Any committed skier will tell you tales of icy trips to Vail, of snowless trips to Austria, and of rain soaked pistes in France. Powder hunting can be frustrating and expensive and a total lottery. So how do you lessen the odds? Heli-skiing, the most well-known of the powder junkies’ fix, comes with no guarantee as low cloud and high winds ground the choppers all the time. And it’s also hard to justify the extortionate fees. However there is a solution to both of these factors and it’s Cat skiing.

Having suffered another disappointing European ski season we were ready for snow, any snow. Powder would be a bonus so we were prepared to work for it a bit. Our mission was to find guaranteed powder snow within a few hours drive of Calgary following a direct flight from Scotland. It didn’t look promising. Despite the massive dumping start to the Canadian season we had arrived in the middle of a 2 week drought. Things were looking lean, or so we thought……

We chose three areas that we had always wanted to visit; the legendary ski town of Fernie, the relatively new kid on the block, Kicking Horse, and the less well known Whitefish Mountain, Montana. To shorten our odds a bit and to lighten our wallets a lot, we also hunted out a Cat ski operation within easy drive of each of the established resorts visited. For most, just travelling to Canada if you’re looking for reasonable snow conditions is a good bet, but if you want to find powder you may have use a bit of detective work and a solid 4×4 with snow tyres.

Although unheard of in Europe due to historical, legal and environmental conditions, in North America Cat Skiing is growing steadily as a mid- priced alternative to the Heli option. Imagine a standard Piste Basher or Pisten Bully and weld a 12 seat Cab onto the back and you have a Snow Cat. The cat operations are generally established in old logging areas and use the forest road infrastructure to access ridge lines for drop-offs and valleys. These diesel guzzling fun tanks usually provide a good group of skiers with between 8-10 runs per day of between 1,000 and 1,500 feet per run. Cat skiing operations come in many shapes and sizes, from multiday secluded catered lodge operations such as Chatter Creek, near Kicking Horse/ Golden or closer to the resort operations offering single day blasts, such as Fernie Wilderness Adventures and Valhalla Adventures  in Montana. As of 2011, Valhalla’s cat skiing lease has been taken over by Great Northern Powder Guides.

Any wilderness development deserves critical viewing. It seems almost an anathema that the experiences we all seek whilst backcountry skiing such as solace, solitude and some sort of conversation with nature, always seems to involve burning hydrocarbons, building buildings, cutting down trees, and essentially destroying the things we are seeking to enjoy. So jumping into a machine with a high-powered engine instead of hiking into the wilderness and ski touring does seem slightly perverse and one wonders how it is even possible. A bit of research reveals that there are several large contributing factors that have allowed these Cat skiing operations to grow so massively. State forests in the USA and Crown forests in Canada are essentially managed commercial “wilderness” areas, forested in the summer and redundant during the winter. The governmental view seems to be that these areas are fair game for commercial activity in the winter also. Another contributing factor is job creation Travel to any small mountain community and you will soon realise that winter jobs are hard to come by – all house and road building stops, the logging industries close down, and even the forests parks are snowed in and empty. The backcountry is a serious business opportunity.

It’s an interesting tension. I am not sure what the answer is but just being aware can only be a good start. This way we can at least try to make the decisions that impact least and hopefully follow the adage “take only pictures and leave only ski tracks”: with any luck they will be buried under the next snowfall overnight anyway.

We were not completely convinced at the start of our journey if Cat Skiing was worth the additional expense on top of the already astronomical cost of any skiing holiday. And did we need to do it when the inbounds resort conditions in Canadian ski resorts are already pretty amazing? On both counts we were converted. The experiences were enormous fun and even in the lean snow period the conditions were absolutely exceptional. We got great fresh tracks every single Cat day. In these lean economic times, if you’re going to invest, do it wisely and book your seat on a Cat trip – powder is everybody’s favourite reward!

Town: Golden, British Columbia
Resort name: Kicking Horse
Hours from Calgary: 3-4 Hours

Cat Skiing Operation: Chatter Creek
Package: 3 or 4 nights in Helicopter accessed backcountry Lodge.

Cat Skiing – Chatter Creek is a short Helicopter ride from Golden. It offers some of the most challenging, fun and well appointed backcountry skiing in Canada with over 90 square miles of terrain to pick from. Their 85% repeat business statistic it testament to the operation – Chatter Creek offers Alpine, glacier and tree skiing of the highest quality. For this reason it also attracts some of the best skiers and guides to work for the operation. Chatter Creek is not a beginners ski destination. The regulars here can huck and surf with the best of them, so if you find yourself spending most of your time off-piste buried in the powder, looking for lost skis or you prefer a Vin Chaud and a deck chair, stay in Kitzbuhel. The uplift here can offer up to 15,000 feet of powder every day of your stay; bumps, jumps, steep trees, cliff bands and couloirs are all here. The family run lodge is rustic, remote and homely. This place should be on every good skiers bucket list.

