Where To Travel Canada 2022

Pakanaka

Member
New Zealand citizen here never been out of the country. 20 years old looking to travel to Canada over the 22/23 season to go on a working holiday. where do you recommend? at the moment I work as a carparker at cardrona. any advice?
 
Fellow NZer here, I went and skied there for a week as part of a trip before covid, don't know about living situations, we just skied Whistler and in comparison to what is here if you're mainly cardrona/TC/remarks its pretty epic, more terrain variety, more snow, more parks. You will have a good time wherever but I'll leave other suggestions to people who know a bit more, best of luck bro.
 
topic:Pakanaka said:
New Zealand citizen here never been out of the country. 20 years old looking to travel to Canada over the 22/23 season to go on a working holiday. where do you recommend? at the moment I work as a carparker at cardrona. any advice?

I do have a mate who did 2 years in whistler, he definitely enjoyed the party side of things but depends on what you're looking for and if you're into that. Also he went there and managed to find a house to stay with like 10 people which made rent relatively affordable but still an expensive af place. Although I think their gas is still cheaper than NZ lol
 
If your looking for more existing time for sur go to Whistler or lake Louise but if you want more peacefulness I’ll recommend a smaller town with a resort like Fernie, Golden, Kelowna even Cumberland

if your looking a cultural chock and super cold shity weather comme to Québec skis some nice blue ice on small hills and eat poutines
 
14448560:Raf.Diaz. said:
If your looking for more existing time for sur go to Whistler or lake Louise but if you want more peacefulness I’ll recommend a smaller town with a resort like Fernie, Golden, Kelowna even Cumberland

if your looking a cultural chock and super cold shity weather comme to Québec skis some nice blue ice on small hills and eat poutines

>small town with a resort

>kelowna

wat
 
Powder Highway those mountains are sick and not too busy.

Just avoid Whistler now its on the Epic and all of Vancouver skis there rest of Western Canada is lit.
 
It depends on what flavour of skiing you wanna do.

but don’t turn your back on the east, if park laps are what you’re after.
 
What do you like to ski most? Can you afford 1000$ per month rent in Whis or are you looking for cheaper? Imo except for the crowds and the price Whistler is a great all-around mountain but you can find sick stuff further east too
 
mostly ski park. will hopefully have 9k by end of season but here I pay $210 per week so hopefully something similar. was looking at sunshine or lake Louise they look pretty sick. Just not sure if it's really worth it coz I have to sort out travel insurance and it's seems a lot of work. also will have no friends. new environment ect...
 
14448869:Pakanaka said:
mostly ski park. will hopefully have 9k by end of season but here I pay $210 per week so hopefully something similar. was looking at sunshine or lake Louise they look pretty sick. Just not sure if it's really worth it coz I have to sort out travel insurance and it's seems a lot of work. also will have no friends. new environment ect...

lake louise has got a sick park. sunshine's is really good too, but its plagued with dbag aussie snowboarders and jerries thinking they own the place. also park crews at lake are on point. the features are really well maintained. sunshine, the busier feaures get ridden out by the end of the day.

accomodations are a bit tougher in lake. super cheap and and super close to the hill if you pick up a job at the resort. otherwise youre mostly doomed to banff. if youre living in banff, youre better off doing sunshine. louise is a good 40-50min from banff, where sunshine is like 10-15 min. i highly recomend getting part time job, mostly to meet people easily. with the ski big 3 pass you really dont have to pick between the the two. if it dumped, go to lake. if its fucking cold (-40 w/ windchill) go to sunshine. begineer slack country? sunshine. more advanced slack? louise.

check out goose insurance. last time i went out west i only paid $25 for a two week trip.

kicking horse and revelstoke are awesome for the season if you want to ride steep and deep. not much going on in terms of park there. whistler is a party town more than anything else. the mountain is dope, but the volumes of people passing through there will ruin your trip. its crazy expensive and honestly, the snow is really not that great.
 
14448560:Raf.Diaz. said:
If your looking for more existing time for sur go to Whistler or lake Louise but if you want more peacefulness I’ll recommend a smaller town with a resort like Fernie, Golden, Kelowna even Cumberland

if your looking a cultural chock and super cold shity weather comme to Québec skis some nice blue ice on small hills and eat poutines

average brutaly honest move by raf, its true tho
 
All I know. I visited nelson bc one time in the summer. And it was so fucking cool.. and whitewater looks like a fun area
 
Potential hot take here but lakes parks have been on the steady decline and have been for a while. Sunshine's been stepping up their game and have been building some really great and unique stuff. Even norquays parks have been pretty great compared to lakes.

