Canada Season 2016/17 - Whistler, Revy, elsewhere?

therealsassy

therealsassy

Member
Yo NS,

Just had my visa application accepted so I'll be moving out to Canada in October for a season or two. Just looking for some people's take on the best place (subjective, I know). Currently favouring Whistler for the variety of ski area and nightlife - but also had a look at Revy and a bit of Banff.

Also what's do you reckon is the best job - want to maximise ski time. If you got somewhere specific to suggest even better.

And of course if any of you guys are heading out next season gimme a shout

Cheers

Peace and Love
 
Just say no to Banff. Lake Louise is the closest best skiing but you are commuting an hour. The town is pretty cheesey and touristy too. Beautiful none-the-less. Whistler is tight and there is not much wrong with it except it is busy as fuck and expensive but there are ways around that and it's one hell of an experience. Kicking Horse and Revy are the next two obvious choices. Revy is a mini whistler with lots of pow. Kicking Horse is a legit tight town that is not catered to tourists. Just partying, skiing, mtn biking or minding your own business and the mountain is big and tech as fuck. Fernie is a dope place with a good mountain. Red and Whitewater are two sweet mountain towns that are super under the radar but pretty legit.
 
I lived in Banff/Canmore last season and it was the best, I worked at Sunshine Village as Ski Patrol. Norquay has night riding Thursday, Friday Saturdays, Louise has a great park from top to bottom and Sunshine has some pretty steep fun terrain if you're into that and not park. The hills around there are all pretty average and don't get a lot of snow but it was one of the best years of my life out there!

The nightlife in Banff is pretty sick as well but you get a lot of rig pigs out there on the weekends but its not too bad if you know what bars to go to and when!

If you're not looking for a on hill job just get a job as a taxi driver or pizza delivery so you work nights and ride all day!
 
Hey man, definitely check out whistler. Best in the world. I ski band fall the time and can safely say it's not quite as good as whistler but the skiing a still killer. Check out Louise their big parks supposed to open this week. Good luck dude. Shoot me a pm if you wanna meet up
 
I did a season in Revy and here what it is.

It's the shit,

Revy have

-Good snow, pretty much all the time

-Good terrain, plus the slack is real good

-The town is nice, transportation is good I think, I had a car so, I didn't use it.

-Roger's pass is a major plus if you're into touring

-cheaper then Whistler, not sure about banff

-Night life is not good, I'm coming from Montreal, but well, the idiot have good beer and good pizza, and there's some nice bar too, can't remember the name

-They have a park now, not as big as Whis or Banff area tho
 
Definatly recommend being a drug dealer in Thunder Bay Ontario... The local hill Loch Lomond is fucking killer with a variety of terrain, and everyone here loves drugs so you could sell at the ski hill while you ski...
 
13602822:Banane. said:
I did a season in Revy and here what it is.

It's the shit,

Revy have

-Good snow, pretty much all the time

-Good terrain, plus the slack is real good

-The town is nice, transportation is good I think, I had a car so, I didn't use it.

-Roger's pass is a major plus if you're into touring

-cheaper then Whistler, not sure about banff

-Night life is not good, I'm coming from Montreal, but well, the idiot have good beer and good pizza, and there's some nice bar too, can't remember the name

-They have a park now, not as big as Whis or Banff area tho
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Hey dude the nightlife is better now. It's pretty fun. We also had the second pow day in a row today. Told you to drop school and come get it!
 
Actually, I'm buying some KYE 110, new boots and some kingpin for touring. Might come next winter ! for 3 months
 
topic:therealsassy said:
Yo NS,

Just had my visa application accepted so I'll be moving out to Canada in October for a season or two. Just looking for some people's take on the best place (subjective, I know). Currently favouring Whistler for the variety of ski area and nightlife - but also had a look at Revy and a bit of Banff.

Also what's do you reckon is the best job - want to maximise ski time. If you got somewhere specific to suggest even better.

