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Hi Sarah

Just wanted to say what a wonderful job that you did.We didn’t give you the easiest trip to organize and everything within your control went like clockwork car’s passes and accommodation etc…

We had a real blast already got itchy feet with 2 days off the skis.We will definitely use you for our next trip.

Thank you again - Allan Family.

Hi Lianne, it was absolutely fabulous! wouldnt change a thing. Panorama was unbelieveable, when we arrived it was snowing and all the fairy lights lit up the place. 10 sec walk to the ski lift. Banff great, fox hotel excellent. (altho no fridge or microwave!) Skiied mostly at Lake Louise, so many runs, so many lifts, so many gondolas - where to start! so, thankyou so much. Flights all good, altho our original flight out of here was delayed 5 hrs, so we literally ran thru Vancouver airport to catch the domestic flight. Skis turned up on another flight! all well tho. Ski passes, shuttles etc all excellent. thankyou, well done, Donna

TELLURIDE, CO. February 10, 2009 - Nearly a foot and a half of snow has blanketed the Telluride Ski Area in the past 36 hours, including an whopping 10 inches (25 cm) which greeted the top of the ski area this morning.

“After a record setting start to the season and continuing storms rolling through, Telluride boasts some of the best conditions in ski country,” said Dave Riley, chief operating officer at the Telluride Ski Resort, “and with our new Revelation Bowl and incredible ‘inbounds backcountry’ terrain, Telluride is truly unmatched in North America.”

Telluride and the San Juan Mountains are currently under a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service. Snow showers started Sunday afternoon, with snow continuing throughout the week. The current storm cycle brought 10” (25 cm) overnight and 16” (41 cm) in the last 48 hours. A 66-inch (168 cm) mountain base was reported with epic powder conditions as of 7 am this morning.

The National Weather Service is reporting a series of Pacific storms to continue to bring snow to the mountains the entire week, with chances of precipitation Wednesday night through the weekend.

Since the resort opened on November 26th, more than 17 feet (518 cm) of snow has fallen in Telluride, with 205 inches (521 cm) total. 

“Telluride is priming up for a terrific President’s Weekend,” said Matt Skinner, executive director of sales and marketing for the resort.  “With these great conditions, there is no better time to book a ski vacation in Telluride!”

Day Two at Revelstoke was a totally different experience. Snow fell during the night and throughout most of the next morning, although not a lot, it made a difference and freshened things up. We left this morning for Nelson and will tackle Whitewater and Red Mountain while in this neck of the woods. One final word on Revelstoke though, the mountain has enormous potential, vast wicked terrain and undeniable vertical that won’t disappoint but it has hit a few financial speed bumps of late and due no doubt to the current worldwide financial crisis. Unfortunately it’s understaffed, the facilities on the mountain are incomplete and lacking in various areas, namely toilets and good signage! The new section of the Gondola is a great addition and allows one to park at the base area and no longer drive up to the day lodge as per last year, having said that there is a lot of incomplete construction at the base area and ones first impression of this resort is all a bit shambolic. Substandard guest services, no signage, porta loos that we thought were for the construction workers but as we discovered were for the paying guests! The new detachable Quad ( The Ripper )  installed this summer is great but it’s in an area away on it’s own that requires a tedious traverse to and from unless you’re capable of skiing into it via The North Bowl Area above, which is a free riding double black diamond area with marginal snow conditions this year. Overall a great ski hill that has massive potential, we didn’t see it at it’s best due to the lack of new snow, they have big plans for the future but with he current economic climate my feelings are that they will struggle and that the grand plan will take some time to come to fruition, none the less a wicked ski hill but not quite the overall glossy package that its pretending to be in its marketing package, a must visit but don’t expect too much in the way of frills or service. Revelstoke is a great wee party town, friendly and with some good bars and an excellent Sushi joint opposite The Regent Hotel on 1st street. We stayed in a nice well priced B&B ( The Inn On The River ) a short stroll from downtown with wonderful views of the mighty Columbia River.  The Goat.

Hi Lianne - just a quick email to let you know we had a great time at Copper - so thanks very much for all your help.  The snow and mountain facilites realy worked well for our family, the apartment was flash - oh, and we were lucky enough to get an upgrade on the flight to San Fran - so slept lying down - fantastic! 
Cheers, Jenny P

WOW! Revelstoke lives up to it’s reputation and without exaggeration. We’re here in Revelstoke and skied the much anticipated new resort today. No fresh snow unfortunately but the grooming was impeccable and the terrain challenging. Boasting North America’s highest vertical and in it’s second season, Revelstoke is still in it’s early development stages and with much construction underway, some stalled. With big plans for new lifts that will open up further terrain currently only accessible via a cat skiing operation that is based at the top of the gondola. With very few skiers around this is a mountain that certainly tests ones nerves as well as ones skill, the terrain available requires a big mountain ski with big mountain legs. We ( 8 year old included ) skied non stop from the top of  The Stoke Chair to the base of the gondola today on a black run that totaled 5620ft / 1713 meters, it took 25 minutes and longer to recover! Tomorrow will involve a tour of the backcountry and the new North Bowl area accessed from the top of The Stoke quad chairlift, courtesy of an old ski patrolling buddy now working as a heliguide for CMH and living here in Revelstoke; I just know it’s going to hurt! Off to Nelson on Tuesday with Whitewater, Red Mountain and some Cat Skiing in our sights. Thankfully Southern B.C is now starting to pick up some of the regular snow that has been falling in Montana and the Northern US.  The Goat.  