Hit up the Banff/Canmore for a good mix of culture and skiing. If you want deeper snow and bigger terrain Fernie, Revy or Kicking Horse are all great

14449065:ajbski said:
lake louise has got a sick park. sunshine's is really good too, but its plagued with dbag aussie snowboarders and jerries thinking they own the place. also park crews at lake are on point. the features are really well maintained. sunshine, the busier feaures get ridden out by the end of the day.

accomodations are a bit tougher in lake. super cheap and and super close to the hill if you pick up a job at the resort. otherwise youre mostly doomed to banff. if youre living in banff, youre better off doing sunshine. louise is a good 40-50min from banff, where sunshine is like 10-15 min. i highly recomend getting part time job, mostly to meet people easily. with the ski big 3 pass you really dont have to pick between the the two. if it dumped, go to lake. if its fucking cold (-40 w/ windchill) go to sunshine. begineer slack country? sunshine. more advanced slack? louise.

check out goose insurance. last time i went out west i only paid $25 for a two week trip.

kicking horse and revelstoke are awesome for the season if you want to ride steep and deep. not much going on in terms of park there. whistler is a party town more than anything else. the mountain is dope, but the volumes of people passing through there will ruin your trip. its crazy expensive and honestly, the snow is really not that great.
 
This is true.

but I personally like the layout at lake more. Top of the chair is small and gets bigger going down. You can hike the top all morning, then go to the white horn for a drink on your way down. It’s also relatively well isolated from the jerries. There’s only really one section where you cross paths, but if you stick to the trees you don’t even have to and get some natural features in your hot laps.

They don’t have the XL jump line any more, but in the whole time I worked there I hit it a handful of times only because the large line is so good.

14450214:disappointmett said:
Potential hot take here but lakes parks have been on the steady decline and have been for a while. Sunshine's been stepping up their game and have been building some really great and unique stuff. Even norquays parks have been pretty great compared to lakes.

Hit up the Banff/Canmore for a good mix of culture and skiing. If you want deeper snow and bigger terrain Fernie, Revy or Kicking Horse are all great
 
if i were to spend a season anywhere it would be lake louise. the park laps are better at sunshine but other than that the terrain is nothing to write home about. lake has a bit of everything. from steep alpine to good trees and a decent park if it doesn't snow. I also remember staff accommodation being fairly reasonable ($320/month). everybody i met in staff accom was super friendly. lots of kiwis and aussies that are just looking for a good experience at that point in their lives.
 
Castle Mountain Resort in Alberta is a great hidden gem. I'd recommend Alberta because it's a bit cheaper living there (no provincial sales tax) and the snow tends to be really dry, although it doesn't generally snow as much as the central rockies and coast mountains. Fernie BC is a great option too. Red Mountain (Rossland/Trail) is great. Whitewater (Nelson) is a smaller resort with super fun terrain, gets a lot of snow and has great options for day tours from the top of the resort. Nelson is also near Salmo where there is a community ski hill with night skiing, and Kootenay pass, which is a good backcountry access point with some easy tours near the road.
 
If you want a totally unique experience, go to Smokey Mountain Labrador. You can have pretty much any job you want at the hill. It gets ridiculously cold and can get crazy amounts of snow.

Mount Sima in the Yukon could be cool too for somewhere unusual!
 
14449093:TRVP_ANGEL said:
BLUE MTN ONTARIO

BLUE MTN ONTARIO

GO NOW!! DONT LOOK! GO!!

was going to head up there last season before I smoked my leg, definitely on the list again for next season
 
14450626:skiP.E.I. said:
Castle Mountain Resort in Alberta is a great hidden gem. I'd recommend Alberta because it's a bit cheaper living there (no provincial sales tax) and the snow tends to be really dry, although it doesn't generally snow as much as the central rockies and coast mountains. Fernie BC is a great option too. Red Mountain (Rossland/Trail) is great. Whitewater (Nelson) is a smaller resort with super fun terrain, gets a lot of snow and has great options for day tours from the top of the resort. Nelson is also near Salmo where there is a community ski hill with night skiing, and Kootenay pass, which is a good backcountry access point with some easy tours near the road.

