BC in Feb/March 2006

On Mon, 19 Sep 2005 15:07:27 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:

Switters wrote:
On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 15:48:03 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:

Kicking Horse - another tough hill. ..... Also if you get
bored, Lake Louise is only 2 hours away and Fernie is an hour or so.

How's that? It's about 200 miles from KH to Fernie, so it's going to
be nearer 4hrs. Have you got a private helicopter you're not telling
us about?

Sorry, brain fart... I was thinking about somewhere else.

Aww shucks, I was hoping for the helicopter :-)

KHMR is
definitely close to Louise though, and if I was going to be there for
10 days I'd definitely day trip it over there, so long as Kicking
Horse pass was clear.

Really? Wouldn't it be a bit tame and disappointing after KH?

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Switters wrote:

KHMR is
definitely close to Louise though, and if I was going to be there for
10 days I'd definitely day trip it over there, so long as Kicking
Horse pass was clear.


Really? Wouldn't it be a bit tame and disappointing after KH?

A little tamer? Yeah. But you'd have to be a pretty damn jaded rider
to be disappointed with Louise, unless they're having a bad snow year.
The hill is huge, lots of fun runs, and it's the most beautiful place
I've ever been to. Turn around on the chair on the front side and have
a look across the valley at the Lake and the Chateau - that's just a
heart-stopper. The in-bounds terrain is tough enough for most riders,
and if (like me) you want steep big bumps Paradise and Ptarmigan chairs
provide the goods. Runs like Whitehorn 2 are pretty steep (well over
30), long, and unbelievable fun especially on a pow day. If you want
tougher, there's some good places to hike to. Plus it's got some stuff
that KHMR doesn't, like fun blue-black runs that let you relax a little,
screaming steep groomers and a major terrain park (if you're into that
kind of thing).

If you want more gnarly terrain, another half-hour down the road is
Sunshine. The in bounds runs on the lower half of Goat's Eye are plenty
steep, over 40 degrees lots of places. If you've got avy gear and a
partner you can hit Delirium Dive, which is some serious ****. You need
the beacon to open the access gate. There's another beacon-access only
run they've opened recently, Wild Wild West, it's skier's right of
Hell's Kitchen (which is itself an evil double-fall line glade run).
These places have unmarked cliffs and some 50+ degree pitches, and the
avy gear isn't just for show.

Neil

On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:00:55 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:

You need the beacon to open the access gate.

Do you mean that there are gates controlled by a signal from a
transceiver? Interesting idea if so.

Te rest of the information has been filed for future use. Thanks Neil.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Switters wrote:
On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:00:55 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:


You need the beacon to open the access gate.


Do you mean that there are gates controlled by a signal from a
transceiver? Interesting idea if so.

Yep. I've never gone (it's a hike - I'm allergic to hiking) but there's
a gate and you need a beacon to open it. You're also required to have a
partner, shovels, probes, all that good stuff. It's serious terrain.

Neil

On Wed, 21 Sep 2005 14:59:51 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:

Switters wrote:
On Tue, 20 Sep 2005 15:00:55 GMT, Neil Gendzwill
allegedly wrote:

You need the beacon to open the access gate.

Do you mean that there are gates controlled by a signal from a
transceiver? Interesting idea if so.

Yep. I've never gone (it's a hike - I'm allergic to hiking) but
there's a gate and you need a beacon to open it. You're also required
to have a partner, shovels, probes, all that good stuff. It's serious
terrain.

Sounds great. I shall see if I can wangle a trip there.

- Dave.

--
The only powder to get high on, falls from the sky.
http://www.vpas.org/ - Snowboarding the worlds pow pow -
Securing your e-mail

The Snowboard FAQ lives here - http://rssFAQ.org/

Shrug I've been to all the places listed, and I've experienced all of
them in both fresh and bulletproof conditions.

It's just ******** for people to talk about (for example) Fernie being
great... perhaps they haven't actually been there when it rains, but
trust me, it rains everywhere. I've been to all the resorts listed here
in the rain as well as in good conditions.


If you're going from Europe, then book your flight by all means, but
don't commit to anything else until you know where the snow is. Quite
often it can be bulletproof in Banff and powder in Kamloops or Kelowna
- it's a big area and the conditions vary. Go in / out from YVR or YYC
and hire a car, then make it up depending on where the snow is.

Even the Cat boarding at Whistler was more often down than running last
year. Quite often the heli operators have to shut down due to poor
conditions also.

Wait, observe.