And of course if any of you guys are heading out next season gimme a shout

Cheers

Peace and Love
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Not sure if you've checked into the interior parts of bc.. I'm in my second season down in big white. Decent park, decent mountain. Plenty of other resorts to explore nearby. I work at the market in the village, usually working afternoons shifts. Ski during the day, work in the afternoon, not too late to enjoy the night life as well.. Maximizing ski time was important for me when I began looking out this way. A job where you can get out in the early hours is key. This may not be down your alley but I thought I'd share my experience. Ps. I know a bunch of people who had a real struggle this season looking for work/accom in the banff area. I suggest acting sooner rather than later if you end up making it out this way. Hope this was somewhat useful. Goodluck!
 
its relevant bvut not exactly threadworthy so what are NS opinions on silver star/vernon as a place to go for the winter?
 
13603957:razors-chaz said:
its relevant bvut not exactly threadworthy so what are NS opinions on silver star/vernon as a place to go for the winter?
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I have a year lease on this house so maybe you'll have to move in.
 
13603892:D.Mac said:
Ps. I know a bunch of people who had a real struggle this season looking for work/accom in the banff area. I suggest acting sooner rather than later if you end up making it out this way. Hope this was somewhat useful. Goodluck!
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Yeah a family friend has some connection at big white (mustang powder? might be thinking of the wrong place), looks a cool.

Everywhere I've emailed so far have said they don't start advertising/looking for workers till late summer which is annoying, and yeah thinking of heading out a few weeks before the season starts to sort house etc. friend says the week before a resort opens is a mad rush when everyone rocks up so probably before that.
 
13604139:therealsassy said:
Yeah a family friend has some connection at big white (mustang powder? might be thinking of the wrong place), looks a cool.

Everywhere I've emailed so far have said they don't start advertising/looking for workers till late summer which is annoying, and yeah thinking of heading out a few weeks before the season starts to sort house etc. friend says the week before a resort opens is a mad rush when everyone rocks up so probably before that.
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Best case scenario - show up in the late summer to find a place to live. If that's not an option, rolling into town in late October to find a place for Nov 1st. Come December, it's a battle for housing. Problem with that is, if you are gunning for a seasonal job based at or around the ski hill, you won't have any guarantees on work until after you have already locked down a place to live. If that's something you are going to have a problem with, you might want to narrow your options to applying only to ski hills with staff housing options. Apply to them all, do the fall road trip around to all the interviews and pick the one you liked based (out of those that offer you a job of course). Not many hills have staff accom though. Whistler and Sunshine do for sure. Maybe Silver star, big white, sun peaks, and lake Louise?

If you want park foremost with good terrain your options are: Whistler, Lake Louise with Revy and Red as b listers

If you want just terrain parks and not down with Whistler and Lake Louise look into Silver Star.

If you just want terrain, Red is the best (IF it has the snow - which some years, it doesn't). Kicking horse, Whistler, Fernie (not the most playful, but by no means shitty), Revy (long laps and short fall line, but the little skiing you do get per run is quite fun - and it's one of the few places that can pretty much gurantee pow - but even like JApan so far this season, nothing is truly a gurantee).

Generally - if you want pillows and the like go to Whistler and the west Kootenays (Revy, red, Whitewater).

If you want alpine and drier snow the east kootenays/Banff (kicking horse, fernie, sunshine, lake Louise)

Stay away from the okanogan unless all you want is park and groomers (sun peaks, silver star, big white)

Don't bother with panorama, apex, or Kimberley.

Whistler has it all (there's a reason it's so busy and expensive). And as for maparty/club scene: besides Whistler Nelson is quite decent, Banff is alright, Revy is passable and if for some reason you end up in the okanogan Kelowna has stuff, but as a small town mountain guy I'm not down with the kelowna/kamloops vibes.
 
