Early season at Heavenly

It’s the end of December, and we’ve already been working on the project for about 3 months.  It usually starts in late September when we start getting winter pattern predictions for the upcoming season.  Those don’t become solid until October so we usually hold off on reservations until then, but it’s always a gamble when we are committing to several days at a resort like Telluride or Tamarack where bad seasons can be really bad.  Somehow it almost always works out for us though, so we will stick with our method!

First day of the 19/20 season on Thanksgiving at Jackson Hole

Opening day was at Jackson Hole on Thanksgiving, which is really unusual for us.  This is NOT the time to visit JH, but we needed something to do over Thanksgiving and have been interested in getting property in the Teton Valley, Idaho which is close to both Jackson Hole and Grand Targhee.  So being in the area looking at property, it was a must to ski opening day.  They had 2,200 vertical open, but only on 2 runs that had snowmaking.  Still, it was skiing and tickets were only $50 so it was cheap Thanksgiving entertainment.

Filling in nicely at Heavenly, December 2019

December was really good at our home resorts Heavenly and Kirkwood, so by the end of the month I was up to 17 days skiing already.  Along the way, we met a couple of really interesting people on the lifts.  The first was Bill Killebrew, who owned and ran the resort in 1977 when he was only 23 years old.  He had a ton of stories for us and being good listeners, we ended up skiing with him all morning.  He was on the US Ski Team in the early 70’s, so it was a challenge to keep up with him!

The second was another local who owns 2 wolves (permitted) in South Lake.  After skiing with him all morning, he invited us over to see them.  There is something really soulful about these animals.  We love seeing wolves and this was the first time we were allowed inside the fence with them which was thrilling and something we will remember forever.

Wolf in South Lake Tahoe

In between skiing our local resorts in Tahoe, we knocked off our first trip of the year to Steamboat and Loveland.  Steamboat was a new resort for us, and Loveland was a do-over that we felt we had to do because we didn’t really get to ski much of it the first time.  Our luck held nicely with 130% of normal snowfall at both resorts when we visited.  We spent 3 days at Steamboat to get the full experience and hit Loveland on our way back to Denver.

Our first new resort of 19/20 – Steamboat

So 19/20 is already super memorable for us, but we are already looking forward to our next trip at the beginning of February.  That trip will be a return to Sun Valley and another new resort for us: Tamarack, Idaho.

2018/19 was another great year for us.  I got a record 63 days and AiRung recorded a new high mark of 44 days.  To keep that in perspective, that means that I skied 1 out of every 3 days from November 30th to May 31st.  That’s dedication considering I’m holding down a full-time job! Adobe is a very understanding employer with unlimited vacation days luckily.

A fun day at Kirkwood, March 2019

We got 5 new resorts this year, which is a bit lower than in previous years.  The main reason is that we had the full Epic Pass for Vail resorts this time around, and we wanted to use it the best way.  That meant trips back to some resorts that we already skied at previously like Whistler/Blackcomb, Vail, Telluride, and Park City.  Of the 5 new resorts, 3 were in Vermont though, so we feel like we put in a great effort!

Late March at Heavenly, 2019

After our Big Trip to Colorado which ended in mid March, the snow eased off in Tahoe, with below average snowfall in March and April following the non-stop record-breaking snowfall in February.  Still, there were a few powder days and plenty of great skiing.  Although it wasn’t snowing much, we never really got much spring skiing until May because it was colder than normal.  With the 2nd most snowfall at Heavenly ever and cold temps, they decided to stay open until the end of May.  So of course we took full advantage of that bonus time skiing almost every weekend.

Late March powder run on Firebreak at Heavenly, March 2019

Last day At Heavenly, May 24th, 2019

The other big bonus was that there was cross-country skiing at lake level in our neighborhood until a very late April 19th.  Sammy loved every minute of it!