We arrived here at Silverstar Resort yesterday from Big White via Vernon. They have had 37cm of new snow fall here in the past 7 days with 27cm of that falling in the last 72 hours!Upon arrival here at Silverstar you would think you had stumbled onto a large Hollywood film set as the architecture is unbelievably unique, a classic mixture of an old gold mining western town with a good dose of Disneyland mixed in, with a vibrant colour scheme consistent throughout the village, condos and private homes this is one resort you won’t forget. Silverstar prides itself on being a very family friendly resort with loads to offer all ages, a wonderful village atmosphere, ski school and a great selection of bars, resaturants and a wonderful Swiss Bakery with custard squares to die for!The skiing here on the front side consists mainly of Green and Blue Runs with a mixture of not so difficult Black runs thrown in for good measure. With five chairlifts servicing the front side there is plenty to keep everyone of all abilities happy and all the usual village amenities and ski shops at hand.Be warned, Silverstar has a Dark Side, known as The Black Side or Putnam Creek, this is not somewhere you want to accidently stumble into via a wrong turn at the magic carpet! A high speed detachable quad accesses some outrageous terrain that consists of Black and Double Black Diamond runs that are so long they almost make you cry, there is one blue run  - Eldorado which is 8km long and is basically a feeder back to the lift. This area is renowned for its excellent powder, shear vertical, massive bumps, steep narrow chutes and tree skiing, the runs have names to match too - Three Wise Men, Headwall, Freefall, Holy Smoke and Chute 5 to name a few that tested me today. This is no place for the faint hearted or those that can’t look after themselves, there are warning signs that state there is no easy way out!Overall this resort has it all, enough to keep the family and the hardcore happy, with it’s sister resort Big White near by there is no need to venture much further afield with the family and as in all Canadian resorts the service is efficient and super friendly!  I’ll be hard at it tomorrow trying to cross off the what’s left on The Dark Side before venturing up the road to Revelstoke where the real work begins and the nerves really get tested by all accounts.The Goat.  

Chalk up an Epic Powder Day here at Big White!17cm - 20cm of fresh Okanagan powder fell here in the last 24 hours, we woke this morning to the sound of the groomers working in the village and the Snow Ghosts lurking! We were in the lift line up at 8:30am with everyone else and skied hard until the lifts closed at 3:30pm. There was boot top powder everywhere and in places, especially in the trees there were fresh pockets knee deep!It was a mild day here with a low of - 4 degrees and the visibility improved as the day progressed, there were many, many happy faces to be seen as the lack of snow here over the last 4 weeks was starting to wear pretty thin with many. There was hooting to be heard amongst the trees and the stories of the days epic runs are rife and being relived with gusto in all the bars on the hill here tonight.I / we spent the day skiing with Gary, a Snow Host here at Big White, he knew where the secret lines were and where the crowds weren’t! This free service is available at the majority of the B.C resorts and is a fantastic way to get to know the mountain and gain a bit of local knowledge about the resort, the runs as well as the best bars and restaurants to frequent to while away the apres ski hours. He took some keeping up with I can tell you, at times it was no place for the faint hearted and as those members of our small group dropped off it was he and I at the end of the day, me silently hoping that he had had enough, NOT!This is a fantastic resort, huge terrain, great service, very helpful and extra friendly staff, families are foremost in the resorts way of thinking with an amazing separate kids ski school facility which is off limits to Mums and Dads.An absolute must visit when in this neck of the woods! Another day here at Big White tomorrow and then off to Silverstar where I’ll post another blog.The Goat.  

Hi Sarah - Yes we are safely home and reliving our memories of a fantastic holiday. Niseko is truly a magical place.We arrived at the same time as a heavy snow fall ( the heaviest of the season according to the locals) which continued for our first day of skiing. We woke the first morning to the noise of a bulldozer clearing snow from in front of our apartment. So we were in waist deep powder on our first day. I think we were lucky with our timing as the weather warmed toward the end of our week and they haven’t had any big dumps of snow since.The locals reckon it is not the best  snow  this season so we are thankful that we got one big dump and experienced what Niseko is famous for. 

The slopes weren’t crowded during the day and practically empty at night.The accommodation was superb,great location,very comfortable,surprisingly spacious and had a good drying room and ski storage area that included equipment to tune our skis. The apartment was well serviced and the staff  were prompt in fixing the hot water which failed one morning. The apartment also had one built in NZ/Aust power plug which is better for recharging cellphones and cameras than using the local power plugs.

All our travel connections worked and were on time despite Chitose Airport being almost snow bound. I assure you watching a jumbo jet taxi to the air bridge ploughing thru snow half way up it’s wheels was a sight to remember!One point you might want to pass on to other NZers heading to Japan is NZ walkie talkies are illegal in Japan as they do not operate on the right frequency. So we couldn’t use ours which was a pain as they are a great tool for families to keep in touch when you’re spread out on the slopes. So Sarah many  thanks to you for making all the necessary arrangements.

We had a great time and the only downside is that the whole experience has ruined NZ skiing for me as skiing in Japan is so amazing. 

Walsh Family.