Panorama has had about the same snowfall as Lake Louise and has the same elevation range as Kicking Horse. Thus we decided to ski here instead of Whitefish, where we had a local report that ungroomed skiing was not recommended with only a few inches snow since rain to the top 2 weeks ago. Panorama’s expert terrain is high on the mountain, above Kicking Horse’s rain line.
It snowed lightly much of the day. Temps were between what we saw at Lake Louise and Sunshine. It was perhaps a bit over 20F at the bottom but only single digits at the top. You can get quite cold riding 3 chairs up the 4,000 vertical, especially with the top one not being high speed. Fortunately there is a warming hut with snack bar and fireplace up top if you need to thaw out.
Our first pleasant surprise was the condition of the lower groomers. Panorama is family oriented so they must take grooming and snowmaking far more seriously than Kicking Horse does. I’m sure the 1cm of new snow helped a bit, but the fresh corduroy at 9:30AM skied well right to the 3,800 foot base. We worked our way up the mountain gradually, skiing Showoff and Skyline before finally getting to the summit about 10:15. The snow had stopped and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, so I thought this would a good time to explore Taynton bowl. We asked patrol for advice, and he suggested skiing the Get Me Down catwalk to its first switchback, then walking up a gradual path to the farther half of Taynton that gets less skier traffic and moguls. Tseeb overlooking the far skier’s right of Taynton Bowl:
We skied White Tail in the center of the drainage immediately in front of tseeb. White Tail is directly north-facing with scattered trees, so well sheltered that the subsurface below the modest new snow was very forgiving.
Lower down White Tail are widely spaced glades.
View across White Tail to Never Never Land, the farthest east part of Taynton Bowl.
The snow remained soft packed powder to about 6,000 feet and still manageable to the start of the runout trail at 5,700. The exit trail is fortunately well graded because it takes probably 2 miles to drop to 4,300 feet before reentering the main part of the ski area.
We rode the 3 chairs up again, arriving at the same time as a snow host tour. The tour dropped down View of 1000 Peaks. We split off to Last Chance, which had softer snow despite having some moguls. The snow lower down became firmer as it turned west. We then turned right on Deck Cross and ended up in the Founder’s Ridge area. Founder’s Ridge is wide open but at low enough elevation to be mostly hardpacked and ends at the top of the Discovery beginner chair.
This time we rode just 2 chairs and skied narrow but unused Grice Paddy and then the long Millennium run to the Sunbird base. Millennium was hardpacked but also well groomed with not many people scraping it down.
After riding 3 lifts back to the top we needed the warming hut thaw break. We skied one Summit lap on Top of the World, then headed into the Extreme Dream Zone for our final run. This is all gladed with comfortable spacing and very good snow but more bumps than Taynton due to easier access. We emerged onto a steep chute above Fat Chance. The narrow entrance held down traffic and let us ski some softer snow.
Below Fat Chance was Dunes, more glades with similar snow conditions but a few more rocks to avoid. The Extreme Dream Zone runs all funnel into the same intersection we reached after Last Chance. This time we skied left on Downhill, which has icy spots but soon crosses under the Champagne Express chair so you can ski well groomed runs to the base.
It was a pleasant surprise that Panorama had overall the best lift served snow of the 5 Canadian areas on this trip. The inch or two of fresh snow helped, but:
1) Intensive snowmaking and grooming enhanced the lower groomers.
2) The advanced terrain is high altitude and has extremely low skier density.
3) Last but not least, if you get a spell of warm weather, predominant north exposure is important, even in Canada.
The rap on Panorama is its modest average snowfall of 188 inches. On my previous visit in early February 2004 I had to be more careful for rocks in Taynton Bowl and Extreme Dream. Current season reported snowfall is 304cm. I would conclude that Panorama is definitely comfortable for advanced skiers when season snowfall reaches 300cm.
It snowed lightly much of the day. Temps were between what we saw at Lake Louise and Sunshine. It was perhaps a bit over 20F at the bottom but only single digits at the top. You can get quite cold riding 3 chairs up the 4,000 vertical, especially with the top one not being high speed. Fortunately there is a warming hut with snack bar and fireplace up top if you need to thaw out.
Our first pleasant surprise was the condition of the lower groomers. Panorama is family oriented so they must take grooming and snowmaking far more seriously than Kicking Horse does. I’m sure the 1cm of new snow helped a bit, but the fresh corduroy at 9:30AM skied well right to the 3,800 foot base. We worked our way up the mountain gradually, skiing Showoff and Skyline before finally getting to the summit about 10:15. The snow had stopped and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, so I thought this would a good time to explore Taynton bowl. We asked patrol for advice, and he suggested skiing the Get Me Down catwalk to its first switchback, then walking up a gradual path to the farther half of Taynton that gets less skier traffic and moguls. Tseeb overlooking the far skier’s right of Taynton Bowl:
We skied White Tail in the center of the drainage immediately in front of tseeb. White Tail is directly north-facing with scattered trees, so well sheltered that the subsurface below the modest new snow was very forgiving.
Lower down White Tail are widely spaced glades.
View across White Tail to Never Never Land, the farthest east part of Taynton Bowl.
The snow remained soft packed powder to about 6,000 feet and still manageable to the start of the runout trail at 5,700. The exit trail is fortunately well graded because it takes probably 2 miles to drop to 4,300 feet before reentering the main part of the ski area.
We rode the 3 chairs up again, arriving at the same time as a snow host tour. The tour dropped down View of 1000 Peaks. We split off to Last Chance, which had softer snow despite having some moguls. The snow lower down became firmer as it turned west. We then turned right on Deck Cross and ended up in the Founder’s Ridge area. Founder’s Ridge is wide open but at low enough elevation to be mostly hardpacked and ends at the top of the Discovery beginner chair.
This time we rode just 2 chairs and skied narrow but unused Grice Paddy and then the long Millennium run to the Sunbird base. Millennium was hardpacked but also well groomed with not many people scraping it down.
After riding 3 lifts back to the top we needed the warming hut thaw break. We skied one Summit lap on Top of the World, then headed into the Extreme Dream Zone for our final run. This is all gladed with comfortable spacing and very good snow but more bumps than Taynton due to easier access. We emerged onto a steep chute above Fat Chance. The narrow entrance held down traffic and let us ski some softer snow.
Below Fat Chance was Dunes, more glades with similar snow conditions but a few more rocks to avoid. The Extreme Dream Zone runs all funnel into the same intersection we reached after Last Chance. This time we skied left on Downhill, which has icy spots but soon crosses under the Champagne Express chair so you can ski well groomed runs to the base.
It was a pleasant surprise that Panorama had overall the best lift served snow of the 5 Canadian areas on this trip. The inch or two of fresh snow helped, but:
1) Intensive snowmaking and grooming enhanced the lower groomers.
2) The advanced terrain is high altitude and has extremely low skier density.
3) Last but not least, if you get a spell of warm weather, predominant north exposure is important, even in Canada.
The rap on Panorama is its modest average snowfall of 188 inches. On my previous visit in early February 2004 I had to be more careful for rocks in Taynton Bowl and Extreme Dream. Current season reported snowfall is 304cm. I would conclude that Panorama is definitely comfortable for advanced skiers when season snowfall reaches 300cm.