and three glaciers.
You could ski at Whistler for weeks without riding the same line.
Don’t ski but want to sightsee? Whistler Blackcomb’s new 360 Experience is the longest continuous lift system in the world. Skiers, hikers and those just their for the views are now able to travel up one mountain across to the other and down to the valley floor, with only a few steps from cabin to cabin, on the Whistler Village Gondola, PEAK 2 PEAK, and Blackcomb Gondola. All in, the whole trip takes roughly one hour and provides spectacular views.
Friends enjoy food and beverages at Crystal Hut in Whistler Blackcomb.
BC’s best-known slope-side village is Whistler, where four out of five guest rooms are located within a stone’s throw of the ski lifts.
Fat biking, Nordic, and snowshoe trails are nearby, and hot spots include a cultural centre, art museums, and Merlin’s for iconic shot-ski après.
Post-ski options in the Village range from $4 cans of beer in a pub to fresh oysters and rarefied vodkas in a swanky ice bar.
On average, Whister Blackcomb receive more than 11 metres of snow per year, and boast one of the longest ski seasons in North America.
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Sun Peaks Resort’s Alps-style village isn’t just ski-in, ski-out but ski-thru. Located at the juncture of the Cariboo and Monashee ranges of the Columbia Mountains, the resort’s variety of hotels and condos sit slopeside, including the majestic Sun Peaks Grand, the European-inspired Lookout Ridge Chalet, and The Burfield, a hostel and boutique hotel in one.
Sun Peaks has Canada’s second largest ski area.
Beyond lodging and restaurants, there’s a healthy mix of activities like a bungee trampoline park, horse-drawn sleigh rides, dog sled tours, slides at the tube park, Nordic skiing, and more, all in easy reach.
The best part? Every bit of it stands within walking or gliding distance of the lifts at the second-largest ski area in Canada.
Located 45 minutes north of Kamloops, Sun Peaks has 1,728 hectares of skiable area, two alpine bowls, 137 runs, and 13 lifts.
Notable:
Known for its even temperatures and dry, light snow as much as its ski-in/ski-out convenience, Big White is a family-first mountain, with 20 on-mountain cafes, delis, pubs and bars, live music, baby- and pet-sitters, and more.
Big White Slope side hotel rooms start at $168 per night and include 2 FREE lift tickets! Available starting November 27 until December 20! See website for details.
Skiers and snowboarders can enjoy 119 designated runs, serviced by 15 lifts, for a total of 1,118 hectares of skiable terrain. Big White has added eight new cabins to Lara’s Gondola, increasing capacity by 50% making the connection between Happy Valley and the main Village quick and easy.
There’s 25 kilometres of combined Nordic and wilderness trails for cross‐country skiing and snowshoeing lovers, while dogsledding, snowmobiling, sleigh rides, tubing, and skating on Canada’s highest‐elevation skating rink are sure to entertain.
When the sun goes down, visitors will enjoy the largest night‐skiing terrain in Western Canada, with 15 hectares of runs lit up Tuesday through Saturday nights
Big White Ski Resort is located 56 kilometres from Kelowna.
New and Notable:
Think of it as the big mountain with a small‐town feel. It offers heaps of champagne powder, a lively mid‐mountain ski village with ski‐in/ski‐out access, and Canada’s first all‐inclusive lift ticket.
With 132 runs, abundant champagne powder and a ski-in, ski-out village, SilverStar Resort provides an unforgettable experience.
Its colourful Victorian-inspired village is located at 1,609 metres, with nine on-mountain hotels where guests can ski to and from the door. The village also has 18 food and beverage options, 132 runs, four distinct mountain faces, and a backside with 769 hectares of black, and double black diamond runs.
SilverStar is also a prime destination for cross-country skiers, with 105 kilometres of trails that include neighbouring Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre, and features a four‐kilometre lit track for night skiing, and two certified biathlon ranges.
SilverStar is located 22 kilometres from Vernon and less than an hour from Kelowna’s airport.
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APEX MOUNTAIN RESORT
Only 30 minutes from Penticton Apex Mountain Resort is one of British Columbia’s gems. This Okanagan Valley resort offers 450 skiable hectares four lifts, 79 trails, and a variety of bowls, glades, and terrain parks to explore, along with a cozy village setting with ski‐in/ski‐out access and après ski fun.
Apex Resort has 79 marked runs, four terrain parks and 600 metres of vertical.
