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Pow holiday - where to go?

3K views 28 replies 13 participants last post by  poutanen 
#1 · (Edited)
Our region in the Alps is very crowded (we're 7mio people in a tiny county* with 16000 sqr miles and sometimes it feels like all of them are gathering on "my" mountain, ruining "my" pow runs). Sure, if you hike, you'll get fresh pow... but to once be somewhere with easy accessible fresh runs would be a dream. We thus intend to travel to the USA next season but I have no clue, where to begin... I don't know anything of your mountains/regions :icon_scratch:

Where should we go for great powder holidays? (focus on cat and maybe a day heli)
When woul be the best month?
How long (is 2 weeks to long/short)?
With whom (good local guides)?
Which are the high avalanche risk regions/seasons? Which are not?
How high are the mountains? How many how long rides can you do at one day?
How experienced do one have to be?

I'm really not looking for a party resort. It could be a cottage way off every town (as long as there serve a refreshing beer in the evening). And I don't want to go anywhere, where they take risks just to get the tourist satisfied.

(This might be a naive question, but is it really the case that some spots are that big that all the tourists going there for the same reason get their part of the fluff?)
 
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#7 ·
Anyone with suggestions of companies offering cat boarding you had good experiences?
 
#11 ·
#9 ·
Powderhounds; in search of the best powder ski holidays

is a good site for this info

they say best powder resorts are:

Rusustsu Japan, Solitude Utah, Silverton Colarado,

they also list:

Hakkoda Japan, Kiroro Japan, Wolf Creek Colorado & Grand Targhee in Wyoming

As a Canadian I will also mention British Columbia interior Canada also good for powder , revelstoke, kicking horse etc.

This is for resorts. I think that the answer changes if you are talking about expedition trips or heli/cat skiing.

good luck with it, sounds like a great trip
 
#13 ·
The powderhound link is extremely helpful! BC sounds great.Thanks a lot, this will keep me buisy some days
:tongue4: can't wayt to go there :yahoo:
 
#15 · (Edited)
@sim79: great vid!

Spent some time studying the links. Sounds awsome but... got insecure. Anyone here done cat holiday, who could recommend the operators and give info about what skills one has to have at least? I'm very bad at judging mine. What do they mean when they say "advanced"? I'd hate to disturb a whole group 'cause I'm too weak :unsure:
 
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#26 ·
I can only speak to Whistler in the west but if you can ride those "double-black runs, in any snow condition, with ease and without fear", then in my humble opinion you are well beyond moderately advanced and are an expert rider. Only experts can ride the doubles at whistler with ease in most conditions, and there would be few who would ride them with ease in poor conditions.
 
#27 ·
Experts have style...I don't have style...unless you call a 54 year old geezer eating shit a style :dunno: I can easily work my way down any named double black without fear...but there are folks here that kill it. A couple expert level examples....the other day saw this guy manual a black run that was moguled out...he made it half way down just riding his tail before he put the nose down; another aired off a cattrack, pulled a backflip and stomped the landing in a mogul field and zipper line the rest; and another ollied a 4 foot rope line, nose tapped the bamboo at the 180 mark, continued to 3, dropping 10-12 feet, stomped the 55 degree slope landing, pulled up the nose to manual out; there are folks that will drop a 70+ foot cliff...in the above vid there are places that folks on a good day will launch and drop 100 ft and ride it out...then you see a crew of 4-8-10 folks pull a train which is mobbin as fast as you can while following the leader through the trees, drops, windlips and the like....those are the experts...not me I am a shitty intermediate by those standards.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Hmmm... looked up the double black at wiki (we only have a blue-red-black rating here, with the black having 60%). That works as well if icy, covered with bumps or also if narrow. Our pow runs also begin with about 60%.
I'm most concerned about having to jump off/over something. After having a neck injury some years ago I avoided to have any fall: I avoided jumps so I simply have close to zero experience. I'm only just beginning to do small ones since the neck is finally fine again and I feel confident enough. I'll exercise, but it'll take some time to develop the muscle-memory :huh:
 
#24 ·
Can't see the pic... it's only a blue box with a questionmark
 
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