Packages include fat ski’s (if you want them), avalanche transceivers, and lodge accommodation of 3-4 nights with great food.

Town: Fernie
Resort name: Fernie Resort
Hours from Calgary: 3.5 Hours

Cat Skiing Operation: Fernie Wilderness Adventures
Package: Day trips or basic overnight accommodation for large group bookings

Cat Skiing – Fernie Wilderness Adventures offer either lodge or day cat skiing. We recommend staying either on mountain or in the town and booking days out in the backcountry when the powder is at its best or the mountain is tracked out. The day starts with a meeting of the guides in Fernie town and then a 15 minute drive to the lodge base. You can expect a slightly more mixed ability group than at Chatter Creek but the terrain is great and gets steeper if the Cat guide feels the group is up to it. The best way to guarantee the skiing you want, either steep or mellow, is to book a complete load or fill the cat with as many of your hounds as you can muster. FWA is pretty good value as well; about the same price as a mountain guide in Europe for the day. After a 30-minute Cat ride you start your ski day with transceiver instructions at about 10am then after an initial viewing run where you are scoped out by the guides (2 per cat), the terrain is ramped up or remains as is in order to suit the balance of the group. We had two powder virgins in our Cat and even though the runs were slightly slower there was enough variation in the ski zones to put smiles on everyone’s faces.
FWA is best suited to intermediate to good skiers with some off-piste powder experience. If you are wanting to progress to powder skiing, we recommend doing a Steep and Deep course or powder lesson in bounds in Fernie before committing yourself to a day in a Cat.

Town: Whitefish, Montana
Resort name: Whitefish Mountain Resort
Hours from Calgary: 5 Hours

Cat Skiing Operation: Valhalla Adventures
Package: Day trip

Cat Skiing –  During our day with Valhalla, we skied powder, watched young Whitefish bucks leap off 35 foot cliffs, hiked the ridges where the cats have no access (as yet), skied great trees, got towed up trails by Skidoo (locally called a ‘Sled’) saw Moose, Bald Eagle, skied until dark and drank beer in the yurt post sun down. One of the purest experiences for any powder warrior or deep snow virgin. Whilst Valhalla are no longer operational, the terrain and experience still live on and can be ridden with new kids on the block Great Northern Powder Guides.

I’d love to do the British thing and tell you that it didn’t live up to expectations. It’d be typically UK style to build it up then knock it down with nonsense like ‘it doesn’t have the ‘charm’ of the Alps’, that ‘the American enthusiasm is insincere’, that ‘the mountains just don’t compare to Chamonix’, or that ‘that the size of portions are far too big…….blah blah blah. As I said, nonsense.

Skiing in North America and in particular Jackson Hole is truly one of the greatest opportunities that you can ever hope to experience in your mountain life. It’s not about comparisons, whose snow is deeper, whose peaks are higher, whose lifts are faster, whose beer is more expensive etc etc…….It’s about embracing something completely different and that is exactly what Jackson Hole is. It’s a fusion of old and new, it’s progressive as well as rooted in history, it’s the birthplace of extreme ski legends and the current terrain and playground of legends in the making like Sage Cattabriga Alosa and Tanner Hall. It’s real. One minute you can be riding the legendary JH tram standing next to one of the fathers of big mountain skiing, the JH Air Force, and the next you can find yourself inadvertently featuring in the latest edit by the world famous action sports filmmakers Teton Gravity Research. And all you were doing was just having a beer in the Mangy Moose – the après-bar of choice and TGR’s base for beer induced creative brain storming.

We had 2 superb weeks over in Wyoming and from a skiing perspective the overriding memory that I will take with me of the resort itself was just exactly how harsh the terrain actually is. I’m not talking about what lies beyond the ropes which is obviously extreme, but rather the inbound stuff which is also incredibly serious terrain. With hidden cliffs and chutes everywhere, if you know where you’re going it really is extreme recreation, if you don’t……well…..you’d better find out.

There were numerous occasions when shouts of ‘I’m going down here’ were almost immediately followed by ‘don’t go this way’. Unless you’re on a similar skill level to world famous pro riders such as Jeremy Jones or Seth Morrison, let’s just say it’s not really a place to ‘play’. In fact, any amateurish behaviour on the hill and JH will chew you up and spit you out like an angry buffalo. And rightly so, this is the Wild West after all……

These days ski trips about taking a punt – will the snow conditions be good, in fact, will there actually be any snow at all? Will the weather hold out, will the chalet/hotel live up to its trip advisor rating….and so it goes on. For sure if you decide to go to Jackson Hole the stake is even higher. Without doubt it’s one hell of a long journey from the UK and it’s clearly going to cost you a lot more to fly to the West Coast of the States than it is to jump on the orange bun fight express. Having said that though, I honestly think that it’s worth it……and then some.

