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Skiing with Big Red Cats



 
 
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Old March 6th 08, 04:41 AM posted to rec.skiing.alpine.moderated
DaveM
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Posts: 112
Default Skiing with Big Red Cats

Well, what the heck. Haven't posted anything for quite a while so why
not, huh?

Spent last weekend skiing with Big Red Cats outside of Rossland B.C.
It was our first time skiing with them and since no one asked, I
thought I'd give you my impressions of them.

Bottom line, they are a really great group to ski with. The guides are
knowlegable and careful and friedly and fun loving. Kieran, the owner,
is the best of the bunch - except maybe for Dan, the cat driver who
seems to have more fun doing that than I do skiing. Go figure.

Red Mountain and the surrounding areas have not had a banner snow
year. Theya re down almost a meter from their average, so conditions
are not superb to start with. Plus, they had not had any new snow for
about seven days before we got there on Friday. Thursday they were
offering rain checks to people booked that day. And, Friday night it
rained a the base of Red Mtn -- no, IT POURED warm rain well into the
night (The resort was a shet of ice top to bottom on Saturday).

Saturday after the required safety meeting we headed up and were
delighted to find 6-8" of fresh with more in the trees. Soft and
fluffy stuff was everywhere to be had. We were skiing with Justin as
the lead guide and Charles as the tail guide. Both were great. They
were both very knowledgable about the terrain that we were skiing and
about snow and skiing and hiking and climbing and mountain biking and
sailing and food and wine and beer and fun. Oh yeah, we also picked up
Cam as a third guy hanging around for the day - younger guy but
obviously very versed in the business. It was Justin's last day for
the season and he seemed a bit uptight about keeping the group really
close on his track and was less willing to let us explore our way
through the trees. It was fine and there was plenty of fresh snow so
no real complaints.

Clear and cold on Sunday. Lost about 2cm to settling and whatnot but
still lots of snow. Skied with Kieran on Sunday and he was a great
guide and a lot of fun. Maybe it was owning the compnay or maybe just
having done it for a bit longer but whatever it was, he was a lot more
realxed about lines and routes. Not that he was unsafe at all, just
gave us more choices and options and let us spread out a bit more to
find out own way through the trees. You have to love hearing the guide
say, "lots of fresh in the trees. Go find some. Have some fun. see you
at the bottom." He worked really hard to find us the best snow and the
best conditions and we hit several different types of terrain and
different aspects throughout the day. It was day two on that sowfall
but I had nothing but fresh every trip down - except when I had to cut
my no good wife's tracks (note to self: never let her go first).

Saw the guides in Gabriella's on Saturday night when we went in with
some friends for dinner and they are just as friendly when they are
not on the clock as when they have to be to make a living.

All in all, Big Red Cats was a great experience and I would recommend
them to anyone. They have levels of skiing to suit any ability and
they are a very nice combination of relaxed when it makes sense and a
litle pushier at time to get people moving when they need it. Very
safe, very controlled, very hard working and very fun. You can always
wish for better snow and more vert but given what they had to work
with, they made it a really great experience.

Oh yeah, and Dan the cat driver is one of the best snomobilers in the
world in his spare time. You can check out the really crazy things
that he calls fun at http://www.krazycanadian.com/

Dave M.

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