Whistler vs. Big White vs. Fernie

WillStart

WillStart

Active member
Maybe a repost, but I searched for other threads like this and couldn't find the info I wanted in one place.
Basically I may be going to one of these three places over spring break (which for me goes from the end of feb. through the beginning of march). Which one would you guys recommend? I've been to both Big White and Whistler in the past, but how has this season been for all three of those mountains? How do their parks compare (primarily Fernie and Big White)? In any given week, which resort is most likely to have powder days?
thanks a ton, +k for helpful answers.
 
I ski at Big White and its pretty awesome. Big White has some good terrain in Gem Lake and The Cliff. The park is so prime right now. This year we have skiers on the park crew so the features are more skier orientated rather than more for snowboarders. Big White's park this year is crazy good.

Big White's park from a few weeks ago.

Telus Park#2.5 from Big White Ski Resort on Vimeo.
 
i'm at Big White right now just finishing up my ski trip. They have tons of snow, the base is over 2 meters and i just finished skiing thigh deep light powder all day. One of the best ski days of my life. I went to whistler last year and if you are into Big Mountain skiing then whistler surpasses Big White. The park at Big White is lots of fun right now, They have a three pack of 35 footers made from natural snow so nice and soft. Also lots of rails. There are tons of newschoolers who ski on weekends that are tons of fun to ski with. Thats what I did all week. So I guess it depends what you are looking for. The village at Big White is completely ski in ski out so no shuttle riding is involved. At Whistler you are more then likely to need to ride a shuttle. Also it is cold in the Big White village meaning there is snow and at whistler village it is almost always above zero meaning rain. However this doesn't matter once you go into the alpine. Whistlers park is unreal and requires a park pass for the xl park. So i guess it depends what you are looking for, if you want big then go to whistler, if you want more of a smaller mountain feel with some really good skiing go to Big White. And i know nothing about Fernie.
 
thanks for reminding me i need to include a little more info.
i don't do jumps, but i love rails and boxes.
i love skiing powder, but if there's no powder then i don't go out of the park. also, i'm not an amazing big mountain skier. there is definitely stuff at whistler that i would not go near, and i know the same goes for some of the stuff on cliff chair (?) at big white. if i remember it correctly. so i'm not necessarily looking for the gnarliest runs possible
 
Big White got some new rails in this year. 30ft DFD, 30ft down bar, 20ft donkey dick. They also put in this massive FD rail that is around 40 - 50ft.
 
the park in big white blows chunks. worst jumps ever when i was up there last and the rail setup was weak. my tiny local mountain (grouse) currently has way better jumps and rail setup. and if you hit up whistler, which is what i'd recommend as it definitely has the best terrain and park setup out of those three, you could hit up grouse too as its only a 1.5 hour drive away.
 
Jason, they rebuilt the jumps entirely, they are much much better now.

OP, pm bigwhite.steeze about Big White's park, he works in the park.
 
They rebuilt the jumps last week. Landings are much steeper, takes offs have a lot more tang and the rails are dialed. Prior to last weak our park was sub-par, but now it is the best I have ever seen it.

Back to the OP

Bigwhite doesnt have the best terrain for Big Mountain, but it definitly is a versatile mountain. There are minor hikes to get to the decent terrain, PM me if you would like more info.
 
There's no way anyone can honestly say that Big White has a better park then Whis. Black park has the best jumps in Canada hands down. The pipe is fucking prime, and whistler park has dope rails all the way down.

 
I'm just gonna go ahead and say steer clear of Fernie if you are looking for a park. It doesn't have one. It does (as of the last time I was there) have a pretty small rail garden, but I don't do rails so I didn't look too close. Really awesome terrain for the deep days though.
 
Yeah, it's part of RCR isn't it?
Like I said, I only really do rails, but I wouldn't expect much from Fernie in the way of rails. Honestly I would have to hear that it's just fucking amazing and there's practically a guarantee of epic powder days for me to go there.
 
well whis has like 4 different parks... judging by your edits black park would be where you would wanna be

ill be heading up there spring break too!

whis has it all, big parks, small parks, groomers and pow

in the past going to big white the park has been filled with rails all 30ft and under and a miniscule jump line

whis ftw!
 
I'll tell ya right now fernie's "park" sucks. They hardly have a park, its just a rail yard actually. And you need a park pass to get in.
 
I'll tell ya right now fernie's "park" sucks. They hardly have a park, its just a rail yard actually. And you need a park pass to get in.
 
I'll tell ya right now fernie's "park" sucks. They hardly have a park, its just a rail yard actually. And you need a park pass to get in.
 
Fernie has a decent rail park that is well maintained with like 20ish rails and jibs. I wouldn't say you will get a guaranteed pow day, but some of the trees are pretty fun. It has like a bunch of bowls and each bowl has ridges between that have some pretty gnar lines and such, but overall it wasn't as "intense" as, say, a khorse or revy.
 