I’m done with the unpredictable conditions of the Alps, am over the disinterested approach to customer service, and quite frankly hearts, crossed skis, and plates of bubbling cheese are well……a tad cheesy at times. After this trip, I for one would be more than prepared to make Jackson Hole my regular ski destination of choice. In fact I’d go as far as to admit that I’d be totally cool to put hand on heart and swear permanent ski allegiance to the powder gods of North America. Gawd bless Jackson Hole and all her ski in her. I’m off to get a pair of cowboy boots……

‘

The good thing in Snow Water is the fact that if the weather is not good enough to go out in helicopter skiing, you jump in a Snowcat and still enjoy your day.

This is why many of the best riders in the world come to Snow Water to make ski films. Check this one with Sage Cattabriga-Alosa and the Rossignol pro team.

With not much new snow previously and couple of sunny days we’ve been doing some exploring around Whitewater. The area has kept its promises. Here’s a quick few photos from the nearby backcountry from couple days ago. With the bluebird weather we decided to get up to the Ymir Peak/Mountain (I’ve heard it been called both) in the Whitewater backcountry since we hadn’t been there before. It’s the prominent peak next to the ski area, always dominating the scenery on a day with good visibility, and a bit of a must-do for anyone in the area for longer.

The ascent follows the right flank of the peak through snow-covered trees (not seen in the photo above). It is steep enough that I wouldn’t want to do it in any kind of unstable snow conditions.

Going up

(click for a big panorama)
And then we were on the top, panorama from the peak to east

With the last big snowfall having been some time ago already the normal routes that ascend to the Ymir bowl back to the resort were all more or less tracked out, but the run down from the saddle next to the peak to the east facing bowl had been left completely untouched and the snow looked great. The lower angle pow has been the name of the game for us during the last couple of weeks, can’t complain since big turns in perfect hero snow make us happy.

Laura on the upper half of the run

Christmas trees!

Skinning back up to get a saddle for another run down to the ski area and our car, our tracks barely visible behind with Ymir Mountain

Juho is spending the season in USA and BC, Canada, and posts updates from there regularly. Here are the previous posts from the season:

A Season around USA and Canada – Here we go..
Touring at Kootenay Pass
Rogers Pass & Whitewater backcountry

Check back for more trip reports!

We did couple of days at the nearby ski resorts and got to hit Rogers Pass during a bluebird day, something that is supposed to be a rare occurrence over there during the midwinter. But since the area just loves to gather all the clouds to annoy the skitourers we had to endure through one foggy graybird day first. We chose to go to a treeskiing area named Hourglass, even though we knew we wouldn’t be able to spot our run down before riding it. Of course on the ride down there was less snow than expected and we ended up navigating through the cliffbands and from a gully to another.

Laura skinning through the old-growth forest to the Hourglass

.. and riding down after getting through the cliffs

All the good touring at Rogers Pass is accessed straight from the highway. The problem is that the highway needs to be protected from avalanches, and it lurks through some steep, very avalanche prone mountains. The control work is done by the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery using three specifically modified 105mm  howitzers. These designed to blast mountains to release the avalanches preemptively so that traffic is not caught in one unexpectedly.

It is unfortunate that the mountains that get regularly blasted by these howitzers are the same ones that the skitourers would like to ski. Because of that, there’s a permit system in place at Rogers Pass. Before touring at any of the areas near the pass it is necessary to stop at the Glacier National Park Discovery Center to check which areas are open and to get a free permit. Preventing getting shrapnel from a 105mm howitzer in your brain is a pretty good idea. It could kinda hurt. Unfortunately, during the two days that we skied at the pass most of the areas were closed, and brain damage (other than from alcohol consumption) and a hefty fine wasn’t in our plans. We’ll be back in the spring, at latest.

The second day with the bluebird skies still provided though.

Coming from the trees and the shadowy valley into the alpine. First we were going to hit Balu Pass, the easy sightseeing tour that is recommended for first-timers in the neighborhood, but since the weather was great plans were changed and we chose to skin up to the Bruins area instead..

Someone had got an early start and was already riding down from the Video Peak, the snow was great as it was the first bluebird day after the last storm cycle

(click for bigger panorama photo)
1200 vertical meters (3900ft) later, up on the ridge that leads to Ursus Minor.  There was a nice looking chute down from the ridge with two ass-wiggling, euro style tight turns tracks in it. Respecting our European roots we chose to ride down the same thing.