Word. Drail has some sage advice although I'd bump kicking horse up a little higher on that list, unless you want park. Whistler, Revy, Kicking Horse all a draw with different perks for all. If you are dead set on only doing a season or two and you're young I would highly recommend whistler. I love it and hate it but it was a damn good experience. I would avoid working for the hill and living in staff accommodation avoidnywhere. You are living in shitty accommodation, your pass is tied to your job. That means you get fired, you can't ski. They own you so you have to behave while you're skiing. Also, chances are you are going to have to work when the hill is open. Buy a pass when you have money, then lock down a place, have enough change to be unemployed for a month and get an job by suss in out the town and seeing what jobs andre tight. Move there in Oct. Meet people early.

Drail, that's the first honest sensible review I've heard someone who's lived in Revy give of Revy. Props.
 
Drial - sound bro, thats some real good advice cheers man

erring towards whistler atm for a first season, seems to have the best mix of everything - sound advice about working for the hill had only look at a free pass with work as a good thing but i guess it can bite ya

apparently gibbons is a decent place to work? anyone got any know about that?
 
13604139:therealsassy said:
Everywhere I've emailed so far have said they don't start advertising/looking for workers till late summer which is annoying, and yeah thinking of heading out a few weeks before the season starts to sort house etc. friend says the week before a resort opens is a mad rush when everyone rocks up so probably before that.
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I'm a long time Banff resident who was in your shoes many years ago (I'm from your neck of the woods originally - Bath) so my advice when it comes to finding work is based on that - not sure how true the following is for other places.

If you are arriving between summer and winter make sure you have lots of money saved to tide you over. We get a huge influx of new arrivals around that time every year and it coincides with the quietest time of year for all the local businesses. That means lots of people looking for work and very few places hiring. We get stacks and stacks of resumes right at the time we are dead and struggling to give our existing staff hours - and so most end up in the shredder. Lots of places will start hiring as we get busier towards Christmas but don't be caught out by not having enough cash to get you through a potential dry spell (especially as you'll be pissing money up the wall on booze for the first few weeks as you get to know lots of new people).

The main exception to that is the ski resorts as they have some hiring fairs but even then they do a lot of their hiring beforehand through gap year companies and overseas recruitment (Aussie hiring fairs etc). Plus you don't want to work for the resorts. As has been mentioned having your pass tied to your job sucks. They also pay less and you tend to get shittier hours when it comes to ski time. You want to work somewhere that is open when the ski hills are shut - hotels, bars and restaurants are obvious places to start looking (for my first few seasons I worked front desk and night audit - a decent entry level job as far as ski towns go and I skied a fucking shitload).

For Banff at least the time to come would be at the end of August or early September - there's an exodus of the temporary summer staff and places are still in need of staff as it's busy through September before the summer tourist season dies off. Even if you got limited hours at least you'd have your foot in the door. Housing should be a bit easier to find then as well but generally the housing is fucked here right now so that would be your biggest challenge.

As for skiing Whistler is stupidly good when it comes to terrain and park, and snow in a good year. I can't deal with the number of people though - the resort gets so fucking busy compared to the Alberta and interior BC resorts. Queueing for that long on a pow day and everything getting shralped so quickly sucks when you are used to finding fresh lines for longer. Amazing slack though.

Revy is sick but I prefer Nelson - Whitewater has the most fun terrain imaginable and shitloads of snow in a good year. Golden would probably be my pick. Kicking Horse has amazing terrain and the location is perfect. You're close to Revy and Rogers Pass (the latter has mind blowingly good terrain and snow if you tour). You're also close enough to check out the Rockies resorts.

Another consideration is length of season. The interior gets more snow but Banff has great skiing into May. In fact we tend to have our best conditions of the year just as the BC resorts are winding up.

If you have any more questions, especially regarding the Banff area, feel free to PM me.
 
Revy is dope but they don't always have good snow and no real park. I just got back from fernie which was pretty sick and theyre getting dumped on. Theres tons of places near calgary pr kelowna
 
13604923:spacelunch said:
Revy is dope but they don't always have good snow and no real park. I just got back from fernie which was pretty sick and theyre getting dumped on. Theres tons of places near calgary pr kelowna
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Uhh I don't know when you went to revy last, but we have the most consistently good snow, and there is a park now with a three jump progressive line that I'm sure will only get bigger throughout the year.
 