Sammy in his natural element, late April 2019

Whenever Mammoth stays open until July 4th week we try to get down there for our season wrap and that’s what we did this year.  Again, cold temps had preserved the snow so even though there were about 200″ less snowfall than 16/17, there was actually more terrain open than that year which was the last time we were able to do it.  2100′ of vertical with 6 lifts open was pretty good for June 30th!  We camped in the woods nearby and got up super early to hit the 7:30AM opening.  It’s fun to park the rig at Chair 2 “The Mill” and let Sammy run around on the runs after the lifts shut at 1PM.

Summer skiing at Mammoth, June 30th, 2019

Great parking at the Mill at Mammoth, June 2019

So that’s a wrap for 18/19 and we look forward to next ski season which is only 5 months away!

April at Heavenly, 2019

This year’s Big Trip was VERY BIG.  17 days long and 2600 total driving miles to be exact.  We were not as ambitious as previous years,  and planned to get 2 of the last 4 resorts on the list in Colorado done. We also want to revisit one of our top 2 favorite resorts: Telluride.  And then, last minute, we threw in Park City on the way home.

Top of Paradise Bowl at Crested Butte, March 2019

Planning for this trip started last summer when we upgraded our passes to Vail’s Epic pass, which includes Crested Butte and 5 days at Telluride.  We were banking on the weather patterns favoring southern Colorado this year with the long-term climate forecast models pointing towards El Nino. Although the El Nino never materialized, pretty much every state in the Western US had well above average snow anyway. We hit some of the best conditions of the year everywhere we went.

Revelation Bowl at Telluride, February 2019

Stop #1: Tahoe

We started the trip in our own backyard in Tahoe, Heavenly.  I had the best run of the DECADE on the very first day.  Tahoe had the biggest February for snowfall on record. And it was also very cold with the snow line was all the way down to 2,000 feet or so.  This gave me a once-in-a-decade chance to scratch off another bucket list item:  The “Minden Mile”.  The “Mile” is a 5,200 vertical drop run from the top of Heavenly to the town of Minden in the Nevada desert at 4,800′ elevation.  It’s rare that snow sticks for more than a day or so down there. However, it was deep and cold enough to enjoy powder turns all the way down.  It was incredible to have that kind of a huge vertical drop run outside of Canada or Europe.

Upper part of the Minden Mile at Heavenly, February 2019

Stop #2: Powderhorn and Grand Junction

Next we drove 760 miles to Grand Junction Colorado to ski one of the smaller Colorado resorts: Powderhorn.  We met up with Tom and Nancy Johnson who are friends of one of AiRung’s clients.  They have lived in Junction and skied Powderhorn for the last 2 decades. Tom is a patroller there and we got a great tour of this really fun and unique resort. This resort is another great find that we never would have skied without the project, and one we are certain to return to.  Grand Junction is a pretty great town as well, with a nice walkable downtown with shops and restaurants.

Great grooming at Powderhorn, February 2019

Another thing we liked about Grand Junction and Powderhorn is that the town is at only 4,600′ elevation, so it’s easy to get a good night’s sleep.  This is about 5,000 feet lower than where we stayed later in Telluride and Mt. Crested Butte.  We always have trouble sleeping at those high altitudes, so the option to ski Colorado but stay down low is attractive.

Stop #3: Telluride

We continued on to Telluride after Powderhorn.  As before, we really enjoyed the steep groomers and views. This time we also got 2 powder days out of the 4 dyas we skied to experience the whole package!

This is why we love Telluride, March 2019

Stop #4: Crested Butte

Our next stop was Crested Butte.  I lived in Gunnison and Crested Butte for 8 years, first as a student attending Western State College, then as an employee of the resort. So it was a home-coming for me. I left Crested Butte 26 years ago and had not been back in all that time.  The changes were huge.  But this was AiRung’s first time here and I got to show her around some of my favorite places.