Their website boasts that the nightlife and après-ski activities include: bonfires, night skiing, skating, tubing, live music, the famous “Gunbarrel Shots”, an artfully clad moose, a snow-cat DJ booth, shot skis & gourmet restaurants.
Ski Canada Magazine has rated the Gunbarrel Saloon the best Après Ski Bar in the country.
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Kicking Horse has undergone Canada’s biggest expansion in skiable terrain – opening up 267 hectares for this ski adventures.
The new terrain includes the legendary Ozone South face (the competition venue for the Freeride World Tour) and Middle Ridge, offering fantastic turns into both Feuz Bowl and Rudi’s Bowl.
Kicking Horse Mountain Resort plans to open for the 2019/20 season December 6.
To access Ozone, skiers and riders will hike up to Whitewall, ski/ride down to the saddle and hike up to the top of the face.
The mountain is surrounded by sharp peaks and national parks in nearly all directions, steep canyons with rushing rivers, and high-alpine chutes.
The resort offers 1,359 metres of vertical descent – the 5th biggest vertical in North America!
Tucked between the Purcell and Rocky mountain ranges near Golden, Kicking Horse has more than 1,416 hectares of skiable terrain, 121 runs, four alpine bowls, 85 chutes, and five lifts.
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Although the town of Revelstoke has more than a century of skiing history, Revelstoke Mountain Resort with its luxurious ski‐in/ski‐out Sutton Place Hotel only opened in 2007.
The Sutton Place Hotel is the only ski-in, ski-out hotel on Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
Its 1,712 vertical metres make it the tallest lift-served ski area in North America. Top-to-bottom grooming (and the brand new Stellar Chair) give mid-level and on-piste skiers plenty of action (and leg burn), but Revelstoke’s true strength is off-piste.
Glading throughout the mountain’s temperate rainforest has created expanses of tree skiing for different skill levels.
The area, located between the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges, has 1,263 hectares of varying terrain with two alpine bowls, and 69 named runs.
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Manning Park is a recreational paradise with alpine and nordic skiing, skating, a tube park, and snow-shoeing. Located on the Hope-Princeton Highway (Hwy. 3), Manning Park Resort is in the heart of the Cascade Mountain Range.
Manning Park’s will have 13 premium cabins open this winter.
Not only have they got a new chairlift (a new Doppelmayr quad chairlift replaces the iconic Orange Chair) but the whole village of the ski area has had major changes! They have moved and removed buildings, and are building a new Alpine Guest Services building, which will house the ticket office, rentals and lessons.
Down at the resort level, they are building more premium cabins. Last winter they built five and are now in the process of building another eight premium cabins to be completed this winter.
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KIMBERLEY ALPINE RESORT
Kimberley Alpine Resort is the first in Canada to have a dedicated track for skinning! Skinning, uphill skiing, up tracking, ski touring – whatever you like to call it, Kimberley’s got a track for you to do it on.
Kimberley Alpine Resort has North America’s largest gladed terrain.
This quaint resort is known for its great skiing, quiet atmosphere and minimal lift lines. The resort is spread out over 729 hectares of skiable area with 80 runsand North America’s largest gladed terrain.
Nordic skiers can head over to the Kimberley Nordic Centre, where a 3.3‐kilometre (two‐mile) loop is lit up every night of the week.
Kimberley offers a variety of ski‐in/ski‐out accommodation, with a half-dozen hotels in walking distance of the lifts; 33 kilometres of cross‐country trails, one of North America’s longest-illuminated night-skiing runs, and a skating rink.
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Fernie – celebrating 10 years of Hot Tub Time Machine. 2020 marks the 10thanniversary of the release Hot Tub Time Machine, the cult ski movie. This film is near and dear to those in Fernie because it was filmed at Fernie Alpine Resort and the town of Fernie.
Up to 11 metres of snow blankets this resort each year, ranking it amongst the snowiest ski and snowboard destinations in Canada.
Fernie Alpine resort has more than 1000 hectares of skiable terrain, 142 named runs, and five alpine bowls.
Fernie Alpine Resort is best known for its light, fluffy powder and vast terrain. It has entire runs through old-growth cedars, great views across the river valley of the Rockies, and a massive rock headwall that acts as a backdrop behind the five alpine bowls.
