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We arrived here in Fernie ( A little town with a big reputation and the curse of the Indian Ghostrider ) two days ago after a 4 hour drive from Nelson B.C, snow was falling as we crossed the Salmo/Creston Pass and continued throughout the night. We checked into our 2 bedroom condo at The Sanford Inn to find that we had been upgraded to a three bedroom place with both a pool table and a ping pong table, a nice surprise and a great location half way between town and the ski hill, plus believe it or not a fantastic Indian restaurant to top things off! We awoke the next morning to 17cm of fresh snow and snow still falling. We had the benefit of a personal guide to show us around the mountain, my old ski patrolling buddy Robin is now the mountain operations manager here at Fernie and after 35 years working on the hill we couldn’t be in better hands. We got to ski those secret lines that only those with local knowledge know about with repeats again today. Fernie is a fantastic, well run, well resourced, immaculately presented resort on a par with some of the better resorts in Europe and the US. With amazing skiing across 5 separate bowls, the in bounds terrain is steep and varied plus there’s plenty of groomed runs to keep everyone happy and a well laid out and very efficient lift system and friendly professional staff. The little things really make the difference to a great trip, and this resort has got the little things right, combined with Sarah’s attention to detail on the accommodation front this road trip has been a pleasure. With a week left and Banff in our sights tomorrow we’ll head north through Radium, a compulsory stop and a soak at the world renowned hot springs should fill the tanks for the upcoming encounter that Sunshine Village, Lake Louise and the local gang will no doubt have organized! The Goat.    

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.

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.  

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.