Fernie is my favourite hill in Canada, so much good terrain and consistent snow.

As a Calgarian don't bother with AB until late spring unless you wanna ski boilerplate ice and freeze your ass off. Pow days at sunshine are heavenly but rare.
 
14450664:Slowbro said:
Fernie is my favourite hill in Canada, so much good terrain and consistent snow.

As a Calgarian don't bother with AB until late spring unless you wanna ski boilerplate ice and freeze your ass off. Pow days at sunshine are heavenly but rare.

Beg to differ. I spent a season working at Castle and we got the best snow I've ever skiied halfway through the season which lasted for weeks because it's not super busy there and there are plenty of stashes the skiing public doesn't find! Gets similar weather to the Lizard Range (Fernie). Never been to Sunshine but Louise is also good! True, it can be 'icy' for a week here and there, but in the east it would just be considered firm snow.
 
Visited BC twice myself from the states (Kicking Horse/Golden, BC and Whistler. Those covid rules and regs are dogshit but once you get past those, it's amazing. I gotta say both places are entirely different in their own rights; Whistler is a bit touristy but fun and a lot of expats/aussies/kiwis and then golden is just your classic podunk town in the middle of no where.

As far as the skiing goes, apples to oranges. Whistler has a shitload of stuff to ski and then KH is some of the gnarliest most badass in bounds freeride terrain you'll see in NA. It makes Alta and snowbird look like hills back east. And the snow is great. I enjoyed skiing some heavier dense pow over brutal Wasatch High Pressure hardpack. It's a goal/dream to get the fuck out of Utah and up to the NW one day

**This post was edited on Jul 20th 2022 at 5:08:28pm
 
14450688:skiP.E.I. said:
Beg to differ. I spent a season working at Castle and we got the best snow I've ever skiied halfway through the season which lasted for weeks because it's not super busy there and there are plenty of stashes the skiing public doesn't find! Gets similar weather to the Lizard Range (Fernie). Never been to Sunshine but Louise is also good! True, it can be 'icy' for a week here and there, but in the east it would just be considered firm snow.

For reference, here are Fernie and Castle on Maps. Only about 35 km apart as the crow flies!

1046980.png
 
topic:Pakanaka said:
New Zealand citizen here never been out of the country. 20 years old looking to travel to Canada over the 22/23 season to go on a working holiday. where do you recommend? at the moment I work as a carparker at cardrona. any advice?

Canada isn’t real wake up
 
Pemby is a dream town. Like what? 10 maybe businesses on the main strip with like 2 pot shops? What a scene. Tons of sledski rigs too. BC is a little boy skiers dream. Squamish is a must for bikes and I need to go back.
 
I second all this

14450626:skiP.E.I. said:
Castle Mountain Resort in Alberta is a great hidden gem. I'd recommend Alberta because it's a bit cheaper living there (no provincial sales tax) and the snow tends to be really dry, although it doesn't generally snow as much as the central rockies and coast mountains. Fernie BC is a great option too. Red Mountain (Rossland/Trail) is great. Whitewater (Nelson) is a smaller resort with super fun terrain, gets a lot of snow and has great options for day tours from the top of the resort. Nelson is also near Salmo where there is a community ski hill with night skiing, and Kootenay pass, which is a good backcountry access point with some easy tours near the road.
 
14450626:skiP.E.I. said:
Castle Mountain Resort in Alberta is a great hidden gem. I'd recommend Alberta because it's a bit cheaper living there (no provincial sales tax) and the snow tends to be really dry, although it doesn't generally snow as much as the central rockies and coast mountains. Fernie BC is a great option too. Red Mountain (Rossland/Trail) is great. Whitewater (Nelson) is a smaller resort with super fun terrain, gets a lot of snow and has great options for day tours from the top of the resort. Nelson is also near Salmo where there is a community ski hill with night skiing, and Kootenay pass, which is a good backcountry access point with some easy tours near the road.

Everything said here is 100% facts. Definitely go southern bc interior or SE bc or SW Alberta. I personally love Whitewater. Great mountain and the terrain is unreal.
 
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