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My, my, my - 50cm of snow fell in the first two days of this past week! We drove up to Lake Louise from Canmore early on Tuesday morning and during the brunt of the storm cycle, it was an interesting ride to say the least on the Trans Canada Highway in a driving snow storm, scary at times too. It was certainly worth it though, the Powder Bowls on the Ptarmigan side were pretty much deserted, we skied the steeps in untracked boot top snow, an epic day had by all including our 8 year old daughter who skied right on my tail all day in fresh snow that was knee deep on her!  We all made it safely back to Canmore on the Highway at the end of the day as the temperature plunged and the storm cycle intensified. The next day ( Wednesday ) was an epic powder day at Sunshine Village, mid week, -29 degrees, no wind and very few people about. We skied Goats Eye Mountain hard all day in fresh powder that was easily knee deep, many of the black diamond runs were waist deep on our 8 year old, she hooted and howled all day long, stopping every couple of hours to warm up and consume hot chocolate. Thursday dawned a cracker, the storm cycle had passed, it was warmer, sunny and again there was very few people about. We skied what was left of the untracked POW and eyed up the ultimate prize, The Holy Grail here in The Bow Valley - Delirium Dive! Rated as one of The Worlds Steepest, In Bounds, Double Black Diamond, Extreme Skiing Areas, access is allowed via a closed gate and only with an avalanche transceiver, probe and shovel - unfortunately it hasn’t opened this season due to lack of snow and snow pack instability but man did it look good now - would 50cm plus make a difference? YES! We awoke on Friday morning to another blue sky day and our last day of skiing before heading home to NZ, the day was spent cruising the groomers in the sun with the girls and drinking beer on the deck at Trappers Lodge. Then came the call, as Chevy my old ski patrol buddy and now Mountain Operations Manager here at Sunshine Village rounded the corner and said ” We’ve been looking for you, we’re skiing The Dive, meet me at The Beaver Lodge at 2pm “! There were six of us, 4 patrollers, Chevy and me. You enter Delirium Dive from a set of metal stairs bolted to the side of a shear rock face at 9000 feet and at the top of The Continental Divide, then traverse around a rock buttress to an array of narrow chutes that drop over 1000 vertical feet into a classic powder bowl. We ski cut the top section and then made the most of what was the highlight and perfect ending to this 6 week skiing road trip - Untracked, Waist Deep Powder with an old mate and a true gentleman. 1000 vertical feet later with numb feet and panting for breath we snapped some photo’s and headed towards the Gondola via the trees. Grinning from ear to ear and admiring our handy work from ” The Bird ” I remembered the good old days and the advantages that a patrol uniform and pack allowed, one on the few perks for working day after day in sub zero temperatures, ” The Dive ” is still closed but with the snow forecast next week there are murmurs that it will open to the public before long. This roadie has been fantastic, from the smaller tree lined ski hills in B.C to the big open slopes and bowls here in Alberta the trip of a lifetime has gone to plan and without a hitch. Without Sarah and her team at Ski Traveller and her vast knowledge of the many Canadian ski areas that we visited we wouldn’t have had the accommodation that we’ve had and the good times that are now almost memories. We fly out of Calgary tomorrow and begin the long 24 hour non stop journey home to Queenstown, all of us longing and awaiting the snow to fall here, bring it on! Sarah, a big thanks to you and your team. - The Goat.          

Well, we’ve been here in Canmore, Alberta for 5 days now and have skied 3 days at Sunshine, there’s been 3cm of new snow in the valley in that time and some very fond memories and friendships renewed and dinner parties attended. Having worked here at Sunshine as a Ski Patroller almost 20 years ago I made some very close friends and many life long relationships. My old boss Chevy is now the Mountain Operations Manager here and most of my old buddies are still in town - Canmore rather than Banff now though. This season at Sunshine and like much of Western Canada has been a tough one in terms of snow, their snow pack being almost 30% down on an average year but the majority of the terrain is well groomed and open with the exception of Delirium Dive and The Wild West, which isn’t a bad thing! Banff has changed radically in 20 years and has become the expected tourist trap with wall to wall souvenir shops and tacky restaurants, although very pretty - Queenstown take note! Canmore on the other hand has flourished to become a well balanced functional ski town and is rapidly moving out from beneath Banff’s shadow. As I sit here in town resting up for tomorrows trip to Lake Louise with the crew it’s snowing steadily, with 20 - 30cm forecast for this region over the next 24 - 48 hours I have no doubt that it’s going to be a powder day tomorrow and the next…. We decided to extend our trip by 5 days based on the current forecast and by the looks of things it’s going to pay off - check out www.snowforecast.com for the best, most accurate and up to date snow forecasts anywhere in the world! We’ll ski at Sunshine again on Wednesday and make a day trip to Kicking Horse on Thursday and Friday before heading home to NZ on Sunday. The ski / road trip of a lifetime ( 6 weeks / 10 resorts ) has been a blast, the family are in awe of this beautiful country, it’s people their hospitality and the wildlife - we saw Moose yesterday! It’s not over yet though, with the snow still falling, fresh tracks on the menu and the vertical meter still ticking, by the looks of things we’ll leave here with memories, renewed relationships and friendships that will last a lifetime for the next generation too! The Goat. 

