Whitewater vs. Fernie vs. Red Mountain
Neal
I am hoping to winter in B.C. & would like info & HO's about these
resorts & the surrounding backcountry.I enjoy skiing off-trail, trees,
***powder***/crud/corn, steep terrain and some cruising. I despise bumps,
they only slow me down. I also dislike ice or hard snow. I prefer a lack
of crowds, glitz and fancy one-piece ski suits. I don't need alot of
non-skier services (ie. good restaurantes/shopping) Keep this in mind as
you if u make suggestions.
Which area is best for the deep & light?
Fernie seems kinda flat from the map although when i was there last
summer it didnt look flat. Is it flat inbounds?
Does Red Mnt get big dumps of dry snow? I here it 1/2 price for
whitewater pass holders.
How is the back country in these areas? Is there good access from the
lifts?
What about the skiing in Revelstoke or Golden?
Can as US citizen rent an apt???
Neal Reiland
ne...@aros.net
Salt Lake City, UT
Skiwilmot1
Fernie has got to have the greatest snow on earth. I hear the backcountry
skiing surronding the area is some of the best anywere
Craig Morris
Neal <ne...@aros.net> wrote:
>I am hoping to winter in B.C. & would like info & HO's about these
>...
I have a web page about Fernie at http://www.redtree.com/fsv that
might have some useful info.
>Which area is best for the deep & light?
In my experience Fernie and WH2O get the best snow, but Red can be
awesome when it does dump and you can get skunked at any of them.
>Fernie seems kinda flat from the map although when i was there last
>summer it didnt look flat. Is it flat inbounds?
You were probably looking up Lizard from the day lodge area and yes
that is flat. Fernie definitely does have some steeps though and in
fact may have the widest range of steep terrain of the three. Check
out my trail map on the web page above. Most areas can be clicked on
for some quicky descriptions.
All three have some serious steep stuff and parts of Granite (Red) in
the trees need some careful watching to avoid skiing vertical rock
face. White has some absolutely tremendous tree skiing, but is not
that big an area. Do not come until well in to January if you want
the steeps at Fernie. It takes until then for the alders to get
covered on the best runs.
>Does Red Mnt get big dumps of dry snow? I here it 1/2 price for
>whitewater pass holders.
Yes, I haven't skied there that often, but it has been thigh deep
more than once. It has also has it's share of crappy. It can rain at
any of these places and if it then cold.. :-( At Fernie most years
we get a few days a year of measured breathing and maybe every few
years we will get a couple of days of REALLY deep stuff. I don't
think any of these places get the annual snowfall of SnowBird and
Alta.
>Can as US citizen rent an apt???
I can't imagine why not.
-- Craig Morris - cr...@redtree.com - Fernie, BC --
-- http://www.redtree.com/craig --
Bob Corner
Skiwilmot1 wrote:
>
> Fernie has got to have the greatest snow on earth. I hear the backcountry
> skiing surronding the area is some of the best anywere
Both Whitewater and Fernie are excellent ski hills. The difference
is that Whitewater has a base elevation of over 5000 feet while
the base elevation at Fernie is just over 3000 feet. If it is Chinooking
in Western Canada you DON'T want to go to Fernie because you are likely
to experience that 4 letter ski word ... R-A-I-N. The best time to go
is when it is fairly cold, this way the chance of rain are remote.
Whitewater has the 2000 foot advantage so it seldom rains there.
Craig Morris
Bob Corner <@bcorner.bnr.ca> wrote:
I sure wouldn't want to give the impression that it doesn't rain in
Fernie, because it certainly does. However for the record Fernie
ranges from 3500 to 5900, while Whitewater goes from 5400 to 6,700.
So while their base is almost 2000 feet higher, it also has 1100 feet
less vertical.
Still if it is raining down low at Fernie you usually get wet unless
you just want to ride the T-Bar and the meat hook all day, so your
point stands. While it can rain at WH2O as well (trust me) and it is
truly miserable there if it is icy, I think crappy conditions are
much less common than here. OTOH when it is good here, and it often
is, there is more to ski.
Bob Corner
Craig,
Your Fernie Snow Valley Page on the Internet is great. I'll be
reading your snow report and listening to the phone-snow report in
Calgary. I love the powder skiing there, even though I live in Calgary,
I prefer to drive the extra miles rather than going to Banff ... it's
definately worth the trip.
Bob
Craig Morris
Bob Corner <@bcorner.bnr.ca> wrote:
>Craig,
>
> Your Fernie Snow Valley Page on the Internet is great. I'll be
>reading your snow report and listening to the phone-snow report in
>Calgary. I love the powder skiing there, even though I live in Calgary,
>I prefer to drive the extra miles rather than going to Banff ... it's
>definately worth the trip.
<Blush> ... thanks Bob. Encouragement is always slurped up eagerly.
;-)
Paul Picard
How about Red? It is probably the most exciting mountain of the three. From the top
you can ski 360 degrees all around. This way you can always find a side of the
moutain with excellent conditions. With 2900 vertical and lots of double and triple
diamonds its a great place for good skiers. The better you are the bigger the
mountain is.
Red is far enough inland to have nice dry snow, like Whitewater and Fernie but they
don't get those spells of -40 degrees.
I love it when people take the time to visit all three areas. Red sures comes up
ahead most of the time.
Paul Picard ppi...@ciao.trail.bc.ca