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Ski Canada

Canada’s ski resorts have a reputation. A really good one. There is a huge amount of amazing snow in Canada, and with it’s big mountains and beautiful scenery, it is a popular destination each year for tourists and Australian’s on working holidays alike. Most resorts have impressive lifts and facilities, and with the exception of Whistler and occasionally Banff, are generally very quiet with almost no queues for lifts.

The most popular Canadian resorts are located in the western-most provinces, British Columbia and Alberta. Whistler-Blackcomb is an enormous resort with so much terrain, you can spend many days even weeks there without seeing the same terrain twice. After holding the 2010 Winter Olympics, the resort stamped itself as one of the world’s premiere snow holiday destinations. It is accessed from the beautiful city of Vancouver, and is a short 2hr drive from town. The resorts ‘village’ is more like a mini city, with all the facilities you would need, a multitude of bars, pubs, clubs, restaurants and entertainment venues are found everywhere.

Other resorts in the BC province are Big White (one of my personal favourites), Silverstar and Revelstoke. I have spent 2 seasons in Big White, the mountain is just big enough that it has challenging terrain and a decent village to keep you occupied when the weather is poor, but also it is small enough not to draw the massive crowds, so you generally are skiing/snowboarding runs with no one else on them. The snow is excellent too, as Big White is located in a ‘desert’ climate, the snow is really dry, typical ‘champagne powder’ stuff. Big White and Silverstar are only a couple of hours from each other, and both can be accessed through the city of Kelowna, which has flights from Vancouver and Seattle. It is a 4-6hr drive from Vancouver, depending on conditions.

Driving further north-west and towards the Rockies, there are a few advanced/expert mountains to be found. Revelstoke used to be a heli-skiing resort but has since developed a gondola and a few lifts to open up their terrain, and it is a treat. Revelstoke Mountain Resort boasts North America’s greatest vertical at 1,713 metres (5,620 ft). The place is huge!

Also in the area is Kicking Horse, another great challenging resort to check out.

Further down the road you venture into Alberta and it’s most famous ski town, Banff. Sunshine Village is a short drive from the town of Banff, and up the road is the very picturesque Lake Louise, a must to check out.

If you’re up for it, heli-skiing and cat-skiing is huge in Canada. TLH heli skiing is a great place to start.

Get in touch with us should you want to find out more about Canadian snow holidays. Stay tuned for more info soon, and make sure you check us out on Facebook.

Ski USA this 2011-12 Winter: Utah

Utah Skiing

Some resorts in Utah have around 12m of ‘champagne powder’ fall per year, and with many resorts within a short distance of each other, it makes visiting multiple resorts easy. Since the Winter Olympic Games were held in Salt Lake City in 2002, many of the resorts have benefited from increasingly developed infrastructure.

Park City and Deer Valley (no snowboarding) are very popular resorts and are only 45 minutes from Salt Lake City International Airport. These resorts claim they have the greatest snow on earth, and they have a right to, Utah is up amongst the best destinations in the world for skiing/snowboarding.

Deer Valley has consistently won awards for the best resort in North America, it is very family friendly and the groomers are so good they are talked about around the world.

Alta ski resort is a favourite amongst many, it is one of the oldest in the US (it also doesn’t allow snowboarding). Take a peek at their Youtube video to get a glimpse of just how good it is. You can access Snowbird from Alta, another popular resort with fantastic snow, the off-piste skiing at Snowbird is raved about.

Brighton is one of the oldest ski resorts in America, and was Utah’s first. It was also the first resort in Utah to allow snowboarders, and it is still a favourite with great terrain parks, natural features and a huge amount of powder. It is a family friendly, good value resort.

The Canyons Resort is a monstrous resort with almost 3,700 acres of terrain. It caters for all abilities however the advanced and expert skier will thoroughly enjoy the challenges here. Because The Canyons is located in the Park City ski area, it is a short drive from Salt Lake City.

As I said in my last article, a USA snow trip this winter is highly recommended due to the high quality snow and the strong Aussie dollar, which has recently fallen just below parity, but still is good value. Everything in the US is supersized and one can easily get by for under $100 a day (excluding lift tix). Consider renting a car as they too are inexpensive and ‘gas’ (commonly known as petrol or fuel) is incredibly cheap especially after becoming used to $1.50/L here in Australia – it hovered around $3 per gallon when I was there earlier in the year which is less than $1/L.

Stay tuned for more from the USA soon.

Ski USA this 2011-12 Winter: Colorado

The USA is well known for all things ‘super-sized’, and when it comes to skiing and snowboarding, there is no exception. There are some absolutely massive snow resorts, the most famous are dotted around the states of Colorado, Utah, and California. Aspen and Vail, both in Colorado are almost household names. Deer Valley, in Utah, has been voted the top ski resort in North America for four years, and up north in Wyoming, Jackson Hole has consistently been described as the most challenging terrain.

Colorado Skiing

With 27 ski resorts, Colorado has plenty to offer everyone. Thanks to the Warren Miller films, many ski resorts in this state have now become known across the globe, and with 300+ days of sunshine and some of the major resorts boasting 8m of snowfall per year, you can understand why!