Laura starting the 1200m descent down

Looking up at our tracks, snow was excellent. yum yum.

Then comes the low angle pow, and a lot of it!

If you want to see something else than snowboarding then please convince Laura to switch equipment. How about a monoski?

With the weather turning into worse with grey skies and fog and our time at the nearly-free vacation house ending back to south and Nelson it was. During the drive back we hit a traffic jam at Creston, a 4000 people town in the middle of nowhere.. I don’t know the last time a traffic jam here has happened, maybe a hundred or so years ago when someone couldn’t get his horse to pull a cart on the main street? So this is what we call a once in a lifetime experience. In the end it turned out that the olympic torch is passing through and the city center is partly closed for traffic.

Laura continues our extreme, gravity-defying efforts when we take a quick stop at Kootenay Lake

The elegant white boats, the deep blue lake and the gorgeous white mountains pale in comparison to our shiny & sexy dark green Subaru. 9500 km without a carwash. And be glad there is no sound associated with photos.

It’s been a while since the last big dump in Nelson but we get some really good turns exploring the backcountry near the Whitewater ski area. Today we did a small loop around and I got the camera out a couple of times to try and take photos in the variable mix of sun and clouds.

Osmo enjoying the rewards of the first uphill part of the tour

Osmo a bit further down in the weird light

Coming back up through the burned forest

Osmo exiting a fun chute on the second run

.. and laying the euro style carve a bit further down.

That’s it for now, it looks like there’ll be some snowfall from tomorrow on so expect to hear back from us soon.

Homeboy reader Anne sent me email and asked if she could share a couple of her photos of the local ski resort called Terry Peak. While we are still developing social media “element” of Homeboy, we wanted to publish Anne’s shots of the Terry Peak in a blog post. We also took a bit more closer look at this small ski resort and gathered you a small information package.

Terry Peak in the Black Hills is a small but lively ski resort

Let’s check what Wikipedia says about the Terry Peak and Black Hills.

The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an “island of trees in a sea of grass”. The Black Hills encompass the Black Hills National Forest and are home to the tallest peaks of continental North America east of the Rockies.

The name “Black Hills” is a translation of the Lakota Pahá Sápa. The hills were so-called because of their dark appearance from a distance, as they were covered in trees.

According to Homeboy reader Anne the mountain sits at about 5,900 feet and is geographically placed to receive quite a bit of snow, despite the fact that it isn’t as high as neighboring Rocky Mountain ski resorts. There are quite a few trails, a terrain park, main lodge, etc. Terry Peak operated the highest chair lifts East of the Rocky Mountains and has been open since 1938.

While Terry Peak is a tiny ski resort compared to giants such as Whistler/Blackcomb, it really seems to be lively and active. For those interested in Terry peak I recommend following them in Facebook which get updated frequently. As an example there is a six-week ladies only ski program is designed and taught by women, which is totally new kind of event to me.

Time for ladies only!

Terry Peak ski resort stats

Terry Peak was open 125 days during the 2008-09 Season. Over 280 inches blanketed the mountain from December to early April. Terry Peak is home to South Dakota’s only two high-speed detachable quad chairlifts, and it is the highest lift-served area east of the Rockies.The closest major airport to Terry Peak is Rapid City Regional Airport (a one-hour drive)

Terry Peak ski resort in figures

Surface Lifts: 1
Chair Lifts: 4
Cabin Lifts: 0
Trails: 30
X-Country: 0 miles
Fun Parks: 1

Top altitude: 7100 Ft.
Bottom altitude: 5900 Ft.
Vertical Drop: 1100 Ft.

Longest Run: 0.8 miles
Skiable Terrain: 450 acres
Snow Making: 225 acres

Wanna share information of YOUR local ski resort with Homeboy readers? Just contact us to get your resort info published!

Arrived to Nelson at night, woke up at the hostel to blue skies and a beautiful day with some new snow on the ground. Head straight to the nearest sports shop that sells maps and guidebooks and a drive to Kootenay pass for some quick afternoon touring. Its one of the spots here for easy access, straight from the road quick laps with possibilities for longer tours also. At the parking lot we meet Ray, who was just returning to car from touring but he still offered to show us around and offer some local tips. Thanks Ray! We do one quick lap from the Cornice Ridge in the fading sun and the south facing aspect offers great snow. Ray tells us more about the nearby Ripple Ridge cabin that I had already read about and we decide to head there the next day instead of paying to stay at the hostel.

Skinning up, looking back at our tracks from the previous day on the other side of the pass.

