The chalet we rented was wonderful, very spacious, full kitchen, gas fire place and hot tub. It was billed as ski on ski off, but there was so much snow the main trail was not accessible from the chalet. We hopped into the car and took the long - 2 minute drive to the parking lot. Because of the time shift we were all up early waiting for the lifts to open at 8:30am. We had 15 cm of fresh snow on top of an already ridiculous amount of snow. Some of our favourite runs were Sting and Peek-a-boo. The village was great with many shops and restaurants and gear shops, better than Big White, Silverstar and Fernie. We meet a group of skiers from our ski club in Toronto, who seem to be regulars. It seems to be a big destination for skiers from the East. We did not ski the top bowls because the lifts were closed because of cloud cover and visiblity. We really enjoyed Sun Peaks and would recommend it to any family and expert skiier.
http://www.sunpeaksresort.com/Blog/?tag=/trail-map
After a large shopping spree (50% off all ski stuff, who could resist) we drove 3.5 hours to Revelstoke. The drive is spectac, through Salmon arm and Lake Schwupp. The town of Revelstoke is small and seems to be bigger than Fernie with more restaurants, shopping, gear shops and even some night clubs. It looks more refined than Golden in Kicking Horse Pass. We grocery shopped then head to the hill, where awaited a brand new condo, in the W-hotel style (very minimalist); it had 3 bedroom, not huge, but ample. There was a balcony with fabulous views of the surrounding mountains. The village, well there isn't really any yet! There is 1 main condo with a few condos under construction. There is 1 restaurant downstairs and a gear shop. But the atmosphere makes up for the lack of night life. This not your regular mountain, most Ontario skiers will find the terrain challenging. You take the elevator downstairs and walk 40 feet to the main gondola. This takes you up what would be considered the high of Blue Mountain, here you transfer to the main gondola. If you are cat skiing, the cat vehicle will take you from here out to other parts of the mountain. After transferring to the next gondola lift you are shuttled over top of a steep run called "Kill the Banker", ending at mid station. On our first day it was raining at the base. But as the gondola gained verticle the rain turned to sleet, then snow, then champagne powder. The Aussie lift operators were right; It was "puking snow". The first run was an eye opener, well not in my case, my goggles were fogged up and I couldn't see anything. Not good when your trying to ski and really nasty if you're trying to ski powder. After fixing the technical difficulty I sat back and enjoyed the powder. Well which is what your not supposed to do in powder. We ended up skiing the Ripper and the Stoke chair all day trying to get accustom to our new snow. The boys, Noah and Cam, were is heaven; it was impossible to wipe the perpetual grin off their faces.
The next day we all took a Heli, Cat Prep course. I recommend it. It was challenging for everyone. We had a travel writer named Peter and his friend Mark from England with the group of 5. Kate and Noah were off with a board instructor. Our instructor Dan took the opportunity to demonstrate - how to get out of a tree well when Peter and snowboard ventured to close. This day we skied the North Bowl and Meet the Neighbours. It was an eye opening day. It makes you realize we still have a lot to learn even though we all good skiers. We had copious amounts of snow for 2 days and then sun for the next two, as ordered. We'll be back. Everyday in the morning two helicopters would cycle and land right by the front door of the condo. The skiers would load up and then the copters would begin their ascend above the parking lot and buildings, turn and head in the direction of the distant snow capped mountains. We were envious and hope to do the same one day. Here's dreaming!
http://www.revelstokemountainresort.com/index.html
No comments:
Post a Comment