As promised...I'd like to bring this thread back to life! Austria was great ... then Japan somehow cut the line and ended up as my 2024 destination. Now that season passes are coming out for next year, my husband and I are exploring our options again. Currently leaning towards a BC trip.
Red and Whitewater are at the top of my list, with Revelstoke, Fernie, and Kicking Horse not too far behind. Castle has piqued my interest, but it's kind of out there without much of a fallback plan if weather doesn't cooperate. We will have Ikon passes this year...which makes Red and Revelstoke very appealing.
Few questions to kickstart my research:
1. How painful is the drive between Red and Revelstoke in the winter? Google shows 4-ish hours...how realistic is that timeframe?
2. We're considering anywhere between 1-2 weeks. This would mean weekend skiing...how crowded do Red and/or Revelstoke get on weekends? If you had to choose one to avoid on weekends, which would it be?
3. How many days would you allocate to each: Red, Revelstoke, and Whitewater resorts/areas?
4. Seems like it's either staying in Rossland or Nelson for Red/Whitewater, but they're 1 hour+ away from each other...any recommendations "in between" for accommodations?
5. Time of year...thinking early March? When's the best skiing for this part of BC?
1. There's a ferry, you'll usually get on the first boat, but you'll have to wait a bit. The drive is mostly lower elevation, so it's not a terrible winter drive, but the region is pretty isolated and highway maintenance might not be as high a priority as the main east-west routes. I've never had an issue though.
2. Revelstoke gets more city people on weekends. Calgarians and even Edmontonians and Vancouverites often make their way to Revelstoke on for long weekends (taking Fridays off). Red is pretty isolated. Spokane is a good sized city, but crossing the border can be a pain, and there are good resorts on the US side. Whitewater draws from Nelson, Calstlegar, and Triail too. Neither resort is "busy", but Revelstoke can get some bad gondola lines on powder mornings...especially on powder saturdays. Revelstoke also has more international hype...and more international tourists.
3. At least 2 for Red and Revy. 1 should be enough for inbounds in Whitewater. More days are always better though. For 10 days, I would do 4 Red, 2 White, 4 Revy.
Whitewater is pretty small inbounds....red and revy are not, and they both ski bigger than their trail maps would suggest. This is especially true for Red where you can find a lot of variety in slightly different tree lines. Revy is a bit tough to lap with a long exit from north bowl, the return on ripper and glide back to stoke.
4. I would stay in Rossland and/or Nelson. Rossland is a quiet, but really cool ski town. It's nice being up on the mountain. There's more to do in Nelson, good restaurants, bars etc. I have never considered staying in between. The other towns are either very small, like Salmo, or less charming (trail and castlegar).
5. I would prefer the first half of February. The resorts do not have high elevation, and spring comes a bit earlier here than the Banff area. March can be very good, but there's a lower chance of melt freeze or rain at elevation earlier in the season.
It is a good idea to combine Castle with a Fernie trip. Add on Kicking Horse for that loop too. Kicking Horse and Fernie are on Epic. These are probably best done on another trip....unless you are flying into calgary. If so, you can hit castle and/or fernie on the way to or from red/white or kicking horse on the way to or from revy. But if you are going to Calgary, Louise and Sunshine (and Pano) are also on IKON....so separate trips are often better.
