Where are you going this season (25/26)?

[Tony Crocker]

While ChrisC would love Small Groups Steep Chutes, the regular program Feb. 21-23 would not be beneath him. It's a slightly better time frame overall and it's the 4 seats originally used by flyover, John, tseeb and myself. The core of 40ish skiers my son Adam skis with at Snowbird will use those seats periodically but none of them can use them every year right now. So I strongly encourage ChrisC to join the group even though he would be by himself in 2026. He would not need to go every year, and there would be some years his brother in Telluride could go with him.

I also liked the Feb. 21-23 dates because there's little FOMO about skiing elsewhere. It's right in the middle of the Euro ski holidays and the Presidents Week timeframe can be busy at many U.S. resorts too.

 

[Skieric]

While ChrisC would love Small Groups Steep Chutes, the regular program Feb. 21-23 would not be beneath him. It's a slightly better time frame overall and it's the 4 seats originally used by flyover, John, tseeb and myself. The core of 40ish skiers my son Adam skis with at Snowbird will use those seats periodically but none of them can use them every year right now. So I strongly encourage ChrisC to join the group even though he would be by himself in 2026. He would not need to go every year, and there would be some years his brother in Telluride could go with him.

I also liked the Feb. 21-23 dates because there's little FOMO about skiing elsewhere. It's right in the middle of the Euro ski holidays and the Presidents Week timeframe can be busy at many U.S. resorts too.

January 16-18 dates may have 2 open seats. Let me or EMSC know if you are interested. I will still be going.

 

[EMSC]

Anyone want to ski Mustang Powder in January or Feb?? I'm asking others as well, but not easy to fill with such short notice to Jan esp.

I should update everyone on this.

Given the slightly goofy way that seats opened up to me last spring I had originally set to go with a couple of my guys trip buddies, one at a time. One Jan trip, One Feb trip.

With my departure from both trips the Jan trip taker decided to move his slot to the Feb trip so those two, who know each other, could both ski together, leaving 2 seats on the Jan Cat under my name, which Mustang has luckily been able to find buyers for. @Skieric , I hope your new cat mates turn out to be some good skiers and good guys.

My attack was severe enough that I won't be seeing snow till at least next season sometime. Glad to still be posting to these boards, but also a very long road to hoe for me unfortunately.

 

[ChrisC]

Given the slightly goofy way that seats opened up to me last spring I had originally set to go with a couple of my guys trip buddies, one at a time. One Jan trip, One Feb trip.

With my departure from both trips the Jan trip taker decided to move his slot to the Feb trip so those two, who know each other, could both ski together, leaving 2 seats on the Jan Cat under my name, which Mustang has luckily been able to find buyers for. @Skieric , I hope your new cat mates turn out to be some good skiers and good guys.

The photos coming out of BC (resort, cat, heli operations) are pretty epic this year!

 

[MarzNC]

Well, the Powder Chasing experiment is a bust for 2025-26. Partially because of snow conditions at both Monarch/CB and Big Sky/Bridger but the main reason is a major medical issue for my non-skiing husband that involved an unexpected hospitalization and lengthy recovering time. If I had the time to do a trip, would've flown to Bozeman.

My friend is probably going to head back to Alyeska, where she's been going in December and April for a few years. Her non-skiing husband likes Alaska. She can do just enough WFH to make it a full 2-week stay and make good use of a season pass. Plus she's come to know locals so will have ski buddies most of the time.

We learned a lot doing the trip planning. First time I've deliberately booked flights and lodging that could be cancelled fairly close to the arrival date. Had enough SW FF points for most of the flights.

 

[EMSC]

major medical issue for my non-skiing husband that involved an unexpected hospitalization and lengthy recovering time.

Hope he is recovering nicely at this point.

 

[MarzNC]

Hope he is recovering nicely at this point.

Thanks for the kind thoughts. He's being discharged tomorrow, somewhat earlier than I expected. His medical history is complicated. So It's the rehab and long-term recovery that's a bit of an unknown.