FERNIE is only fun when there is snow and they open stuff up other wise I would steer clear. Not sure what it's been doing as i haven't check on it in a couple weeks. Fernie can also get hella cold compared to the other two which usually offer warmer temps more often in my excperience. As for park Fernie has no jumps just rails and last time I skied there they weren't set up well.

BIG WHITE is super fun tree skiing which is good because it does have the nick name "big white out". There is also some slightly "more challenging" terrain in the cliff bowl if its open, but both times I was there last year it was closed, but if it's open there is some fun lines in there. Big White also has some pretty easy to get to slack country that can result is some sick runs. As for their park I haven't rode it this year but last year they had some fun rails and they where set up fairly well it was also nice to see their jumps on the bigger side from past years Ive skied there. BUT I will tell you that the jumps last year had shitty spacing and super sniper landings so you had to really be on your game for dialing in your speed. On another note everything being ski in ski out pretty much is a sick bonus!

WHISTLER/BLACKCOMB, well there is a reason so many pros and aspiring ams flock there. As for the mountain riding experience they get 35 feet of snow a year on avg, and there is tons of terrain.! They have tons of sick slack country and some pretty gnarly inbounds stuff to like the famous Air Jordan and Whis and the coulouir on Black. And despite popular anti-whis beleifs you can still find fresh snow several days after a storm with out much effort. As for their parks, they boast the biggest and in my opinion the nicest shaped jumps in Canada and from what I've heared the best 22 foot pipe too. They also have an ass load creative and progressive jibs. I mean the length of the parks on there own is rdiculous, I'm pretty sure the Whistler park is over 1600 ft vert. As for apres the village is sick with lots of choices for food and drinks and looking at gear. Also Whis propably has the highest percentage of girls at it (and by a wide margin) of all the resorts Ive ever skied.
 
this aswell good powder up the t-bar. i dunno if htey still do this but about a month ago they had people at pretty much every other feature grooming the jibs and jumps it was so sick

but the whistler park is even more ridicoulos pretty much everything is perfect but they havent got much snow lately so not for powder and big white is much cheaper i think u can go forr 79 a day with lift ticket.
 
other then $ reasons why wouldn't you go to whistler out of those 3 chocies? whistler has by far the most terrain / best park.

fernie is dope if it snows, big white is in the middle
 
if maybe whistler was having a shitty year snow wise and big white wasn't or something. i'm of course leaning towards whistler, then big white because i love it there too. fernie is pretty far below those because of their park situation, it was just a suggestion that my parents threw out there.
 
haha i'm not sure if my parents would be down for that.
have you been skiing there this year? you go to school around there, right?
 
Dude, go to whistler, so much terrain it will blow your mind. Their tree skiing is really good, tons of chutes/bowls. Spanky's ladder is amazing. Park is also really good, just don't go there to lap the park, you can do that at your home mountain.
 
yeah man im at UBC in vancouver, I have a seasons pass to whis which is like 2 hours away from campus. Blackcombs park is fucking huuuuge you wont be disappointed by it. i had some great pow this season but they haven't gotten much snow in the last couple weeks- base is getting smaller. apparently they're getting a lot of snow this weekend though.

one of my buddys was at big white last weekend and said it was really good. I think you'll have a dope trip wherever you go
 
Bump, just another question. My parents also proposed going down to Utah because apparently the snow is better recently. So it's basically Whistler vs. somewhere in Utah. Thoughts? +k as usual, I really need the advice
 
yea i do know him, it's very tempting to make the trip to grouse for a day or two, but i would definitely be staying up at whis. Do you guys pretty much always just stay at grouse? I know kelsey said he would definitely try to make it to whistler for a day or two if i went
 
snow s been pretty shitty in whistler recently, but apparently they are expecting big dumps.

grouse is a REALLY SMALL mountain it does not even compare to whistler or big white.

definitly NOT worth the trip from whistler unless you have some friends over there.
 
I have a friend there and he's got some friends who seem real fun to ride with, that's the only reason i would go.
When are they expecting these big dumps?
 
whistler has but it gets skied out really quick so fernie would probably be better for pow. big white probably has better jumps than fernie ( last time i heard they had no jumps at all) but i would go to whistler because it the best overall
 
i dont know but it got really cold today in van and i know that there is one forecasted for saturday. but you might be talking about american spring break so i dont know how the weather s gonna be. it s been really warm lately but it should get a little colder.

the park in blackcomb is really epic from what i ve heard (i tore my acl 2 month ago so i havent seen it) huge jumps and the park in whistler has 12 billions of rails and is really long.

and i think it s really worth the trip.

grouse is fun because it s small and it has a nice view on van, but dont expect the park to be anything like blackcomb
 
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