re: 2023-2024 Ski Thread

Just boarded flight Dfw to Vancouver. Whistler only 40% open currently but gonna make the best of it.

Thanks man. Doing all the tourist stuff in Vancouver tonight with a really nice dinner. Love Vancouver so far. Capilano suspension bridge park at Christmas is a must.

Found the snow, unfortunately it's all the way up in Alaska. Skiing Alyeska next 3 days, very excited







Just a note these pictures were taken around 145-330pm

Day 1 at Alyeska has been a blast. They got 16" Saturday into Sunday plus it's been snowing all day even though it wasn't supposed to start until tomorrow. Tomorrow's forecast is 9-18"... Posting some pics below, by far the best skiing in the US right now with over 100" base up top. Was skiing powder all day off glacier express. Hours of operation are 1030am-5pm.

Hotel Alyeska


Looking up towards the top of Glacier Express


Looking towards the top of Ted's Express


Fun run on the front side. Note-They don't open North face or anywhere else unless conditions are perfect. Not sure if it's a ski patrol issue for safety or laziness



Looking up at that run

Finally back from Banff, was going to post yesterday but it was a long travel day. Ended up skiing 2 days at Lake Louise, 2 days at Sunshine Village and 1 day at Norquay.



Lake Louise was in great condition, over 100 runs open with decent snow on most of them. 4-5 inches of powder softened things up the second day I was there, the Larch and Ptarmigan areas skied really well. The expert terrain though does need more snow. The inversion was kind of crazy the last day I was there, made for some great photos.



Sunshine also had most of the mountain open, it is a bit rockier though and my favorite area Goat's Eye didn't open until the day I left. Did get one day of soft turns off the top of Lookout mountain and the views here may rival Louise.



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Also did one day at Norquay, being it a much lower elevation the runs were fast and firm on what was groomed while the ungroomed runs had very patchy coverage. Views though are on par with the others.



It was a great trip, temps were in the 20s to low 30s all week, balmy by Banff standards. Stayed at the Elk+Avenue for a steal at less than $100 a night. Ate some great food and even got fitted for some new ski boots, picked up some Nordica Pro Machines at Pulse Boot Lab...Was great to see a bootfitter that really knew their stuff. Was a great kickoff to season, a ski trip to Banff should be on everyone's ski bucket list.

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That looks like a great trip! Is that how long you'd suggest to someone who has never been there before? 2 days lake Louise, 2 days sunshine, 1 norquay? You got some great views too

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I think that is a good way to do it. You can cover most of Louise and Sunshine with two days at each, Norquay could be skipped if you want to do an extra day at your favorite or if you just want to ski half a day it is a great option since it is right outside of town which is what I did. Gave me some time to see some of the sights in town and give my legs a break.

Also I love the Alaska pics, Alyeska is probably on top of my ski bucket list at this point.

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I’m headed to Whistler on Feb 16 for 9 days. Flying there after seven days at Tahoe. Gonna be an awesome two weeks. I hope you give a report on the skiing, town….anything.

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Whistler was a really nice trip even though the snow situation is far from ideal currently. Only around 40% of terrain open which equated to right around 100 trails. Pretty much had to stay mid mountain and up. The town was great. Had a Vail vibe to it. The bobsled activity was shut down due to some safety concerns but that didn’t bug me nearly as much as the wife. We mostly stuck to blue runs with a few greens mixed in. I’m usually comfortable on black diamonds but since the terrain was a little wonky I played it safe. The peak to peak gondola that brings you from blackomb to Whistler is really cool. I’ve never experienced anything like it. We stayed at the Marquise thru an Airbnb listing on the blackomb side and were only a short 6-7 min walk to one of the main lifts. Was only about 300$ish a night and very good value. Although so much of the mtn was not open it never felt like we were running out of new trails to try so all good. Was my first time to visit Canada and we flew IAH-DFW-YVR and returned nonstop YVR to IAH. Went AA on the way and Air Canada on the way home. All flights on time or close enough. Vancouver is a great city to spend a few days also . Hope you all had a merry Christmas and enjoy your ski trips !

I would have to say I’d favor the whistler side a little better. We spent the entire third/last day over there. There was an easy green run from the very top of the mountain called “burnt stew” (I think ) that went all the way down and was incredibly scenic. Whistler side seemed to have the most terrain open but also a good bit more crowded. I def want to go back in later season and get the full experience.

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if ski in/ski out is your thing there isn't a lot of that.

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I haven't done that a lot recently until last week and this week in Alyeska and now I'm leaning more towards doing it more often . Sounds like Banff is a great town though, I've heard excellent things from multiple people now

In Alyeska again this week and the forecast today was 10*F and sun. What do I get? 6*F and snow all day. All I wanted was a picture day but the groomers low mountain have been great with this fresh snow. It is clear up top but roughly 4" have fallen at the base to mid mountain today. Random powder day!