Fernie’s 142 marked runs will ensure days are spent cruising non‐stop fresh fall lines. With a ride up The Polar Peak chairlift, skiers can launch off the summit of one the highest peaks in the Lizard Range at 1,082 metres.
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An intimate slope-side vacation village Panorama hugs the base of a giant, uncrowded peak known for groomed summit-to-base boulevards, jaw-dropping views and a lack of lift lines.
It’s a mountain resort and an alpine village, tucked deep into Canada’s oldest mountains.
Located in the Purcell Range of the Columbia Mountains, Panorama is a place where everything is steps from everything else—whether that means lap after lap on the vast slopes, après-ski soaks in the resort’s outdoor hot pools, nightly family activities or a gourmet evening at one of the many restaurants.
A true resort village, Panorama has a wide range of ski-in/ski-out and slope-side lodging; from basic and economical hotel rooms just a snowballs throw from the lifts, to upscale condos and townhomes.
Either way, everything is equally close to Panorama’s night skiing on blue runs, the powdery steeps of its Taynton Bowl, and snowmobile adventures through the wilds.
There’s also tandem paragliding, heli-skiing, and a selection of Nordic trails for skiing, snowshoeing, and fat-biking through meadows and woods.
Panorama has nearly 1,214 hectares of terrain that includes 129 named runs, and 10 lifts.
Notable
RED Mountain Resort in Rossland excels at terrain for the adventurous—including steep skiing through tight trees, moguls mixed with steeps and trees, and in-bounds cliff bands and drops mixed with (you guessed it) steeps and trees.
“If you can ski RED, you can ski anywhere,” says Kirsty Exner, a Rossland-raised former competitor on the Freeskiing World Tour.
For a mellower adventure, hand $10 to the snowcat driver atop Grey Mountain for a ride to RED’s fourth peak, Mt. Kirkup, where 81 hectares of user-friendly gladed powder skiing feels like a backcountry experience but lies entirely within ski area boundaries.
The resort has a new expansion this winter – 300 acres and seven additional runs at 300 metres of vertical.
“The expansion places us in the top 10 largest ski resorts in North America, and within that top 10, we’re ranked #1 for Most Acres Per Skier. In other words, big mountain / best experience,” says marketing director, Erik Kerr.
A new chairlift and seven more runs over 121 additional hectares on Topping Creek will streamline skier flow to Grey Mountain.
Notable
Mount Washington was largely a well‐kept locals’ secret until the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, when several national teams trained at the resort. Located high above the Vancouver Island city of Courtenay, next door to Strathcona Provincial Park, and just a 40‐minute drive from Comox Valley International Airport and the city of Campbell River, it’s no longer a secret.
Mount Washington is a 30-45 minute drive from Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island.
Mount Washington also features a laidback, family‐oriented alpine village with ski‐in/ski‐out accommodation for more than 4,000 visitors and is home to one of North America’s top‐rated Nordic Centres, with miles and miles of groomed trails to explore.
It gets 11.5 metres of snow per season and has more than 688 hectares of skiable terrain, 81 runs, two terrain parks and five lifts as well as four Magic Carpets.
Alpine‐to‐ocean views await visitors atop the Scenic Chairlift Rides.
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Whitewater Ski Resort is a day ski area with the ski area located below treeline, with pitched tree skiing and pop-to-drop action. And occupies its own microclimate that dishes frequent helpings of fresh, dry snow.
Whitewater Ski Resorts hosts the annual Coldsmoke Powderfest.
Whitewater is renowned for ski touring and split-boarding. Wilderness peaks high above treeline can be reached in as little as 45 minutes from the resort’s crest—and that’s only the start. “Our terrain is a big conduit into the backcountry,” says Colby Lehman, Whitewater’s outdoor operations manager.
Whitewater has 958 skiable hectares and 632 vertical metres of un-crowded slopes. The mountain features 81 runs and four lifts, as well as five kilometres of groomed multi‐use tracks for Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, fat biking, or taking your pooch for an alpine stroll.
Located along Canada’s famous Powder Highway, Whitewater is a short drive from the city of Nelson, and sits on the International Selkirk Loop – a three‐hour circle of seven ski resorts surrounding Spokane in Washington state.
Notable:
• The 14th annual Coldsmoke Powderfest: a celebration of backcountry exploration, held February 21-23rd takes place at Whitewater.The festival also includes backcountry clinics, a ski-mountaineering race, Canada’s largest ski demo village and a Saturday night social.