There are a wide variety of resorts to cater for any type of skier/boarder. Aspen and Vail are huge resorts with all the facilities and more. Lift tickets aren’t cheap at these resorts, but you definitely get what you pay for. Other larger resorts include Steamboat, Telluride and Breckenridge.

Personally, I have skied Vail, and would highly recommend it to anyone. It is absolutely massive – I found myself in new terrain everyday for almost 2 weeks, and the snow conditions were great. It has a fantastic village with heaps of restaurants, bars and shops. The transport is great, an efficient bus network connects all areas.

Access is usually through Denver International Airport, which is a quick, cheap connection from Los Angeles.

As is the case with most ski resorts, Colorado is hectically busy during the Xmas/New Year period, and also during the President’s Day holiday during February. January is a cheaper and less busy time to visit, whilst March and April are great value and generally some good spring skiing is still to be had.

I would highly recommend a USA snow trip this winter for a couple of reasons. One is that the skiing is high quality and you are as good as guaranteed to see some heavy snowfall which means some epic powder days (during my 3 week trip last year I had no less than 7 of the best powder days I have ever experienced). The second is to do with the strong Aussie dollar and just how cheap living is in the USA. Eating and drinking is very cheap, and everything is huge!

Stay tuned for more from the USA soon.

Stay Pay Deals for Niseko Japan for 2012

Niseko Japan

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Dont give up on the Japanese!

Bookings for the 2011/2012 ski season in all the Japanese resorts is down across the board by 45%, so now is the time to remember those classic Pow days that you cant get anywhere else in the world. We can’t just abandon the Japanese because of all the negative press about the nuclear fallout from Fukashima, that has mostly been incorrect. 400 of the victims of the tsunami where put up in the Niseko area over summer and most have fallen in love with the area and decided to stay.
So please grab all your Powder skiing or boarding buddies and book a holiday in Gods gift to the powder skiing fraternaty in Hokkaido, I know that I am. Cheers and First tracks. MWilko

Ah! Skiing, you just have to do it.

Wow what a wierd August, with all that beautiful snow slowly disappearing before our eyes. Still July was epic and winter will return and we will get some unreal late August and early September skiing. The back country has plenty of snow and the South faces have a good coverage this year so looking forward to our annual sojourn to my namesake Valley and stay in a few huts and snow caves. Skied out to the family Cript on Back of Mt P to say hello to Mum and Dad last weekend. Plenty of snow out wide which we will be carving up soon as it softens, later MWilko

Yahoo we are Carving and Turning

As the great Leonard Cohen sang ” Hallalujah”, their were numerous reference to a graeter power as we carved down a perfect “Towers” cord all week. Yes, thats unbelievable being out and about on the Hill during June in an Australian ski season.
How nice were those first half a dozen runs on the groomers. All the Old blokes were out there doing there thing, Councillor, Noodels, Monkey, Joelly, Wilko, Ben and a cast of hundreds, all with big June grins on their dial and plenty to chat about in the Man all week. The Old bloke should arrive soon, your not snoozin’ are you Grant. Lets hope we get some more natural falls soon cause we want to keep on keeping on,
Koo Kooka Chu, MW

Ben Bullen Ski Lodge

Another option for accommodation if you are looking into skiing at Perisher, is Ben Bullen Ski Lodge.

This is a commercial lodge with ensuite accommodation that serves dinner bed and breakfast,it is more like a large club lodge with guest sharing an open fireplace after skiing and while waiting for dinner.

George, your friendly host drops you down to the Perisher centre and picks skiers up when the day is over to save your weary legs for the next days skiing. The lodge is set up in one of the eastern valleys that stretch back behind the man from snowy river.

It is a true live in the snow experience. Prices are cheaper than the stables and is one of the best value for money accomadation houses in the Ski resorts.

Lets help the Japanese not bail out on them!!

Wow, the incorrect information being spread around about the nuclear reactor explosion on the East Coast of the island of Honshu is just unbelievable.
I have heard that even next winter the vegetables served in the many eating houses will have some sort of Nuclear contamination.
Honestly had someone who told me they were worried that their plane would have to fly thru a nuclear cloud on the way to the ski resorts.
The truth of the matter is that their is more radiation in the air around Sydney than their is in any part of Hokkaido and there are no vegetables grown within a 100 miles of the Nuclear reactor in question. Because of all the concern it will be safer to eat food and breath the air in japan than most of Europe and most of the states in America because of the strict protocol put in place since the disaster.
Rather that spread vicious rumours that stop people holidaying in one of Gods most beautiful places, we should be supporting tourism and helping these unfortunate people recover from this massive natural disaster and help restore their economy.
The word Nuclear should have a new definition in the Webster Dictionary, ie Massive misinformation. , Cheers M.W.

Upgrading Our Web site

please be patient with current material on our web site,we try to keep it all up to date and accurate but cant believe how quickly winters roll on. Its probably that we have two winters a year and in between enjoying them and earning an honest income we find that we have fallen behind on some of our packages and have new ones that need to be shown. All in all there isn’t enough time in the year, so please stay tuned for some new packages and Accomadation houses from our favourite resorts, Thanks. MW