Mt. Crested Butte under the stars, March 2019

We had 3 days there with fresh snow every day.  The skiing was the best I’ve ever seen in Crested Butte, considering I had 8 full seasons of skiing CB as my home resort. In fact, from the last 2 days at Telluride to the day we left Colorado a week later, it never stopped snowing for long. Crested Butte has some of the most impressive steep terrain in North America and every skier who likes steep terrain should give it a try.

Showing AiRung around the North Face at Crested Butte, March 2019

Stop #5: Park City

To break up the long drive back to South Lake Tahoe from Crested Butte, we added  Park City as a “stop” in between.  With only one day to ski, we picked our favorite side of the resort, The Canyons.  We used to go there every year to ski the massive amount of terrain,except last year. So it was time to go back.  This year Vail has upped their grooming game at Park City, claiming the most nightly groomed terrain in North America.  Conditions were great with lightly falling snow all day.

Snowing again at Park City, March 2019

As of this writing in early April, it’s still snowing in Tahoe and Heavenly has extended their season until Memorial day, so we still have almost 8 weeks of skiing left!  With 51 days thus far for me and 38 for AiRung, this will certainly be the most ski days we’ve ever gotten in one season.

Our 3rd trip of the year began to take shape when Vermont got pounded with early season snow in November.  That was looking pretty good from dry, smokey California where we were reading about firestorms and waiting for snow in Tahoe. With our full Epic passes this year, we got “free” skiing at Stowe, VT. So we decided to squeeze in a  trip to knock off 3 of the best Vermont areas:  Stowe, Sugarbush, and Mad River Glen. The only time to do it was early January because of our other commitments. And there were two big risks we were taking: extremely low temperatures and winter air travel with connections.

Mt Mansfield at Stowe, January 2019

Luckily it all worked out, and more.  Our flights were a non-event. And after a month of no snow and lots of rain, Vermont got their biggest snowfalls of the year in the 2 days before we got there. When we were landing in Burlington, we heard a returning local complaining: “I can’t believe how much snow fell while we were gone.  Yuck!”.  We were loving it.

All covered up at Stowe, January 2019

Stowe

Our first day at Stowe featured 8″ of fresh on top of 16″ the day before that.  The only problem was the temperatures and wind.  It was -10F at the Mt. Mansfield weather station and was blowing 50mph, which is a wind chill of -45F.  That is serious danger territory, where skin freezes in 5 minutes.  We had double face masks with absolutely zero exposed skin.  The problem is breathing because you have to breath through the fabric and your goggles get fogged.  Everything becomes difficult at those temps:  Skis don’t slide well, goggles are fogged, fingers frozen so badly that you can’t operate a camera or phone (which are dead anyway because of the cold).  Taking your gloves off for a minute for a picture is a painful experience.  Chemical hand warmers are an absolute necessity.  Every picture on this page was taken at great expense and personal torture!

Nearly untouched groomer at Mad River Glen at 10:30AM, January 2019

Oh, but the skiing was great!  No crowds, everything was open, and soft snow almost exactly the quality we see in Tahoe…pretty much as good as it gets in the East.

By the 2nd day we were more used to it and started to really enjoy ourselves.  We skied about 90% of the named runs at Stowe over 2 days, including the VERY steep front 4 runs: Starr, Goat, National, and Liftline.  I have to give the scary nod to Starr, which was an absolutely smooth slippery slope that you would NOT want to fall on.  I wouldn’t exactly call it ice, but it was as close to ice as is possible to get an edge into.  The lower part was fantastic though, as were the others.  This was a bucket list item for me because we used to ski Stowe regularly when I was a kid growing up in Buffalo, and I always looked at that run as something to aspire to be able to ski.  Mission accomplished 42 years later!

The namesake trees at Sugarbush, January 2019

Sugarbush

After 2 days at Stowe, we moved on to Sugarbush.  Sugarbush is a larger resort spread over 2 distinct ski areas connected by a lift that was NOT running when we were there.  That meant that in order to get the full resort experience we had to get in the car and drive over from the Lincoln Peak side to the Mt. Ellen side.  Both sides of Sugarbush are great with a distinct character and plenty of advanced to expert terrain on both.  We would have liked to have spent more time there.

