Ikon BC trip

[nhskier1969]

I originally had the post "Going to Mammoth". I decided against California and now going to BC.

I'm deciding between Sun Peaks or Panorama.

My concern with Sun Peaks resort is there advanced and expert terrain and lower elevation. Sun Peaks put a new quad in west bowl but I heard its really flat. Village looks nice but looks a little to Mount Tremblantish.

I am leaning towards Panorama. Ton of vertical, looks like some nice bowls on looks lefts. My concerns are lack of natural snowfall and funky lift layout. Also, reviews online say Panorama can be icey. Is that West coast icy or Northeast Icy?

Any insights would be great.

 

[jimk]

Sorry, can't help. Haven't been to either. Regarding other Ikon up there; heard good things about Red Mtn. Have been to Revy and Big3 in late March 2018. They were great and low crowds. Banff has a lot of apres ski activities.

 

[raisingarizona]

RED with a couple days at WW.

 

[x10003q]

I skied Panorama last April 5,6,7. It is beautiful there. We flew into Calgary and it took about almost 5 hours as we drove through some mixed weather. We saw about 3 cars on 93 from Castle Junction to Radium Hot Springs. There is no cell service on that stretch either. It was spooky. We stayed at the Panorama base in a condo. Invermere is the closest town and it is about 12 miles down the valley from Panorama.

The positives:
There was full top to bottom skiing with just a few of the trails on the lower third of the mountain closed. The vertical is monstrous and the mountain is incredibly wide, also. This makes for long runs. You go through a few climate zones on the way to the top . We had spring mush at the bottom at times (elevation 3800ft) and midwinter powder at the top(elevation 7756ft). The terrain is awesome with lots of steeps at the top and in the Taynton Bowl. All the trails were empty and long and steeper than than similarly rated trails back East. The first day we were there we had an awesome powder day on the upper half of the mountain. The other days where had powder/PP on the upper third. There were lots of bumped up trails. The upper mtn bumps were powdery/pp.

The negatives:
The 2 HSQ lifts up the middle are hard pressed to serve the farther out pods. You almost always need 2/3 lifts to get back up. This means skiing long 'road' style trails to get these sections on the mountain and then skiing long run outs to get back to the lifts. For example, it is almost a mile to get from the top of the Champagne HSQ to the lower terminal of the Summit Quad. The runs below the Summit Quad including the Sun Bowl were long and lots of fun and empty. The bummer is it is over a mile from the bottom of the Sun Bowl to the fixed grip Sunbird Triple or 2 miles on Upper/Lower Village Way to get back to the main base. The run out from the Taynton Bowl could be more than 2 miles depending where you hit Landing Strip/Taynton trail.
The same is true for the Founder's Ridge side of Panorama. The Extreme Dream Zone is loaded with steeps and great snow, but, again, you need 2 or 3 lifts to get back to it. Founders Ridge was fun, but was icy due to aspect to the sun and freeze/melt and it requires 2 lifts to get to it. Day 2/3 had lots of hard pack/ice on the bottom half including the bump trails. Temps stayed a little cooler on those days.

Due to its size and location, Panorama is probably never crowded. It can use a couple more lifts (one from the bottom of Sun Bowl up to the Summit Quad , and one on the other side serving Founder's Ridge to somewhere above Founder's Ridge). The runs are relentless in length/steepness which is awesome. They have a lot of snowmaking on the runs next to The Champagne Express and on the trails off the Mile 1 express out of the base. They do not get as much snow as some of the other BC/AL areas. The trail map does not convey the hugeness of Panorama.

I managed to ski a few days with the same locals that I met on the lifts on day 1 and they were awesome. My Vermont tuned legs could not keep up with them, but they generously waited for me multiple times. They really helped me to get a better handle on the place. I really enjoyed Panorama and would love to come back in midwinter.

 

[HowieT2]

RED with a couple days at WW.

this, although I've never skied sun peaks or panaroma. wh2o isn't ikon but lift tickets arent bad especially after the exchange rate.
Also, not a fan of flying into Kelowna. much prefer flying through spokane.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

no time for a big thoughtful post right now - but a quick comment to add why not fly via calgary and hit banff and revelstoke? i know i have more appetite for driving than many. calgary to banff is nothin. gettin out to rev can be a haul.

i've heard panorama isn't super exciting

i have really enjoyed kicking horse and fernie but they arent on ikon

i have not done the southern bc options like red mountain, but i have done the idaho panhandle and eastern WA (schweitzer + silver and 49N on indy). had it not been covid i would hasve booped over the border on that trip

 

[NYDB]

I’d love to Hit castle and WW too but those will have to wait for another trip. Castle looks to be within reasonable driving distance of panorama.

speaking of covid, I’m getting kinda nervous about this upcoming winter and travel to Canada. Seems like there are new variants popping up all over the place and while I’m not worried about getting sick, I’m worried about Canada pulling some bullshit.

