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Apex Mountain Resort is in good shape! Like most Canadian resorts, they haven’t had snow for more than 2 weeks but this resorts isolation and low skier numbers has been it’s saviour. The terrain here is awesome, with only two chairs and a T bar accessing some extremely well groomed runs on the front side with decent vertical ( 605m ) very friendly locals and good reasonably priced food right on the hill!I skied some steep / narrow double black diamond chutes cut through the trees this afternoon, to my surprise there was some really nice boot top wind transported snow to be had, these runs have been closed for the past week due to instability and opened just this afternoon, very timely as no one else seemed interested in venturing of the groomed runs.The other bonus here at Apex is that there is no one here. I / we can’t have seen more than 75 skiers all day, we constantly skied straight onto every lift all day! With new snow in the forecast this resort will only get better, a real hidden B.C gem and worth checking out if your into steeps, trees and powder.The Goat. 

Well, we’ve arrived here at Apex Mountain Resort about 25 kms out of Penticton B.C after a 5 1/2 - 6 hour drive east from Vancouver on the Trans Canada Highway and then a very scenic drive on the Crows Nest Highway over the Alison Pass - 1300m.

Sarah, you have excelled yourself with the selection of the Saddle Back Lodge. Our 2 bedroom suite / fully self contained apartment is totally amazing. It sits at the base of the resort and the lifts are less than 100m from our front door, there are California King beds in each room, two bathrooms and a great kitchen. The home entertainment system in the lounge is amazing as are the audio set ups and T.V’s in both bedrooms!

We ski for the first time tomorrow and will report back with our thoughts on the snow and terrain, it hasn’t snowed here ( or anywhere in Canada except Revelstoke ! ) for almost 3 weeks but they have a solid base and by the looks of it good grooming. Snow is forecast by the end of the week so fingers crossed that the legendary Okanagan champagne pow arrives! 

The Goat.  

Hey Sarah,

Not long into Steamboat springs.Was dark when we got here at 7.30pm after 8hr drive, lots of roads closed but we sneaked in.

Condo is outstanding.Checked out local bar.7″of snow today. 20″ expected tonight.

Insane!!!!

Malcolm

Recently Ski Traveller help plan with Malcolm his father Rob and brother Gavin the ultimate boys trip to Jackson Hole,Steamboat and Brecekenridge.We could’nt have timed it better: Here are some updates from Teton Village - Jackson Hole Resort.

Day One - 25th January 2009 - ”Hey there -Wifi in the room which is very handy.Sensational resort. Condo quite far from main area, bussing it tonight.Was able to ski right up to front door though. 12 inches last 24 hrs. In heaven - skiied powder ALL day. Another foot due tonight.” (P.S I am pleased to report there is an actual shuttle that runs by the property that Malcolm and his family now know about).

Day Two - 26th January 2009- “7 inches overnight -12 @ top of tram. Powder thigh deep, pure dead brilliant!!”

I think this pretty much sums it up for conditions at Jackson Hole at the moment since mid December 2008 they have reported 14 ft of snow and 6ft alone in January 2009 and this was as of 21st January 2009.

Sarah - Ski Traveller

Arrived here in Vancouver on Sunday afternoon, snowing downtown this morning and throughout most of the day. Canucks NHL game tomorrow night then off to one of the smaller interior B.C resorts, Apex Mountain. I’ll update on snow conditions etc from there in a couple of days.                                                                                                                     The Goat.              

Air New Zealand has a ‘clearance’ sale on Airfares to Japan - below are the details.

Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch to Tokyo Return is just NZ$ 1103 + taxes approx NZ$ 80 per Adult (12 years +)
Travel Outbound Dates: Depart NZ 1 - 13 February 09 or 2 - 13 March 09
Travel Inbound Date: Return to NZ 18 Febrary 09 - 31 March 09
Purchase this airfare on/before: 31 January 09
NOTE: this is $1147 cheaper than the next best published airfare to Tokyo!

This is a fantastic airfare if you want to go and ski in Hakuba, Shiga Kogen, Nosawa Onsen or any of the mainland ski resorts. 

Ring Sarah she has just come back from Japan, Toll Free 0800 11 22 99.

Hi all…..the Winter X Games are on in Aspen at the moment, the world’s best athletes are gather in Aspen to show off their skills - definitely worth a visit to Aspen over this time.  Held on Buttermilk mountain the Winter X Games organisers are so impressed with this venue they have extended the contract to 2012.  

Check out the photo, the skier is: Tanner Hall and thanks to Jeremy Swanson for this amazing image.

Book early and we can get you to all the action in January 2010.

Hello from Ski Traveller in Utah where the temperatures have almost put us into Spring conditions.We have had the best part of 10 days with hot sun and temps in positive territory during the day.We are currently skiing Park City because the Sundance Film is on and that takes up the accomodation but leaves the slopes empty as many of the participents don’t ski!

The best fun for us is skiing (Or trying to ski) Park City’s legendary “Signature” runs. These are black diamond runs that they groom by winching the groomers up from the bottom using another groomer at the top connected by cable to keep everything stable. The combination of steep, long, and groomed appeals to good intermediate skiers.

There is a free bus that runs between Deer Valley, Park City & The Canyons. Deer Valley is skiers only, Park City encourages boarders with excellent terrain parks and the Canyons was the first resort in the area to take boarders when it was called Wolf Mountain.

Mark is one of our fellow Ski Traveller Directors who has been travelling to Utah for the last few years with his family and absoutedly loves spending his ski days there.With one internal flight to Salt Lake City and a 45minute drive to Park City makes this an appealing area to head to.With 7 resorts to ski close by it is easy to see the attraction and with Deer Valley being consistently voted by Ski Magazine as the number # 1 rated Ski Resort it has to make you curious.

Hi Lianne,We’re all (Alice, Dave and myself) having a fantastic time over here in Brekenridge.  First of all thank you to you and Sarah for all of the great advice that you were able to provide for us with the planning of the trip.The skiing has been fantastic, and now there is more new snow forecast.  We all skied together yesterday across 3 of the peaks at Brekenridge, including heading up the Imperial Express which you get off at the elevation of 3,914m above sea level!!  Some amazing runs down from here, as well as heading into the Brekenridge back bowls to ski the steeps and let our edges glide us down the slopes.