Single chair at Mad River Glen, January 2019

Mad River Glen

The last day was at Mad River Glen.  The last time I skied there was in the mid 70’s.  It hasn’t changed much.  This is one of North American skiing’s historic places, and it is a truly unique experience.  If you ask people you meet at Stowe or Sugarbush what their favorite Vermont resort is, they might say it’s Mad River Glen. Nobody can really put their finger on why that is exactly.  We think the 1948 single chair is a big part of that, being the only single chair remaining in regular operation in North America.  Mt. Eyak in Alaska still runs a single that was purchased and moved from Sun Valley, built originally in 1939, but it only runs a few days a year.

Mad River Glen features what is often rated as the most difficult run in the East: Paradise.  Although not super steep by Western standards, it’s full of ice falls, rocks, and tight trees and believe me it will be a serious challenge getting down that with intact dignity at the bottom.  There are better runs there though, and we ended up skiing about 75% of this small resort.  There were a total of about 20-30 people skiing that day so we felt like we had the place to ourselves.  It was a surreal experience and I recommend it to every skier that wants to experience what skiing used to be like.

Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush, January 2019

Some changes to the list…

We always learn something new after our ski trips. Because of our really positive experience with this trip,  we gave some more thought to what it is that makes a resort stand out. We decided that, while snow and acreage are important, what really makes a place for us is vertical drop.  So we made some changes to the 100 list. We have added back Whiteface, New York, which has the biggest vertical in the East, and Sunday River, Maine which is a huge, popular resort that everyone keeps telling us must be on the list.  Removed were Eldora and Monarch Colorado which are at the bottom of the list for vertical drop and fell under the 1,400 vertical lower limit.  We also removed Brian Head, Utah which has a real continuously skiable vertical of only 1,100 feet to make room for Tamarack, Idaho. Tamarack was added back because they are re-installing one of the vital lifts that was removed when the resort was foreclosed on 10 years ago. We had previously skied Brian Head so after all this shuffling we are back to 76 resorts completed.

Lots of thought has gone into the list and we think it’s pretty close to final now.  We may make more changes later as we finish the last 24.  There are also 2 new resorts being planned in British Columbia that may need to be added to the list if they are built in time:  Valemount and Garibaldi.  These will be huge resorts and when complete will rival many of the best resorts on the list now.

Maple Syrup bottling in Stowe, January 2019

The Whistler Christmas trip was our 2nd of the the 2018/19 season.  This year we decided to get full Epic passes for Vail resorts which gave us access to Whistler/Blackcomb over the Christmas holidays.  We have been there twice before in the winter and spring and never had good conditions so we wanted to give the biggest resort in North America another shot.

Whistler Peak Stonehenge

We’ve had good weather luck on this project over the years, but you can’t win them all.  Whistler is prone to rain on the lower mountain and that is what we got.  Good snow and 4″ of powder the first day was replaced with all-day rain 2/3 of the way up the mountain on the 2nd day and all of the upper mountain lifts closed due to wind.  Ahh!  This is the worst possible weather when skiing because skis don’t slide on water.  We also found out that our waterproof ski clothes aren’t really that waterproof.  We just barely got them dried out in time for skiing the next day.

View of Whistler from 7th Heaven at Blackcomb

On the third day we did the First Tracks breakfast which gets you on the gondola in the dark and up top long before sunrise.  After a good breakfast we got to ski the upper mountain before the hordes of holiday skiers got up there.  This was one of the highlights of the trip along with a great dinner at Ka-Ze (Japanese) in the village.

First tracks at Whistler before sunrise

So the Whistler Christmas trip was interesting and fun, but our opinion of Whistler isn’t really improved or changed much.  It’s risky planning a trip far in advance there, but if you hit it on a good day it’s pretty amazing.