 

[berkshireskier]

Well, I just got some disappointing news. My daughter, with whom I was going to do a father/daughter ski trip to Banff in late February of this year (2026), just called to say she needs emergency surgery (relatively minor), so we have to postpone our ski trip to either late March/early April of this year (assuming she is better?) or to next year. Does anyone have experience skiing Banff (Lake Louise or Sunshine Village) later in the Spring? I understand that they retain snow well and that conditions are usually pretty good and I know they had a lot of snow early in the season, so they should have good coverage. But I do worry a little about that time of year. I guess the good news is you don't have to worry about super cold weather (hopefully) at that time.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Does anyone have experience skiing Banff (Lake Louise or Sunshine Village) later in the Spring? I understand that they retain snow well and that conditions are usually pretty good and I know they had a lot of snow early in the season, so they should have good coverage. But I do worry a little about that time of year. I guess the good news is you don't have to worry about super cold weather (hopefully) at that time.

Overall late March/early April is probably the best time of year for Banff as for many locations with gradual snow accumulation but good preservation. The cold is a big part of the reason preservation is good. First trip in 1999 I had to buy Adam warmer gloves at Sunshine even though it was April 2. NASJA trip March 14-16, 2002 temperatures declined from 15F to 0F over the three days. It was -20F on departure day March 17 so nobody skied. But berkshireskier's daughter lives in Montreal, so she can handle it.

The exposures are not ideal but in Lake Louise's case, the backside steeps have perfect north exposure and much of the front side is groomed. Sunshine is less optimal as Goat's Eye faces SW and usually will have spring conditions in normal spring weather as opposed to what I had in 2002.

 

[Sbooker]

Well, I just got some disappointing news. My daughter, with whom I was going to do a father/daughter ski trip to Banff in late February of this year (2026), just called to say she needs emergency surgery (relatively minor), so we have to postpone our ski trip to either late March/early April of this year (assuming she is better?) or to next year. Does anyone have experience skiing Banff (Lake Louise or Sunshine Village) later in the Spring? I understand that they retain snow well and that conditions are usually pretty good and I know they had a lot of snow early in the season, so they should have good coverage. But I do worry a little about that time of year. I guess the good news is you don't have to worry about super cold weather (hopefully) at that time.

I’ve had two early April trips to Banff although quite some time ago. We had great cover and multiple overnight modest top ups of fresh snow both times. I distinctly remember getting a very cold spell one of those years as my kids struggled skiing in the early morning. It got to minus 5 F for a couple of mornings.

I also remember the front side of Lake Louise being slushy at lunch time but the other areas having nice snow.

 

[flyover]

Well, I just got some disappointing news. My daughter, with whom I was going to do a father/daughter ski trip to Banff in late February of this year (2026), just called to say she needs emergency surgery (relatively minor), so we have to postpone our ski trip to either late March/early April of this year (assuming she is better?) or to next year. Does anyone have experience skiing Banff (Lake Louise or Sunshine Village) later in the Spring? I understand that they retain snow well and that conditions are usually pretty good and I know they had a lot of snow early in the season, so they should have good coverage. But I do worry a little about that time of year. I guess the good news is you don't have to worry about super cold weather (hopefully) at that time.

We haven't skied Banff since 2018, but in the teens, we took three week-long Spring break trips to Banff always in the last week of March or first week of April. Some years it was already full-on Spring in the Bow River Valley, others there was cold and snow all the way down to the Calgary airport. We always managed to find good winter snow on good terrain somewhere at both at both LL and Sunshine, generally had at least a shallow powder day or two, and never had to deal with any significant lift lines. Lodging was a better value than what we could find at most large western resorts too. Probably best to bring clothing compatible with skiing in temperatures from a little below zero (F) to Spring skiing.

 

[jimk]

Ski Talk is having a Gathering in Banff the week of March 21st. Date specifically chosen to hopefully catch peak late winter/early spring conditions. I'll be there then.

