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Anonymous
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I have been looking into cat skiing. The outfit <BR>I am hooking up with is CAT POWDER in Revelstoke,BC. Anyone have experience with them or other cat skiing groups <BR> <BR>Mitch
Hmmmm ... my only experience is jealousy of those who ski with them ;-) The Revelstoke area sees some of the world's best quality terrain and snowfall ... you should certainly have a blast! Of course, while you're more limited than a heli in terms of vertical skied, you have the added benefit of access during less desirable weather (always a consideration), and certainly your wallet will be a bit heavier when leaving than if you went with a heli operation. <BR> <BR>Anyone out there have any first-hand experience to share with Mitch?
Review of CAT Powder Skiing Feb. 25-26, 1999: <BR> <BR>Thursday and Friday I spent with CAT Powder Skiing on Mt. MacKenzie. The logistics are less efficient than most cat operators. We stayed at their lodge in Revelstoke and took a shuttle to the base of the small Powder Springs ski area at 2,200 feet. Then there is a 45 minute cat ride up to their weather station at 6,000 where we do the transceiver drills, followed by 15 minutes in the cat up to the first drop point. On the plus side, they are a real bargain at $480US for two days including meals and lodging. <BR> <BR>The morning of Feb. 25 brought the only clear skies of the whole week, and the best skiing on Mt. MacKenzie according to those who had been there all week. We got 8-9 runs per day of about 1,200 vertical each, about half alpine and half trees, starting at about 7,500 feet. These were all on the broad south side, where CAT Powder Skiing has 6,000 acres. They have an additional 2,000 acres on the north side, which they save for when there is too much sun on the south side. The snow got a little heavier late Thursday morning, but it dumped during lunch to refresh the conditions. At the end of the day, we skied 5,000 vertical down to the Powder Springs base. Snow is good for about 3,000, very heavy for a bit, and then fortunately you hit the groomed in the lift-serviced area for the lowest 1,000 feet. <BR> <BR>Friday Feb. 26 was foggy and overcast, but refreshed with a few more inches of new snow. I had a back spasm landing a very small jump on my second run. It was sore riding the cat and driving back to Kelowna, but fortunately not bad at all in soft powder. On hardpack or moguls I would probably have had to quit early. <BR> <BR>I have been to 2 other cat operations in Canada. Island Lake (Feb. 23-25, 1997) was definitely the best, but they book solid 2 years ahead. Retallack (Jan. 30-31, 2000) was comparable to Island Lake in terrain, but less efficient (10K vert per day vs. 17K). CAT is less expensive than Retallack.