Lift Line Camp Robbers at 7th Heaven

Skiing back down to the village at the end of the day

Peak to Creek run at Whistler on a good day, December 2018

Waiting in line at the Whistler Gondola at 7AM

We are excited to start on the 7th full season of the Ski North America 100 project and 18th year accumulating resort visits to the top 100 ski resorts in North America.  Somehow we are already 75% of the way finished, but we still expect the project to take another 5-10 years to finish all of them.

First run selfie at Heavenly, November 2018

The season started off strong in Tahoe with our first weekend of skiing on the last day of November featuring a blizzard at Kirkwood and bluebird powder skiing at Heavenly.   2 weeks before, we were hiking in pleasant summerlike temps at 10,000 ft thinking that we would be lucky to ski anything in early December, but things change quickly in Tahoe and the switch from summer to winter was just in time.

Early Season at Heavenly, November 2018

This year we have 4 trips planned in addition to our usual Tahoe skiing.  We just returned from the first trip to Vail, Colorado December 8-11.  This trip was planned in mid November because Colorado was getting good snowfall.  The snow kept coming and it snowed every day for 11 days up to and including the first day on the mountain.  This resulted in our best trip to Vail EVER.  No crowds, everything open, and the great weather was unbeatable.  Our favorable opinion of Vail as a 5-star resort was further improved.  Although the skiing there is not very challenging, the quality of the lift network, grooming, and facilities are at the very top of all of the resorts on our list.

Some nice powder at Vail, December 2018

Next up we are giving Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia another shot.  This will be the 4th time we’ve been there.  This time we hope it doesn’t rain and everything is open!  After that, we are continuing our focus on the East Coast with a trip to Burlington, Vermont to ski Stowe, Sugarbush, and Mad River Glen.

Back Bowls at Vail, December 2018

Lastly, we will head back to Colorado again to ski our favorite resort Telluride and also my old hometown mountains Crested Butte and Monarch.  If it all works out, we will ski 5 new resorts this year, and plenty of our old favorites.  It’s on!

#SkiNorthAmerica100

High Noon groomer at Thredbo, August 2018

This summer I got a chance to check off one of the items on my bucket list — skiing in Australia!  My daughter lives in the Outback in Alice Springs has been there for 1 1/2 years, so it was time for a visit.  Since it is such a long journey I decided to take a few extra days to see Sydney and to go skiing in the Snowy Mountains.  AiRung couldn’t make it on this trip unfortunately.

Above tree-line at Thredbo, August 2018

After looking at the map and logistics and talking with Jack at Snowpak.com, I chose to ski Thredbo and Perisher.  Jack rated Perisher as #1 and Thredbo as #3 in his article here: The Best Ski Resorts in Australia.

Highest lift-served point in Australia at Thredbo, August 2018

I spent most of Sunday driving from Sydney to Jindabyne, which is the closest town to both Thredbo and Perisher and a great spot to spend a couple of nights with lots of restaurants and bars, and the largest per-capita number of ski shops I’ve ever seen anywhere — over 20 for a town with a population of 2,600!  Of course these shops are to serve the hordes of skiers that descend on Perisher and Thredbo.  I did some digging and it looks like those 2 resorts are responsible for somewhere between 1 and 1.5 million skier visits per year, which is huge.  That’s why Jack suggested that I ski on a weekday, which was great advice.  I did see lines at Perisher, but nothing too bad.

“Funnel Web” black bump run at Thredbo, August 2018

I skied at Thredbo the first day, and was super impressed with that resort.  It has both the highest and lowest lift-served elevations in Australia, giving it a respectable 2,200 feet of vertical.  It also has a great lift network with 3 high speed quads and the best lift in Australia: the Kosciuszko Express, which has a vertical drop of over 1,800 feet.  I spent most of the day on that lift.  There were patches of wind-blown powder in the trees, and lots of top-bottom groomers.  There is some challenge there, but nothing that could be considered double-black.  Good snowmaking coverage assures skiing even if natural snowfall is lacking.

