wrote:

Can anyone give us any tips, advice, recommendations of where to check
out along the way: we a re ok boarders (doing blacks and reds in
Europe) but aim to improve a lot and do some cheaper heli or cat
boarding along the way.

After you're done with Whistler, take 99 back to the #1 and then to the
Coquihala Expressway. Head for Kelowna. Once you're there you can
spend a good week checking out the resorts in the Okanagan Valley: Big
White (near Kelowna), Silverstar (Penticton) and Apex (Vernon). All
three resorts are within an hour or two of each other. If you want a
relaxing time, rent a condo on the hill at Big White, it's plenty big
enough to keep you happy for a week. Silverstar isn't quite as big but
still good for a few days. Apex is smaller but worth your time. If you
feel like a side trip, head North to Kamloops and check out Sun Peaks.
After you're done with the Okanagan and maybe Sun Peaks, head east on #1
until you get to Revelstoke. There's a bunch of cat and heli operations
out of Revelstoke, my advice is to book in advance as they are popular.
After you're done play in Revy, keep heading east to Golden and spend
a few days at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. KHMR is steep and deep,
hopefully you're tuned up by then. Down the #1 from KHMR you'll find
Lake Louise, then Sunshine, then the town of Banff. Probably you'll
want to make Banff your base of operations for a week or so and ride at
Sunshine and Louise. Norquay is there too but only worth a day of your
time, you could skip it and it would be no biggie.

After you're done with Banff, you can take the route in the mountains
through Invermere and check out Panorama, which is only good if they've
had tons of snow. But if they've had snow, it's great. Lots of condos
on the hill to stay at there. After Panorama you'll pass Kimberly, it's
worth only a day. You could also opt to go through Calgary rather than
Invermere. Either way you'll eventually get to Fernie and probably want
a few days there. South from there you'll hit the US border and then
Whitefish, Montana, where you'll find the Big Mountain which is worth at
least 3 days of your time. Optionally you could head west and hit Red
Mountain at Rossland, a rowdy, quirky hill with serious steeps and pow.

I'll leave the US guys to direct you from here. But if I were you I'd
keep going south until I got to Jackson Hole. I've never been but I've
always wanted to go there, hear it's great.

I don't know about the car thing. Probably your plan is better than
renting but there are likely some paperwork hassles.

Neil