Uphill, uphill

Preparing for the run down on top of some small, unnamed peak after leaving our stuff at the cabin

Some of our tracks

Quiet day in the backcountry – until we got back to the cabin. Two school classes; 15 teenagers and their 3 teachers were building snow caves next to the cabin to spend the night in them and using the cabin’s wood stove as a central for melting water and drying clothes. It was a part of their school course, I wish I had had stuff like that at school. Fortunately got tired early from all the digging and went sleep in the caves even before our sleeping time.. The cabin, which could’ve slept 6 (or more in a squeeze), was left for me and Laura.

Next couple days the sky was cloudy and sun wasn’t really peeking through, we just slept in and did a lazy lap or two.

The Ripple Ridge cabin

Yum yum, breakfast!

Melting water in the evening

Eventually we ran out of food (if you can call it that) and headed back to Nelson. Here’s Laura
riding down to the car, carrying a yoga mat, an essential item on every hut tour..

Kootenay pass is a fun spot, the runs are not long (at least by European standards) but sweet and very easy to access.. The pass sits at pretty high elevation (1774m) which should keep the snow nice and dry. Now we are in Nelson, managed to rent an apartment and even got season passes at Whitewater. Just let it snow.

First day at Whitewater

Statistics

• Average snowfall: 300 inches (760cm)
• Vertical drop: 2,353 feet (717 m)
• Terrain: 3000 acres  (15% of that beginner, 35% intermediate, 40% advanced, 10% expert)
• Lifts: 12 total lifts, 3 of them high speed quads

Over the past few years Whitefish has gone through a lot. It has been transformed from a locals ski area to a bigger, more visitor orientated resort with a resort village and real estate developments. The locals can’t make up their mind about if the developments have been for the better or worse.  Some locals say that the day visitor parking lots have been moved too far from the center of the resort to create space for condos, lift tickets have gotten more expensive and that increased crowds are bothering them. On the other hand the new visitors always bring in more money, which has allowed Whitefish to update their lift system with the new high speed quads, making the trip to the top of the mountain a breeze. Even though we visited Whitefish during one of the busiest time of the year, between Christmas and New Year the lift lines were either non-existent or short. And the lift ticket prices are still reasonable compared to many other resorts big resorts, with the adult day pass costing $61.

Skiing Whitefish

One good thing about Whitefish that when all of the terrain is open the entire mountain is truly skiable. The lifts go up the mountain on each side of it, and there’s a network of trails that goes around the mountain. Between the groomed trails there’s terrain of every variety from open bowls to tree skiing. The profile of the mountain is in general great for skiing, with consistent fall lines and just a few flatter spots that might annoy some.  The views are amazing if visibility is good, with the Glacier National Park’s huge mountains looming behind the resort and Whitefish Lake to the south.

The mountain has 3 main areas, Front side, North Side and Hellroaring Basin.

The Front Side is the place to be for the beginner skier

Pretty much all of the beginner trails are located on the Front Side. There’s couple of chairlifts that serve beginner terrain only which will surely keep beginners and families happy. Its nice to have own, separate areas where you don’t have to be afraid of expert skiers wooshing by on their way to the double black diamonds. For those who prefer the green runs there are a good variety of them, also from the top of the mountain, so you don’t have to stick for the one and same run for the whole duration of your holiday.

View of part of the Frontside

The Front Side has some expert terrain too, separated from the beginner terrain, and it’s great for someone who’s looking to do quick, leg-burning laps off the fast chair 1 on a quiet powder day. On the far right side of the Front Side is the East Rim, which has some nice cliffed terrain, but watch out for the 80 feet high ones.. The area holds powder for longer than many other runs if you know your way around, but the traverse back to chair one is long and boring on a green run. The problem with top-to-bottom runs on Chair One can be the snow quality since the base station of the chair sits relatively low.

Click here for the full trail map of the Front Side.

The North Side of Whitefish

Intermediate skiers will find themselves at home here with a variety of blue runs. The North Side is north facing (obviously) and in shadow (just what you’d expect from backside, duh) and coupled with the fact that the base station of the chairlift serving this terrain is higher than other lifts in Whitefish results to usually the best snow conditions on the mountain. Because of small local weather variations the backside also gets a bit more snowfall than the frontside.

There are two gripes though – the skiable vertical here is only about 1000 feet (300m) and the runs tend to be steep in the beginning and somewhat low angle after that. Luckily this is the only area of Whitefish that is affected by this problem. The North Side is served by one high speed quad, and if the Front Side has lift lines then the North Side is a good place to escape them.

Click here for the trail map of the North Side.

Hellroaring Basin – pure off-trail skiing

Hellroaring Basin is where most of the off-trail skiing in Whitefish is. There is only one groomed run down the area, a blue run that is not really worth talking about. It mainly serves the purpose of getting skiers to the Hellroaring chair after a run off the trail. Rest of the skiing is black and double black diamonds.