Graham shows me the soft snow at Thredbo, August 2018

The very first chair ride of the day I met John and Graham: 2 Thredbo regulars who spent the whole day showing me around.  Graham had been skiing there since the 70’s and had lots of stories and history for me.  John and his wife invited me to join them for dinner in Jindy after skiing, so it was a super fun day and I got to learn a lot about the skiing culture in Australia.  These 2 guys had to be the best 2 skiers on the mountain and as long as I was following them, I was skiing soft snow and powder.

Local guides Graham and John at Thredbo, August 2018

The next day I drove up to Perisher, the largest resort in Australia at over 3,000 acres.  It has a higher base but has much less vertical and is mostly green or easy blue terrain.  In fact the max skiable vertical there is only 1,200 ft.  It also has only one high-speed lift which has very little vertical and serves beginners. Perisher was underwhelming but impressive in a silly way — being so flat and spread out with so many T-bars and pointless long flat chairs.  I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere else.

“Village Express” 8-pack at Perisher, August 2018

The best chair is the Ridge Quad which has some legit steep terrain on 2 trails which provided the best runs I encountered in Australia.  Other than that, there was only Mt. Perisher on the other end of the resort that had decent vertical and enough slope to make it interesting.  Once again, I had a friendly guide Mark who I met on one of the many T-bars early in the day who led me to the steeper stuff.  Thanks Mark!

Steeper terrain at Perisher off the Ridge Quad, August 2018

Snow was excellent according to the locals I talked to, and I thought it was good even by Tahoe standards.  They don’t get the depth we are used to, but all the runs were covered and I never hit a rock in 2 days of hard charging off-piste.

Mt. Perisher soft snow off the Eyre T-bar

I felt like a star skiing in Australia and had a great time.  Locals were very interested in showing me around and I’ve really never skied anywhere else where people were that friendly. Once I opened my mouth to speak they found out I was from California and they seemed so happy that I had made the effort to ski in Australia.  It’s a fun skiing culture with less emphasis on challenge and more on just getting out onto the snow and sliding around.

Base of the Freedom Quad at Perisher with a view of Mt. Kosciuszko, August 2018

I would go back to Thredbo which I would rate at least 3 out of 5 stars on our scale.  As far as choosing Australia over New Zealand for a summer skiing vacation, New Zealand definitely has better resort skiing at Treble Cone, but I’d rather ski Thredbo over the other major NZ ski resort I skied at which was Mt. Hutt.  The thing that New Zealand has over Australia is really impressive mountains that you can only get to with a helicopter or by hiking, but the resort skiing is actually pretty comparable.

Mt. Perisher, August 2018

Now that I have had my summer skiing fix, we are waiting for Winter in North America.  I’ve been doing a lot of mountain biking to stay in shape.  Hopefully winter provides us with deep snow and cold temps, but even if it doesn’t we are certain to have a good time.  We have already booked our Whistler/Blackcomb trip for Christmas and are also planning to go back to Telluride and my old home town Crested Butte in March.  Can’t wait!

The end of our ski season has arrived so we will reluctantly hang them up and reflect on what was our best year ever!  Records were broken, and some great memories were made.  

Heavenly bluebird powder, March 2018

Kirkwood closed on April 8th and Heavenly on the 22nd, so this last weekend was the first time I was not skiing and was home in Fremont since mid January! Total ski days this year were 55 for me and 38 for AiRung. This is a record for me and ties a record for AiRung, which is all the more impressive because December, January, and February were way below normal snowfall in Tahoe. At the end of February we were flirting with record low snowfall, but then we got another one of those Tahoe “Miracle March’s” which provided some awesome powder days. In fact March 17th at Kirkwood was the deepest inbounds powder I’ve ever skied. 74″ fell in 2 days, and it was super cold, which made for light blower powder like you would find in the Rockies. Neck deep isn’t an exaggeration!