 

[berkshireskier]

Overall late March/early April is probably the best time of year for Banff as for many locations with gradual snow accumulation but good preservation. The cold is a big part of the reason preservation is good. First trip in 1999 I had to buy Adam warmer gloves at Sunshine even though it was April 2. NASJA trip March 14-16, 2002 temperatures declined from 15F to 0F over the three days. It was -20F on departure day March 17 so nobody skied. But berkshireskier's daughter lives in Montreal, so she can handle it.

The exposures are not ideal but in Lake Louise's case, the backside steeps have perfect north exposure and much of the front side is groomed. Sunshine is less optimal as Goat's Eye faces SW and usually will have spring conditions in normal spring weather as opposed to what I had in 2002.

LOL, Tony, you would think. I mean, my daughter grew up her entire life in New England with cold winters, spent four years in college in Minnesota, and has lived for the past 6 years or so in Montreal BUT she doesn't really like cold weather and doesn't do that well in really cold temps - I know it is crazy! (we've looked into getting her heated ski boot insoles to make cold days a little more bearable for her). So maybe going later in the Spring, as opposed to late February, will be better for her. But it's been warm even in Banff lately, with daytime temps in the high 30's and low 40's (I've been watching the daily weather reports) and it was 57 degrees (F) the other day in Calgary.

Thanks too to everyone else for your thoughts on skiing there in late March! I hope we can do the trip this year.

 

[jasoncapecod]

LOL, Tony, you would think. I mean, my daughter grew up her entire life in New England with cold winters, spent four years in college in Minnesota, and has lived for the past 6 years or so in Montreal BUT she doesn't really like cold weather and doesn't do that well in really cold temps - I know it is crazy! (we've looked into getting her heated ski boot insoles to make cold days a little more bearable for her). So maybe going later in the Spring, as opposed to late February, will be better for her. But it's been warm even in Banff lately, with daytime temps in the high 30's and low 40's (I've been watching the daily weather reports) and it was 57 degrees (F) the other day in Calgary.

Thanks too to everyone else for your thoughts on skiing there in late March! I hope we can do the trip this year.

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[berkshireskier]

My daughter and I have now booked out Banff trip to March 22 to March 29 of this year. Looking forward to some real skiing!

 

[Tony Crocker]

Looking forward to some real skiing!

From what we read, there has been some mighty fine skiing in the Northeast this season.

 

[tseeb]

My daughter and I have now booked out Banff trip to March 22 to March 29 of this year. Looking forward to some real skiing!

My wife and I plan to be there that week for SkiTalk Gathering. We arrive YYC after 6 PM on March 22 have rental car and are staying at Banff Aspen Lodge. Our flight home is on March 28 just before 7 PM.

 

[berkshireskier]

From what we read, there has been some mighty fine skiing in the Northeast this season.

No doubt, Tony, some of the best snow conditions throughout almost all of the Northeast (even where I live in southern/middle New England) in the past 10 years or so. The combination of sustained cold weather - good for snow making - and several smaller snowstorms and one large snow storm, with sustained cold temps since the last big storm, have made for very good snow conditions. I skied this past Wednesday at my local ski hill and the surfaces were very good - groomed powder over a very fairly deep base. And it had been almost two weeks since the last big storm. The one negative this season, though, is that it has been brutally cold and windy many days, so not a lot of "pleasant" days to be out on the slopes. I mean, this past Friday night into Saturday morning, we picked up 2 to 4 inches of very light powder snow (cold storm) but then it immediately turned extremely cold with sustained winds 20 to 30 MPH with higher gusts. I'm not sure they could even run the chair lifts in those winds and it would have been miserable to be out skiing in that weather.

 

[berkshireskier]

My wife and I plan to be there that week for SkiTalk Gathering. We arrive YYC after 6 PM on March 22 have rental car and are staying at Banff Aspen Lodge. Our flight home is on March 28 just before 7 PM.

Nice, yea, my daughter are flying into Calgary too on Sunday, March 22 (around mid-day) and then staying in Banff for a week, at the Elk and Avenue Hotel on Banff Ave. We're also renting a car for the week.