 Blackcomb,
British Columbia - Ranked as the number one resort
by several ski magazines. Heli-skiing. Ski school. European-style,
friendly villages. Ninety percent of the accomodations are
ski-in/ski-out. Adult, youth, senior, and child rates are
available.
Fernie,
British Columbia - Fernie is no longer
a hidden little playground for in-the-know powder hounds-not
with a new owner and an expansion that doubled terrain to
2,500 acres just four years ago. Every season brings more
cars from Calgary, three and a half hours away, and U.S.
visitors are increasing. Does that make for crowds? Ha.
You should worry more about running into a tree than another
skier. Amenities are few relative to most big resorts (although
they sell Starbucks at the base) and the expansive terrain
makes for loads of elbow room. Deep snow and heavy timber
are the main reasons to visit: At their best, Fernie's forests
rival those of heli-skiing meccas; Fernie may well be the
best tree-skiing resort in North America. Yet this mining
town hill is no one-hit wonder: Sick OB lines plummet from
the rocky summits of Polar and Grizzly peaks, five bowls
rise above the trees and hold sweeping powder fields, and
the backcountry access is insane. It's not for nothing that
Island Lake Lodge, the most hallowed of all snowcat operations,
is just around the corner, a few miles deeper into the Lizard
Range.
Lake
Louise / Banff, Alberta - Located in the heart
of Canada's Banff National Park, Lake Louise ranks as one
of the most scenic mountain resorts in North America, if
not the entire world. Banff/Lake Louise has three different
ski areas (Mount Norquay/Mystic Ridge, Sunshine Village,
and Lake Louise) that are roughly 50 km apart (yes, they
use km outside of the US). The Insider's Guide to the Best
Canadian Skiing has labeled Norquay as "an unforgiving
brute legendary for its unrelenting vertical and monster
moguls." Spectacular scenery. Runs for all levels.
Nordic skiing and heli-skiing available. Novice runs are
available off almost every lift.
Whistler,
British Columbia - Ranked as the number one resort
by several ski magazines. Heli-skiing. Ski school. European-style,
friendly villages. Ninety percent of the accomodations are
ski-in/ski-out. Adult, youth, senior, and child rates are
available.
Blackcomb,
British Columbia - Ranked as the number one resort
by several ski magazines. Heli-skiing. Ski school. European-style,
friendly villages. Ninety percent of the accomodations are
ski-in/ski-out. Adult, youth, senior, and child rates are
available.
Mont-Tremblant,
Quebec - French Canadian joie de vivre meets North
American service standards. Tremblant, Eastern Canada's
best-known resort, has been given a facelift thanks to a
$1 billion investment. Open since 1939, Tremblant was the
first resort to open in Canada and the second in North America.
What makes Tremblant even more special is that it is an
hour away from Montreal. An alternative would be Mont-Sainte-Anne,
which is a nicer mountain and a short trip away from Quebec
City, perhaps North America's most historic city as the
gateway into the "New World."
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