Holiday Help

[morganb]

I am planning a ski holiday for myself, wife and family, (3 kids, 12, 6 &4). I can ski OK (for an Aussie guy) but the others have all skied either once or not at all. I have heard Whistler is good but would like some independant advice.
Where is a good place to stay, family type accomadation. Any suggestions/recommendations.
Any better locations within the Whistler area, any to miss and why.
Advice on how to get lift tickets (pre purchase of just buy each day or a package with a number of days in one).
Any other comments or advice would be appreciated.

[Tim Polzin]

Bruce:

First of all, let me preface this with two things:

1) I don't ski
2) I'm cheap

In my opinion, you will find the big name places to cost the most. Yes, Whistler is a very pretty place, Banff/Lake Louise too, but all big $$s. If money is not a concern, they will do very nicely. Other places to consider are Kelona, Kamloops, Vernon all in BC, and perhaps Jasper and Canmore in Alberta.

Cheers....Tim

[unclebilly]

In my humble opinion, the best ski resort in the canadian rockies is Fernie. Depending on how long you plan to stay, here is what I would do:

Fly into Calgary, rent a minivan or SUV.

Day 1 - ski Fernie (3 hours from Calgary) then drive to Revelstoke (2 - 3 hour drive)
Day 2 - ski Kicking Horse (never been there, heard good things). Drive to Lake Louse (in Banff - under 2 hrs).
Day 3 - ski Lake Louise - if you can do it mid week, it will be less crowded. Stay at Lake Louise a second night.
Day 4 - ski Sunshine Village - it is a great hill, it's not often sunny there but still fun.
Day 5 - check out Banff / back to Calgary (2 hour drive).

For lift tickets, AMA (AAA) has the best deals - you go to the AMA office and prebuy the tickets. If you plan to do this before XMAS, buy a ski Louise card ($45) gets you a $10 - $15 discount per day and you get your second day free. Check out http://www.skircr.com/ for details on Lake Louise, Kimberley, Fernie etc.

The RCR hills give a realy good rate on a lesson / rental / lift ticket package (I think it's around $75 all in) and you can forget to show up for the lesson - wink wink.

One other thing to take in is that Lake Louise has a program called Ski Friends where they give you a complimentary ski tour of the mountain according to your ski level. It's a great way to learn where the cool terrain is.

If you have more time, check out Kimberley too. Castle Mountain is also down by Fernie but is no beginner's hill. Whistler is way more expensive and I don't think the skiing is any better.

[Doug Zielke]

If yer loaded with dough, Whistler/Blackcomb is top shelf.

If yer loaded with dough, but wish to spend it on something else, check out Sun Peaks in Kamloops (highly recommended).

[morganb]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions.
I will try and check out the other resorts.
One consideration also is how hard it is to get their from overseas (Hong Kong in my case). A nearby international airport with direct flights is ideal.
Uncle Billy, i checked out Frenie on the internet, looks good. I just need to work out how to get there. You suggestion is good for me but for my family a little to much moving around.

[unclebilly]

Calgary is an international airport. Vancouver has flights to Hong Kong, not sure about Calgary. A flight from Vancouver to Calgary is around $100 on WestJet.