The start of the biggest storm of the season at Heavenly, March 2018

The snowfall continued well into April and both March and April had much higher than normal snowfall and colder than normal temps — just what we needed. The season ended up with about 75% of normal at Kirkwood and Heavenly which is something I never saw coming at the end of February when we were somewhere around 30% of normal. I skied closing day at Sierra at Tahoe which featured 15″ of fresh and lots of tree skiing.

Closing day at Sierra at Tahoe, April 2018

We had the best ski trip ever this year which started in late January and lasted until early March courtesy of my 5-year sabbatical from Adobe (see the previous post). We skied a record 11 new resorts from the far west coast (Stevens Pass) to the far east coast (Le Massif). Trips like that are what we live for.

10 minutes after Killebrew Canyon opened for the year at Heavenly, March 2018

As usual we spent about 10 days skiing with AiRung’s family in Tahoe and Park City.  This is a lot of fun for us because they are now able to ski just about anything and can follow us all over the mountain.

AiRung and family at Heavenly, January 2018

The planning is now underway for next season when we will hit some of the remaining resorts we have to do in Colorado including my old hometown Crested Butte. Can’t wait!

Fantastic grooming at Heavenly, March 2018

“I love it when a plan comes together!” – Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith – The “A” Team

Revelstoke, February 2018

The 3rd leg of our 17/18 5-week trip was the most ambitious, with 6 resorts in British Columbia and Alberta Canada planned over 12 days.  The idea was to drive over 4,000 miles to get the most remote resorts on our list done in one big batch while we had plenty of time.  That big chunk of time was due to my sabbatical from Adobe which only happens once every 5-years, so we had to make the most of it!

Of course after weeks of above average temps in Western North America, the day before our trip started an arctic air mass settled in with temps 25F below normal.  We delayed 2 days to avoid skiing in -30F temps, but it was still very cold on our first day at Revelstoke with an actual temp of -2F at the base and a wind chill of -37F up top 5,620 feet higher.  This was something we rarely experience since most of our skiing is done in California and Utah.  We were mostly fine with it and enjoyed the dry, cold snow, but we did have to go in and warm up a couple of times.

-37C/F wind chill at the top of Revelstoke, February 2018

We found 2 new 5-star resorts on this trip, which is the ultimate goal of the project.  A 5-star resort is rare and the original idea was to find all the best resorts that we would love to return to someday.  Revelstoke and Panorama certainly qualify.  We are already scheming of ways to spend a season in each place.  We experienced so many incredible moments at both of those resorts.

Panorama, February 2018

Kicking Horse near Golden BC was one of the scariest resorts we have ever skied.  About 50% of the runs are super steep lines that often require a hike along exposed terrain.  We weren’t really impressed with the resort due to the really limited lift network (basically 1 gondola and one chair), but we salvaged the day by visiting the Northern Lights Wolf Sanctuary north of Golden after skiing.  This was the first time we’ve seen wolves very close up and we would definitely like to go back and pay extra to take them out for an off-leash walk in the woods.  Seriously!

Northern Lights Wolf Sanctuary, February 2018

At the end of the Powder Highway, Fernie featured lots of the fresh powder it’s known for.  We really lucked out with a foot the day before we got there, another foot our first day, and heavy snow falling during the 2nd day.  We had a lot of fun demoing skis from a local ski shop.  Fernie is a great ski town with a scenic compact downtown area and lots of great restaurants and shops.

