T4molie

OK Guys and Gals......

Last March the missus and I descended upon Banff where we went skiing (her) / snowboarding (me) at Lake Louise and Sunshine Village which were both bang on

Now I'm thinking that we may have spoiled ourselves with Banff, but in an attempt to try and find somewhere hopefully as good we've shortlisted the following....

1) Winter Park
2) Whistler
3) Breckenridge
4) Killington
5) Tremblant

This year I've decided to try skiing again - I did a couple of weeks skiing in Les Deux Alps about 14 years ago but have done 5 refreshers lessons over at Xscape in MK with no problems

It would be very much appreciated if anyone has opinions of any or even all of the above

Cheers

Andy

dtriggs

Ok I have been to some of the places you mention:

Breck - very nice skiing although you need to bus/drive upto the lift station. Very cold (down to -50 deg one time we went). Snow is fantastic colorado powder. Easy reach to ski at Copper Mountain, Keystone, Arapaho Basin - Keystone has night skiing (even colder). Resort is large. Biggest down side is the altitude which will make u breathless at first.

Whistler - 2 big mountains now connected. Loads of skiing. Nice resort and I love the Canadians. No altitude problems but long flight and 8 hr time diff. Snow is called Maritime snow - which means it can be heavier off piste compared to Colorado. Weather very changeable - raining one minute, minus 30 deg c the next. Overall great resort with lots of skiing.

Tremblant - going for the third time this Feb - resort is small - just one mountain but a fair bit of variety for the limited terrain. We go coz it is wonderful for kids. 6 hr flight, 1 hr transfer and only 5 hrs time diff. Lovely compact resort and accomodation very close to slopes. They take the kids off yr hands all day too. But we are out growing the resort now. Can be very cold and snow on East coast not as reliable as Rockies. Can be icey.

I love Colorado for the amazing snow. Winter Park is where we will go next time as only 1 hr from Denver against 2-2.5 hrs with Breck.

Ask away if you want any more specific answers. Fyi I use Ski Independence as they always come out cheapest for US/Canada skiing.

TJG

I've been to Whistler and Killington. Whistler I would definitely go back to (every year if I could afford it!), Killington I would not go back to.

Whistler is just way ahead of anywhere else I've been. (Including Sunshine and Lake Louise). The place is huge, and with the two mountains to explore it just seems even bigger.

Also worth consdering Fernie. That's a bit smaller, but a great resort.

Boarder1

Have also been to Whistler this year (March), as mentioned the snow can be a bit un-predictable, but they have excellent snow facilities (cannons, piste bashers etc) and are able to make the best of a bad situation.

The resort is top notch and even the worst accomodation is very good!

Also take a look at Jackson's Hole in Wyoming, this is top of my list for 2006!

Sheepsplitter

Hi,
I've been to all the places you mentioned.
Been skiing since I was 4, instructor at 18, passed on a chance to enter the British Ski team at 19(in preference of a career), so I've been to a lot of resorts in my time. :-)

I am sorry to tell you that Banff, Lake Louise, Sunshine etc is about as good as it gets.
It has the best value, range of pistes of any place I've been.
I've now been back 5 times, and I still love the place.

Also in that area is Norquay, which is nice if the condions are good.

The only criticism I've heard of Canada is that the runs are much shorter than Europe, which is true, but generally they are much less crowded, and better looked after.
Big plus for me is that there's not many French or Germans there!!


If you do look at the other places be warned that Winter Park is just a small resort, not many runs at all and quite short, but some runs are fairly challenging.

Personally I'd suggest going back to Canada, and having a look at some of the runs you missed last time :-)

Account deleted by request

I'll second Lake Louise best skiing I have ever experienced (been to most resorts in europe and quite a few in canada & america including Whistler & killington)


chop

T4molie

Thanks for the replies guys

dtriggs - Did you find much difference between the attitudes of people between Canada and USA? I found the Canadians to be very welcoming and friendly (no offence intended to any foreign readers )

TJG - Any particular reason why you wouldn't go back to Killington? Also what do you think are the pros and cons of Fernie?

Boarder1 - We did consider Jackson's Hole but can't remember why we struck it off the list so will have another look at it

Keep the replies coming

Andy

T4molie

Sheepsplitter - We did try Mt Norquay the first day we were there but didn't think too much of it

As we only went for 7 days in March I have thought about going back for 10 this time and spending a couple of days doing other things

Sheepsplitter

Yes Norquay was more just a suggestion to add to your options whilst in Banff area. I can't say it's fantastic, but it was the day we arrived because they had just had 4ft of new powder snow, and we were first on the hill and because the weather was cloudy and foggy only about 30 people in total turned up. It was like flying. Fantastic day when it's good there, but I suspect it was a rare occurence.

dtriggs

I find the Canadians generally a better bunch than the Americans - bit more laid back. It's marginal though, and all much preferred to the French.

Fernie is a fantastic place - soooo much snow but you have to be good or keen on off piste. When I went a few years ago it was still pretty unknown and much the better for it. 4 hours drive from Calgary was a pain though.

Killington - forgot that one - I had terrible icey conditions when I went and didnt like it at all.

Brendan Hughes

I love Louise and Sunshine, been three times and would happily go back - frankly never bothered with Norquay. Never went to Breck, but went to Vail and was really disappointed - various reasons including the biggest ******* for a chalet partner, but also the Yanks not offering multi-day ski packs, they said I had to pay day by day - until I found one about 7 days in . It was also considerably more expensive than Canada.

I'm very interested in trying Fernie next time, it's supposed to be developing year on year.