One can drop into the horseshoe-shaped basin from any point along the cat tracks that circle it. There’s some great tree-skiing here, along with couple of chutes and open areas. It doesn’t get tracked out very fast, partly because to do laps in the basin you first need to ride up Hellroaring Chair to the side of the basin and then ski down to Chair 1 to get up to the top of the mountain again. An annoyance, but only a minor since it keeps some of the crowds away. Those who are comfortable on expert runs will like this area a lot on a powder day.

Laura, fog, and a lot of snow in Hellroaring Basin..

The whole Hellroaring Basin and the chairlift alway close on April 1st to protect the local grizzly bear population and let them have their peace. Obeying the closure is a good idea unless you first want to get clawed by a big, ugly bear and then get fined by big, even uglier Flathead National Forest ranger.

Click here for Hellroaring Basin trail map.

Conclusion

Summa summarum: There are many ways people feel about the recent development of Whitefish. In the end its still not the most megalomaniac resort with thousands of condos, but it’s not the mom-and-pop ski area either. With the lift ticket prices still reasonable and a medium-sized resort town and ski area you can still feel like you’re in the mountains instead of Disneyland. The crowds aren’t as bad either. Whitefish might have lost some of its local charm in the last years, but the fact that the skiing is great along with the views from the top of the mountain can not be ignored.

Lost Trail – no frills, just skiing

There’s basically three main, longer lifts at Lost Trail, Chair 1, Chair 2 and Saddle Mountain Chair, the latter of which despite it’s name does not go up to Saddle Mountain, but rather the one next to it. Chair 1 and Chair 2 access another small peak. Besides of those there are two other chairlifts (serving some easier terrain) and a rope tow that connect the Chair 1 and Saddle Mountain Chair. All of chairlifts are older, fixed grip 2 seat chairlifts. Not that fast, but who cares when there’s not enough crowds to form anything that resembles a lift line anyway.

Lost Trail is not a big mountain, the main lifts serve between 1200 to 1800 feet vertical. But this isn’t supposed to be another Jackson Hole or Chamonix anyway. The small ski area feeling that I like is present, and especially families will feel themselves at home here with the lower ticket prices and plenty of long, blue runs.

The advanced terrain and backcountry at Lost Trail Powder Mountain

For that you probably want to look at Chair 1 and 2. Lookers right side of Chair 1 sports some nice cliffs and short chutes through the woods. Unfortunately for the expert skier, the Saddle Mountain lift accesses mostly flat terrain, with only the very top of the runs being steep, and the lift ride being long. So for quick laps on a powder day we suggest sticking to Chair 1 and 2.

Laura riding powder under empty chairs (Chair 1)

However, if you’re interested in the out-of-bounds options and are properly equipped with avalanche gear and knowledge of the snowpack then the backside of the peak that Saddle Mountain lift goes up to, along with the ridge that connects Chair 1 and Saddle Mountain Chair is worth taking a look at. There are a multitude of options around here if the snow allows it. The only way out though is to skinback to the ski area. There’s a $5 one-way lift ticket offered for those who want to go touring. Fire up that Google Earth and have a look!

Looking down at the out-of-bounds backside of the Saddle Mountain Chair in early season (mid-December),
view is towards Saddle Mountain proper

Terrain Park

I’m not much of a park rider myself at all but I applaud how Lost Trail apparently is making the effort to construct to a good terrain park. During our visit in early season the “Frontcountry” park already had several rails and small features set up even though snow was not that plentiful. Along with that there’s a “Powder Park”, its specialty being natural features, aimed at more beginners . I never got to see either of the parks fully finished during our visit since it was early season but the good condition and the number of rails that had already been put up leads me to think that the park is probably in pretty good shape the whole winter. There’s a seperate park crew that takes care of the park.

In my experience it’s not really often that the small areas really invest into terrain parks, and I think it is a good move for Lost Trail to do so. It attracts some of the younger riders  and shows that the management is not stuck in the 70s. For a glimpse into Lost Trails park scene you can check their seperate site at ltpark.com.

Location

The Lost Trail ski area is located right next to highway 93 at the Montana-Idaho border. The area is approximately 95 miles from Missoula, MT, and 100 miles from Butte, MT. In Idaho the closest bigger town is Salmon, 45 miles from Lost Trail.

Conclusion

Lost Trail might not be a prime ski vacation destination resort, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re in the area or driving by. And if you live within a daytrip range, its definitely worth a visit on a good day. Competition on powder days is not fierce. Park rats will undoubtedly enjoy the options at Lost Trail. For those who only want an easy access to backcountry then the $5 one-ride lift ticket is a nice way to get to the back bowls, skinning up the closed runs when the resort is not open is also a possibility.

