10 NIGHT GUIDED TOUR
Tick Canada’s biggest and best resorts off your bucket list and join our road-trip across 2 states.
DAY 1 – 5: REVELSTOKE
We start the tour in Kelowna and make the drive to Revelstoke. This is always our favourite stop on tour for it’s cool mountain town vibe, deep powder, steep terrain and incredible vert. It’s the kind of place you can show up to a week after it has snowed and still smash pillows of neck-deep powder. No wonder its a hotspot for some of the world’s best riders and film crews. This big mountain playground is located in the heart of the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges of British Columbia. Revy has the most vertical on the continent (1,713 metres), four high-alpine bowls, 13 gladed (treed) areas and a brag-worthy 14 metres of average annual snowfall. In Revelstoke, we stay at our Canadian home base, Valley Retreat. This is one of the best snowboard lodges in North America, with the 2,466-metre-high Mount Mackenzie rising up aggressively from the back yard. We’ll spend 4 nights staying here, and 3 days riding at Revelstoke.
DAY 5 – 8: BANFF, LAKE LOUISE, BANFF SUNSHINE & NORQUAY
We then travel to Banff and spend the next 3 nights staying in the heart of town, close to the best restaurants, bars and nightlife which Banff is famous for. We keep our itinerary flexible while we’re in Banff and ride at the best resort on the day. We have 3 resorts to choose from – Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Norquay.
Banff Sunshine sits high on the Continental Divide in the heart of Banff National Park. Three sprawling mountains provide breathtaking views, uninterrupted by any signs of civilisation beyond the resort’s boundaries. Sunshine has the longest non-glacial ski season in Canada and can receive up to nine metres of snow. The high altitude of 7,200 feet ensures the snow stays light and dry. The world-renowned resort features more than 3,300 acres of terrain, ranging from cruise groomers all the way up to extreme big mountain runs. Sunshine’s very own Delirium Dive has been named one of the 10 top off-piste destinations in the world.
Lake Louise is known for it’s spectacular scenery and its variety of terrain from gentle slopes and long cruising runs, to glades, chutes and some of the Canadian Rockies most exciting and wide open bowls. With over 4,200 acres spread across four mountain faces, Lake Louise is also one of the largest ski resorts in North America. As well as receiving the #1 Ski Resort in Canada at the prestigious 2017 World Ski Awards, Lake Louise has also been named one of the top three freestyle resorts in the world. When visiting Lake Louise Ski Resort, be sure to take your camera! The spectacular views of mountains, glaciers, lakes and forests are truly unique and befitting of Canada’s first National Park.
Norquay continues to be the locals’ gem. Just minutes from the Town of Banff, this is the best-kept secret in the Canadian Rockies! If it’s a powder day, we’ll head for the Norquay Glades, off the Mystic Chair. Perfectly spaced trees stacked with fresh snow is a recipe for a memorable powder-day. Here you’re sure to find a plethora of untouched, hidden powder stashes that not even the locals have yet discovered. Or we’ll head to the North American Chair, renowned for its steep slope, this chairlift offers unlimited line choices and unmatched face-shot potential.
DAY 8 – 10: PANORAMA
From Banff, we head south-east along the famous Powder Highway to Panorama, which is one of our hidden-in-plain-sight gems. Panorama if often overlooked by groups looking to get their powder fix, but what you’ll find here is sure to impress. It’s been a stop on our road trips for the past 10 years for a very good reason. This place is Pure Canada, with snow-covered summits that stretch as far as your eyes can see. The terrain here ranges from perfect corduroy to ‘backcountry style’ runs in Taynton Bowl, which is 750 acres of patrolled, ex-heliski terrain. Taynton bowl is accessible via a short hike, which largely keeps the crowds out, so you can expect to find pockets of powder, long after a storm has passed. Taynton Bowl offers deep snow, perfectly spaced trees, long runs and endless lines all to yourself. And with the recent terrain expansion, Taynton is bigger, better, and badder. This monstrous new terrain is ‘Where the Wild Things Are’. And it’s definitely where the wild things will go! The new area boasts four huge new double black lines. Panorama now has 1300 metres of vertical, that’s an additional 75 metres, and an additional 52 hectares of terrain, and a new resort distance record for a ski run, at over 6.5 km long! This brand new alpine zone is now in-bounds and part of the resort’s regular safety patrol.
DAY 9: OPTIONAL HELI-SKI, RK HELISKI
For an unforgettable Canadian experience, you can’t go past spending a day heli-skiing in the vast backcountry. You will get to ride the legendary Jumbo Valley and the Purcell Mountains (3000m+) with runs ranging from incredible open bowls, long glaciated runs and perfect gladed tree runs. Expect to ride deep snow and fresh lines every run. RK Heliski is one of the highest operations in North America, with consistent, light, dry snow and very few cancelled days and a huge amount of vertical. One of the most commonly asked questions about heli-skiing is what is the minimum ability level. If you are confident on blue and some black runs, are in good physical shape but don’t have powder experience, you can heli-ski. With the advancement of powder boards and ski’s, heli-skiing is now more accessible than ever. All the heli guides excel in finding fresh untracked powder in terrain that matches the group’s ability level. Add a day of heli-skiing from $929 CAD per person.
DAY 11: DEPART FOR CALGARY
All good things must come to an end. Today we leave Panorama and head back to Calgary Airport and say goodbye.