Powderhorn, CO: 01/19/20

[flyover]

Silver Star?

Before or after Mustang, John and I have been fortunate enough to score mid week powder days at both Revelstoke and Silver Star. For crowding reasons, I far prefer Silver Star. Even a couple days after a storm, the trees on the north side generally hold significant stashes. The northside terrain is nothing to sneeze at either, with long, sustained, steep fall lines and good tree spacing.

 

[ChrisC]

What about Whitewater?

Definitely a high snowfall area. Higher elevation. Likely as good as Fernie.

The original footprint is OK. But Glory Ridge has big steep trees below a small bowl on lookers left side and more open terrain on lookers right. Lots of room for untracked.

The new Silver King lift might allow access to some alpine terrain too.

 

[ChrisC]

Silver Star?

Apex has a vast amount of terrain that does not get completely skied out with new snow.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I think Whitewater gets hit by the Nelson area locals on weekends and powder days, and if true there's not much lift capacity, like Montana Snowbowl. That's probably something I've read, could be wrong.

Silver Star has more of a destination lodging base than Apex, but far from what Big White and Sun Peaks have. Silver Star has much more lift capacity than Whitewater.

Cursory research shows Vernon, the town below Silver Star, with population 44K, which is more than Trail, Rossland, Castlegar and Nelson combined. So it's a legitimate question whether there are enough locals to overrun Whitewater.

By comparison Missoula population is 78K and Bozeman 58K.

Kelowna has 180K and the Okanagan Valley in total 400K.

I say Whitewater and Silver Star are clear cut busier than Apex but still would meet most people's standards of uncrowded. James, the ultimate arbiter on this topic, needs to do a thorough B.C. road trip sometime. Panorama is another Canadian edge case.

 

[flyover]

Apex has a ton of terrain if that does not get skied out in new snow.

View attachment 47664

Agreed.

Been there, done that. Apex is my kind of hill.

Thread 'Apex Alpine, B.C., Feb. 18, 2016'

Feb 27, 2016

Tseeb and I drove about 1.5 hours from Kelowna south to Penticton, then up to Apex Alpine. Flyover and John had driven up from Seattle the previous day and stayed overnight at the mountain. With 5 inches new overnight they got a couple of runs in before we arrived. It continued to snow all morning, when there were a few locals around, but by noon it was very quiet despite the powder lasting most of the day.

There is a small amount of alpine terrain near the 7,200 foot summit, but there were enough trees around to maintain adequate visibility even when it was snowing. Our first runs...

• Tony Crocker
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Western North America

John and I also skied Apex in 2022 with about 4 inches of new snow, but apparently did not write a report.

 

[Tony Crocker]

powder days at both Revelstoke

and Kicking Horse rate to be disasters with the gondola choke points. I saw one at Revelstoke on a Saturday and the line for the base gondola was 2 hours. That's an automatic disqualifier for the current topic.

 

[flyover]

I think Whitewater gets hit by the Nelson area locals on weekends and powder days, and if true there's not much lift capacity, like Montana Snowbowl. That's probably something I've read, could be wrong.

Silver Star has more of a destination lodging base than Apex, but far from what Big White and Sun Peaks have. Silver Star has much more lift capacity than Whitewater.

Cursory research shows Vernon, the town below Silver Star, with population 44K, which is more than Trail, Rossland, Castlegar and Nelson combined. So it's a legitimate question whether there are enough locals to overrun Whitewater.

By comparison Missoula population is 78K and Bozeman 58K.

Kelowna has 180K and the Okanagan Valley in total 400K.

I say Whitewater and Silver Star are clear cut busier than Apex but still would meet most people's standards of uncrowded. James, the ultimate arbiter on this topic, needs to do a thorough B.C. road trip sometime.

I think Silver Star may be a good example of another variable, which is: where is everybody else skiing? It is so family oriented that even on busy days with fresh snow, it has been our experience that there aren’t many people with you whooping it up in the trees on the north side.

On a different scale, even on very busy days on the front side of Lake Louise, I have never found it hard to be more or less alone in the north facing chutes on the backside. One caveat: I have not been there since they replaced the summit platter, so maybe things have changed.

 

[tseeb]

Report from my only day at Whitewater included “As at Revelstoke the previous Friday and Red Mountain the next day, a little new snow seems to bring out half the town in AM.” Even though all three towns (Nelson, Revelstoke and Rossland) are not that big, many people live in them to ski.

 

[ChrisC]

I think Whitewater gets hit by the Nelson area locals on weekends and powder days, and if true there's not much lift capacity, like Montana Snowbowl. That's probably something I've read, could be wrong.

I could believe that, since it is a college town, it's young. However, it is only 11,000 persons.

However, capacity might be sufficient, and many locals will ski tour/backcountry ski due to the easily accessible prime terrain.

I have only skied Whitewater twice during the weeks following moderate snowstorms, approximately 36 hours after 4-8 inches of snow. Both times excellent and relatively easy to find new snow in the trees or the giant Glory Ridge area.

Whitewater Ski Area has a lift system of four fixed-grip chairlifts, including the new Raven Chair (a quad) installed in 2023, and the existing Summit Chair (quad), Glory Ridge Chair (triple), and Silver King Chair (double). A rope tow and a handle tow provide access for beginners, while a new chairlift was added to expand terrain on Silver King Ridge.
Here is a breakdown of the lifts:

• Raven Quad Chair (2023): A Leitner-Poma fixed-grip quad that accesses new terrain on Silver King Ridge, providing more steep, gladed skiing for all levels.
• Summit Chair: A fixed-grip quad lift serving the "dark side" of the mountain, which offers primarily advanced runs, glades, and natural features.
• Glory Ridge Triple Chair: Accesses the backside of the mountain, featuring advanced glades, mogul runs, and steep trees.
• Silver King Double Chair: Accesses the sunny side of the mountain, which has a mix of groomed trails for beginners and intermediates, and some mogul runs for advanced skiers.

 

[ChrisC]

and Kicking Horse rate to be disasters with the gondola choke points. I saw one at Revelstoke on a Saturday and the line for the base gondola was 2 hours. That's an automatic disqualifier for the current topic.

I skied Revelstoke on a Sunday after a snowy heli day (8-16 inches new) on Saturday - trees with Eagle Pass south of the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Gondola line was one of the largest I have seen for a remote resort powder weekend! Felt more akin to a Jackson Hole Tram line. It was likely 20-25 minutes and stretched from the Gondola station to the parking lot.

Again, anyone who was priced out of Whistler or only owned a small condo (and had equity) moved to Revelstoke in the late 2000s to own a home.

The current capacity of Revelstoke cannot accommodate the local population on a new snow day, especially on weekends. While we never returned to the base, the Stoker HS Quad maintains Whistler-like liftlines all day since it is the best - and somewhat only - mid-mountain lift.

The Ripper Chair has shorter lines, but does not serve that much interesting terrain. Basically, it is a return from North Bowl lines.


Both Revelstoke and Kicking Horse need to build/sell a few more condos and use the proceeds to build one or two upper mountain lifts!