 

[nhskier1969]

I skied Panorama last April 5,6,7. It is beautiful there. We flew into Calgary and it took about almost 5 hours as we drove through some mixed weather. We saw about 3 cars on 93 from Castle Junction to Radium Hot Springs. There is no cell service on that stretch either. It was spooky. We stayed at the Panorama base in a condo. Invermere is the closest town and it is about 12 miles down the valley from Panorama.

The positives:
There was full top to bottom skiing with just a few of the trails on the lower third of the mountain closed. The vertical is monstrous and the mountain is incredibly wide, also. This makes for long runs. You go through a few climate zones on the way to the top . We had spring mush at the bottom at times (elevation 3800ft) and midwinter powder at the top(elevation 7756ft). The terrain is awesome with lots of steeps at the top and in the Taynton Bowl. All the trails were empty and long and steeper than than similarly rated trails back East. The first day we were there we had an awesome powder day on the upper half of the mountain. The other days where had powder/PP on the upper third. There were lots of bumped up trails. The upper mtn bumps were powdery/pp.

The negatives:
The 2 HSQ lifts up the middle are hard pressed to serve the farther out pods. You almost always need 2/3 lifts to get back up. This means skiing long 'road' style trails to get these sections on the mountain and then skiing long run outs to get back to the lifts. For example, it is almost a mile to get from the top of the Champagne HSQ to the lower terminal of the Summit Quad. The runs below the Summit Quad including the Sun Bowl were long and lots of fun and empty. The bummer is it is over a mile from the bottom of the Sun Bowl to the fixed grip Sunbird Triple or 2 miles on Upper/Lower Village Way to get back to the main base. The run out from the Taynton Bowl could be more than 2 miles depending where you hit Landing Strip/Taynton trail.
The same is true for the Founder's Ridge side of Panorama. The Extreme Dream Zone is loaded with steeps and great snow, but, again, you need 2 or 3 lifts to get back to it. Founders Ridge was fun, but was icy due to aspect to the sun and freeze/melt and it requires 2 lifts to get to it. Day 2/3 had lots of hard pack/ice on the bottom half including the bump trails. Temps stayed a little cooler on those days.

Due to its size and location, Panorama is probably never crowded. It can use a couple more lifts (one from the bottom of Sun Bowl up to the Summit Quad , and one on the other side serving Founder's Ridge to somewhere above Founder's Ridge). The runs are relentless in length/steepness which is awesome. They have a lot of snowmaking on the runs next to The Champagne Express and on the trails off the Mile 1 express out of the base. They do not get as much snow as some of the other BC/AL areas. The trail map does not convey the hugeness of Panorama.

I managed to ski a few days with the same locals that I met on the lifts on day 1 and they were awesome. My Vermont tuned legs could not keep up with them, but they generously waited for me multiple times. They really helped me to get a better handle on the place. I really enjoyed Panorama and would love to come back in midwinter.

Thanks for the input. My biggest concern are the lift pods. Taynton area looks great but how is the run out, it looks like it 1500 vt feet.?

 

[raisingarizona]

Thanks for the input. My biggest concern are the lift pods. Taynton area looks great but how is the run out, it looks like it 1500 vt feet.?

I’ve never skied there but you can pretty much conclude by just looking at the trail map that skiing more of the steep freeride stuff there is a pia. Groomers and regular cut ski runs look really cool. It’s designed more so for that experience and the freeride stuff has been added as it gained popularity. Red and WW from what I understand are better for hot laps on fr terrain. That being said I could have plenty of fun flying down 4k of groomer skiing or pow runs on em.

 

[x10003q]

Thanks for the input. My biggest concern are the lift pods. Taynton area looks great but how is the run out, it looks like it 1500 vt feet.?

It is something like that and it is about 2 miles from the bottom of Stumbock's to the top of the discovery quad. It is anther long run out.

 

[jaytrem]

I don't recall the runouts at Panorama being too bad. My friend is snowboard only, he had no problem getting around. Like x10003q, we had beautiful powder up top, not so powdery on the bottom. What's it 4K vertical? So not unexpected. Was definitely fresh tracks to be had all day with minimal effort. Would love to get back there one of these days. Only been there once.

Sun Peaks we went 3 different years (free on Descente/Geigerrig) passports). One day was a real nice powder day with good snow all the way to the bottom of the dreaded Burfield lift. Lapping the bottom half was actually quite fun and NOBODY around. Other years was excellent skiing, but no fresh powder. The bumps on the Morrisey blacks were steep and fun, there is also some nice tree skiing around the mountain. But a good chunk of the place is groomed intermediates, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Given the choice, I'd go with Panorama. Less resorty feeling and lots of terrain where you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Can't go wrong with either one though. Interior BC is still my favorite destination. Will either do an Indy Pass trip there this year or stay south of the boarder. Depends on when the ferry to Vancouver Island comes out of drydock, haven't been to the two areas on the island yet along with Hurricane Ridge.