Links:

www.losttrail.com
www.ltpark.com

However, there is winter always somewhere. If you don’t mind long flights and missing the best summer months, southern hemisphere might be your answer for the summertime skiing fix.

Few years ago I did exactly this. At this time of the year I was booking flights and comparing different options for the best possibility for some summer time pow pow. We had a very louzy Euro-winter behind us and me and couple of friends were just craving for some more.

We decided that South America was the best bet. At first the obvious choice seemed to be hitting the biggest resorts like Valle Nevado or Portillo in High Andes near Santiago del Chile or Las Lenas in the Argentinan side of the border. However, we consulted some old school Finnish snowboarders (like all time ripper Joni Mäkinen) who had been travelling Chile for years and got some superb hints for the “secret spot” in the south: a relatively small resort called Termas del Chillan.

The weather in Chile might vary alot – and the resorts located totally above the tree line are quite worthless when the big storm hits. We had limited time of about two weeks in Chile and we couldn’t be sure about the snow situation or the storm fronts. Guys wanted to stay a whole month in Chile but due some critical negotiations with the girls, the rest of the trip was dedicated to exploring the ever-lasting summer of Costa Rica, but that is a whole another story that I might tell you in the future posts….

Ok, back to the issue: luckily Chile is a very long country. Five hundred kilometers to the south and the mountains are a bit lower and rounder but the snow stays good in significantly lower altitude levels. This meaning possible treeskiing in the lower mountain when the snow clouds come rolling in.

Our reasoning was totally right. The two first days were spring like slush fest but after that it started raining heavily in the valley, which turned into a light, nice snow even at the lower mountain after a few days. It snowed some 10 days in a row only with small pauses. All in all we got about a metre of fresh (that is about three feet for you Americans, and yes, we were very lucky that time!) – nothing beats deep turns in July!

As a resort Termas de Chillan might not be world class but when you hit the right “weather window”, you can’t avoid having the time of your life! The skiing area just scream pure FUN. You are not skiing Chamonix type high mountain couloirs but nice bowls, natural half pipes and kickers in the form of wind lips (be aware of avalanches though!), trees in the lower mountain and all kinds of inspirating natural forms of any imaginable form. This is the kind of skiing I like the most. I’ve had my share of steep couloirs and while that is a totally different form of skiing, I’ve always liked variable, a bit more mellow terrain more – I am no Eric Pollard but the terrain like in Termas de Chillan lets you imagine you can ski like him.

I also liked the general feel in Termas de Chillan very much. We already wrote a bit about this in an article about Top Ten Ski Resorts We Have Visited a while ago, and I am going to quote myself from that post:

“Termas de Chillan just puts a spellbound on you. I don’t know if it is the trees (weird ones for a Scandi!), the smell(!) in the air (honestly I think nowhere else have I felt the air so fresh!), the luxurious powder we had or the people, who are warm hearted and friendly. Or the odd ski bum travellers you met suddenly, and the faraway feeling that makes you feel like immediate friends…or the Andean Condores flying above you when you’re at the chair lift…

The Condores themselves are a reason to travel that far. Patagonia is also relatively close, although the winter (our summer) travel possibilities to it are extremely limited. But all in all, I can’t but recommend Chile – beautiful, interesting country with lots to do and very friendly people.”

There you go. I think that sums it up.

Some more information about skiing in Chile can be found on this site:

http://www.chileanski.com

And this place is recommended to anyone going to Termas de Chillan, especially if you are on a budget : http://www.vallelastrancas.cl/ – the only “ski bum” like accommodation in the nearby. Hotels tend to be quite classy and very expensive.  From Las Trancas you can take the quite unfrequent ski bus to the slopes or hitchhike – the locals are very friendly and this seem to be the way for them! By the way: we didn’t hire a car while in Chile; the local long distance buses are relatively comfy, cheap and easy to book etc. Very recommended IMHO.

Termas de Chillan cold facts:

• Altitude of the down station: 1650 m
• Altitude of the highest lift station: 2750m
• Slopes: 28 runs (30% for beginners, 40% for intermediate and 30% for experts) + the longest run in South America, 13 km!
• Lifts: 9 (one triple seat, three double seats and five surface)
• Cross Country Skiing: yes
• Freestyle Park: yes
• HalfPipe: yes·
• Season: Ski season is between 15th of June and the 15th of October
• Other activities: Great randonnee possibilities, heliski, snowmobiles and sledges (in summer also horseback riding, trekking, mountain biking, mountaineering), thermal spas open year round
• Location and how to get there: Santiago-Chillán (407 km.): by air or by land, public or private transportation. By land, take the Ruta 5 South. Chillán-Ski Center (82 km.): By public or private transportation, leave Chillán towards the east on a road which borders the river. The last 27km are unpaved.

