Northern Rockies/Alberta Cheap, Deep, and Steep Resorts in Northwest USA

[Mike Rogers]

So, I am thinking about a road-trip through Montana, Idaho, and Washington State.....but not necessarily limited to those states.

Looking for Cheap, Deep, and Steep, so I will probably avoid the bigger resorts.

Alpental, Baker, and Bridger look interesting. So does Apex in BC.

What else should I be looking at? Are Discovery and Snowbowl worth a look. Northern Idaho?

I want to ski something new to me, but I don't know much about this region.

Probably a late December/Early January trip.

 

[pchewn]

https://www.pugski.com/threads/road...ater-schweitzer-silver-mission-stevens.12321/

You might be able to glean some ideas from this discussion.

 

[KingGrump]

Crystal, WA.

 

[Sibhusky]

Turner.

Even the headline matches your criteria.

https://liftblog.com/2017/07/13/steep-deep-and-cheap-at-turner-mountain/

More:

https://www.dailyinterlake.com/archive/article-c5a59c6e-cadc-11e5-a7b9-a770eec74fc4.html

Reviewers agree:

https://www.google.com/search?q=tur...ki%20Area,ru_q:Turner%20Mountain%20Ski%20Area

 

[jmeb]

Do you happen to have a seasons pass with Powder Alliance benefits?

If not...you could get one.

For example if you got Loveland pass:

3 Days at anytime at Whitefish.

3 mid-week free days (or 3 1/2 price weekend days) at : Schweitzer, Silver Star, Whitewater, Stevens Pass and if you dipped further south, Bridger.

Plus Marmot and Castle in AB.

 

[Castle Dave]

FYI my blurb on Apex

We have moved and Apex is now our home hill so I thought additional information regarding Apex Resort (Penticton) may be useful to anybody considering coming to the BC Okanagan. Sun Peaks (Kamloops), Silver Star (Vernon), and Big White (Kelowna) can be considered genuine destination resorts with lots of on hill accomodation, dining, etc.Sun Peaks and Big White are particularly family oriented ie intermediate hills and a family could happily spend a week at any of the three.

Apex is not like that. The hill is relatively small, the base area amenities are very basic and, with the exception of last season, it gets less snow than the other three. It is also steeper, bumpier and all round more challenging than any of the other hills. With local knowledge we can enjoy ourselves for an entire season but intermediate visitors would probably get bored in a few days. On the other hand expert skiers will find the hill very entertaining.
Most skiers are local and there are very few crowds even on weekends. The base elevation is 5000 feet and Penticton is only 35 Km away at 1200 feet so the road goes up quickly.

This map shows lots of genuine blacks and double blacks

 

[New2]

No one can tell you right now where it's gonna be "deep" in 5-8 weeks. And that's sufficiently early season that it'll really depend a lot on local conditions. The flip side is that nowhere you're talking about is likely to run out of rooms, so go storm-chasing.

Discovery gets a lot of love for steep, deep, & cheap, particularly given how few people actually ski there. One of many glowing trip reports at another site: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11740

 

[Mike Rogers]

Do you happen to have a seasons pass with Powder Alliance benefits?

If not...you could get one.

For example if you got Loveland pass:

3 Days at anytime at Whitefish.

3 mid-week free days (or 3 1/2 price weekend days) at : Schweitzer, Silver Star, Whitewater, Stevens Pass and if you dipped further south, Bridger.

Plus Marmot and Castle in AB.

That Loveland pass is great deal!

 

[Mike Rogers]

No one can tell you right now where it's gonna be "deep" in 5-8 weeks. And that's sufficiently early season that it'll really depend a lot on local conditions. The flip side is that nowhere you're talking about is likely to run out of rooms, so go storm-chasing.

Discovery gets a lot of love for steep, deep, & cheap, particularly given how few people actually ski there. One of many glowing trip reports at another site: http://www.firsttracksonline.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11740

Thanks for the discovery post.

I don't know much about this region....and it's too close to ignore. Definitely not booking anything, just a brainstorming session to start!

 

[Bad Bob]

You're driving from Calgary? Wing it and follow the weather. No shortage of motels on the cheap side in Eastern WA, North ID, Western MT.

For steep don't overlook Red Mt and Whitewater if that is where the storms are.

Spokane/CdA area Silver probably the most steeper terrain, Lookout the most snow. 49 is closed Wednesday & Thursday, if it has been snowing Friday is a very good day to be there. Wednesday is the day at Mt. Spokane, normally closed Monday Tuesday. Neither of them are really steep, but nice trees, Schweitzer is not really cheap but you owe yourself a day there.

Steep and deep are most likely to be found in the Cascade areas. For smaller areas Stevens Pass, Alpental, and Baker will get anybody's attention. Crystal is by far and away the biggest thing in WA when it is good it can be off the charts; it's huge.

 

[Tony]

Another Nov 2018 thread here: https://www.pugski.com/threads/road-trip-advice.12199/

Crystal and Stevens will not be that cheap, unless you have any Ikon or full Epic, respectively, or are comparing to full price tickets at most expensive areas in US.

On the return from my first road trip to Canada in 2015, I had very good days at Lost Trail and Discovery and would return to both given good conditions. Last year, I flew in and out of Calgary and got to Castle and Fernie for the first time for 2 days with very good/great conditions at each place. Not sure i’d travel to US with such good ‘local’ places assuming Castle and Fernie and other places on your pass have snow.

The other thing about your time frame is late December/early Jan. could be too early for steeps to have good coverage at inland places where they accumulate slowly (not Baker). And last week of December will be busiest week of year at most areas.

 

[Sibhusky]

Because you are based on Calgary and looking at heading pretty much South, I've asked them to change the flag on this to Northern Rockies to focus your trip in the direction desired.