13604923:spacelunch said:
Revy is dope but they don't always have good snow and no real park. I just got back from fernie which was pretty sick and theyre getting dumped on. Theres tons of places near calgary pr kelowna
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Hahaha. Nowhere in the world ALWAYS has good snow. Revy though, it's one of the most consistent places in the world when it comes to snow. There's a reason rogers pass has the military in charge of Avalanche control.

There's a lot I could hate on when it comes to Revy, but snow is the one thing they do have.
 
13605393:Drail said:
Hahaha. Nowhere in the world ALWAYS has good snow. Revy though, it's one of the most consistent places in the world when it comes to snow. There's a reason rogers pass has the military in charge of Avalanche control.

There's a lot I could hate on when it comes to Revy, but snow is the one thing they do have.
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What could you hate on when it comes to Revy? I'm thinking about spending some time there next winter and it'd be great to hear some insight.

I'm primarily interested in terrain, but knowing the whole situation is helpful too.
 
13605971:ChrisHarper said:
What could you hate on when it comes to Revy? I'm thinking about spending some time there next winter and it'd be great to hear some insight.

I'm primarily interested in terrain, but knowing the whole situation is helpful too.
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Revy has a very large vertical but a lot of the time you can't actually ski top to bottom. The majority of laps are ~500m in vert and then you ski out at the end of the day. When you can ski full laps it's unreal.

The fall line at the top of the mountain is not super consistent, you hike, then ski down, traverse, ski down, wander around a bit, etc.

The top of the mountain is kind of rolly polly. When you go to kicking horse or lake Louise you are ON TOP of a mountain, high above the trees and it's just drops away from you everywhere.

I'm not saying these are absolutes or the worst things in the world. It all adds to the character of Revy. It's very playful. With its snowfall, this terrain makes for pillows and great feature hits.

I also prefer alpine skiing over trees. Revy has lots of trees.
 
Whis or Revy. The skiing in revy is to die for, theres never crowds, snow is amazing and deep. The night life in revy needs work but "The Cabin" is dope as shit. Currently I live in Squamish and ski whistler every weekend. Again amazing skiing (when the snow is good), the coast is NOT consistent with cold temps 100% of the time, but when it dumps, it dumps. the terrain on whistler and in the backcountry around whistler is amazing and has tons of options like big lines to mini gulf stuff to pillows. the night life and the people in whistler are un-beatable. If money were no option...whistler is the place to be.
 
Im also planing a season in BC next year! Getting closer to choose Revy now. Is it hard to get cheap accomodation in early january anywhere?
 
13609106:Gjermund said:
Im also planing a season in BC next year! Getting closer to choose Revy now. Is it hard to get cheap accomodation in early january anywhere?
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It's gonna be hard to get any accommodation actually, I went late november the first time and had hard time to find something sweet, but, maybe in garden or on thelist you'll find something
 
13609130:Banane. said:
It's gonna be hard to get any accommodation actually, I went late november the first time and had hard time to find something sweet, but, maybe in garden or on thelist you'll find something
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Gardens almost burnt down this year and the owner has lawsuits flying at him from all over the place. Me and my roomate are debating suing since he can't afford to fight all them and they took our damage deposit last year and blamed the black mould on us. Don't live there. Also that being said, might be doing next season in Nelson or fernie. Revy is awesome but after 4 years I think I need a new backdrop.
 
banff is sweet cause you have 3 very different hills. lake has the best park and gnarly terrain. sunshine is a lot more flat but it usually has better snow. and norquay is for hangover half days. very touristy town but there are lots of core type folks who have lived there for years.

revy has the sickest terrain of anywhere I've been. I've never lived there so I'm not sure how the town is but they get tons of snow and they have a park now for down days.

I wouldn't fuck with whis unless you're rich and love lift lines. some people love it there but it's not for me.

also if you want to maximize ski time, snow school is the best way to do that BUT you'll be making peanuts and it's tiring work. for non-mountain jobs you can work restaurants or hotels that way you might not start work till like 4 every day.
 
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