However, there are a lot of top notch resorts we haven’t visited and would like to visit someday. Especially Northern America is a huge grey area for us and we’d like to correct that issue as soon as possible. This post is dedicated to our “wish-list” of ski areas.

Some of these resorts/ski areas are just legendary, “must” places to see for every skier. Some are, on the other hand, more exotic, wilder places that might have a cult status among a small group f skiers, or are probably almost unknown (so, don’t expect to read only about the most obvious ones here!)

1. Alta, Utah, USA

This one is almost a tie, like in the earlier list too. The second one is a rising star and a challenger but this one is an all time classic. Just a place every true skier should visit once in his/her life (in our very humble opinion of course).

Utah markets itself in words “the greatest snow on Earth”. That says it all.

The snowboard ban in Alta is IMHO pretty old-fashion thinking. But I kind of understand it. Alta is an old school ski area, so let it be like that. I love snowboarding but in Alta I’d be proud to catch a pair of fat skis and feel the history of skiing and modern age blend together.

2. Niseko, Hokkaido, Japan

Again, the biggest reason to go: snow. Plenty of it actually. Dry – even when located only thirty kilometres  from the sea, because it is often very cold! I love cold, dry snow…and who wouldn’t?

Couple of friends visited the place in the middle of February. Well, I’m trying to tell to myself I’m not jealous…well, the guys were swimming in the very light powder snow up to their chests…

Some say the terrain in Niseko is too flat but I guess those guys are jealous too. I see no reason to name Hokkaido and its resorts the best place to ski powder on earth (at the moment at least, you never know what the today’s weird weather has for us in the upcoming years though?)

Japanese culture is another reason to go. You won’t get bored in the down days. And the food is supposed to be  very delicious too. I dream about going Japan to “second honeymoon” with the wife some day (while leaving the kids to the grandparents…well, you can always dream!)

3. Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

If you ever watched any Match Stick Productions film you gotta have dreamed about Whistler too. Everything is big there: the mountains, the lift system, the night life, the snow fall, the “scene”…

Of course big resorts have their downsides. But I guess in this case those are just minor details that won’t harm the essence: good skiing.

See the trail map, the place is huge: trail_map_whistler_blackcomb1.jpg (source: http://www.whistleroutfitters.com)

4. Krasnaya Polyana, Soviet Union

Another MSP joint(I don’t remember which one but MSP film a few years ago showed Eric Pollard in the trees of Soviet Union in Krasnaya Polyana). Powder article also described the place having probably the best tree skiing in the world, and about the any other type of terrain you can imagine too - the vertical meters are stunning.

I’d like to go and see what it is all about.

5. Powder King, BC, Canada

Only 640m of vert but check out the reports on their site: http://www.powderking.com/ -the “overnight”, “24h” and “72″ snow reports often show incredible figures!

6. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA

Home of the rowdy TGR. That says quite alot. Many people (here in Europe) who ski like a ten days a year also know lines like “Corbet’s couloir” in Jackson - that says quite alot of the Jackson’s legendary status too.

7. Kirovsk, Soviet Union

Many people probably haven’t heard about this one. No wonder, it is located in the middle of nowhere in the Kola Peninsula in Russia. However, it is actually relatively close to us Finns and can offer vertical meters up to about 900. Snowfall is great too and season long.

If you want exotic skiing this is the place!

Some info: http://www.kolatravel.com/downhill_ski_holidays.htm

And here is a nice gallery from some Finns who have visited the place: http://rinnetmaki.net/gallery2/v/Urheilu/Kirovsk2007/

8. Bansko, Bulgaria

You see, I have this weird fix for Eastern Europe skiing.

Terrain in Pirin mountains (sub range of the Balkan mountains) seems pretty similar to Slovakian/Polish Tatras. TGR filmed a pretty good segment few years ago from Bansko, showing skiing of world-record cliffhucker Jamie Pierre and Marc-Andre Belliveau.

Some info can be found here: http://www.kolatravel.com/downhill_ski_holidays.htm

9. Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe, USA

Maybe not the highest and not the one with the best snow. But still having a “legend status” as a mecca of American style freeskiing. My wild guess is that Squaw is one of the most filmed places of skiing, starting from the age of the great Scot Smidt, Glen Plake &co…

10. Treble Cone, New Zealand

I actually don’t know much about New Zealand skiing and this one is just the one I remembered. However, going to skiing in summer is fun and everything I’ve heard about New Zealand has been compliments about its beauty and friendly people. So, having visited south America (see the earlier story about the top resorts we already have visited), this is the next one, if I ever get another opportunity to have a skiing trip in the middle of our summer…

Treble Cone site: http://www.treblecone.co.nz/

Some more info on NZ skiing.