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.    

Today’s efforts at Whitewater were undertaken on an empty tank due to yesterdays cat skiing efforts and the previous three weeks accumulated vertical catching up with me! Whitewater ( WH2O ) is a small resort with yet another big reputation for it’s powder, it’s set in a dead ended valley beneath the towering Ymir Peak and a 20 minute drive from beautiful Nelson B.C. There are two old slow double chairs similar to those at Red Mountain, one accessing each side of the valley. Today was a sunny Valentines Day Saturday and not so cold thus everyone was out and about, the car park was full BUT the mountain empty. The done thing here at Whitewater is to buy a lift ticket and use the chairlifts to access the backcountry, ski the back bowls, chutes and trees and hitch a ride along the access road back up to the ski hill and repeat until you can’t walk. Again and as per most of the Canadian resorts so far, this winter by their standards is down on snow, we found some untracked two day old snow amongst the trees and had a great time. This resort has an equally big reputation for it’s on hill catering and is consistently voted North America’s best, complete with it’s own cookbook; we weren’t disappointed. All in all yet another great ski hill with wicked lines, amazing backcountry and some extremely daunting chutes and cliff drops of 50m plus that tower above the resort on the face of Mt Ymir, all of which get skied on a regular basis. We’ve enjoyed Nelson, it’s quirkiness and colour so can highly recommend this as a great base to explore the West Kootenay region and all it has to offer. Off to Fernie tomorrow, hopefully to fresh snow. The Goat. 

We’re here in Nelson, a very pretty, quaint Victorian town nestled beside Lake Kootenay in Southern B.C, Nelson is geographically not unlike Queenstown in many ways. It’s home to many artistic types, ski bums, hippies and draft dodgers; it’s also the gateway to some of B.C’s best skiing at both Red Mountain and Whitewater. The last two days have been spent skiing at Red and Cat Skiing with Big Red Cats, based at the foot of Red Mountain Resort. Red Mountain is an old resort with a big reputation for deep snow, steeps and excellent tree and glade skiing, with a definite 1970’s feel to it enhanced by the old slow long chair lifts ( The Motherlode & Red Chairs ) that literally disappear into the clouds! Once atop this mountain the choices are endless with some extremely steep double black diamond treed runs and some wonderfully groomed endless black / blue runs returning you to the base area that have you looking forward to the restful slow ride back to the summit. Unfortunately we’ve skied here in not such a great snow year but the 5cm of fresh snow that fell on our first day was enough to freshen things up and give us a peek into what might be, waist deep powder is not urban myth here at Red Mountain and the apologies from the locals on this seasons snow conditions have been endless. This is a resort that deserves it’s reputation, doesn’t pretend to be something that’s it’s not and will have us returning in the future. To enhance things here at Red Mountain there’s a cat skiing operation at the base of the mountain ( Big Red Cat Skiing ) which boasts one of Canada largest cat ski tenures, with terrain across 5 mountain peaks! I skied with them yesterday in untracked boot top / knee deep powder that had accumulated over the previous five days, the nine runs that we skied were ALL very steep, tight treed runs averaging 750 - 1000 vertical meters. Canadians love to ski in the trees and 50 year old business men are not to be underestimated when it come to this and taught me a lesson or two! Our Kiwi based US guide did a great job in finding us fresh tracks all day long and ensured our safety on some avalanche prone cliff riddled terrain. If you’re looking for value for money and a hard out day skiing in the trees with excellent cat transport then Big Red Cats in Rossland / Red Mountain are worth the trip, be warned the Advanced / Expert group that I skied with today was no easy ride, you need to have your wits about you and be confident in tight trees and very steep terrain. Warning - Don’t over estimate your ability as you’ll spend half the day sitting in the back of the cat as one of the paying guests did today! In regards to accommodation here in Nelson we have been lucky enough to stay in what must be one of Canada’s best B & B’s ( The Cloudside Inn ) it comes highly recommended by Lonely Planet, The Canadian Tourist Board and us! We hit Whitewater today then off to Fernie tomorrow. 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.