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Canadian Rockies Condition reports

39K views 459 replies 38 participants last post by  ryannorthcott 
#1 ·
Thought I'd make a thread for sharing the local conditions similar to the Vancouver thread here.

Dec. 14th - Castle Opening Day. This is my first time here and the hill has a very laid back vibe to it. Conditions were decent for early season. Huckleberry and sundance had mixtures on powder, chuky powder, crust thru out the run. Lots of little branches sticking out.

Red chair didn't open until afternoon and it was very rocky in places. had to stick around trees for best conditions.

The bad: chairs are sloooooow, and they sway a lot.
The Ugly: T-bar pub run out of draft and pizza before noon. My food never came :blowup:

Dec.15th - Fernie

Great conditions - untouched powder can be found in currie/cedar/siberia. Epic conditions up on top of mountain. untouched pow and sparse trees.

Good mixture of soft snow and groomers across the board. Many tree areas in lower elevations are closed off to conserve base. Tons of branches are sticking out. The last sections of groomers before base is riddled with tiny rocks. Slightly annoying.

I think it definitely has the best conditions compared to (LL, SSV, KH, Castle) can't comment on Revy but I'll be there next weekend.
 
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#2 ·
Dec.20th - Fernie

The conditions are too good to miss so I took a day trip. Powder everywhere. Snow is still falling as we speak. Even the run outs/merge sections have pockets.

Some places in currie are Chest deep. Siberia is almost untouched.However use caution in Siberia. I seen two sides collapse as i went by. They are just bus sized plates and moved maybe 2-3m. I still wouldn't want to to be near it though. Sounds like the spring avalanche cracks.
 
#3 ·
Good idea for a thread instead of us constantly making new ones! :thumbsup:

I imagine Fernie would be fantastic right now. It was in great shape Sunday and Monday and it's just continued to snow. I'm trying to figure out if I can make it there tomorrow or Sat for a day trip. :icon_scratch:
 
#11 ·
Kh - dec.22

Bad- Terrible visibility on top in the morning. Plus they had to atop the gondola periodically to de ice.

Good - There is a light dusting of powder on everything. However everything is super soft and drops in from terminator are awesome. CPR ridge/ tower 18 to trees are also fun.

Another 5-10cm tonight and everything looks to be good for tomorrow.

As an aside, Selkirk condos are unbelievable.
 
#12 ·
^ Nice!

Nakiska had a light dusting yesterday morning too. Made for some great early morning runs on the groomers. Not many runs open, they STILL have mapmaker all closed for racer training. Enough cover under the gold chair and off to the right that I was able to take a few different lines and have some fun.

I think the cold kept the crowds away because I never had to wait in line. A nice quiet morning by myself on the slopes.
 
#17 ·
Dec.23rd

KH got 12cm of new snow in the night. With the ski in/out condo situation we decided to delay revy trip for another time.

A local skier took us on a guided tour of the mountain. Did one chute drop past the traverse on CPR ridge and one on stair way to heaven backside. Unbelievable runs with powder every where.

In the afternoon we did another chute drop that is farthest on CPR. ( the two little trees on top.) way sketchier with ice for first part and rocks. It was slightly above our skill level until the opening where things opened up and turned soft. Terminator also opened in the afternoon. You can get fresh powder until end of the day in there due to late openings.

Fantastic trip with good friends is all you can ask for. :)

Now I will be stuck in edmonton for Christmas all of next week. Don't want to hear about fantastic conditions.... :(
 
#23 ·
I was telling my GF we should have been out today instead of staying in like the rest of society. I imagine it would have been a good time at almost any hill!

I'm heading to Nakiska in the morning. Not expecting much conditions wise, but the neighbour has a free pass to use up and I have a seasons pass so I'm going to go work on my carving.
 
#28 · (Edited)
Avoided the hang overs and went to louise today. Sitting at powder keg ATM. Not busy at all. Great blue bird day.

Unfortunately everything is hard packed or icy. I been doing nothing but practicing carving and icy moguls. Do not go into rock gardens unless you like rocks on your board. Going to try front side after lunch. I'd say it will take another dump before conditions are good again.

Also did my first jib today... Accidentally went into skoki lodge road. Went on the shoulder and saw a bunch of road blocks too late. Had to jib them. Luckily I was going at a good clip and the concrete had snow on them. Pure luck for the win.
 
#31 ·
Mostly tracked out at LL yesterday. Shocked how bad the snow retained. The only powder are in trees and remote spots. Platter hike along the ridge is alright, but it's 15 min hike for 30 secs...
 
#33 ·
Kicking Horse was insane on Friday - I don't know if I can bring myself to ride sunshine again after that. In the morning there was still nearly 2 foot of powder in the tree runs coming off the stairway chair - we just traversed along the ridge from stairway and looped through the tree's and back onto the chair all morning. The White Wall hike was tracked in places but deep and soft - managed to do that twice and rode out to the gondola through the tree's - we couldn't believe that terrain was "in-bounds". Hardly anyone was on the mountain too.

They opened T2 in the afternoon after a lot of control - fresh tracks in there in the PM but we could only manage the hike once as our legs were about to fall off.

Finished off the day by doing a couple of loops from stairway and through the tree's.

I have to admit we were all defeated by the horse and left at 3.30 battered and bruised. I'm still hurting now but it was worth it - can't wait to go back.:D
 
#34 ·
Was at Nakiska Sat and LL Sunday...

Nakiska (for those that care) had great grooming on the runs. Was there with a carving group so didn't get into the trees at all...

Found some pockets of really good snow at louise. Misjudged a turn and ended up leg first into a tree. :dizzy: But other than a big bruise all okay today. There was decent snow in the "ultimate steeps" but it certainly wasn't fresh. Overall was a pretty good day but you had to work really hard to find the real good stuff. Glad I brought my rock board. :yahoo:
 
#40 ·
Went to revelstoke for the first time on the weekend. No new snow except for Saturday morning with maybe 3-4cm.

Northbowl still had decent pow but visibility is hit and miss and it is a bit of chore to access with snowboards. The whole mountain above mid station is pretty much either steep/tree/ or mogul terrain. Avg skill level = expert. Runs are also insanely long.

There was also ski race training and some Austrian ski team there. Pitch black was groomed on the weekend top to bottom. Made for some eye watering carving runs.

Worst part is the traverse. Because of the relatively few lifts, area to area are all long traverses with some very flat sections. Pretty much required bending down and weight forward for that little extra speed.
 
#41 ·
Thanks! ^^^ Sounds like what I've heard other people say about it.

Well Nakiska yesterday wasn't bad. The groomers were in pretty good shape all day, only a couple icy patches near the end of the day on some of the steeper sections.

They have their BX course/park setup now so we blasted through there a few times, got some good air!

The GF tried out her new board and LOVED IT! :yahoo:

Debating about heading out of town this Sun/Mon but it may be a disaster with Family Day weekend crowds. LL is supposed to get more snow than Fernie or KH, but I imagine the farther we get from the city the thinner the crowds will be.
 
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