Sunshine Village, Canada - Alberta

Ryan from CANADA writes:

Obviously this Joe character doesn't know much about Sunshine Village. Snow that fell 2 weeks ago DOES matter at Sunshine, but probably not at most other hills. The reasons being... 1) best snow quality in Canada, dry & light, does not settle down fast or much 2) 90% of the people at SV ride 20% of the terrain so you can ALWAYS find fresh pow lines and get away from the punters.
Remember, their vertical drop numbers include the gondola/ski-out so expect more like 800-1600 ft descents. Great terrain though. You can make each mountain your own snow-park and really get away from the crowds. 150+ days ridden at SV and I still find new stuff every week.
They get more snow than Lake Louise, but not as much as their BC counterparts. At least it NEVER rains at SV... okay... maybe 1 day out of their whole season which is Nov.10-May.20.
For a visitor, or beginner, Sunshine can be a very frustrating day due to the layout of the terrain (spread over a few mountains) with lots of hidden flat spots. If you know where everything is it may be one of the best resorts in Western Canada... if you don't, you might have the worst day of your life.
On weekends you are guaranteed to see massive crowds (Whistler style) but on the plus side, the other 4-5 days of the week are COMPLETELY dead with 0 people in the lift lines. Can be flat light or white out sometimes, but is often snowing lightly above treeline making the name SV a little bit of a fib. That's ok though, many choices for lifts here to get into different weather systems. Snow over here, sun over there, pow here, crowds not here.
The people that reviewed that Sunshine is flat obviously don't ride the challenging terrain. It's hilarious these "reviewers" even bother. Go check out The Garbage Chutes of a variety (about 100) mid-sized pow drops. Delirium Dive may be the most challenging inbounds lift accessed terrain in North America. Flat? Maybe between certain areas, but you can go hang out there while I rip the fresh pow all day long!
Closer, super easy to get a ride, and consistent conditions. That bus pass is a joke that someone mentioned... they expect locals to pay $700 per season JUST FOR THE BUS on top of our $1000 pass. What a joke.

2008-03-15