Fernie B.C. downtown and resort, March 2018

One of the most interesting experiences on this trip was the day we went over to Castle Mountain, Alberta.  It was a pretty long 88-mile drive each way from Fernie over Crowsnest pass, and then south along the eastern side of the Rockies through some spectacular scenery.  Castle Mountain is at the end of the road and even a mile before we got there I was wondering what we would find because there were no other cars on the road.  It was yet another powder day, but that’s almost irrelevant at Castle because there are so few people you can find deep untracked lines 2 days after a storm.  It’s a massive 3,500 acres and with sparse crowds it’s one of the best places I can think of to find inbounds powder lines.

Castle Mountain, AB, March 2018

Once again we were really impressed with British Columbia.  Friendly people, great snow conditions, and a discount due to a favorable exchange rate makes it our favorite ski destination.  We still have 2 resorts to ski there, so we will be back in a couple of years.  Until then we have some great memories and will look forward to the next trip!

AiRung’s brother and his wife and 2 kids visit us each year from Taiwan starting in late January for an extended ski vacation in Tahoe.  They get better and better each year, and now they can ski just about anything so it’s a lot of fun playing the guide and skiing with them.  We started with 5 days at Heavenly, 2 at Kirkwood, and even a day of XC skiing at the Kirkwood XC ski center.

11-year old Vicky tearing it up on Milky Way Bowl at Heavenly, January 2018

After Tahoe, we headed over to Park City / Canyons for a change of scenery.  Our Vail Tahoe Local passes give us 5 days at Park City and we usually ski 3 days there every year if we have time.  This year Utah has had historically bad snowfall, but it was still a lot of fun.  We liked it so much in fact that we were scheming of ways to spend the entire winter there after we retire!

Canyons Village at Park City, February 2018

The last day AiRung and I were on assignment for Snowpak.com doing a piece on Deer Valley, with free tickets that they arranged.  It had been several years since we skied there and we had our opinion of the place improved significantly.  Deer Valley has remained true to its mission of quality, whereas nearby Park City/Canyons Village has just gotten more crowded and expensive under Vail ownership and has lost some of the unique culture that used to exist there.  There is also evidence of cost cutting with reduced grooming vs. what we saw years ago.

Stein’s Way at Deer Valley, February 2018

After Park City, we flew to Montreal, Quebec to ski the 3 Quebec resorts on our list.  Travel was even more difficult than normal due to weather and airline issues.  We had a connection in Toronto and there was one of the worst snow storms of the season going on when we arrived.  We finally landed after circling around to burn off excess fuel for an hour or so and found that our next leg to Montreal (a 1-hour flight) was delayed by 5 hours.  We had a 2-hour drive to Mont-Tremblant that we didn’t even start until 1:30AM, with snow-packed roads the whole way.  We got to bed at 4AM and got up at 8:30AM to ski in a daze.  Coming back wasn’t any easier because we got kicked from our flight due to high winds that meant the plane couldn’t fly full of people and luggage.  We arrived back home at 2AM (5AM Eastern time), again deprived of sleep. The things we do for the project!

Old Town Montreal, February 2018

Quebec is very interesting but is definitely not our first choice as a destination for skiing.  The resorts are impressive on paper, but the reality is that the weather is unpredictable and has a big impact on the experience.  We encountered rain, snow, sleet, wind, and icy cold but even with all that we did really enjoy our days at Le Massif and Mont-Sainte Anne.  Other than Tremblant, just about all the skiers appeared to be locals, so that is a good indication that these are not really destination resorts that would match up to the usual places people travel to in the west.  The few people we talked to were shocked that we had traveled from California to ski in Quebec and one guy went on and on about how he really wanted to move to California as his #1 choice in the whole world!

Le Massif, Quebec, February 2018

On the positive side, the food in Quebec is awesome, and if you like steep groomers like we do, this is your place.  Just sharpen your skis before going, and bring your warmest clothes!

Mont-Sainte Anne, Quebec, February 2018

So mission accomplished with 3 of the 10 eastern resorts on our list done.  Now we are up to 27 days on the snow for Ron and 21 for AiRung.  Next up we are heading up to interior British Columbia for the last leg of our 5 week tour.