Skiing in Canada

I’m a skier.  That’s probably the most accurate introduction I can offer. It’s a good thing, too, because I live in the Canadian Rockies, a region with snowy winters harsh enough to single-handedly make it responsible for Canada’s “Great White North” nickname. More often than not there’s snow in my yard. That’s not an exaggeration. Winter here lasts over six months.

When friends look in my garage, their eyes always settle on the stack of skis in the corner. ‘Why do you have so many skis?” they’ll ask, and I’ll launch into the differences between race skis, park skis, powder skis, and backcountry skis.  I’m quick to admit that my powder skis are dearest. I live for deep snow days and I’ll argue with anybody that western Canada is home to the best snow on earth.  Powder days are what make skiing here famous.  As Canadian snowbirds are planning their annual pilgrimage south, I’m busy watching the Weather Network for snowfall updates, trying to figure out where it’s falling first.

Western Canada – at least in terms of skiing – is broken down into three distinct regions: the coast, the interior, and the Rockies.

 

The Coast

Big mountains meet savoir-faire style at Whistler Blackcomb. As Canada’s biggest resort – and I’m talking status, not statistics – it’s the only resort worth mentioning in the CoastalMountains. Its two mountains, Whistler and Blackcomb, combine to make it the largest ski terrain in North America and its village is home to the neighboring ski-in, ski-out Four Seasons and Fairmont Hotels.

The only thing wilder than the big air jumps in Blackcomb’s terrain park is the après-ski scene in the village. I’ve shared a patio with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz, and partied like it was still my college days at Garfinkels Nightclub. Local celebrities include a who’s who of professional skiers and I’ve watched them party all night and still beat me to the first chair up the mountain in the morning.

 

The Interior

British Columbia’s interior, with 50 feet of annual snowfall, is best described as one coin with two very different sides.

On one side, there’s the laidback style reminiscent of the Warren Miller ski movies that made me fall in love with skiing in the early 90’s. Double chairs outnumber high-speed quads. Locals wear unkempt beards and Carhartt jeans. They probably work seasonal jobs, too, just to scrape together enough money to spend the winter chasing snow up and down B.C.’s famous Powder Highway in their beat-up trucks.

On the other side, it’s home to two of Canada’s biggest resorts, Revelstoke and Kicking Horse Mountain Resorts, and the largest concentration of heli- and cat- skiing operations on the planet. The variety of luxury lodging combined with gourmet restaurants and the deepest powder skiing imaginable put these in a class of their own and I find that I’m consistently rating each one of my trips to the Interior as the trip of a lifetime.

The Rockies

For the past three years, I’ve called the Rockies home. While it’s no secret that the region receives a paltry amount of snow compared to the Coast and InteriorMountains, I consider its snow – fondly referred to as champagne powder – Canada’s best. When the skiing is good, it’s really good.

What sets skiing in the Rockies apart is the wilderness. Instead of hillside accommodations and pedestrian villages there are stretches of boreal forest so rugged, so glaciated, and so breathtaking that they’re protected as national parks and UNESCO World Heritage Site listed.

In town – whether it’s Banff or Jasper – the style isn’t quite as rustic as the landscape. By that I mean there’s enough cozy lodges, gourmet food and boutique shopping to make you fall in love, like me, and never want to leave.